Hey all
I’m outlining a pretty epic true story and from the start I was faced with the age old question of what to cover. I usually am of the opinion that most true stories are better when they zoom in on a specific period or have a specific angle as opposed to the long, multi decade ones. But in this case I simply have to include many elements and I am looking at movies like Goodfellas and Boogie Nights as templates. even down to the Voice Over which hopefully will help to move the story along in a snappier way (ie easier to leap around the chronology with VO)
As I write my outline (which is also a kind of treatment since I describe scenes) I find myself with a LOT of scenes and I’m worried that I will spill over into writing something utterly cumbersome.
How do you guys deal with this problem? Do you guesstimate the page count in the outline and revise the outline accordingly? Do you let the story take shape and if you end up with 150 pages you then go back and edit?
I know that Paul Schrader estimates his page count for each scene during the outlining process and basically knows exactly what he will write before he starts. I guess I am doing something similar now – by writing mini descriptions of each scene I am forcing myself to make connections and envision the general flow of the narrative.
Very curious to hear thoughts
I’m outlining a pretty epic true story and from the start I was faced with the age old question of what to cover. I usually am of the opinion that most true stories are better when they zoom in on a specific period or have a specific angle as opposed to the long, multi decade ones. But in this case I simply have to include many elements and I am looking at movies like Goodfellas and Boogie Nights as templates. even down to the Voice Over which hopefully will help to move the story along in a snappier way (ie easier to leap around the chronology with VO)
As I write my outline (which is also a kind of treatment since I describe scenes) I find myself with a LOT of scenes and I’m worried that I will spill over into writing something utterly cumbersome.
How do you guys deal with this problem? Do you guesstimate the page count in the outline and revise the outline accordingly? Do you let the story take shape and if you end up with 150 pages you then go back and edit?
I know that Paul Schrader estimates his page count for each scene during the outlining process and basically knows exactly what he will write before he starts. I guess I am doing something similar now – by writing mini descriptions of each scene I am forcing myself to make connections and envision the general flow of the narrative.
Very curious to hear thoughts
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