I hope you had a great New Year Celebration. I did! Dinner and dancing with friends, and a New Year’s Margarita!
Between Monday being the first day of 2018, and the snow, it’s been an intense week. I’m still getting up to speed!
The issue in all of the scripts I’ve worked on this week is that the main character is not actively solving his/her own problems.
The cure for this is to understand that the hero or heroine is often defending the Status Quo, and so will avoid taking strong action as long as possible. Since this is the situation, you must introduce a catalyst to force the main character to act, and you can use the Villain or Obstacle’s want to drive the story forward.
The Interview Your Character exercise:
1. Set a timer for 10 minutes.
2. Write as if you were the main character, and describe in the first person how you’d like your life to be.
3. Reset timer for 10 minutes
4. Write as if you’re the villain or obstacle and describe in the first person, about how you’d like your life to be, and what needs to happen for things to change.
5. You’ll quickly see that it’s the villain or obstacle that wants to upset the Status Quo.
6. Redo the exercise, setting the timer for 5 minutes. From each character’s point of view, write about what they will do to get what they want.
Here’s to your successful writing!
Professor Marilyn Horowitz
