Bring yourself to your scripts

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  • #31
    Re: Bring yourself to your scripts

    I don't think 'write what you know' literally means you're limited to storylines about things you've done or experienced.

    It applies to characters, back story, locations, etc. It simply gives your work more realism, in my opinion.

    With the example of the serial killer, the 'write what you know' could apply to their back story which would be part of their motivation. If the writer had, let's say, military experience, it may be a good idea to have the killer be ex-military to more effectively create the character.

    Write what you know would, IMO, also include extensive research. I've seen work that seems to have used other movies as reference rather than research for something fresh.

    Just my opine.
    Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

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    • #32
      Re: Bring yourself to your scripts

      Originally posted by sc111 View Post
      I don't think 'write what you know' literally means you're limited to storylines about things you've done or experienced.

      It applies to characters, back story, locations, etc. It simply gives your work more realism, in my opinion.

      With the example of the serial killer, the 'write what you know' could apply to their back story which would be part of their motivation. If the writer had, let's say, military experience, it may be a good idea to have the killer be ex-military to more effectively create the character.

      Write what you know would, IMO, also include extensive research. I've seen work that seems to have used other movies as reference rather than research for something fresh.

      Just my opine.
      Yes, that.

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      • #33
        Re: Bring yourself to your scripts

        I think we're all agreeing.

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        • #34
          Re: Bring yourself to your scripts

          Originally posted by Bono View Post
          I think we’re all agreeing.
          That's just not right!
          "I just couldn't live in a world without me."

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          • #35
            Re: Bring yourself to your scripts

            Originally posted by jonpiper View Post
            Yes, that.
            I'm still a bit foggy on what you by writing "beyond myself." It sound interesting as I think I understand it but I don't want to assume I know what you mean.
            Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

            Comment


            • #36
              Re: Bring yourself to your scripts

              Originally posted by sc111 View Post
              I'm still a bit foggy on what you by writing "beyond myself." It sound interesting as I think I understand it but I don't want to assume I know what you mean.
              I'm thinking why limit ourselves. We should experiment with writing about things we don't already know. We should try to express emotions we haven't expressed. We should try to create characters we haven't seen. Even experiment with voice. Things like that.

              I don't know if I am making what I mean less foggy. How do you interpret "writing beyond yourself?"

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              • #37
                Re: Bring yourself to your scripts

                Originally posted by StoryWriter View Post
                That's just not right!

                So boring if we all agreed.

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                • #38
                  Re: Bring yourself to your scripts

                  Originally posted by jonpiper View Post
                  I'm thinking why limit ourselves. We should experiment with writing about things we don't already know. We should try to express emotions we haven't expressed. We should try to create characters we haven't seen. Even experiment with voice. Things like that.

                  I don't know if I am making what I mean less foggy. How do you interpret "writing beyond yourself?"
                  Per the BF: I was thinking of digging deeper within oneself. I have no problem with, as you say, "experimenting with writing about things we don't already know." However, we still tell our stories through characters. And characters are motivated (or inhibited) by certain aspects of human nature. And, IMO, our understanding of human nature begins with understanding ourselves a la "Know thyself." And that takes willingness to dig deeper into parts of our psyche we may not be ready to look at.

                  Example: My one script that came closest to "close but no cigar" was a female buddy roadtrip comedy. The premise was a career woman, who had issues with her dad, is faced with his sudden death, compounded by finding at the reading of his will that she had a half-sister she knew nothing about.

                  Now, my own Dad died young so I had that in common with my protags but that was where the similarities ended. The Dad in my script was nothing like my Dad. I have no sisters, no secret half sibs. I was struggling with writing the co-leads. They didn't feel genuine to me and I was writing them.

                  So I sat with that a while and realized that many people, including myself, who lose a parent unexpectedly and relatively young, vacillate between idealizing the parent and anger at the parent about things they were unable to resolve with them before the sudden death.

                  So I went back and wrote each of the sisters from each perspective: one idealizing the Dad seeing only his positive traits, the other seeing only his negative traits and angry at him. That required me to do some digging within, face some stuff I hadn't looked at in a while.

                  Here's the weird part -- I personally think I was too influenced by my rep at the time on the plot points. I'm not crazy about the script. However, I think it got the wee bit of momentary traction it did get because of the emotional "write what you know" route I took with the lead characters. It resonated even though I know the script had other weaknesses.

                  Anyway -- that's what I was thinking may also fall under the topic of write what you know.
                  Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

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                  • #39
                    Re: Bring yourself to your scripts

                    some reason i thought you were talking about SUBTEXT in writing and was think about a foot massage and what it really means to give a good foot massage

                    does it mean you're into feet, like sexually or just that you give pleasure to someone else or just a foot massage ... truth is, nobody knows why Marcellus threw Tony out of that four story window except Marcellus and Tony. When you little scamps get together, you're worse than a sewing circle.
                    Ricky Slade: Listen to me, I intentionally make this gun look that way because I am smart.

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                    • #40
                      Re: Bring yourself to your scripts

                      I'm not understanding the confusion. Writers observe the world around them and the people in it and draw from that to create their own worlds and characters, whether closer in nature to their personal world and experiences or completely new and foreign. But either way, it involves imagination, an understanding of human nature and skill with the craft. And just because you're writing something closer to home doesn't make it easier. You still have to distill it and make it transcend your own personal experience in such a way that it resonates with a large audience. For some people it's actually easier to write about killer androids in a different galaxy.

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                      • #41
                        Re: Bring yourself to your scripts

                        Originally posted by Rantanplan View Post
                        But either way, it involves imagination, an understanding of human nature and skill with the craft.
                        The above and what sc111 and others are echoing about "write what you know" reminds me of this, in a BAFTA series lecture from 2013, featuring writer Tony Gilroy:

                        "... There is one thing that you have to know, that is a deal breaker on all of it. You have to know human behaviour, you cannot pass go, you cannot move forward, you are dead stopped right here, right now, if you do not know human behaviour and the quality of your writing is absolutely capped at your understanding of human behaviour. You will never write above what you know about people. The writers that I’m talking about that have made a great living, without writing action, are experts in human behaviour…"

                        "‘the quality of your writing will be a direct reflection of your understanding of the contradictions and complexities of human behaviour’."

                        It's a huge interview, to listen to or read. Other screenwriters are up too.

                        http://www.bafta.org/film/features/t...riters-lecture

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                        • #42
                          Re: Bring yourself to your scripts

                          Originally posted by figment View Post
                          The above and what sc111 and others are echoing about "write what you know" reminds me of this, in a BAFTA series lecture from 2013, featuring writer Tony Gilroy:

                          "... There is one thing that you have to know, that is a deal breaker on all of it. You have to know human behaviour, you cannot pass go, you cannot move forward, you are dead stopped right here, right now, if you do not know human behaviour and the quality of your writing is absolutely capped at your understanding of human behaviour. You will never write above what you know about people. The writers that I'm talking about that have made a great living, without writing action, are experts in human behaviour..."

                          ... "'the quality of your writing will be a direct reflection of your understanding of the contradictions and complexities of human behaviour'."

                          It's a huge interview, to listen to or read. Other screenwriters are up too.

                          http://www.bafta.org/film/features/t...riters-lecture

                          Nice, thanks for the link!

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                          • #43
                            Re: Bring yourself to your scripts

                            Originally posted by StoryWriter View Post
                            That's just not right!
                            Now I wish I could find just the clip, but this is the best I could find (sorry for commercial and fake them song).

                            Scroll to 17:20 in the video -- that's how I picture what you look like when I heard you had 8 kids. About 30 seconds long.

                            https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5lhaf0

                            You're a hero.

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                            • #44
                              Re: Bring yourself to your scripts

                              Originally posted by Rantanplan View Post
                              ...people it's actually easier to write about killer androids in a different galaxy.
                              I wouldn't disregard something that scifi, action or thriller as being not a personal story... even a horror movie

                              they are all interpersonal conflicts with characters ... and that struggle creates drama... probably the most obscure genre(and less empathetic) is the a disaster or protag vs. environment. But, they usually contain a b-storyline, where a person trying to save someone dear to them and in part work out problems they have prior to the incident

                              some movies to focus more on plot over character arc, but usually there's some inner journey that add tension and character flaw...

                              I think if you looked at old StarTrek or Twilight Zone episodes you would see a lot of social commentary on things that are very personal to the writers. And they feel safe in this alternate world to discuss taboo social problems

                              Stephen King discussed how his Pet Sematary is based on real fears of any father/pet owner...
                              Originally posted by wikipedia
                              In 1979, King was a "writer-in-residence" at the University of Maine and the house he was renting was adjacent to a major road where dogs and cats were often killed by oncoming trucks. After his daughter's cat was killed by a truck along that road, he explained the death of the pet to his daughter and buried the cat. Three days later, King imagined what would happen if a family suffered the same tragedy but the cat came back to life "fundamentally wrong." He then imagined what would happen if that family's young son were also killed by a passing truck. He decided to write a book based on these ideas, and that the book would be a re-telling of "The Monkey's Paw" (1902), a short story by W. W. Jacobs about parents whose son resurrects after they wish for that to happen.
                              it has to do with the fear not being able to protect your child, something all parents conceive... also, questions of mortality
                              Ricky Slade: Listen to me, I intentionally make this gun look that way because I am smart.

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