The only way to improve as a screenwriter is to write. That means you must practice writing as often as possible. Rather than write full-length, 120-page screenplays, focus on writing short 5-10 page scripts that tell a short story. This will give you the chance to write more scripts and create more stories in a short amount of time.
Besides writing as often as possible, you must also push yourself to expand beyond your current knowledge of storytelling and screenwriting. Three ways to do that include:
- Reading screenwriting books
- Taking screenwriting and storytelling classes
- Sharing your scripts with others to get feedback
The only way you’ll ever get better is by essentially teaching yourself and pushing yourself. Since books are the easiest way to expand your knowledge of screenwriting, never stop reading and never stop learning because every book can teach you something.
In the book “How to Craft a Great Story” by Chris Sykes, the most interesting idea is how to increase danger to the hero. The book uses the simple analogy of a ladder leaning against the wall. As your story progresses, picture your hero climbing the ladder. The higher up the ladder, the greater the danger should the hero fall.
This simply ladder image can help you think about how your hero’s life should appear in your story. In the beginning, your hero should be relatively safe where they aren’t too far from their current life and there’s little danger should they fail. As the story progresses, your hero must keep climbing that ladder, which takes them further away from their familiar and comfortable world, and increases the danger should they fail.
This one-two punch of moving the hero away from their comfort zone and increasing their danger is crucial to increasing tension as your story reaches an inevitable climax.
What happens if you violate either of these two principles? You’ll wind up with a disappointing story.
Either the danger to the hero won’t feel important or the hero’s journey from their original world won’t feel as great. If a hero journeys from an isolated planet to fighting a massive battle in space like in “Star Wars”, that distance from the beginning to the end is so vast that it makes the story feel more important and grander. If instead the journey just took Luke from an isolated planet to a different location on the same isolated planet, there wouldn’t be as large a difference and the story would feel less important as a result.
Gradually increasing the danger to the hero works like this. Initially, the only danger lies mostly with the hero being threatened. In “Star Wars”, this occurs when Luke is nearly killed by the Sand People. When the hero’s in physical danger, the danger is important, but it’s not big enough just yet.
The next step is putting lots of innocent people in danger. So if the hero should fail, they’ll not only risk dying or getting hurt, but lots of innocent people will suffer as well. Putting the hero and innocent people in danger increases the stakes, but it’s still not that important just yet.
The final step is putting someone the hero loves in danger. Now if the hero fails, this is what could happen:
- The hero might get hurt or even killed.
- Lots of innocent people will get hurt or even killed.
- Someone the hero loves and cares for will get hurt or killed.
In the beginning of “Star Wars”, Luke only risks his own life, and even then the chances of him getting killed is minimal. As the story progresses, Luke’s chances of getting killed increases, and if he should fail, innocent people will suffer. This occurs when Luke initially refuses to bo with Obi-wan to take R2D2 to Princess Leia’s planet. Although Luke’s absence won’t necessarily hurt any innocent people, his refusal to help means Luke can’t help or protect any innocent people either.
Near the end, Luke must stop the Death Star. At this moment, he risks getting killed. If he fails, everyone on the rebel base will get killed. Even worse, Princess Leia, who he cars for, will also die.
Notice the stakes of failure are now three times bigger and more important than just worrying if Luke himself might die? That’s the crucial point of increasing the risks to the hero as the story progresses while pulling the hero further away from their comfort zone. Again, imagine the hero climbing a ladder. The higher they climb, the further they get from their familiar world and the greater the risk should they fall.
“How to Craft a Great Story” by Chris Sykes can teach you more about telling a story but that ladder analogy was the most important idea that I personally got from the book. When reading other screenwriting books, search for at least one crucial nugget of gold that will help you. Not all books might give that to you, but every book can teach you something so keep reading and keep learning.
Remember, the best way to learn anything is through direct teaching from a master. Since that’s not always possible, the second best way to learn anything is through books. Such books give you insight into the minds of someone more knowledgable than you so you can learn from them even if that person is no longer alive.
Keep reading, keep writing, and keep practicing. As long as you pursue those three tasks, you’ll always get a little bit better every day.
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