5 Essential Screenwriting Tips from Stan Lee
Stan Lee created some of the most important and iconic characters of the past half-century: Spider-Man, Black Widow, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, or The Hulk are just some of the legends that came out of his unending imagination.
His amazing tales of heroes and villains have inspired and entertained millions around the world. Few authors, if any, have created so many memorable stories, his imprint on popular culture will last for generations to come.
Now that Avengers: Endgame is about to invade theaters around the world, I think it’s the perfect time to analyze the words of Stan Lee.
Let’s discover what made him so exceptional.
1)
“To my way of thinking, whether it’s a superhero movie or a romance or a comedy or whatever, the most important thing is you’ve got to care about the characters. You’ve got to understand the characters, and you’ve got to be interested. If the characters are interesting, you’re half-way home.” — Stan Lee.
Characters are the foundations of every story. They are the vehicles through which the audiences experience the story. Writers need to know how their characters work, what makes them attractive, and why the audience would want to spend time with them.
These comic-books have survived so long because of characters; we’ve had 7 Spider-Man films with an 8 one coming later this year, audiences are not flocking the cinema for the plot of each film, they all want to spend time with their old-pal Peter.
2)
“If you’re writing about a character, if he’s a powerful character, unless you give him vulnerability I don’t think he’ll be as interesting to the reader.” — Stan Lee.
Vulnerability is the key to empathy. Perfect is boring and annoying because we want to see characters change and grow; we want drama and conflict.
Daredevil is an excellent example of this, he has his physical vulnerability, his blindness, but then we get into his story, we discover his real vulnerability are his friends and family, which is a great paradox! because they are also the source of strength of his alter ego, Matt Murdock.
Matt Murdock is the vulnerability of Daredevil. That’s just high drama.
3)
“You just have to think up an interesting character, and an interesting problem, which it seems as though that character will never be able to solve, or a hurdle that he or she will never be able to overcome, and then you find a clever way for the hero to overcome it at the end.” — Stan Lee.
Character + Problem = Drama.
Writers have to be sadist with their characters. We need to put our heroes under the most challenging circumstances possible. Heroes are those who jump head first into conflicts which seem impossible to resolve, that’s what makes them valuable for us. They teach us bravery and resolve. That’s what makes them attractive.
Spider-Man always seems to be overpowered by his foes; that’s why his stories are so thrilling. Peter has to combine his powers, his wits, and his incredible courage to achieve the impossible, and defeat them.
4)
“I thought it would be fun to take the kind of character that nobody would like, none of our readers would like, and shove him down their throats and make them like him.” — Stan Lee.
This is why Marvel has vulnerable and relatable heroes, and DC has mythic gods.
Humans are not perfect, in fact, a lot of the bunch are downright unlikeable, but there might be something still redeemable in them, in us.
Tony Stark was a drunken arms dealer and a terrible womanizer, a despicable man who turned out to be one of Earth’s mightiest heroes.
5)
“To have an idea is the easiest thing in the world. Everybody has ideas. But you have to take that idea and make it into something people will respond to. That’s hard.” — Stan Lee.
And most important of all: Writers need to write and work on their ideas until they become something people will love and cherish.
Writing is like sculpting, I know you have that perfect idea in your head, but you need to put chisel against the stone so that others might see what you have in mind.
“Excelsior”— Stan Lee.
