“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”? W. Somerset Maugham
It’s funny and it’s true. Of course I could get nit-picky and start talking about language and all the rules needed to write properly. I could go on about the mythology behind stories, story arcs, beats and how to construct one the ‘right way.”
But I won’t.
It seems like only yesterday that we were speaking about the horrific crisis of “Peak TV.” Oh, yeah, wait, it was. Anyway, not ones for letting tempests die before they’ve become magnificently raging storms, here’s another POV about TV’s current bumper crop:
Behold the New FleshIt’s been a difficult Summer in Hollywood.
Now, the lead up to any new season is always fraught with uncertainty and concern. But there seems to be far more of it this time around.
In a previous article, The Creative Process, we concluded that a sound knowledge and understanding of creative writing principles along with a penchant for creativity, must be ‘in the room’ if we are to transform blank pages into a polished Teleplay. It must sparkle like a diamond amidst a pile of…..
Diamonds are tough, the hardest substance known – able to scratch any other substance, including metal. Graphite is one of the softest; so soft we can use it as a pencil and leave a stream of molecules sliding off onto the page in the form of words comprising the rough draft of our teleplay. Diamond and Graphite are pure substances comprised of only one element – Carbon. So how can this be?
It’s all about structure – more precisely, molecular structure. Both Diamond and Graphite are allotropes (forms) of Carbon. End of science lesson…almost.
by Larry BrodyTime now to answer a question because now’s when I’ve got the time:
CB wants to know:
Hi Larry. Do you have any bibles for recent one-hour drama series? I actually have a producer interested in a contest winning series pilot…but she wants a ‘traditional series bible’ as opposed to the 9-page summary I’ve done. I have the bible for Lost, which is really a guide for staff writers, and she says that should not be used.
As writers of fiction, whether on the page or for film or stage, we all know we need conflict in a story. Simply put, no conflict, no story. We’ve all heard that, right?
And it’s true, I’m not going to start to be all original and tell you it isn’t. But the question arises then, what is at the heart of conflict? Your hero or heroine must have a goal. And that goal has to be an integral part of the plot.
So how does that work? Well us humans have some very basic needs and desires. For example. The very most basic need is food to eat, air to breathe, clothes to cover us, warmth (i.e a roof over our heads) to keep us from freezing and so on. That’s the very nitty gritty.