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A Reporter’s
Questions: Steps to Creating a New Story
You bought the guru books. You know about sluglines and blocks of dialogue. You know about Courier 12 and target page length. So, what’s the problem? Many, if not most, screenwriters stutter and stumble when asked about the steps they follow when creating a new story. "I have this character, see…ummm, and he’s like the protagonist. He does things." I’ve also heard, "I come up with something that really grabs the audience. Then I write free-flow." Okay… How do you do it? What is your method or moving from FADE IN to FADE OUT? One way to create a story is to answer the traditional reporter questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Answering these questions will provide you with everything you’ll need to create a complete story. I’m not saying it will be a great story, just a complete story. Shall we begin? Step 1: Create a concept and link it with a premise. Aren’t "concept" and "premise" synonyms? Well, for our purposes, let’s consider "concept" to be specific, and "premise" to be general or universal. In its most basic form, the concept of a story contains three parts: Character does a specific act, which leads to a specific result. 1. Who, 2. What, and 3.What.EX: A man gives away his money and becomes poor. Don’t get hung up on the numbers. Yes, it can be more than one characters and yes, it can be more than one action and/or reaction. The basic formula is the key. What is the premise? "A fool and his money soon part." It’s a universal idea. It doesn’t need to be explained or justified. Love, hate, revenge, loyalty, and many other actions are universally accepted as premise-based, and require no justification for their existence. Step 2: You careful observers out there noticed that the concept presupposes a character. Yes, indeed, a character is needed either first or a close second in our steps. Either way is fine. I offered the concept first to remind me that industry people ask, "What’s it about?" They do not initially ask, "Who is the story about?" Stories are sold on the "what." Actors are sold on the "who." Step 3: After the main character(s), orchestrate the secondary characters. I think of characters as major, secondary, and incidental. Secondary characters are more intimately involved with the plot than are the incidental ones. A waiter that has an affair with the main character is a secondary character. A waiter that serves a meal and does nothing else is incidental. I use the word "orchestrate" to remind myself that all secondary characters are bound by the plot. The primary characters influence and are influenced by the plot. If I allow a secondary character to become too involved with influencing the plot, I run the risk of diluting the story’s focus and making a muddy mess of things. This is a very common problem with new writers. Veteran writers know better. Right? Right? Step 4: Once we know the players, we know the "how" of the story. Or, we at least know what our options would be. The key to understanding how a character will do a thing is to look at the character’s traits. All characters have strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. These traits will influence how he or she does what is done. If the story is about going from New York to Los Angeles, a pilot, a bike racer, a sailor, and a person deathly afraid to fly would have very different preferences as to how to get to L.A. Step 5: Why does our character do it? What are the outer goal and the inner need for our character to do whatever it is we have them do? Remember that the answer to a "why" is simply a "what" that is understood. "What’s my motivation?" The actor wants to know why he’s been asked to brush his teeth before sleeping. "Would this character care about dental hygiene?" It may sound absurd, but the actor might be justified in asking the question. Suppose this character has just broken out of a foul prison in Libya. Would he brush his teeth prior to hiding out in a sewer? The outer goal and the inner need are two very different things. The outer goal is what is externally visible for the audience. In our previous example, the outer goal is for the character to get to Los Angeles. Will he/she accomplish this goal? We watch the movie and find out. But, what is the inner need of this character? Is it a father who has just discovered he has a daughter living in Los Angeles? Is it a woman who actually needs to escape New York...and Los Angeles is just a place that is very far away? The strength of the "why" is the strength of the story. With a weak "why" a character might give up along the way, quit, turn around, get a new goal, and so on. Sooner or later, an obstacle will become too much…and the story grinds to a halt. Step 6: "Where" and "When." In most stories, these are the least important questions to answer. Naturally, there are exceptions. "2001" leaps to mind. But, all in all, if you have an interesting Who, What, How, and Why, the Where and When are no problems. For those of us who just like the meat and bones… "Someone has an inner need and an outer goal to do a specific something in a specific way which has a specific result. This occurs at a place and time" Who, Why, What, How, What, Where, When. This is a way to create a story. A way. It’s not the only way. The story may or may not be good. It may or may not be original. But, it’s a starting point. And for many of us, getting started is hardest part. Best of luck. Bruce Meade is a screenwriter primarily interested in comedy. "Mr. Meade is a funny bunny," exclaims Catelyn, age 5. "Die Hard was wicked cool," gushes a slightly confused Jeremy, age 10. Bruce is an experienced standup comedy writer, having written for several comedians including Joan Rivers for "The Tonight Show." He also has a Masters degree in Communication Studies for which he proudly proclaims, "Just curl up the cardboard edges, and it's microwaveably safe!" During supervised day trips from his 'residence' Bruce can be reached at sageguy@bigfoot.com. Copyright © 2000 Bruce Meade, all rights reserved. |
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You’re a
screenwriter. Great. Write an original story and format it according to industry
standards. Done yet? No? What seems to be the problem?
