40 years worth of TV writing experience and info, yours for the taking.
Considering the way Marvel’s supervillains have taken over TV and films as well as comic books, these wrong-headed evildoers must be doing something right.
If somebody could just tell us what it is, so we could use the info for the benefit of our own writing careers…oh, and humanity too, of course.
Oh. Hold on. Lookee here – somebody has:
Backstory can be a very important part of your novel or script, or it might not be needed at all at times. It depends on the scene and the characters involved. It’s something the writer needs to give attention to and think about.
If the backstory ties directly into the scene then it’s needed and will give the reader or watcher even more to chew on than the action directly in front of them. Or perhaps your story contains backstory that provides the reader information that will result in the reader gaining a deeper understanding as to what is at stake in the story you’re creating. Or, maybe the information in the backstory that’s being provided adds such punch, such power that the scene in question will be greatly diminished by the simple leaving out of that backstory information. You don’t want to leave out important information any more than you want to put in what isn’t important.
I don’t believe that jumping genres should be avoided simply because someone out there in cyberspace said you shouldn’t do it. I converted novels into screenplays, and screenplays into stage plays, with pretty good contest results and, if nothing else, it was a lesson and … fun.
I say, if you have the passion to write, then write. If it’s a screenplay I would opt for simplicity and consistency over complexity and inconsistency. In a novel, stick with plot and structure and do whatever the hell you want. In either case, Picasso had good advice: “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
For me, I try to follow a couple of rules. First, it’s paramount for me to elicit emotion from the reader or viewer. I’ll try my best to make the reader fall in love with a character. In novel writing I can take my time. I’m not restricted to a page length. In a screenplay I am.
And, second, I try to create a tangible goal for the hero and set him or her on an edge-of-your-seat journey where we can measure the success or failure of that goal at the climax point.
Brace yourselves, online learning-about-writing fans, because I’m here to announce some changes in the TVWriter™ Online Workshop, um, thing.
Our various workshops, operating under the collective name of TVWriter University, have been up and running on the web, with occasional forays into the Real World (remember the various Brodystock Summer Intensive Seminars and the Secrets of the Writers Room held at the original Cloud Creek Ranch in Southern California, in Las Vegas, and even in Arkansas?) since 1999 or 2000. (Guess I should keep better records.)
Over the years we’ve altered the formats and added some activities from time to time, and this year the big news can be expressed in one word:
No, not your belly or you glutes or whatever – your script or novel.
Really, let’s trim it down and see how much better it can be.
I know, I know, it’s the holiday season, you’re tired and ready to take a break. Okey dokey go ahead and do that – THEN think about the ideas I’m going to present for getting that writing sharpened up. A break will do you good – then dive in and get to work.