Developing Story Ideas

by Michael Rabiger

  Reading professional journals, websites, blogs, and e-zines is a good way to peer inside professional circles and absorb their concerns and discussion topics. When you need to pass as a professional, this is an excellent way of learning to walk the walk and talk the talk. Acting is not just for actors.

  Today there are so many useful texts and manuals, it is best to browse them online until you see what calls to you. Good book information can be found at websites like The Writers Store (www.writersstore.com), Amazon (www.amazon.com), or Barnes and Noble (www.barnesandnoble.com). The Writer’s Store has writing software and runs webinars. Amazon and Barnes & Noble often let you see chapter lists and sample text, and they also make it easy to find allied titles or books by a favorite author. For used copies at reasonable prices, try either Barnes & Noble’s used books, or the gargantuan Abebooks website at www.abebooks.com. Entering “screenwriting” as the search-engine keyword, I was offered 4,725 copies, with the first 50 priced under $2.00. Be aware however that bargains may be disfigured by annotations or hard wear, though I have always found copies as described.

  Useful books on adapting literature, documentary, and screenwriting are already listed at the end of the following chapters: Chapters 17 and 20, adapting short stories; Chapters 18 and 19, nonfiction and documentary; Chapter 21, screenwriting for the feature film.

  Legal

  Donaldson, Michael and Lisa Calif. Clearance & Copyright 4th Edition: Everything You Need to Know for Film and Television. Silman-James, 2014 (Protecting your work, and negotiating with others about theirs. Rights, releases, partnerships, registering copyright, fair use, and a whole lot of other heart-stopping issues).

  Theatre

  Dow, Jan Henson and Shannon Dow. Writing the Award-Winning Play. 2003.

  Dramatist’s Guild. The Dramatists Guild Resource Directory. 2012 (Good for help with submission procedures and the theatrical marketplace).

  Garrison, Gary. A More Perfect Ten: Playwriting and Producing the 10-Minute Play. 2008 (The short play is an excellent way to break in).

  Gooch, Steve. Writing a Play. 2001.

  Hall, Roger A. Writing Your First Play. 1998.

  Hart, Anne. How to Write Plays, Monologues, or Skits from Life Stories, Social Issues, or Current Events. 2004 (A good accessory for anyone working in soap opera, comedy, or theatre that is political and/or satirical—all genres that keep a weather eye on current events).

  Hatcher, Jeffrey. The Art and Craft of Playwriting. 2000.

  MacLoughlin, Shaun. Writing for Radio: How to Write Plays, Features, and Short Stories That Get You on Air. 2001 (National Public Radio has stations all over the USA making radio features and documentaries, as does the BBC in England, and the CBC in Canada—to name but a few).

  McLaughlin, Buzz. The Playwright’s Process: Learning the Craft from Today’s Dramatists. 1997.

  Packard, William. Art of the Playwright: Creating the Magic of the Theatre. 1987.

  Polsky, Milton. You Can Write a Play! 2002.

  Sossaman, Stephen. Writing Your First Play. 2000.

  Sweet, Jeffrey. The Dramatist’s Toolkit: The Craft of the Working Playwright. 1993.

  Wright, Michael. Playwriting in Process: Thinking and Working Theatrically. 2009.

  Prose Fiction

  The barriers to writing prose fiction are less obviously technical than writing for film and theatre, but this is surely misleading. The number of texts available to would-be fiction-writers is truly enormous and can be grouped by genre and aim. Here anyway are some books chosen by area that cater to the self-directed writer. You can infinitely enlarge this selection by entering keywords describing your particular interest in the bookseller’s search engine.

  Bell, James Scott and Writer’s Digest editors. Crafting Novels & Short Stories: The Complete Guide to Writing Great Fiction. 2012.

  Browne, Renni and Dave King. Self Editing for Fiction Writers. 2004 (Full of excellent advice from two professional editors).

  Dils, Tracey E. You Can Write Children’s Books. 2009.

  Frey, James N. The Key: How to Write Damn Good Fiction Using the Power of Myth. 2002.

  Gotham Writers’ Workshop editor. Writing Fiction: The Practical Guide from New York’s Acclaimed Creative Writing School. 2003.

  Grafton, Sue (Editor), Writing Mysteries: A Handbook by the Mystery Writers of America. 2002.

  Highsmith, Patricia. Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction. 2001 (A rarity, a how-to by a foremost practitioner).

  LaPlante, Alice. The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing. 2010.

  Lukeman, Noah T. The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile. 2005.

  Maass, Donald. The Career Novelist: A Literary Agent Offers Strategies for Success. 1996.

  Michaels, Leigh. On Writing Romance: How to Craft a Novel That Sells. 2007 (The author should know: she has published more than one hundred books).

  New York Writers Workshop. The Portable MFA in Creative Writing. 2006.

  North, Audra. The Romance Writer’s Self-Publishing How-to Handbook. 2014 (For those interested in pursuing the self-publishing route).

  Roberts, Gillian. You Can Write a Mystery. 1999.

  Seuling, Barbara. How to Write a Children’s Book and Get It Published. 2004.

  Shepard, Aaron. The Business of Writing for Children: An Award-Winning Author’s Tips on Writing and Publishing Children’s Books, or How to Write, Publish, and Promote a Book for Kids. 2000.

  Vinyard, Rebecca. Romance Writer’s Handbook: How to Write Romantic Fiction and Get It Published. 2004.

  Whitely, Carol and Barry Littmann. Everything Creative Writing Book: All You Need to Know to Write a Novel, Short Story, Screenplay, Poem, or Article. 2002.

  Index

  Note: page numbers in italics indicate figures.

  Academy Award 179

  Across the Bridge 136

  act 12, 68

  action vs. words 87–8, 104, 130, 134; example of 86–7

  active expectation 135

  active vs. passive voice 39–40, 83, 84

  actor-centered generative method 177, 179, 180

  adaptation 108–9, 128–31; example of 109–10, 111–12, 113–15, 131–2, 136, 206

  Adaptation 206

  agency 39–40

  agenda of character 49–50, 61, 69, 181; see dramatic problem

  Altman, Robert 141

  analogy 170, 199

  Anna Karenina 195

  antagonist 128, 129, 161; example of 57, 91, 92, 149

  Apted, Michael 20, 21

  archetypes 52, 57–8, 72, 93, 119, 122, 126; see also character, development of

  Arquette, Patricia 179

  Art and Fear 19

  art as therapy 14–15

  artistic identity 3, 17, 20, 22–3, 183, 185, 189

  As I Lay Dying 84

  audience role 4, 73, 84, 85, 112–13, 198

  Auster, Paul 183

  author role 4, 73

  authorial point of view 151; see also point of view

  author’s rights 81

  Bach, Johann Sebastian 16

  backstory 30, 31, 54, 61, 62, 110, 156, 194, 195; example of 92, 99, 148, 156; see also character, development of

  Baer, Peter 16

  Baum, L. Frank 14

  Bergman, Ingmar 141, 179, 180, 182

  Bierce, Ambrose 151

  Birth of a Nation 173

  blocking 101

  Bonnie and Clyde 158

  Boyhood 179, 182

  Brontë, Emily 132

  Butor, Michel 192

  Campbell, Joseph 52, 116–7, 127

  Camus, Albert 115

  Capa, Robert 137, 138

  Capture of Spotted Horse, The 45

  Cassavetes, John 141, 179, 180, 182

  catharsis 152

  Cather, Willa 136

  character-driven drama 63–5, 201

  characters 10–11, 37, 77, 153; active vs. passive 39–40; development of 37–8, 54�
�6, 69, 70, 75–6, 131, 133, 145, 146, 153; dramatic problem of 46–7, 131; flat vs. round 57, 119; point of view of 39, 57–9, 68, 74–6

  cinema 4, 14, 16, 84, 88, 113, 119, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 136, 139, 177, 179, 192, 195, 202, 203, 207

  Citizen Kane 170

  climax see crisis

  CLOSAT 10–12, 30–1, 36–7, 41, 80; see also act; character; location; object; situation; theme

  clustering 22

  Cold Mountain 174, 175

  collaboration 5, 16, 30, 32, 177, 182, 203; and film 177

  “collective unconscious” 57

  Collins, Wilkie 67–8, 145

  Columbus, Chris 190

  comedy 32, 50, 52, 64, 113, 134, 152, 153, 158, 160, 162–3, 171; black 65; example of 58, 154–9, 159–62, 181–2, 206; slapstick 200

  complications 51, 52, 67, 69, 70, 78, 112–13, 171–2, 197; example of 87

  conflict 14, 26, 69, 74, 76, 179, 181, 190, 191–2, 194, 196; example of 91, 123, 149, 155; see also story elements

  confrontation see crisis

  connotation 22, 38, 181; example of 100

  Constant Forge, A 179

  context 38, 101, 143, 146, 194

  “contract” 68, 195, 196

  Copenhagen 207

  Coppola, Francis Ford 210

  Crane, Hart 136

  creating characters 7, 54; see also character, development of

  creative tension 187

  credibility 52–3, 130, 153, 158

  crisis 50–1, 52, 67, 70, 78, 85, 86, 92, 93, 95, 119, 131, 134, 139, 144–5, 153, 161, 162, 165, 197; example of 86, 87, 89–90, 91, 92, 137, 142, 161

  critic role 4, 73, 84, 85

  Dada movement 119

  Davis, Andrew 193

  Dean, James 58–9

  Death of a Salesman 207

  delay, as storytelling technique 145

  denotation 38

  development 5, 8, 14, 36, 37–8, 39, 46, 50, 56, 69, 70, 75–80, 112, 131, 134, 136, 146, 158–9, 162, 164, 182, 187, 191; see also dramatic problem

  “devised theatre” 177, 182

  Dickens, Charles 63–4, 172

  “Dîner de Cons, Le” 133–5

  Dinner Game, The 134–5, 135

  displacement 20, 84; example of 64

  documentary: action in 143, 144; character-driven 146; characters in 145, 146; conflict in 145; confrontation in 144–5; context 143, 146; dramatic tension 144, 199; examples of 143, 147; interview in 143, 144; manipulation in 144; planning 142; observational 142; participatory 142; point of view in 145, 147; proposal for 207; research for 141–2; three-act structure in 148; types of 146; voice-over in 144; see also objectivity, myth of

  Don’t Look Now 136, 192, 192

  “Doralice” 108

  drama 46–7, 51, 52, 64, 68, 70, 73, 74, 75, 87, 93, 100, 135, 137, 144, 169, 196, 197; example of 50; family 23; graphing 70; see also character-driven drama; plot-driven drama

  dramatic arc see dramaturgy

  dramatic delivery system 75–6

  dramatic problem 46–7, 75, 131

  dramatic tension 50, 119, 144

  dramatic unit 52

  dramaturgy 50–3, 62, 63, 70

  dream journal 9, 93, 118–19

  “dream” sequence 190

  editorializing 110

  embellishment 103; example of 106

  emblem 170; example of 170

  empathy 91, 130

  “Encounter, An” 131–2

  Enrico, Robert 151

  excess baggage 197–8

  exposition see setup

  Eyre, Chris 197

  fable see folktale

  Faces 179

  fairy tale 100–1, 117, 126

  falling action see dramaturgy

  family drama 23

  farce 98, 156; example of 97–8

  Farmer’s Wife, The 142

  Faulkner, William 84, 129, 136

  fear, overcoming 8, 20, 24, 187

  feature film: examples of 165–9; shopping list of sequences 168–9

  feedback 79–80, 84–5, 198

  fiction 8, 15, 177

  figurative language 170

  film noir 113

  first person: example of 86–7, 131–2

  “Fisherman’s Wife, The” 62–3, 65, 68

  Fitzgerald, F. Scott 136

  folk story see folktale

  folktale 50, 58, 76, 93, 106–7, 108, 116, 119, 157, 185

  foreshadowing 115–16

  Forrest Gump, 58, 58

  Forster, E. M. 57

  Fowles, John 40–1

  Frayn, Michael 207

  Frazier, Charles 174, 175

  French Lieutenant’s Woman, The 40, 40–1

  Fugitive, The 193, 193

  genre 53, 65–6, 74, 76, 77, 113, 153, 156, 158, 160, 162, 163, 165, 185, 186, 194–5, 199, 202

  givens see backstory

  Go-Between, The 64–5, 65, 66

  Godard, Jean-Luc 135, 141

  “God’s POV” 190; see also point of view, omniscient

  “Good Country People” 70

  Graduate, The 49

  Grapes of Wrath, The 136, 171

  Greene, Grahame 136

  Griffith, D. W. 172, 173

  Guzman, Patricio 143, 143

  Happy-Go-Lucky 181, 182

  Hardy, Thomas 67, 99

  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 190

  Hartley, L. P. 64

  Hawthorne, Nathaniel 136

  Hecate 107

  Hemingway, Ernest 136

  Heraclitus 116

  Hero with a Thousand Faces, The 116–17

  hero/heroine see protagonist

  hero’s journey 52, 57, 116–17, 123–4, 158

  Hero’s Journey, The 116

  high art vs. low art 199–200

  Hitchcock, Alfred 136

  hook see “contract”

  Hugo, Victor 15

  ideation 3, 6, 16, 83, 182, 201

  identification 49–50, 59

  “imagination” sequence 190

  improvisation 8, 28–9, 30, 31, 36, 37, 39, 141, 177, 181

  Incident at Oglala, 20, 21

  inciting moment 50–1, 52, 60

  inner eye 56, 83, 84, 85

  “intensity meter” 197

  “It Had to Be Murder” 136

  James, Henry 136

  Jetée, La 151, 152

  Jonze, Spike 206

  Joyce, James 129, 131–2

  Jung, Carl 57, 127

  juxtaposition 40, 58, 101, 119, 191, 194, 202, 203; example of 98–100, 102, 143

  Kaufman, Charlie 206

  Kimbrell, Marketa 19

  King Arthur 103, 106, 177

  King, Rodney 111

  Korty, John 136

  Kubler-Ross stages of loss 160

  legend 50, 58, 93, 100, 106, 108, 116, 157, 177, 185; example of 109–11

  Leigh, Mike 141, 181–2

  leitmotif 99

  Lesser, Margaret Powell 26–7, 27

  Levi, Primo 14

  linear story line see story structure, chronological

  Linklater, Richard (Rick) 49, 179

  “Little Red Riding Hood” 68, 71–2

  location 10–1, 30, 36; example of 11, 35

  Lynch, David 190

  McClaren, Norman 151

  Madame Bovary 136

  Marker, Chris 151, 152

  Maslow’s hierarchy 61

  Maurier, Daphne du 136

  Mayor of Casterbridge, The 67

  medium 7, 8, 32, 40, 75, 130, 131, 174, 198, 199, 201, 202

  Melville, Herman 5

  memoir 84, 140, 177

  memory 23, 27, 38, 77, 83, 84, 85, 91, 93, 144, 152, 190, 193; use of 86–7

  “memory” sequence 190

  metaphor 93, 119, 170, 171, 194, 199, 203

  Miller, Arthur 172, 207

  Miller, Henry 183

  “moment of vision” 13

  momentum 39, 51, 67, 70, 196

  montage 101, 197
; example of 160; see also juxtaposition

  moral forces 57, 162, 165

  morality tale 57, 107, 108, 112, 113, 134, 153, 155, 158, 187

  Morris, Errol 143

  motif 99; example of 98–9

  Mulholland Drive 190, 191

  multiple endings 108, 143, 197–8, 198

  multiple points of view 58, 100, 103, 104, 190

  Music School, The 136

  Musical Offering 16

  myth 58, 93, 100–1, 106–7, 108, 109, 115–16, 119, 125, 152, 157, 177, 185

  Myth of Sisyphus 115

  Naked 182

  narrative 22, 36, 45, 52, 61, 68, 73, 74, 93, 101, 106, 111, 119, 122, 129, 134, 148, 151, 152, 192, 194, 195, 198, 199, 203, 206

  narrative archetypes 122

  narrative compression 172

  narrative intention 75–6

  narrative movement see dramaturgy

  narrative perspective see point of view

  narrative tension see dramaturgy

  narrative tropes 116

  narrative voice 132; see also point of view

  narrative, chronological see story structure, chronological

  narrative, nonchronological see story structure, nonchronological

  narrator: example of 131–2; unreliable 39, 58 see also point of view

  Neighbours 151

  news file 9

  nonfiction 8, 15, 177, 211

  nonlinear story line see story structure, nonchronological

  Nostalgia for the Light 143, 143

  nouvelle vague 192

  novel 4, 7, 68, 70, 75, 94, 164, 172, 195, 201, 206, 209–10; self-published 210

  object 10, 11; see CLOSAT

  objectivity, myth of 139, 194

  Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, An 151, 192

  O’Connor, Flannery 70, 136

  Oliver Twist 63–4, 64, 66

  omniscient point of view 68, 172, 190

  oral tradition 95, 103, 106, 108

  Orchid Thief 206

  originality 6–7, 153, 165

  outcome see resolution