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rebecca_oneil 's review for:
Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need
by Blake Snyder
My year of listening to the Harry Potter series has gotten me really interested in story structure. I stumbled on this series and, though it's about screenplays, not novels, it's got some really solid story and revision advice (regardless of the cheesiness of Blake Snyder's own scripts). I've thought repeatedly about 1) ALL STORIES ARE ABOUT TRANSFORMATION, and 2) his advice to make characters' drives primal: rooted in survival, hunger, sex, protection of loved ones, fear of death. This has changed how I look at compelling characters.
Favorite quotes:
In a sense, stories are ABOUT change. And the measuring stick that tells us who succeeds and who doesn’t is seen in the ability to change. Good guys are those who willingly accept change and see it as a positive force. Bad guys are those who refuse to change, who will curl up and die in their own juices, unable to move out of the rut their lives represent. To succeed in life is to be able to transform. That’s why it’s the basis not only of good storytelling but also the world’s best-known religions. Change is good because it represents re-birth, the promise of a fresh start.
The truth is that movies are so much about what happens that we must learn about characters by what they do, not by what they say. As in Life, character is revealed by action taken, not by words spoken.
Three acts: thesis, antithesis, synthesis
In many a well-told movie, the hero and the bad guy are very often two halves of the same person struggling for supremacy, and for that reason are almost equal in power and ability...And each has something the other wants...even if it’s just an answer to what makes them the way they are.
The trick is to create heroes who:
Offer the most conflict in that situation
Have the longest way to go emotionally
Are the most demographically pleasing
As writers we tend to be insular, introverted, and introspective. But if you want to sell your script, you have to sell yourself -- and I say this in the most healthy and positive sense. There is no crass salesmanship if you are genuinely interested in your subject.
If you are lucky enough to have a career, you will be bumping into these people again and again for years. So try not to burn any bridges, or at least try not to burn them all the way down.
When characters are not acting like human beings, when they are not being driven primally, odds are you are testing the patience of the audience. To ask “Is it primal?” is to ask “Is this relevant to a caveman?” The answer must be: Yes!
Favorite quotes:
In a sense, stories are ABOUT change. And the measuring stick that tells us who succeeds and who doesn’t is seen in the ability to change. Good guys are those who willingly accept change and see it as a positive force. Bad guys are those who refuse to change, who will curl up and die in their own juices, unable to move out of the rut their lives represent. To succeed in life is to be able to transform. That’s why it’s the basis not only of good storytelling but also the world’s best-known religions. Change is good because it represents re-birth, the promise of a fresh start.
The truth is that movies are so much about what happens that we must learn about characters by what they do, not by what they say. As in Life, character is revealed by action taken, not by words spoken.
Three acts: thesis, antithesis, synthesis
In many a well-told movie, the hero and the bad guy are very often two halves of the same person struggling for supremacy, and for that reason are almost equal in power and ability...And each has something the other wants...even if it’s just an answer to what makes them the way they are.
The trick is to create heroes who:
Offer the most conflict in that situation
Have the longest way to go emotionally
Are the most demographically pleasing
As writers we tend to be insular, introverted, and introspective. But if you want to sell your script, you have to sell yourself -- and I say this in the most healthy and positive sense. There is no crass salesmanship if you are genuinely interested in your subject.
If you are lucky enough to have a career, you will be bumping into these people again and again for years. So try not to burn any bridges, or at least try not to burn them all the way down.
When characters are not acting like human beings, when they are not being driven primally, odds are you are testing the patience of the audience. To ask “Is it primal?” is to ask “Is this relevant to a caveman?” The answer must be: Yes!