Read Online Romantic Screenplays 101 by Sally J. Walker - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Sally J. Walker
Tags: Romance, nonfiction, Reference, Writing, Writing; Research & Publishing Guides, Writing Skills
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melodrama. Too much. Audience overload. The same goes for imagery. When the image has made the point of Arctic cold or Stock Exchange chaos, move on to the next logical thought association for the audience.
Give your audience (and studio reader) credit for a degree of intelligence. Our Information/Technological Age has developed a taste for intriguing entertainment. The public does not want lecture. They want guessing games about the actions of characters who have taken on a life of their own. Develop the characters and the story with drama’s vivid events to the point of memorable impact then move on. The result will be fast-paced, credible story reality, be it a children’s story or a sedate romance.
Is it Relevant?
Tension builds with relevance, with the audience mentally asking the question “What does it mean to the rest of the story?” Melodrama prolongs the moment until the audience can predict the effect and loses respect for the character. They don’t believe the character would say something so inane nor do something so illogical. “Stupid is as stupid does.”
Every scene, every piece of dialogue needs to be 1) the result of what came before in the story line known to the audience (or what they will find out), 2) consistent with the character’s motivation, and 3) necessary to the logical flow of story events to follow.
Again, melodrama will result when the audience is overloaded with more intensity and emotional display than the story event and characterization warrants.
Whenever there is any sort of emotional outburst (or visible loss of emotional control) in your story, ask yourself why it is necessary to depict. What will happen later in the story where you can use this? In A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN, the alcoholic Peaches coach (Tom Hanks) rips into one of his fielders and makes her cry then rants “There’s no crying in baseball!” This is a set-up for when that player repeats the mistake in the crucial game and he quivers with exaggerated control, merely telling her “We’ll have to work on that.” In THE COWBOYS, we watch two bulls going head-to-head as the herd is rounded up for the trail drive. Wil Andersen (John Wayne) explains to his crew of youngsters how sometimes the young bull wins because he’s stronger, quicker, but this time the old bull won because he has the experience. This was a succinct set-up for Plot Point II when Andersen wins a fist fight against the younger Bruce Dern character then endures being shot piece by piece to let Dern expend his vicious temper on him rather than on the boys. No melodrama of excess and both examples totally logical to story and characters. Both were uniquely interesting, even riveting.
Is it Riveting?
Good storytelling operates in an ebb-and-flow of tension. The audience must always be in the story, vicariously living it with the characters. For the illusion’s reality to be maintained the audience must see, feel, hear all the relevant data as the character is made aware. Keeping the rubber band of mental tension pulled taut is as dangerous a form of melodrama as is clichéd characterizations.
Riveting story means credibly enthralling. The audience forgets the theatre and life beyond. They live the story with the characters.
It would be wonderfully gratifying if this level of storytelling happened every time you sat down to write. That is not going to happen. However, you can work at it with awareness of how to control your own form of exaggeration, how to pace the revelation of character motivation, where to allow the audience glimpses and where to let them wallow in the forces driving your characters. Riveting doesn’t mean physical tension. It means mentally focused.
You can achieve this in one word: Planning. Consider what you want each character to depict. What will be subtle and what will be intense about each one’s demeanor? How will each character’s personal agenda impact the main plot line or the main characters? What
Give your audience (and studio reader) credit for a degree of intelligence. Our Information/Technological Age has developed a taste for intriguing entertainment. The public does not want lecture. They want guessing games about the actions of characters who have taken on a life of their own. Develop the characters and the story with drama’s vivid events to the point of memorable impact then move on. The result will be fast-paced, credible story reality, be it a children’s story or a sedate romance.
Is it Relevant?
Tension builds with relevance, with the audience mentally asking the question “What does it mean to the rest of the story?” Melodrama prolongs the moment until the audience can predict the effect and loses respect for the character. They don’t believe the character would say something so inane nor do something so illogical. “Stupid is as stupid does.”
Every scene, every piece of dialogue needs to be 1) the result of what came before in the story line known to the audience (or what they will find out), 2) consistent with the character’s motivation, and 3) necessary to the logical flow of story events to follow.
Again, melodrama will result when the audience is overloaded with more intensity and emotional display than the story event and characterization warrants.
Whenever there is any sort of emotional outburst (or visible loss of emotional control) in your story, ask yourself why it is necessary to depict. What will happen later in the story where you can use this? In A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN, the alcoholic Peaches coach (Tom Hanks) rips into one of his fielders and makes her cry then rants “There’s no crying in baseball!” This is a set-up for when that player repeats the mistake in the crucial game and he quivers with exaggerated control, merely telling her “We’ll have to work on that.” In THE COWBOYS, we watch two bulls going head-to-head as the herd is rounded up for the trail drive. Wil Andersen (John Wayne) explains to his crew of youngsters how sometimes the young bull wins because he’s stronger, quicker, but this time the old bull won because he has the experience. This was a succinct set-up for Plot Point II when Andersen wins a fist fight against the younger Bruce Dern character then endures being shot piece by piece to let Dern expend his vicious temper on him rather than on the boys. No melodrama of excess and both examples totally logical to story and characters. Both were uniquely interesting, even riveting.
Is it Riveting?
Good storytelling operates in an ebb-and-flow of tension. The audience must always be in the story, vicariously living it with the characters. For the illusion’s reality to be maintained the audience must see, feel, hear all the relevant data as the character is made aware. Keeping the rubber band of mental tension pulled taut is as dangerous a form of melodrama as is clichéd characterizations.
Riveting story means credibly enthralling. The audience forgets the theatre and life beyond. They live the story with the characters.
It would be wonderfully gratifying if this level of storytelling happened every time you sat down to write. That is not going to happen. However, you can work at it with awareness of how to control your own form of exaggeration, how to pace the revelation of character motivation, where to allow the audience glimpses and where to let them wallow in the forces driving your characters. Riveting doesn’t mean physical tension. It means mentally focused.
You can achieve this in one word: Planning. Consider what you want each character to depict. What will be subtle and what will be intense about each one’s demeanor? How will each character’s personal agenda impact the main plot line or the main characters? What
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