For those of you who have been following my Twitter and searching my hashtag #ss250, you may have experienced my disappointment last night. Script after script failed to come anywhere close to impressing me. And while there were different reasons for different scripts, I have started to notice a trend.
Writers will write a really intriguing opening scene that ropes the reader in, but then when they get past that scene, they bore the reader to fucking pieces. Pardon my French, but it’s happened so much that I’ve lost my marbles. And here’s what I think is happening. The opening scene doesn’t require any structure. There is nothing required of you other than to write something cool, shocking, mysterious, etc. Since it’s fairly easy to do that, no one has trouble with this scene (well, almost no one).
The second this scene is over, every writer goes into this dated Blake Snyder 1996 Beat Sheet Perfect 3-Act Structure Mode. They show absolutely no interest in trying to hide this. They might as well write above their scene: “This is the scene where my main character saves the cat.” “This is the scene where I establish my main character’s flaw.” “This is the scene where my protagonist encounters the inciting incident.”
Guys, the whole point of structure is to help you write the script. Structure should never be present ON THE ACTUAL PAGE. It should be invisible. The second people start understanding what it is you’re doing, suspension of disbelief is eliminated and you’ve lost the reader. So instead of following some page-dependent ancient structural paradigm, just focus on the main story beats (end of act 1, character goes on their journey, middle of act 2, mid-point twist, end of act 2, hero at his lowest point).
But within each act, play more. Be less predictable. Your only job is to make the reader want to keep turning the pages. To do that, just keep dangling story carrots out there. Questions that the reader will want answered. It doesn’t matter how you do this, as long as you do it. Structure is your friend. But it’s just as bad if you’re a slave to it as if you don’t use it at all.
Here’s to hoping tomorrow’s scripts fare better!
