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| Writers Advice Column | |
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| Topic Started: Oct 24 2007, 06:18 AM (327 Views) | |
| BigK | Oct 24 2007, 06:18 AM Post #1 |
"Hahahahahaaaa!! You're as good as DEAD!!"
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Now, apart from spouting out my new reign of power I hold over here, lol, I also want to do my best to share my knowledge of story writing with the rest of you in the hopes that you will do the same and share your knowledge with the new comers and blossoming story tellers and writers. Share your advice to the next generation, any advice in original story writing goes right here, and if anyone has questions or troubles with names or character concepts, you may also ask them here and writers here will be more then happy to help you out.  My advice comes in story writing and dialogue. 1. The number rule to story and screenwriting. NEVER BE BORING. 2. Characters need to change. If your character never learns a lesson or changes, your story will fail. 3. With every scene you write, add conflict. 4. Your first ten pages of either screenwriting or storytelling are crucial. If your first ten pages do not hook your reader, your readers won't waste their time reading the rest. 5. With your dialogue, always make sure of the following: -That it is absolutely essential. -That your dialogue expands on your character. -That your dialogue pushes the story forward. If there is zero meaning behind dialogue, then don't post it. Yes, we all speak for the sake of speaking. And in either screenwriting or story telling, you must ALWAYS keep in mind the Real talk vs Reel talk factor. What you see in movies or books that will keep readers and viewers interested. If two guys are just chatting for the sake of chatting, it's unnecessary. 6. Take advice to heart. If someone offers critique, you don't ALWAYS have to jump the gun and change if they're missing the point or wrong, but take it to heart, because a majority of the time, your readers and viewers will catch mistakes that you will overlook. 7. Always add conflict. If there is no conflict, there is no story. 8. Every story or svreenplay you write, you need to ask yourselves three crucial questions: Who is your main character? What does he or she want or need? And who or what stands in their way? 9. In screenwriting, you must always have three acts. Towards the end of your first act, there must always be a point of no return towards the end of act one. Towards the end of act two, there is a breakdown, where your main character must breaks down and be at the end of his rope, and by the end of act three, comes the revelation, comes the change in the main character, which makes him or her a better person, if you choose to have him live. 10. The main factor of screenwriting, never do it for sales, because the more you think about the dough, the shittier the screenplay will be. Sure, you sell a screenplay for 100k, great. Ever take taxes into consideration? 40% lost in taxes. 10% to your agent. 5% lost to your manager. 5% commissions. 5% to your lawyer. So that will leave you with $35,000. Pay aint that great is it? It comes with the job, which is why most screenwriters aren't souly screenwriters. But it's a great job. You get a sale, make your dough, not much yeah, but on the bright side, doing so allows you to gain a name, and as a result, more people want a piece of you, but it doesn't always happen, thus lies the problems and risks of screenwriting, but you don't do it for cash, you do it because you love it and you have a story you want to share. And that's my soul reason I love screenwriting. Granted it turns me into an animal, just ask Caldera, lol, but if you are interested and SERIOUS about screenwriting, understand the circumstances, but do it because you love it. That's my advice to writers around here. Now go on and share your knowledge writers. What is your advice to your fellow writers on the board?
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 BigK's Voice Acting Resume' Site | |
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| xIrontallicax | May 21 2008, 03:08 PM Post #2 |
Jail Guard
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(sorry I didn't notice the date when i posted this, bumpity bump) nice post sounds good  Can I ask a question though (if this is more of a continuing advice post not really meant for questions then no probs can someone delete this), but I'm having real trouble with my dialogue and narrative. I'm not exactly an accomplished writer and am more writing a book for a hobby, not looking to sell or publish (unless people think it is good). I have a fair bit of free time and have been writing on and off for a while now. My question in relation to dialogue and narrative is that I have a hard time structuring it all well and making it exciting. I will come to a point where I think it all looks crap for example. two characters talking, my script ends up looking like: "I need to go to the toilet" John exclaimed "and you telling me that, why?" mark said with an extremely puzled look on his face. John rises to his feet swiftly, shocked that mark would speak to him with such a tone. "How dare you you vulgar man" etc etc (this is not part of my story lol, more an example :D) It just ends up being one character says something with puzzle/exclaimation/excitement, and then the other character replies with another emotion added in, almost like a competition of emotions lol. Any advice to get past this stage would be great, it really restrictive at the moment. thanks 
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| Cardboard Box | Nov 9 2008, 05:03 AM Post #3 |
Jail Guard
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You don't necessarily need to explain how a character says something or use "said" after or before someone speaks for every line. No one changes emotion with every sentence they speak. If it's obvious who is speaking you can simply put it in quotation marks and start a new paragraph. For instance: With his gun drawn, Dmitri sprinted into the room to find the person that he had been searching for sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, almost af if he had been expecting him. After coming to an abrupt halt he raised the handgun and pointed it towards the man's forehead. Strangely, the man in the chair was not startled at all by Joe's sudden and threatening entrance. Dmitri shouted, "Why did you set me up, Vlad!?" "Why not?" replied Vlad, as if he knew something that Dmitri didn't. "What the hell's that suposed to mean!?" "Don't think that I could be tricked so easily. You have only yourself to blame for this mess. I knew from the start, what you where planning." "If you knew, then why didn't you stop us!?" Vlad chuckled, "You're so naive, boy. It's no surprise that you where clueless to the fact that everyone in your little group was working for me behind the scenes. Your plans where known from the start. For the past six months I knew what you where doing before you even did." "Impossible!" retorted Dmitri. ....and you get the point. Hope that helps. Edited by Cardboard Box, Nov 9 2008, 05:06 AM.
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