Education Universe Script Writing, Uncategorized

What is Story?

Whether you are writing a short story, a novel, a film, or a graphic novel, readers/viewers have certain expectations. The main thing that the readers/viewers will expect is a good story equipped with stimulating images (visuals for films/descriptors for written stories), well-developed/interesting characters, action that moves the story forward to accomplish the goal/move closer to the answer to some question. For example, in Romeo & Juliet, the question that the audience wants answered is will they end up together in a happily every after? The question in The Wizard of Oz is will Dorothy make it back home to Kansas? You get the idea. Starting with a question can certainly help but is not necessarily the only way to handle a story during development. A point of caution – even though you may not begin with a question, the audience will subconsciously seek out one, so make sure in the end that you are answering the question that the reader/view has on his/her mind.

Writing a Story Question

So, the question is important, right? You bet! How does one figure out how to develop this one question?

It is based on what the central character (generally the protagonist) wants. Next, comes the question – how might the character work toward the goal/achieve the goal? If we go back to Romeo & Juliet, there are barriers in place to their love – two feuding families, Romeo kills a family member, he has to go on the run, and the list continues. Each barrier blocks their ability to be together. Hence, the question arises will they end up together in a happily every after? Once you know the character’s goal – in this case, Romeo and Juliet want to be together – then the question is easy – will they be together? It’s a fairly simple process.

Answering the Story Question

Know thy characters’ goals. The writer(s) must use the characters to move toward answering the question. To do so, there must be the ultimate goal of the character (such as getting home to Kansas in The Wizard of Oz or marrying the girl/guy in Romeo & Juliet). Before getting to the goal, the main character must have multiple obstacles in the way (such as the wicked witch – one of Dorothy’s obstacles – or killing someone and having to go on the run – one of Romeo’s obstacles).

In the end, the answer was no to whether or not Romeo and Juliet would end up together/married in a happily ever after. However, in The Wizard of Oz, the answer is yes – Dorothy makes it home to Kansas.

So, simply put, create a question and answer it before the end of the story. Make sure there are obstacles in the way (usually created by the antagonist).

Lastly, make sure the question is not announced – it is posed through the progression of the story.

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Education Universe Script Writing

Story Development – Loglines

A logline is typically a one-sentence summary that tells what your story is about. This one-sentence summary typically applies to films and television shows but can also apply to other types of stories. They offer a precision that other methods of beginning a story do not provide. For lack of a better term, the logline is the hook (attention getter) for your story. In general, loglines must be very specific and include various essential components depending on the formula used to develop the logline.

Logline template

There are several ways to construct a logline. Two of those ways are shared below, but there are other methods as well.

The Short Version

The short version of a logline is helpful but may lack the pizzazz required if you plan to market a script or story. However, it is useful and may serve as a starting point like a working thesis statement in an essay – a rough draft.

To construct a simple logline, look at it like the following:

Something happens to move the protagonist forward, who the protagonist(s) is/are, what action the protagonist is taking, and who the antagonist(s) is/are in the story.

An example of your story in a simple logline might look like the following:

When a young scientist disappears, her best friend and high school boyfriend must confront a violent gang to get her back.

The Long Version

The long version of a logline is useful and has a bit more pizzazz. It may serve as a final version of a one-sentence summary of your script or story. It’s much more like a final thesis in an essay as opposed to a rough draft. It adds in the stake(s) (what the protagonist has to lose if they don’t take action) and the protagonist’s goal in the story.

To construct the next version of the logline, look at it like the following:

Who the protagonist(s) is/are, what action the protagonist is taking, who the antagonist(s) is/are in the story, the goal that moves the protagonist(s) forward/what the protagonist will lose if no action is taken.

An example of your story in the alternate version of the logline might look like the following:

A young entomologist’s best friend and high school boyfriend must confront a local gang before their best friend is tortured and murdered.

The most crucial part of any logline is getting started. To do that, put some thought into a story that you might want to write and play with the loglines a bit. First, ask who your protagonist(s) and who your antagonist(s) are in your story. To help you, here’s a random logline generator that may or may not fit into the script above as they are linked to the industry film/television standard. So, be cautious when using a logline from a generator. With that said, generators can help with a starting point if you are having trouble generating ideas.