Daintykeith - KEITH'S CORNER

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THE BASICS OF STORY PLANNING - introduction

"THE BASICS OF STORY PLANNING" is based in a screenwriting seminar by Dany Campo, A writer of cinema and advertising, analyst of scripts for movie producers and also independent producers and finally a scriptwriting teacher in various colleges and on his Youtube channel, and also by a seminar I gave in the writing Discord server “Whisper Of Words”.

This seminar will focus on the basics of story planning and the elements that conforms it.

Now, how can this help you improve your writing? Aren't these too obvious? Well, it's no secret that these things are known to most but not for everyone, and it's so easy to make a mistake in one of the essential elements that can it make your work hard to understand or less attractive to spectators in search of a juicy story. Which is why I believe it's important to master the basic knowledge to understand your work, since these elements are what your story is truly about

Two thousand years ago, there was a man called Aristotle, whom you've probably already heard of, who asked himself some the questions we are making ourselves today: Why are there stories that endure time and others that are forgotten? Why are people attracted to these that are still remembered today?

To find the answers to these questions, he did a field research, studying the stories that had endured time until then, two thousand years ago. THE POETICS was product of this investigation, one of the first essays about narrative.  He discovered that many of these stories had a series of  common elements that can be resumed in the following.

There was a character, whom he called hero, with a goal and a dream.

The hero  does things to reach his dream.

And on the way to achieve his goal, difficulties, obstacles appear which then created a conflict for the hero and the spectator. This conflict was what defined the center of the story.

To briefly explain this theory, the first act serves to understand the protagonist and the goals he wanted to accomplish, the second act has to do with what they do to face the obstacles that's on their way and finally, the third act in which they overcomes the obstacles, the protagonist goes towards the culmination of his journey and the "achievement" of their goal.

A clear division of the story. The approach/statement, the development and the outcome.  A clue to this theory in proportion is that the second act is the double of the first and the last. It means that while the 1st and 3rd act could be 25%, the middle act will be 50%. It is important to note that these measurements will not be always exact as they just are a reference.

Now, other forms to tell a story have appeared throughout history such as the Dramatica Act Structure, Michael Hauge's "Six Stage Plot Structure", John Truby's "Twenty-two Building Blocks" and Freytag's Pyramid "Five-Act Structure"; but so far, this has been the most rentable and effective way to tell a story as it has been demonstrated for thousands of years and is still being used today. But of course, it also depends on the writer rather than just the theory alone.

The three-act theory was constantly reformulated as the time went on, especially when the industry of cinema came to be, and it ended in a quote which will help us to build everything and the most important of this seminar.

Do not forget it.

Someone wants something with intensity and finds obstacles to get it.

This quote alone resumes the core of a story and its respective elements that facilitates story planning for both plotters and pantsers. To have a better understanding of the key sentence of this seminar, it could be explained like the following:

A protagonist is someone who does things to achieve his goal for a reason; the conflict is when we face two options: a bad one and a worst one. And finally, once the conflict is overcomed and a solution is found, it must be put on practice and achieve the goal, leading to the conclusion of the story.

As I established previously, there are other methods to plan a story but this is one of the most basic and known ways to do so, and thus, you are not obliged to strictly follow a certain method.

"It depends on the storyteller who needs to know how to apply the knowledge they have acquired rather than just the theory itself."

The upcoming posts will explain in detail all the elements contained in the quote: the protagonist, the goal, the motivation, the conflict and the ending; the 5 basic elements in story planning.

Brandon Sanderson on Writing

Questioner: You are very famous for being a fast writer.

We talked about that in the other conversation, and I'm not going to ask you the secret of your superpower, if you got bit by a spider or something, but I don't want to ask about the discipline of sitting and writing [for x hours] straight, or the deadlines of the publishers, because if there's something that is strange about writing, it's that, in your worst moments, when you [are under] pressure, [you deal with] family conflict, you write better, you are more capable of understanding how others feel, how is the world that's around you.

And when you're happy, when everything is okay, you have time to find inspiration or the strength to write, because, "The world is amazing, I have these great friends, this great girlfriend, this amazing family to be with. Why do I have to stay five hours closed in my room thinking about people having terrible problems to be happy?"

So, how do you make this to keep writing, and having what a fantastic life, with fantastic friends and fantastic fans?

Brandon Sanderson: What a fascinating question! I've never been asked that before!

I've been asked thousands, of questions, so that is very interesting.

I would say, I am not a writer who writes from a place of pain. Every writer is different, and they find different inspiration. I am best at writing when I am in a place of comfort. And so, I think that most writers are very observant, and this is how we express things in fiction.

We pay attention. We listen. For instance, I don't have depression, but Kaladin does. If I waited until I had depression to write Kaladin that would probably be bad, because people with depression, number one, don't want to do anything, and number two, it's just not going to work, right? You just can't sit around and wait to experience everything you want to write.

So, for me, it's about research, and listening, and paying attention. I happen to have several people I love dearly who do have depression, and so I talk to them. I take notes. I listen to the things they have to say, and that becomes the foundation for a piece of a character's personality.

I don't know, though, maybe I'm just a sadist, and I like to do evil things.

A quick sketch I did  of Bluebird and MacCready slowdancing scene that happens in chapter 7 The Song He Had Never Heard Before (Me & You) 

(Click for better quality)

Below I’ll leave the summary of Love Gun, a F!SSxMacCready story, if you’re interested in reading.

Reblogs, kudos and feedback are always welcomed and please, do not repost!

Summary: MacCready gets hired by one, if not the most mysterious woman of the Commonwealth.

No name, no talking. MacCready didn’t even know her name or voice but there were two things he could be certain about that peculiar job: he would be handsomely paid and that his boss carried a heavy past on her shoulders and hid it away in the depths of her heart.

MacCready had a policy of not making questions, but it wouldn’t be long until he would drown in a sea of questions.

Rating: M

And a friendly reminder, if you want to ask about Bluebird or MacCready in Love Gun, you can hit me with questions! My AMA will remain open for anything you want to ask.

(and friendly tagging: @theartofblossoming​ @savybaby666​ @missingskully​)

Práctica

href=“https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ4m00FpdTL/?igshid=1ts11torhp1hx”>https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ4m00FpdTL/?igshid=1ts11torhp1hx

WIP… DAY? (o゜▽゜)o☆

I was tagged by @theartofblossoming! Supposedly for #WIPWednesday but anyways, I’m always happy every time you tag me on something, dear ♪(´▽｀)

So here’s a peek on the chapter that has been killing my few braincells for the past few weeks of Love Gun:

She made him turn elegantly, both bodies in tune with the slow music. It pleasantly surprised MacCready—he was supposed to be the one leading and yet, somehow, she had managed to take control over their dance. There was a sort of harshness in him that Bluebird found entertaining, feeling his rough and indelicate hands. Amused, Bluebird rested her head between his neck and shoulder and MacCready felt how she smiled on his skin.

MacCready suffered the agony from the thought of how unreal everything was. The feeling of her nose and face in his skin and how relaxed she was in his arms. For some strange reason beyond his comprehension, he was happy. He remembered the night of the storm, all wet because of the rain and holding each other’s hands as Bluebird quietly sobbed in the dark. The question of why was she crying traced his mind with curiosity.

The hand MacCready had on her waist travelled across the curves of her slim body to her hip and brought her body closer to him. Bluebird gasped in surprise and responded with a tighter grip on MacCready’s shoulder, but didn’t pull away his hand.

“What am I doing?” MacCready thought as he buried his face on her hair “, what are we doing?”

I don’t know who to tag since I’m still quite new to the community in tumblr, however, I love to tag @theyoftenwhisper in this kind of things, only if you fancy it; no pressure! Thank you so much for your support and feedback. 

Anyone who wants to do this tag, feel free to do it and tag me if you want to!