Write the Damn Thing!

DAY 22

Happy Monday!

I know most of you are busy writing so I won’t take much of your time. Remember, we have a facebook group for all of you who’d like to share your progress and your thoughts. It’s good to see what other people are doing and struggling with. It gives you perspective, you might even learn something. Give it a try.

Key aspect of screenwriting: Defeats and loses.

So this is something I’ve discovered with my own early writing. A lot of us have trouble creating loses and hardships for our main character because we are using the story as a wish-fulfillment escapist fantasy, instead of a drama directed at an audience outside ourselves.

It makes sense. After all, we are the first member of our audience. We started writing to keep ourselves entertained. We concocted these fantasies and self-identified with the main character, so everything goes peachy perfect for them, because secretly we want to be him or her.

We have to drop that idea, fast. We’re not our main character. We, as writers, need to be able to step into their shoes if we need too, but we mustn’t forget the big picture. The overarching drama. The character must face challenges, and they must be tough. Very tough.

They must lose so they can learn. They must learn if they are to grow.

For there to be some sort of personal reflection, the character must not obtain the objective and reassess the strategy.

Don’t be afraid. Be a sadist. You are not your character. You are an evil demiurge, the architect of pain and hardships, for the entertainment of an audience!

Day 22 task:

Keep writing that 3rd Act. Be ruthless. Write 2 or 3 more pages.

That’s all for today folks.

Happy writing!

You can find the previous post here.