Screenwriting Tricks for Authors (and Screenwriters!): STEALING HOLLYWOOD: Story Structure Secrets for Writing Your BEST Book

ACT ONE CLIMAX · 30 minutes into a 2-hour movie, 100 pages into a 400-page book. Adjust proportions according to length of book. · We have all the information and have met all the characters we need to know what the story is going to be about. · The Central Question is set up, and often is set up by the action of the act climax itself. We know the

· Mysterious Stranger or Traveling Angel (Mary Poppins, Shane, the Reacher books, Nanny McPhee, KPAX) · Three Brothers (The Godfather, The Deerhunter, Mystic River) · Reluctant Witness (Witness, Conspiracy Theory, Someone to Watch Over Me) · Wartime Romance (Casablanca, From Here to Eternity, Gone with the Wind) · High School Sleuth (Brick, Twiligh

· ASSIGNMENT: You guessed it — make a list of your favorite or memorable Inciting Incidents and/or Calls To Adventure from your favorite movies and books.

ASSIGNMENT: Take your list of top ten best endings of movies and books, and write down specifically, in detail, what it is about those endings that really does it for you. · ASSIGNMENT: What is your hero/ine’s greatest nightmare? How can you bring that to life in your final battle scene? · ASSIGNMENT: what is the Castle that your hero/ine must stor

ASSIGNMENT: As a writer, it’s important for you to know yourself and understand what works best for you. So I urge you to spend some time pondering, and writing on this question: are you a plotter or pantser? What are your process quirks?

Remember that in a love story, the moment of seeing the loved one for the first time does not just begin the inner — or sometimes outer! — desire, but it’s often also the INCITING INCIDENT and/or CALL TO ADVENTURE of the story. So next, let’s look at that critical story element. · ASSIGNMENT: Brainstorm — or be on the lookout for — examples of how

ASSIGNMENT: Start a list. What are some specific genre elements you’ve noticed — in any genre?

· ASSIGNMENT: Create a section in your notebook, and write out and begin looking for your favorite examples of character introductions.

· ASSIGNMENT: Make a list. What are some of your favorite examples of stories which use this Ordinary World/Special World contrast to great effect? · ASSIGNMENT: How are you depicting your hero/ine’s Ordinary World and Special World to bring out character, character arc, and the themes of your story?