Maintaining the Same Plot Line

Originally posted by MyDreamMyReality on 8-09-2003 9:16 PM:

I'm very new to the whole screenwriting scene, and I'm working on my first, obviously, and I seem to be having problems mainting the same plot line. The context remains basically the same but I can't seem to remain with one plot line. When I do decide to stay with one, I start to go into delevoping the story farther, but I quickly change my mind and I want to try. I tried to just keep writing against my feelings(I know that a first script is for learning) but I cannot work too far into it because I start to think about how 'cheesy' it sounds, making it nearly impossible to continue because half of me is saying that it will never work. It seems to never be right, no matter what other people tell me. It there any way to be able to stick to plot line and actually be able to continue or am I just too much of a perfectionist?

Posted by MyDreamMyReality on 8-13-2003 6:17 PM:

HEY!!!! Does anyone reply to these things here? Where is 'scriptnurse'? I just glanced at his posts and the most recent looks like June, but maybe I'm wrong.

Posted by ScriptNurse on 8-22-2003 8:28 AM:

FIRST, to everyone ... my apologies for not being available to reply to posts here. I've been in the throes of moving to New Orleans, relocating my business and having meetings with a producer about my most recent script. In short, it's been a whirlwind.

SECOND, if guests don't post, I have nothing to reply to. Our site seems to be a good ource of infomation, but little posting activity seems to go on here. Of course, I'm all about trying to change that.

NOW, ON TO YOUR QUESTION ...

In my opinion, if you have more than one plot line, you need to simplify it. Can you state, in simple terms, the entire story idea in 10 words? Try it. When you have a basic idea that works, elaborate slightly in 25-35 words. Listen to that little voice that's talking to you. It inherently knows something is not quite right. Forget about cheezy ... AIRPLANE was pretty cheezy -- and successful. Once you have 25-35 words, elaborate a little more and go for 100 words. Keep up the process and you have a treatment. Write it all in an economical screenplay format, and you have a screenplay ... in simplistic terms.

A very effective tool for some writers is to create a visual outline. Get a BIG sheet of paper and tape it up on a wall. Divide it in two halves ... one for characters and the other for the basic things that happen to those characters. For the characters, just the basics: name, age, a few descriptive words (i.e. AGNES GOOCH, 32, shy/introverted/glasses, odd voice, naive, quirk: photographic memory) ... you get the idea. It also helps you to organize the timeline for your story. You certainly don't want someone born in 1952 having kids when they're 14 years old.

On the right side, map the EVENTS that occur in your story — WHAT happens — factory blows up, Fred learns mother was a call-girl to put him through college.

Writing is the fun part -- and what you do last. The hard part is creating characters and crafting the story.

One of the hardest things you'll have to learn to do is to become objective. I try very hard not to get married to my scripts. They're just words and if they don't serve the story you're telling — HACK THEM OUT — no matter how wonderful a scene is. Cut and paste it and save the scene for some other script. If it doesn't work — HACK IT OUT.

If you'd like to email me the first 5 pages of your script, I'd be happy to offer my opinions.

Posted by mbateman on 6-16-2005 3:16 PM:

Stephen King gave some great advice on writing: You have to kill your babies. Babies in this context are all of the superflurous ideas, words and tangents that you give birth to as you write.

In other words, write the script (or novel or whatever) — just let it flow, don't get caught up in analysis paralysis. Once it's finished, set it aside. After a few days or weeks or even months, pick it up and read it. Take out your red pen and 'kill your babies' until you have a coherent, streamlined script.

Posted by ScriptNurse on 6-18-2005 4:01 PM:

I agree here. If some of the babies are good ideas, start collecting them into an idea file for future use in another project.