by ·Comments Off on The Write BACKSTORY

The backstory is a powerful narrative technique that adds depth and richness to narratives. Whether in literature or film, understanding the concept and application of backstory is essential for crafting compelling and engaging stories.

The backstory is the background information or history of a character, setting, or situation in a narrative, providing context and details about events before the main story, and enriching character motivations and the plot.

Backstory can encompass a wide range of elements, including past events, family history, childhood experiences, personal beliefs, and more. By revealing these details, the storyteller can create a more immersive and believable world for the audience.

  • Backstory impacts on character development. By revealing a character’s past experiences, the audience gains insight into their personality, motivations, and behavior. It allows the readers to connect with the characters on a deeper level, understanding their motivations and empathizing with their struggles.
  • Backstory helps to create a sense of continuity and coherence within the narrative. It provides a logical explanation for the characters’ actions and decisions, making their behavior more believable and relatable.
  • Backstory adds intrigue and mystery to a story, as it allows for unexpected revelations and plot twists. By carefully revealing elements of the backstory, the storyteller can keep the audience engaged and eager to learn more.

Backstory, simply put, is whatever comes before the main story. Generally speaking, backstory is the history of the characters or maybe the story world. It could be whatever has happened in the protagonist’s life up to that point, or it could be multigenerational, going into very in-depth world-building and such in different types of stories, whether it’s fantasy or historical or something like that.

In any type of story, backstory and how you treat will always be a consideration because it is a big deal. It’s very important and can, in a lot of ways, make or break how well the main part of your story comes across.

In a lot of stories, the backstory will be very important to the main story and will need to be brought out and shared in some way that’s more than just incidental. This is usually the case in stories in which we want to get clear on what is motivating the characters in the main part of the story.

The WRITE JOURNEY COURSE explores how to effectively use backstory narrative technique in your writing, tips for crafting a compelling backstory, common pitfalls to avoid when using backstory and examples in literature and film

by ·Comments Off on Own The Writing Process

Take ownership of your story

Everyone in the world who watches movies and TV, or reads a bestseller, believes that they have an excellent idea for a movie, TV show or novel that is better than the ones they’re watching or reading. Yet having an idea is not enough. You need to inject the essential storytelling elements of story, plot, and characterization into the idea — and you need to do that well.

One of the most important issues that an aspirant writer has to fully master, is disciplining the process of writing the story from inspiration to the final page and eventually production or publication.

The script or screenplay is a master plan for the film. It is never in itself a finished work of art like a novel or a short story. An architect has his plans; a director has a screenplay which is his blueprint for the final film.

Once it has been accepted, a screenplay undergoes many changes, some minor, and some radical. There are always compromises as the film is a collaborative art form. The draft of the novel will be submitted for editing by the publisher.

Although the writing process seems simple and straightforward, most novice writers tend to take a step in the wrong direction by shortcutting, outsmarting or over-complicating the natural, instinctive process of communicating their story and making their voice as a writer heard.

If you shortcut the process and rush straight to the screenplay or novel from the outline, your first draft is not a screenplay or novel; it’s a surrogate treatment.

It is your calling as a writer to write stories, to constantly search for new ideas, and to search for ‘the one idea’ that will change the world.

The process begins with a writer who wants to write a story. You must have an idea  – this is your intention as a writer, there is something you are inspired to write about, a story you need to tell, the magic you need to spin. The Idea is only an idea and nothing more; sometimes the spark of a great idea is only wishful thinking and evaporates the moment an even greater idea sparks up.

Writers cannot write from the heart unless they are willing to open their hearts and search within to find the connection between themselves, their characters, and their subject matter. Dana Marks, Inside Story

The hardest part of writing is knowing what to write. Feed your talent. Talent must be stimulated by facts and ideas. Do research. Gather your material any way you can. By doing research, you acquire information, and the information you collect will allow you to operate from the position of choice and responsibility.

Research is important. The key to all research is patience and persistence and keeping an open mind so your expectations about what you would like to find don’t distort the information you find. You must be a sponge, absorbing everything. Whether it be a screenplay, a bar of soap, a new car, the American Dream, or the notion of a romance, everything we do is designed to sell, to convince someone that what we are offering them will make them feel good, help them make a lot of money, or lead to fame and fortune. James Brooks

  • You must be familiar with other stories that relate to or are like the ones you want to write.

Genres are harsh on those who don’t know the history, don’t know the rules. Once you know them, you’ll know where they can be broken. Terry Pratchett (‘A Slip of the Keyboard’)

  • You must explore the Premise, your central idea of what the story is about.
  • Having a Premise is not enough. You don’t have enough information. You’ve got to dramatise it. Define it. Articulate it. Conceptualise your story.
  • What are you trying to say by writing your story? What is your point of view? The theme is the glue that holds your story together and resonates throughout the telling of your story.

Writing is always at its best when it pushes past what we think and begin to tap into what we feel. A theme is a powerful tool that will help move your writing process from trial and error to intention and purpose. The more you learn to work with a theme, the more you will be able to communicate with style, subtlety, and eloquence the full power of your ideas and your creative vision. Dara Marks, Inside Story

  • All memorable and successful stories have one thing in common. They all have characters that have become part of our culture. Character is the essential foundation of the story. It is the heart, soul and nervous system of your story. Before you put a word to paper, you must know who the people in your story are.

To understand the substance of the story and how it performs, you need to view your work from the inside out, from the centre of your character, looking out at the world through your character’s eyes, experiencing the story as if you were the living character yourself. To slip into his subjective and highly imagined point of view, you need to look closely at this creature you intend to inhabit, a character. Robert McKee, Story

  • The structure is the starting point in the process of writing; without structure, you have no story, and without a story, you have no screenplay/novel/stage play / TV series. It is the force that holds everything together; all the action, characters, plot, incidents, episodes, events, and the thematic purpose that make up your story.
  • Structuring the plot of a great story is distilling from all the elements of writing – the premise, concept, characterisation, theme, story, dramatic action, obstacles, etc – a set of story events that builds suspense, utilises surprise and logically makes sense

All art is contained in form. Paint does not just hang in the air; it needs a canvas. Musical notes played merely at random are only a cacophony of sounds. Architects do not dump a pile of wood on the ground and call it a house; they have builders organise the lumber in a manner that gives definition to their creative vision. But do not be disheartened; as the process of writing ceases to be a mystery, you can look past the boundaries it creates and find opportunities for unique self-expression. Dara Marks, Inside Story

  • Once you have made sense of the whole it is important to deconstruct your story and identify your story events (scenes and sequences), the parts that make up the whole, by crafting a Story Outline and a Scene Outline.  
  • Once you are clear about what and who you are writing about, and have a definite story in place, it will be a good idea to write a Top Sheet that you can submit to prospective investors, producers and publishers, who might want to invest in the potential script and even commission the writing if they are hooked on the story.
  • You will start writing the first draft.
  • Before you submit your draft to an agent or production company, you must find out if it works. You can send your script to a reader, and have it evaluated, or call together a reading session.  You can submit a draft of your screenplay/novel to The Writing Studio for story editing.
  • Professional screenwriters learn that true success requires the ability to respond intelligently to criticism and to tolerate sometimes endless rewrites. You will work on several re-writes until the writer reaches Draft X which is as perfect as it possibly can be; this ‘final draft’ will be professionally formatted and preferably evaluated by a professional reading agency.

First, cut out all the wisdom. Then cut out all the adjectives. I’ve cut some of my favourite stuff. I have no compassion when it comes to cutting. No pity. No sympathy. Some of my dearest and most beloved bits of writing have gone out with a very quick slash, slash, slash! Paddy Chayefsky, Network

  • When Draft X is handed over to a studio/publisher or sent out to be sold it is known as a spec draft; if the spec draft is sent out by the writer without the involvement of an agency, it is known as an unsolicited spec draft. If the script is sent via an agent, it carries the guarantee that it has gone through some form of evaluation and script editing.
  • You must then sell your screenplay and yourself. The market is a living, breathing entity that reflects the time and economic conditions of the industry and the country.  You must have a clear understanding of the marketplace.

The Process Of Writing Your Story Is Fully Explored In The Write Journey Course

Take Ownership Of Your Story And Sign Up For The Write Journey

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by ·Comments Off on 14 ways to dramatically improve your story

It is your calling as a writer to write stories, to constantly search for new ideas, to search for ‘the one idea’ that will that will change the world.

Your life as a writer is informed and fueled by inspiration and driven by passion.

You will have many ideas that you want to develop into a story, and each idea will have its own challenges, beginning as a seed that is planted in the soil, gradually growing into a story, day by day.

An idea is not something you can rush, predict or control; it has its own temperament and knows what it wants to be.

It is equally unpredictable and strikes the writer like a thunderbolt. One day you are searching for an idea, pondering what to write, the following day you are suddenly in its grasp, and for many years you will its obedient slave.

There are times you will feel that your idea is a hopeless case, and times where you don’t have enough hours in the day to shape it into a story you are destined to tell.

Your idea will ignite a burning fire that will rage on until its flames are seen from the moon.

One day there will be nothing, then suddenly EVERYTHING.

Arts is Choice. Choice making is at the heart of all creative expressions, and The Write Journey will make the most of the story you are destined to write.

Make the most of your IDEA

Significant issues

In the 20th Century four major issues have governed screenwriting and screenplays: The Notion of God  – religious and spiritual issues; Democracy – freedom; Male/ Female relationships and Issues of identity in terms of class, culture and sexuality. Does your idea deal with these issues?

Theme

Most stories that are dramatically successful, have resonance, and are universally relevant, express some underlying idea that has universal appeal for audiences and readers, who can identify with the characters and situations. What is the Thematic Purpose of your story? What are you trying to say by writing your story? What is the glue that will bind your story?

Art is a microscope which the artist fixes on the secrets of his soul and shows to people these secrets which are common to all.
Leo Tolstoy

Does your story promise Drama?

You know our story has dramatic potential if you can draw your audience/ readers into a deep involvement so that they will care about the story and the characters, suspend disbelief, and be involved in whatever is happening; if you can hold that involvement, your audience/ readers will be captivated and intrigued from the opening scene to the ending, and experience a rollercoaster ride, eagerly awaiting what happens next; and if your audience/ readers will experience a great rush of excitement and emotional fulfillment and when they reach the end of your story. They will take the story and characters home with them, and it will live in their hearts for eternity.

Something worth writing

Even if screenplays / novels / TV Pilot seem commercial, write something of worth, something you want to write, you can see, and something you are capable of writing.

You cannot write a screenplay if you don’t live the art of storytelling – full stop!! Your passion must last to the end – to the last word – the last note. Your passion must be total. Your passion must never say “Sorry”! Your passion must burn in your eyes. The fever of passion must rack your body with such intensity that it can pulverize any rock of doubt you encounter into the dust of eternity! You must have a total Hunger!!! A physical and mental hunger. Your soul must be racked with hunger. Your body must cry out for food. Then you create! Then you soar into the sky. Then you touch the magic. Then your soul explodes… Then your words flow like vintage wine staining damask cloth into a dark purple of greatness…

Jans Rautenbach, Abraham (2015)

Something in Mind

Don’t select dull ideas whose inner conflicts are not easily dramatised, verbalised and vsualised.

Story urges the creation of works that will excite audiences on the six continents and live in revival for decades. No one needs yet another recipe book on how to reheat Hollywood leftovers. We need a rediscovery of the underlying tenets of our art, the guiding principles that liberate talent. 

Robert McKee, Story

Your idea must promise conflict

Conflict is the heart and soul of writing. It’s the reason we engage with stories. As human beings we tell stories to make sense of the world, to find order in chaos, to process the experience. Without conflict there is no story, simply an account of events. The success of your idea depends on the conflict, there is something at stake that the audience can care about and identify with. This can range from something as huge as the survival of the species to something as personal as being understood. Does the conflict in your story offer enough dramatic potential? 

The Write Journey explores the golden rules of conflict, six types of conflict that will strengthen your story, and common problems of too much conflict in your story.

Will your idea travel the distance?

A potent idea will carry a complete 100 – 110-page screenplay, several chapters, or 900 minutes of intrigue for a TV series; have a gripping set-up that promises lots of complications and ways to spin the audience / readers into different emotions during the confrontation, and ultimately resolve itself in a climactic pay-off, a meaningful and resonating conclusion.

One of the gifts of being a writer is that it gives you an excuse to do things, to go places and explore. Another is that writing motivates you to look closely at life, at life as it lurches by and tramps around… To be a good writer, you not only have to write a great deal but you have to care. You do not have to have a complicated moral philosophy. But a writer always tries, I think, to be a part of the solution, to understand a little about life and to pass this on.

Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Does your idea promise sensuality and dramatic action?

In his Screenwriting 434, Lew Hunter says that a painter has three primary colours on his palette: red, blue and yellow. As a writer you have two primary emotional colours: sex and violence. This does not mean the horror-slasher genre. In story terms, the words sex and violence means sensuality and dramatic action, not blood and gore and naked bodies. Look at the plot lines of such classics as Medea, Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, King Lear, and works by Ibsen, anything by Tennessee Williams, and Shakespeare. The most extreme form of violence is psychological violence. Even in The Sound of Music: the Nazi’s were the overall threat and the feelings between Maria and the children’s father were sensual.

Is your idea interesting enough?

Will the story be interesting for an hour and a half to two hours? A page-turner? Is it the type of the story the public will pay to see? Will it be interesting two years from today when the film will go into production?

How original is your idea?

A story is not only what you have to say, but also how you say it. Writing urges the creation of works that will excite audiences on the six continents and live in revival for decades. The world of a great artist always strikes audiences as exotic and strange. What you are bringing to the world as a storyteller is your own, unique, individual and ‘original’ voice; a story told in your specific way, from your experience, researched from your history or seen from your perspective. Never mistake eccentricity for originality. Never be different for the sake of being different.

Can you possibly get it sold?

If you do sell it, you do. If you don’t, you’ve created another property for your inventory. Even if any of the stories you write never sell, you must love the process. That should be more important to you than acceptance or sale. Make your principal reward the very act of writing.

The tricky thing about being a writer, or about being any kind of artist, is that in addition to making art you also have to make a living. My short stories and novels have always filled my life with meaning, but at least in the first decade of my career, they were no more capable of supporting me than my dog was. However, part of what I love about both novels and dogs is that they are so beautifully oblivious to economic concerns. We serve them, and in return, they thrive. It is not their responsibility to figure out where the rent is coming from.

Novelist Ann Patchett

Is it a story that is good for you to write?

Focus on the best development of your potential. Will your idea serve the necessary end? As a writer you must ask yourself if the idea will significantly help you develop your potential? Can you best learn from this idea?  Will it show people what a good writer you are? A “calling card” story?

We will do an awful lot for stories – we will endure an awful lot for stories. Moreover, stories, in their turn – like some kind of symbiote – help us endure and make sense of our lives. Many stories do appear to begin as intrinsic to religions and belief systems – many of the ones we have gods or goddesses in them; they teach us how the world exists; they teach us the rules of living in the world. However, they also have to come in an attractive enough package that we take pleasure from them and we want to help them propagate. 

Neil Gaiman

Is your idea worth exploring?

You should always say: That’s the idea I want to do. That’s the idea I can do. That’s the idea I believe is worth doing. Before and after want, can and worth comes quality. Does your idea promise quality? Demand for yourself quality.

What is the most effective medium that will be ideal to showcase your story?

Will your story work best as a novel? If so, write the novel, the adapt is for a stageplay or film.

Do you see your story lived out on stage? Write it as a stageplay, driven by lots of exciting exposition through dialogue. With the advance of technology, anything can happen on stage today as in War Horse (based on a stunning book and brilliant film). Also, most popular sell-out plays are now screening in cinemas worldwide, allowing millions of people to see that play (or opera) projected in the comfort of their cinema.

Do you want your story to be a film, where it is larger than life and magnified 10 times on a big screen, or IMAX, and even bigger screen?

The Write Journey course explores The Write Idea, how to conseptualise ideas, shape your thematic intention, finding the write title, and how to research what you want to write about