Happy Saturday!
I enjoy Valentine’s Day and when I saw this image, I was intrigued. I wondered what my main character would write to his significant other? “Be my valentine,” “ I love you,” or ” I love you in the daytime but at night I have other plans…”
In a half-hour sitcom, this last statement could be wildly misinterpreted and make for much hilarity. You could even use this confusing message as the set up for a feature length romantic comedy.
The pitch would be: When the hero gives his girlfriend/wife this Valentine’s Day card, is he telling her he loves her or letting her know there’s someone else in his life?
I enjoy tantalizing myself with set ups like this, and to practice imagining how the story might turn out. Endlessly making up well-structured stories is the best way to improve your craft. What would your version of this potential story be?
My valentine to you, dear readers, is the following technique for quickly developing a story.
The biggest question is: How does the story get started? And the answer is another question: Whose story is it?
By answering these questions, you can build a basic but solid structure for your screenplay or TV script.
In my book, The Four Magic Questions of Screenwriting, we ask the questions of the hero/heroine, and the villain/obstacle.
The 4 Magic Questions are:
1. What is the main character’s dream?
2. What is main character’s nightmare?
3. Who or what would they “die” for?
4. What is the resolution of the dream?
In my writing system, we divide the story into four equal length parts. Each part answers the corresponding Magic Question:
Act 1: What is the main character’s dream?
Act 2, part 1: What is main character’s nightmare?
Act 2, part 2: Who or what would they “die” for?
Act 3: What is the resolution of the dream?
I have found that often, the hero of heroine is concerned with maintaining the Status Quo. For example, in the recent film, The Shape Of Water, Richard’s (Michael Shannon) hatred of his captive, The Amphibian Man, is what drives the story. In the beginning, Sally (Elisa Esposito) is a passive figure, just trying to keep her job.
A hero or heroine needs a strong desire to drive a story. For example, in the recent film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Mildred (Frances McDormand) drives the story with her need to revenge her daughter’s murder.
If you used the 4 Magic Questions to create these characters, the answers might be:
For Richard:
1. Understand how the Amphibian Man “works.”
2. Can’t understand him.
3. Would “die” to understand.
4. Fails to understand, and Amphibian Man escapes.
For Mildred:
1. Revenge her daughter’s death.
2. Fail to catch the killer.
3. She would “die” to find the killer.
4. She may or may not have found him, but she is freed from her murderous rage.
The 4MQS help you discover which character drives the story, so it ‘s much simpler to then build a good one.
The next steps can be found in my book, How To Write A Screenplay in 10 Weeks.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Here’s to your successful writing!
Professor Marilyn Horowitz
