Screenplay structure: why film needs different architecture
You know three-act structure. Every screenwriting book starts there. But understanding why film stories are structured differently from novels matters more…
Posts tagged: craft
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Dealing with imposter syndrome
Every writer I know has felt it. The conviction that you don't belong. That the things you've written are fraudulent, or lucky, or about to be found out. That…
Your villain believes they're right
The best villains in fiction don't think of themselves as villains. They have a worldview. A logic. A set of values that, from inside their own perspective,…
Unreliable narrators in SFF
There's a thrill in realising you've been lied to by the person telling you the story. When it clicked that the voice you trusted was pulling a fast one on…
Killing your characters: when, why, and how
Character deaths are powerful. They can be the emotional high point of a story — or they can feel cheap, manipulative, and pointless. The difference is in…
Visual storytelling
Film is a visual medium. This sounds obvious, but the implications for how you write a screenplay are profound. Everything in your screenplay must be visible.…
How to fix a saggy middle
You started strong. The opening crackles with energy. The characters are vivid, the premise is gripping, the stakes are clear. Then you hit the middle, and…
Agency
Agency, in terms of character and plot, is something that has always been something of a mystery to me. So when my editor flagged that sometimes my characters…
The gap
There's a phase in every writer's development that almost nobody warns you about. Ira Glass described it better than anyone: “All of us who do creative work,…
Screenplay dialogue: the art of less
In prose, dialogue can meander. Characters can talk the way real people talk — with tangents, repetitions, verbal tics, circling around points before making…