Last Sunday I attended an excellent writers workshop. The California Writers Club, Southbay Branch hosted and James Dalessandro led. Too information rich to perform a total brain dump here, but some highlights were:
- You’re allowed one big lie in any story, but the rest has to be logical.
- Take the movie Big. The lie: a 13 year old boy has his wish fulfilled and becomes a 30 year old man. The rest of the movie: A logical presentation of a 13 year old trapped in a 30 year old body.
- The main character needs two problems: internal and external
- Take Star Wars. Luke Skywalker has an external problem of saving the Universe, and the internal struggle that he has to fight his dad to do so. External: be a hero. Internal: “But I just want my daddy back.”
- Keep adding tension
- You can write anything you want about the famous and the dead.
- If you do really write about the famous, make sure that the person is really famous
- People remember the last thing they hear. Put the most important information last
- Remind people, through character dialog, about open plot threads
- Humor is your greatest ally. You don’t have to ever use it, but no story is too dark that it couldn’t benefit from a moment of lightness.
Comment (1)
Sounds like a great workshop.