Story Structure

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“Downsizing” – Bold Idea, Big Disappointment

January 16, 2018

“Downsizing” has one of the most original ideas for a story. The basic idea is that to avoid problems of overpopulation, a Norwegian scientist has...

Writing Dialogue – Listening to What’s Not Being Said

January 13, 2018

Turn off the sound on a good movie and just by watching the action, you can figure out most of the story. That’s because dialogue...

What Went Wrong with “Blade Runner 2049”?

January 10, 2018

If you read the reviews of “Blade Runner 2049,” it should have been a great movie. The huge problem with this movie is that while...

All Bad Guys Must Die

January 7, 2018

What makes an ending emotionally satisfying is seeing all the bad guys get what they deserve. In action movies, this usually means all the villains...

Defining the Plot

January 4, 2018

When you start off with an idea for a screenplay, you probably have no story. An idea is a starting point but isn’t a complete...

The Beginning Mirrors the End (and Vice Versa)

January 1, 2018

Every story is about change and the simplest way to identify your story’s change is to define the beginning and ending of your story. The...

Focus on the Hero’s Fear

December 29, 2017

Every character has a fear. The hero has a dream but is blocked by fear. To achieve this dream, the hero must learn to become...

Man vs. Nature, Man, and Self

December 26, 2017

Every story is about conflict and that conflict comes from a villain. It’s easy to see that the villain might be a person such as...

Turn the Hero Into the Villain

December 22, 2017

Once you know who your hero is, you automatically know who your villain is. That’s because your villain is the anti-hero but stronger and more...

The Four Parts to Changing the Hero

December 19, 2017

Take a 120-minute movie and divide it into four equal 30-minute parts. Then each part tells the story about the hero as the hero gradually...

About Wallace Wang

First place winner in Scriptapalooza’s 2023 screenwriting competition for the supernatural horror screenplay titled “Nightmares From a Past Life”. Author of “The 15 Minute Movie Method”, “Story Starter”, and “Writing Scenes for Screenplays” in addition to over 50 computer books. Writer of “Three of a Kind”, a situation comedy produced by San Diego State University’s film class that won a student Emmy award. Designer of the board game “Orbit War”, published by Steve Jackson Games, that simulates satellite warfare in the near future.