One common mistake writers make when coming up with a story is they focus solely on the plot. Even if you have the most original idea, plot alone can only work on a simplistic level. Once people have seen the plot, they’re far less likely to want to see it again. Compare that with classic […]

Dialogue is always meant to enhance what we see, not replace it. Don’t use dialogue to explain everything to the audience because it comes across as phony and contrived, like villains explaining their entire plan to the hero at the end, which becomes a boring monologue where nothing happens. Any time there’s dialogue, look for […]

The biggest mistake writers make is to start writing a scene before they understand the structure of that scene. The end result is a weak, diluted, placid scene that excites nobody. The characters feel one-dimensional, the dialogue sounds phony and forced, and the entire direction of the scene feels aimless and rudderless.   The key […]

Every bad movie starts out with a good idea. The problem is that the story often fails to follow through on that good idea and degenerates into a series of mindless action that’s meant to titillate an audience without actually telling a compelling story. Here are some bad movies to study: The 355 Mortal Engines […]

Here’s the most common mistake novices make in writing a screenplay. They try to tell a story. While you might think telling a story is the whole purpose of a screenplay, it’s not. The purpose of a screenplay is to draw in an audience and let them figure out for themselves what’s going on. When […]

In sports, there’s something known as cross training where people practice other types of exercises to help them get better at the sport they want to pursue. For example boxers may jog to increase stamina while swimmers may lift weights to increase arm strength. In the writing world, it’s important to study other forms of […]

A memorable screenplay means that every scene and every character must be memorable from page one to the final fade out. So when writing your scenes, focus on characters and location. The characters are the people in a scene, but they must exist in a specific location and have a reason to be at that […]

When writing a screenplay, you must create a story and then tell that story. Where most novices go wrong is that they try to tell a story before they know what’s going on, which is a recipe for failure since you’ll likely run out of ideas long before you even reach the halfway point of […]

Watch a bad James Bond movie and it’s all mindless action. There’s only so much car crashes, gunfire, and explosions you can watch before it gets boring and meaningless. That’s why every great story needs both physical and emotional conflict. Physical conflict is easy to create by just having fights, helicopter crashes, and explosions everywhere. […]

In the book “The Science of Storytelling”, author Will Storr emphasizes what makes a dramatic story. It’s not about random action or conflict, but about character. The hero is always in conflict with him or herself. That’s because in the beginning of the story, the hero has a certain way of looking at the world. […]