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A Story Is a Promise: Good Things to Know Before You Write That Screenplay, Novel, or Play |
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In A Story Is a Promise, Bill Johnson posits that a well-designed story "promises dramatic fulfillment of our needs." Too often, says Johnson, writers embark on projects without first identifying the dramatic issue that is at the heart of their story. These writers--novelists, playwrights, and, clearly closest to Johnson's heart, screenwriters--would do much better, and save a lot of time otherwise spent writing in circles, by first identifying their key dramatic issue, Johnson says. Once they have identified a premise, which can be easily summed up (for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Johnson offers "overcoming a shared catastrophe leads to renewal"), they can measure every word they write against it. Ask yourself, says Johnson, whether you can determine if "every character issue, event, line of dialogue, and scene description serves to dramatically advance the story." If the answer is "no," that event, dialogue, or description doesn't belong. If you find the concept unclear, don't worry--apparently, a lot of Johnson's students do, too. But once you understand what's at stake in your story, you will be better equipped to make all the decisions you need to make along the way concerning characterization, plot development, dialogue, conflict, and the like. With workshoplike questions at the end of each chapter aimed at the writer-in-process. --Jane Steinberg
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