Alexandra Sokoloff's Blog, page 8
June 7, 2018
The Hunger Games - story breakdown
by Alexandra Sokoloff
So today we’ll get into a breakdown of THE HUNGER GAMES (the movie) – SEQUENCE I, the SETUP, and work through the story elements up to that all-important PLAN.
If you’re not familiar with the Three-Act, Eight-Sequence Structure of film writing, you’ll want to review this post, or better yet, buy the book: STEALING HOLLYWOOD , which has many, many examples of this structure and its story elements, and includes ten full story breakdowns.
Get free Story Structure extras and movie breakdowns
THE HUNGER GAMES
SEQUENCE ONE
The movie starts with a placard that briefly spells out the history of the Hunger Games. Opening scrolls or placards give us the sense that this is an Important Story, maybe even epic. (Think of these opening scrolls from classic movies: “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” and “For nearly forty years this story has given faithful service to the Young at Heart, and Time has been powerless to put its kindly philosophy out of fashion.”) This placard also gives a sense that the story is history rather than fiction. And it’s the first of many tricks we’ll see the filmmakers use to set up the RULES OF THE STORY WORLD – it's really important to be clear about these in dystopian, SFF or paranormal stories.
Then we have the OPENING IMAGE: on a TV screen, two flamboyantly dressed men chat on a talk show, a surreally magnified stage, discussing the upcoming Hunger Games, and again detailing the RULES OF THE WORLD. This is our introduction to two key characters: The MC and the Gamekeeper, both secondary opponents.
In a small, dilapidated house, a young girl (Prim) awakes screaming from a dream. Her older sister Katniss races in to comfort her. This is a premonition, a classic suspense technique. Prim has dreamed that she was chosen as the tribute. Katniss soothes her by singing to her. (PLANT – this song will come back at a key moment to heighten the emotion of and Katniss’s rage over the death of her ally Rue).
Katniss goes out hunting, and as she moves through the village (ORDINARY WORLD) we see images of poverty and hunger (influenced by classic Depression photos by Dorothea Lange). Katniss shows she’s a rule-breaker by going through a fence into a forbidden district, the forest. The image of Katniss in her huntress attire and bow and arrow in this forest setting is an echo of the Artemis archetype, the ancient Greek wilderness goddess of the hunt who defends women and children. (Linking a character to an archetype is one of the classic methods of creating a larger-than-life character. Also, in superhero/ine stories, the characters’ WEAPONS are a key character device and TALISMAN).
In the forest we see Katniss’s SPECIAL SKILLS: running, archery, tracking – she can and will kill for survival. It also shows how comfortable she is in the forest. Her gorgeous friend Gale appears and spoils her shot at a deer (INTRODUCTION OF LOVE INTEREST). As they talk and we see their deep affection and companionship,
this intimate moment is broken by a harsh sound and Katniss and Gale have to hide from a huge dirigible above. The dirigible above sets up a recurring theme of constantly being watched from above, and adds to the dystopian sense of an oppressive society. The dirigible brings a SECONDARY VILLAIN to the town: Effie Trinket, who represents the Capital (the Capital is a non-human ANTAGONIST – typical in dystopian stories, where society is the true villain).
Gale expresses a THEME of the story: “If we didn’t watch, they wouldn’t have a game.” (And also made me wish the whole rest of the movie was about him, alas...). This idea also is a SET UP for the solution in the FINAL BATTLE). He proposes that they could take off together, just leave and live in the woods (again emphasizing their survival SKILLS. Katniss says that Prim couldn’t survive, and if they were caught, “They’d cut out our tongues” – FEAR AND STAKES.) This scene also builds dread over the possibility that Gale will die: he has 42 tokens in the Reaping lottery, presumably because he has volunteered for more tokens in exchange for food for his family.
Back in the village, Katniss stops at a market to sell a squirrel. A woman at the market gives Katniss a mockingjay pin which becomes a TALISMAN: first, the kind woman gives the pin to Katniss (and by implication, to all the child sacrifices) like a witch or fairy godmother, then Katniss gives it to Prim to keep her safe, then it becomes metaphorically infused with Katniss’s love when she offers herself as a sacrifice for her sister, then Prim gives it back to her to keep her safe, and then later Katniss’s mentor/fairy godmother Cinna sews it into Katniss’s jacket, also infusing it with love.
At home while Prim and Katniss’s mother dresses Prim for the Reaping, we get hints of Katniss’s backstory: her mother’s breakdown when her father died in a mine explosion after which Katniss became the head of the family. (Layering in Katniss’s leadership and maternal skills: she will become the mother of the revolution). The filmmakers use this backstory as a subplot line, giving us parts of it throughout the story). Katniss gives Prim the mockingjay pin and promises her nothing bad will happen. In storytelling, a PROMISE is a commitment that must be honored.
10:11 Mothers all over the town prepare their children for The Reaping, dressing them in pale clothing – there is a haunting sense of preparing sacrificial lambs to the slaughter which actually made me weep, and I’m not a crier.
A whistle blows, like a scream, summoning the village to the Reaping.
The color scheme and the arrangements of the crowds throughout this scene are very reminiscent of photos from Nazi Germany: the ghettos, the concentration camps, the sense of evil and dread.
Gathering for the Reaping is the SEQUENCE ONE CLIMAX, and it’s a stellar example of how to build to an effective climax. It’s a huge crowd scene in a SETPIECE arena, made epic by the visual tie in to a horrific historical event. The suspense of Prim’s premonition; our fear for Prim, Katniss and Gale; and the ritual preparations of the children for sacrifice create dread, and the huge STAKES have been clearly spelled out: being chosen in this lottery means almost certain death. Prim has a panic attack on the way in to the arena, increasing the dread. It’s a nice technological touch that the children’s identities are checked by pricking their fingers (also a fairytale image of doom – see Sleeping Beauty) to draw blood for DNA testing).
In the arena Effie struts around on stage, a magenta nightmare of banality, as the history of the Hunger Games is repeated and embellished in a film projected on huge TV screens (DETAILING THE RULES OF THE WORLD, and the THEMATIC VISUAL of combining/contrasting a backward, village society with futuristic technology). The uprising of the thirteen districts is an obvious reference to the revolution of the original thirteen colonies of America, again, grounding this created world in real-life history. The film is narrated by President Snow, a main villain/antagonist, who is the human embodiment of the dystopian society that is the true OPPONENT.
Effie draws names from a huge glass bowl, choosing Prim for the female tribute. Katniss is horrorstruck, then impulsively volunteers to go in her place. [16:01} As she stands on the stage in a daze, Effie asks for a round of applause. Instead, the children of the village lift their arms in a forbidden rebel salute - SETUP of Katniss as the leader of the revolution against the Capital, and also importantly setting up the sense that the desire and will to rebel is there in the people of the District. Katniss will be the match to light that fire.
Almost as an afterthought, Peeta is chosen from the boys as the male tribute. We get a brief FLASHBACK from Katniss’s point of view of Peeta throwing bread to pigs while Katniss shivers in the rain, an ambiguous beginning to a SUBPLOT thread of flashbacks of their backstory. We don’t know if Peeta is her enemy or her friend, but it doesn’t look friendly at this point.
In the very important tag to the sequence, Katniss is allowed just a few minutes under guard to say goodbye to her family and Gale. Katniss berates her mother: “You can’t check out this time. Not like you did when Dad died,” and says that Gale will feed them (LOVE PLOT). Prim tells her desperately, “Just try to win.” This is a clear statement of the PLAN that drives the entire action of the story: Katniss must win the Hunger Games. Katniss promises Prim she’ll try. (Making this a PROMISE scene underscores the PLAN.) Gale starts to detail that PLAN and what will become the two main components of it just moments later when he hugs Katniss goodbye and tells her, “Get a bow. Make one if you have to” and “They want a good show.” Katniss reminds him of the odds: 24 kids competing and only one comes out alive. Gale says, “It’s gonna be you.”
This tag on the scene gives us a clear statement of the audience HOPE: that Katniss will win the Games.
ASSIGNMENT, if you're so inclined!
Take a minute to answer these questions about The Hunger Games, and then try asking yourself the same questions about your own story!
Who's the hero/ine?
What does s/he want?
Who is standing in her way?
What is her plan to get it?
What is her weakness?
What are her special skills?
=====================================================
All the information on this blog and more, including full story structure breakdowns of various movies, is available in my Screenwriting Tricks for Authors workbooks. e format, just $3.99 and $2.99; print 13.99.
STEALING HOLLYWOOD
This new workbook updates all the text in the first Screenwriting Tricks for Authors ebook with all the many tricks I’ve learned over my last few years of writing and teaching—and doubles the material of the first book, as well as adding six more full story breakdowns.
STEALING HOLLYWOOD ebook $3.99
STEALING HOLLYWOOD US print $13.99
STEALING HOLLYWOOD print, all countries
WRITING LOVE
Writing Love is a shorter version of the workbook, using examples from love stories, romantic suspense, and romantic comedy - available in e formats for just $2.99.
- Smashwords (includes online viewing and pdf file)
- Amazon/Kindle
- Barnes & Noble/Nook
- Amazon UK
- Amazon DE
---------------------
You can also sign up to get free movie breakdowns here:
Get free Story Structure extras and movie breakdowns
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So today we’ll get into a breakdown of THE HUNGER GAMES (the movie) – SEQUENCE I, the SETUP, and work through the story elements up to that all-important PLAN.If you’re not familiar with the Three-Act, Eight-Sequence Structure of film writing, you’ll want to review this post, or better yet, buy the book: STEALING HOLLYWOOD , which has many, many examples of this structure and its story elements, and includes ten full story breakdowns.
Get free Story Structure extras and movie breakdowns
THE HUNGER GAMES
SEQUENCE ONE
The movie starts with a placard that briefly spells out the history of the Hunger Games. Opening scrolls or placards give us the sense that this is an Important Story, maybe even epic. (Think of these opening scrolls from classic movies: “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” and “For nearly forty years this story has given faithful service to the Young at Heart, and Time has been powerless to put its kindly philosophy out of fashion.”) This placard also gives a sense that the story is history rather than fiction. And it’s the first of many tricks we’ll see the filmmakers use to set up the RULES OF THE STORY WORLD – it's really important to be clear about these in dystopian, SFF or paranormal stories.
Then we have the OPENING IMAGE: on a TV screen, two flamboyantly dressed men chat on a talk show, a surreally magnified stage, discussing the upcoming Hunger Games, and again detailing the RULES OF THE WORLD. This is our introduction to two key characters: The MC and the Gamekeeper, both secondary opponents.
In a small, dilapidated house, a young girl (Prim) awakes screaming from a dream. Her older sister Katniss races in to comfort her. This is a premonition, a classic suspense technique. Prim has dreamed that she was chosen as the tribute. Katniss soothes her by singing to her. (PLANT – this song will come back at a key moment to heighten the emotion of and Katniss’s rage over the death of her ally Rue).
Katniss goes out hunting, and as she moves through the village (ORDINARY WORLD) we see images of poverty and hunger (influenced by classic Depression photos by Dorothea Lange). Katniss shows she’s a rule-breaker by going through a fence into a forbidden district, the forest. The image of Katniss in her huntress attire and bow and arrow in this forest setting is an echo of the Artemis archetype, the ancient Greek wilderness goddess of the hunt who defends women and children. (Linking a character to an archetype is one of the classic methods of creating a larger-than-life character. Also, in superhero/ine stories, the characters’ WEAPONS are a key character device and TALISMAN).
In the forest we see Katniss’s SPECIAL SKILLS: running, archery, tracking – she can and will kill for survival. It also shows how comfortable she is in the forest. Her gorgeous friend Gale appears and spoils her shot at a deer (INTRODUCTION OF LOVE INTEREST). As they talk and we see their deep affection and companionship,
this intimate moment is broken by a harsh sound and Katniss and Gale have to hide from a huge dirigible above. The dirigible above sets up a recurring theme of constantly being watched from above, and adds to the dystopian sense of an oppressive society. The dirigible brings a SECONDARY VILLAIN to the town: Effie Trinket, who represents the Capital (the Capital is a non-human ANTAGONIST – typical in dystopian stories, where society is the true villain).
Gale expresses a THEME of the story: “If we didn’t watch, they wouldn’t have a game.” (And also made me wish the whole rest of the movie was about him, alas...). This idea also is a SET UP for the solution in the FINAL BATTLE). He proposes that they could take off together, just leave and live in the woods (again emphasizing their survival SKILLS. Katniss says that Prim couldn’t survive, and if they were caught, “They’d cut out our tongues” – FEAR AND STAKES.) This scene also builds dread over the possibility that Gale will die: he has 42 tokens in the Reaping lottery, presumably because he has volunteered for more tokens in exchange for food for his family.
Back in the village, Katniss stops at a market to sell a squirrel. A woman at the market gives Katniss a mockingjay pin which becomes a TALISMAN: first, the kind woman gives the pin to Katniss (and by implication, to all the child sacrifices) like a witch or fairy godmother, then Katniss gives it to Prim to keep her safe, then it becomes metaphorically infused with Katniss’s love when she offers herself as a sacrifice for her sister, then Prim gives it back to her to keep her safe, and then later Katniss’s mentor/fairy godmother Cinna sews it into Katniss’s jacket, also infusing it with love.
At home while Prim and Katniss’s mother dresses Prim for the Reaping, we get hints of Katniss’s backstory: her mother’s breakdown when her father died in a mine explosion after which Katniss became the head of the family. (Layering in Katniss’s leadership and maternal skills: she will become the mother of the revolution). The filmmakers use this backstory as a subplot line, giving us parts of it throughout the story). Katniss gives Prim the mockingjay pin and promises her nothing bad will happen. In storytelling, a PROMISE is a commitment that must be honored.
10:11 Mothers all over the town prepare their children for The Reaping, dressing them in pale clothing – there is a haunting sense of preparing sacrificial lambs to the slaughter which actually made me weep, and I’m not a crier.
A whistle blows, like a scream, summoning the village to the Reaping.
The color scheme and the arrangements of the crowds throughout this scene are very reminiscent of photos from Nazi Germany: the ghettos, the concentration camps, the sense of evil and dread.
Gathering for the Reaping is the SEQUENCE ONE CLIMAX, and it’s a stellar example of how to build to an effective climax. It’s a huge crowd scene in a SETPIECE arena, made epic by the visual tie in to a horrific historical event. The suspense of Prim’s premonition; our fear for Prim, Katniss and Gale; and the ritual preparations of the children for sacrifice create dread, and the huge STAKES have been clearly spelled out: being chosen in this lottery means almost certain death. Prim has a panic attack on the way in to the arena, increasing the dread. It’s a nice technological touch that the children’s identities are checked by pricking their fingers (also a fairytale image of doom – see Sleeping Beauty) to draw blood for DNA testing).
In the arena Effie struts around on stage, a magenta nightmare of banality, as the history of the Hunger Games is repeated and embellished in a film projected on huge TV screens (DETAILING THE RULES OF THE WORLD, and the THEMATIC VISUAL of combining/contrasting a backward, village society with futuristic technology). The uprising of the thirteen districts is an obvious reference to the revolution of the original thirteen colonies of America, again, grounding this created world in real-life history. The film is narrated by President Snow, a main villain/antagonist, who is the human embodiment of the dystopian society that is the true OPPONENT.
Effie draws names from a huge glass bowl, choosing Prim for the female tribute. Katniss is horrorstruck, then impulsively volunteers to go in her place. [16:01} As she stands on the stage in a daze, Effie asks for a round of applause. Instead, the children of the village lift their arms in a forbidden rebel salute - SETUP of Katniss as the leader of the revolution against the Capital, and also importantly setting up the sense that the desire and will to rebel is there in the people of the District. Katniss will be the match to light that fire.
Almost as an afterthought, Peeta is chosen from the boys as the male tribute. We get a brief FLASHBACK from Katniss’s point of view of Peeta throwing bread to pigs while Katniss shivers in the rain, an ambiguous beginning to a SUBPLOT thread of flashbacks of their backstory. We don’t know if Peeta is her enemy or her friend, but it doesn’t look friendly at this point.
In the very important tag to the sequence, Katniss is allowed just a few minutes under guard to say goodbye to her family and Gale. Katniss berates her mother: “You can’t check out this time. Not like you did when Dad died,” and says that Gale will feed them (LOVE PLOT). Prim tells her desperately, “Just try to win.” This is a clear statement of the PLAN that drives the entire action of the story: Katniss must win the Hunger Games. Katniss promises Prim she’ll try. (Making this a PROMISE scene underscores the PLAN.) Gale starts to detail that PLAN and what will become the two main components of it just moments later when he hugs Katniss goodbye and tells her, “Get a bow. Make one if you have to” and “They want a good show.” Katniss reminds him of the odds: 24 kids competing and only one comes out alive. Gale says, “It’s gonna be you.”
This tag on the scene gives us a clear statement of the audience HOPE: that Katniss will win the Games.
ASSIGNMENT, if you're so inclined!
Take a minute to answer these questions about The Hunger Games, and then try asking yourself the same questions about your own story!
Who's the hero/ine?
What does s/he want?
Who is standing in her way?
What is her plan to get it?
What is her weakness?
What are her special skills?
=====================================================
All the information on this blog and more, including full story structure breakdowns of various movies, is available in my Screenwriting Tricks for Authors workbooks. e format, just $3.99 and $2.99; print 13.99.
STEALING HOLLYWOOD
This new workbook updates all the text in the first Screenwriting Tricks for Authors ebook with all the many tricks I’ve learned over my last few years of writing and teaching—and doubles the material of the first book, as well as adding six more full story breakdowns.
STEALING HOLLYWOOD ebook $3.99
STEALING HOLLYWOOD US print $13.99
STEALING HOLLYWOOD print, all countries
WRITING LOVE
Writing Love is a shorter version of the workbook, using examples from love stories, romantic suspense, and romantic comedy - available in e formats for just $2.99.
- Smashwords (includes online viewing and pdf file)- Amazon/Kindle
- Barnes & Noble/Nook
- Amazon UK
- Amazon DE
---------------------
You can also sign up to get free movie breakdowns here:
Get free Story Structure extras and movie breakdowns
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June 2, 2018
Junowrimo: What's the PLAN?
by Alexandra Sokoloff
Who's doing Junowrimo?
I'm gearing up for teaching a workshop at the Romance Writers of America National Conference next month (details here), and I thought I could prep my workshop students for that by breaking down a very useful movie to look at for story structure: The Hunger Games. And throw in some Junowrimo prompts as well.
Now, I know some of you have jumped into Jumowrimo with only the vaguest idea of your story, which is totally fine - as long as it works! But I'm reposting this discussion of PLAN in the hope that it will quickly focus what might be a very amorphous idea and save you endless rewriting (or giving up completely).
Get free Story Structure extras and movie breakdowns
The PLAN.
I've come to believe is the key to any second act, and really the whole key to story structure:
You always hear that “Drama is conflict,” but when you think about it – what the hell does that mean, practically?
It’s actually much more true, and specific, to say that drama is the constant clashing of a hero/ine’s PLAN and an antagonist’s, or several antagonists’, PLANS.
In the first act of a story, the hero/ine is introduced, and that hero/ine either has or quickly develops a DESIRE (usually triggered by the INCITING INCIDENT). She might have a PROBLEM that needs to be solved, or someone or something she WANTS, or a bad situation that she needs to get out of, pronto.
Her reaction to that problem or situation is to formulate a PLAN, even if that plan is vague or even completely subconscious. But somewhere in there, there is a plan, and storytelling is usually easier if you have the hero/ine or someone else (maybe you, the author) state that plan clearly, so the audience or reader knows exactly what the expectation is.
And the protagonist’s plan (and the corresponding plan of the antagonist’s) actually drives the entire action of the second act. Stating the plan tells us what the CENTRAL ACTION of the story will be. So it’s critical to set up the plan by the end of Act One, or at the very beginning of Act Two, at the latest.
Let’s look at some examples of how plans work.
I’m going to start, improbably, with the actioner 2012, even though I thought it was a pretty terrible movie overall.
Now, I’m sure in a theater this movie delivered on its primary objective, which was a rollercoaster ride as only Hollywood special effects can provide. Whether we like it or not, there is obviously a massive worldwide audience for movies that are primarily about delivering pure sensation. Story isn’t important, nor, apparently, is basic logic. As long as people keep buying enough tickets to these movies to make them profitable, it’s the business of Hollywood to keep churning them out.
But in 2012, even in that rollercoaster ride of special effects and sensations, there was a clear central PLAN for an audience to hook into, a plan that drove the story. Without that plan, 2012 really would have been nothing but a chaos of special effects.
If you’ve seen this movie (and I know some of you have … ), there is a point in the first act where a truly over-the-top Woody Harrelson as an Art Bell-like conspiracy pirate radio commentator rants to protagonist John Cusack about having a map that shows the location of “spaceships” that the government is stocking to abandon planet when the prophesied end of the world commences.
Although Cusack doesn’t believe it at the time, this is the PLANT (sort of camouflaged by the fact that Woody is a nutjob), that gives the audience the idea of what the PLAN OF ACTION will be: Cusack will have to go back for the map in the midst of all the cataclysm, then somehow get his family to these “spaceships” in order for all of them to survive the end of the world.
The PLAN is reiterated, in dialogue, when Cusack gets back to his family and tells his ex-wife basically exactly what I just said above: “We’re going to go back to the nutjob with the map so that we can get to those spaceships and get off the planet before it collapses.”
And lo and behold, that’s exactly what happens; it’s not only Cusack’s PLAN, but the central action of the story, that can be summed up as a CENTRAL QUESTION: Will Cusack be able to get his family to the spaceships before the world ends?
Or put another way, the CENTRAL STORY ACTION is John Cusack getting his family to the spaceships before the world ends.
(Note the ticking clock, there, as well. And as if the end of the world weren’t enough, the movie also starts a literal “Twenty-nine minutes to the end of the world!” ticking computer clock at, yes, 29 minutes before the end of the movie. I must point out here that ticking clocks are dangerous because of the huge cliché factor. We all need to study structure to know what not to do, as well.)
And all this happens about the end of Act I. Remember that I said that it’s essential to have laid out the CENTRAL QUESTION and CENTRAL STORY ACTION by the end of Act I? But also at this point – or possibly just after the climax of Act I, in the very beginning of Act II – we need to know what the PLAN is. PLAN and CENTRAL QUESTION are integrally related, and I keep looking for ways to talk about it because this is such an important concept to master.
A reader/audience really needs to know what the overall PLAN is, even if they only get it in a subconscious way. Otherwise they are left floundering, wondering where the hell all of this is going.
In 2012, even in the midst of all the buildings crumbling and crevasses opening and fires booming and planes crashing, we understand on some level what is going on:
- What does the protagonist want? (OUTER DESIRE) To save his family.
- How is he going to do it? (PLAN) By getting the map from the nutjob and getting his family to the secret spaceships (that aren’t really spaceships).
- What’s standing in his way? (FORCES OF OPPOSITION) About a million natural disasters as the planet caves in, an evil politician who has put a billion dollar price tag on tickets for the spaceship, a Russian Mafioso who keeps being in the same place at the same time as Cusack, and sometimes ends up helping, and sometimes ends up hurting. (Was I the only one queased out by the way all the Russian characters were killed off, leaving only the most obnoxious kids on the planet?)
Here’s another example, from a much better movie:
At the end of the first sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark (which is arguably two sequences in itself, first the action sequence in the cave in South America, then the university sequence back in the US), Indy has just finished teaching his archeology class when his mentor, Marcus, comes to meet him with a couple of government agents who have a job for him (CALL TO ADVENTURE). The agents explain that Hitler has become obsessed with collecting occult artifacts from all over the world, and is currently trying to find the legendary Lost Ark of the Covenant, which is rumored to make any army in possession of it invincible in battle.
So there’s the MACGUFFIN, the object that everyone wants, and the STAKES: if Hitler’s minions (THE ANTAGONISTS) get this Ark before Indy does, the Nazi army will be invincible.
And then Indy explains his PLAN to find the Ark: his old mentor, Abner Ravenwood, was an expert on the Ark and had an ancient Egyptian medallion on which was inscribed the instructions for using the medallion to find the hidden location of the Ark.
So after hearing the plan, we understand the entire OVERALL ACTION of the story: Indy is going to find Abner (his mentor) to get the medallion, then use the medallion to find the Ark before Hitler’s minions can get it.
And even though there are lots of twists along the way, that’s really it: the basic action of the story.
Generally, PLAN and CENTRAL STORY ACTION are really the same thing – the Central Action of the story is carrying out the specific Plan. And the CENTRAL QUESTION of the story can be generally stated as – “Will the Plan succeed?”
Again, the PLAN, CENTRAL QUESTION and CENTRAL STORY ACTION are almost always set up – and spelled out – by the end of the first act, although the specifics of the Plan may be spelled out right after the Act I Climax at the very beginning of Act II.
Can it be later? Well, anything’s possible, but the sooner a reader or audience understands the overall thrust of the story action, the sooner they can relax and let the story take them where it’s going to go. So much of storytelling is about you, the author, reassuring your reader or audience that you know what you’re doing, so they can sit back and let you drive.
Try taking a favorite movie or book (or two or three) and identifying the PLAN, CENTRAL STORY ACTION and CENTRAL QUESTION of them in a few sentences. Like this:
- In Inception, the PLAN is for the team of dream burglars to go into a corporate heir’s dreams to plant the idea of breaking up his father’s corporation. (So the CENTRAL ACTION is going into the corporate heir’s dream and planting the idea, and the CENTRAL QUESTION is: Will they succeed?)
- In Sense and Sensibility, the PLAN is for Marianne and Elinor to secure the family’s fortune and their own happiness by marrying well. (How are they going to do that? By the period’s equivalent of dating – which is the CENTRAL ACTION. Yes, dating is a PLAN! The CENTRAL QUESTION is: Will the sisters succeed in marrying well?)
- In The Proposal, Margaret’s PLAN is to learn enough about Andrew over the four-day weekend with his family to pass the INS marriage test so she won’t be deported. (The CENTRAL ACTION is going to Alaska to meet Andrew’s family and pretending to be married while they learn enough about each other to pass the test. The CENTRAL QUESTION is: Will they be able to successfully fake the marriage?
Now, try it with your own story!
- What does the protagonist WANT?
- How does s/he PLAN to do it?
- What and who is standing in her or his way?
For example, in my spooky thriller, Book of Shadows , here's the Act One set up: the protagonist, homicide detective Adam Garrett, is called on to investigate the murder of a college girl, which looks like a Satanic killing. Garrett and his partner make a quick arrest of a classmate of the girl's, a troubled Goth musician. But Garrett is not convinced of the boy's guilt, and when a practicing witch from nearby Salem insists the boy is innocent and there have been other murders, he is compelled to investigate further.
So Garrett’s PLAN and the CENTRAL ACTION of the story is to use the witch and her specialized knowledge of magical practices to investigate the murder on his own, all the while knowing that she is using him for her own purposes and may well be involved in the killing. The CENTRAL QUESTION is: will they catch the killer before s/he kills again – and/or kills Garrett (if the witch turns out to be the killer)?
- What does the protagonist WANT? To catch the killer before s/he kills again.
- How does he PLAN to do it? By using the witch and her specialized knowledge of magical practices to investigate further.
- What’s standing in his way? His own department, the killer, and possibly the witch herself. And if the witch is right … possibly even a demon.
It’s important to note that the Plan and Central Action of the story are not always driven by the protagonist. Usually, yes. But in The Matrix, it’s Neo’s mentor Morpheus who has the overall PLAN, which drives the central action right up until the end of the second act. The Plan is to recruit and train Neo, whom Morpheus believes is “The One” prophesied to destroy the Matrix. So that’s the action we see unfolding: Morpheus recruiting, deprogramming and training Neo, who is admittedly very cute, but essentially just following Morpheus’s orders for two thirds of the movie.
Does this weaken the structure of that film? Not at all. Morpheus drives the action until that crucial point, the Act Two Climax, when he is abducted by the agents of the Matrix, at which point Neo steps into his greatness and becomes “The One” by taking over the action and making a new plan: to rescue Morpheus by sacrificing himself.
It is a terrific way to show a huge character arc: Neo stepping into his destiny. And I would add that this is a common structural pattern for mythic journey stories – in Lord of the Rings, it's Gandalf who has the PLAN and drives the reluctant Frodo in the central story action until Frodo finally takes over the action himself.
Here’s another example. In the very funny romantic comedy It’s Complicated, Meryl Streep’s character Jane is the protagonist, but she doesn’t drive the action or have any particular plan of her own. It’s her ex-husband Jake (Alec Baldwin), who seduces her and at the end of the first act, proposes (in an extremely persuasive speech) that they continue this affair as a perfect solution to both their love troubles – it will fulfill their sexual and intimacy needs without disrupting the rest of their lives.
Jane decides at that point to go along with Jake’s plan (saying, “I forgot what a good lawyer you are”). In terms of action, she is essentially passive, letting the two men in her life court her (which results in bigger and bigger comic entanglements), but that makes for a more pronounced and satisfying character arc when she finally takes a stand and breaks off the affair with Jake for good, so she can finally move on with her life.
I would venture to guess that most of us know what it’s like to be swept up in a ripping good love entanglement, and can sympathize with Jane’s desire just to go with the passion of it without having to make any pesky practical decisions. It’s a perfectly fine – and natural – structure for a romantic comedy, as long as at that key juncture, the protagonist has the realization and balls – or ovaries – to take control of her own life again and make a stand for what she truly wants.
I give you these last two examples – hopefully – to show how helpful it can be to study the specific structure of stories that are similar to your own. As you can see from the above, the general writing rule that the protagonist drives the action may not apply to what you’re writing – and you might want to make a different choice that will better serve your own story. And that goes for any general writing rule.
QUESTIONS:
1. Have you identified the CENTRAL ACTION of your story? Do you know what the protagonist's and antagonist's PLANS are? At what point in your book does the reader have a clear idea of the protagonist’s PLAN? Is it stated aloud? Can you make it clearer than it is?
2. What is Katniss's PLAN in The Hunger Games - in one word? (Or two at most).
Think about it, and we'll talk about it next post!
- Alex
=====================================================
All the information on this blog and more, including full story structure breakdowns of various movies, is available in my Screenwriting Tricks for Authors workbooks. e format, just $3.99 and $2.99; print 13.99.
STEALING HOLLYWOOD
This new workbook updates all the text in the first Screenwriting Tricks for Authors ebook with all the many tricks I’ve learned over my last few years of writing and teaching—and doubles the material of the first book, as well as adding six more full story breakdowns.
STEALING HOLLYWOOD ebook $3.99
STEALING HOLLYWOOD US print $13.99
STEALING HOLLYWOOD print, all countries
WRITING LOVE
Writing Love is a shorter version of the workbook, using examples from love stories, romantic suspense, and romantic comedy - available in e formats for just $2.99.
- Smashwords (includes online viewing and pdf file)
- Amazon/Kindle
- Barnes & Noble/Nook
- Amazon UK
- Amazon DE
---------------------
You can also sign up to get free movie breakdowns here:
Get free Story Structure extras and movie breakdowns
Who's doing Junowrimo?
I'm gearing up for teaching a workshop at the Romance Writers of America National Conference next month (details here), and I thought I could prep my workshop students for that by breaking down a very useful movie to look at for story structure: The Hunger Games. And throw in some Junowrimo prompts as well.
Now, I know some of you have jumped into Jumowrimo with only the vaguest idea of your story, which is totally fine - as long as it works! But I'm reposting this discussion of PLAN in the hope that it will quickly focus what might be a very amorphous idea and save you endless rewriting (or giving up completely).
Get free Story Structure extras and movie breakdowns
The PLAN.
I've come to believe is the key to any second act, and really the whole key to story structure: You always hear that “Drama is conflict,” but when you think about it – what the hell does that mean, practically?
It’s actually much more true, and specific, to say that drama is the constant clashing of a hero/ine’s PLAN and an antagonist’s, or several antagonists’, PLANS.
In the first act of a story, the hero/ine is introduced, and that hero/ine either has or quickly develops a DESIRE (usually triggered by the INCITING INCIDENT). She might have a PROBLEM that needs to be solved, or someone or something she WANTS, or a bad situation that she needs to get out of, pronto.
Her reaction to that problem or situation is to formulate a PLAN, even if that plan is vague or even completely subconscious. But somewhere in there, there is a plan, and storytelling is usually easier if you have the hero/ine or someone else (maybe you, the author) state that plan clearly, so the audience or reader knows exactly what the expectation is.
And the protagonist’s plan (and the corresponding plan of the antagonist’s) actually drives the entire action of the second act. Stating the plan tells us what the CENTRAL ACTION of the story will be. So it’s critical to set up the plan by the end of Act One, or at the very beginning of Act Two, at the latest.
Let’s look at some examples of how plans work.
I’m going to start, improbably, with the actioner 2012, even though I thought it was a pretty terrible movie overall.
Now, I’m sure in a theater this movie delivered on its primary objective, which was a rollercoaster ride as only Hollywood special effects can provide. Whether we like it or not, there is obviously a massive worldwide audience for movies that are primarily about delivering pure sensation. Story isn’t important, nor, apparently, is basic logic. As long as people keep buying enough tickets to these movies to make them profitable, it’s the business of Hollywood to keep churning them out.
But in 2012, even in that rollercoaster ride of special effects and sensations, there was a clear central PLAN for an audience to hook into, a plan that drove the story. Without that plan, 2012 really would have been nothing but a chaos of special effects.
If you’ve seen this movie (and I know some of you have … ), there is a point in the first act where a truly over-the-top Woody Harrelson as an Art Bell-like conspiracy pirate radio commentator rants to protagonist John Cusack about having a map that shows the location of “spaceships” that the government is stocking to abandon planet when the prophesied end of the world commences.
Although Cusack doesn’t believe it at the time, this is the PLANT (sort of camouflaged by the fact that Woody is a nutjob), that gives the audience the idea of what the PLAN OF ACTION will be: Cusack will have to go back for the map in the midst of all the cataclysm, then somehow get his family to these “spaceships” in order for all of them to survive the end of the world.
The PLAN is reiterated, in dialogue, when Cusack gets back to his family and tells his ex-wife basically exactly what I just said above: “We’re going to go back to the nutjob with the map so that we can get to those spaceships and get off the planet before it collapses.”
And lo and behold, that’s exactly what happens; it’s not only Cusack’s PLAN, but the central action of the story, that can be summed up as a CENTRAL QUESTION: Will Cusack be able to get his family to the spaceships before the world ends?
Or put another way, the CENTRAL STORY ACTION is John Cusack getting his family to the spaceships before the world ends.
(Note the ticking clock, there, as well. And as if the end of the world weren’t enough, the movie also starts a literal “Twenty-nine minutes to the end of the world!” ticking computer clock at, yes, 29 minutes before the end of the movie. I must point out here that ticking clocks are dangerous because of the huge cliché factor. We all need to study structure to know what not to do, as well.)
And all this happens about the end of Act I. Remember that I said that it’s essential to have laid out the CENTRAL QUESTION and CENTRAL STORY ACTION by the end of Act I? But also at this point – or possibly just after the climax of Act I, in the very beginning of Act II – we need to know what the PLAN is. PLAN and CENTRAL QUESTION are integrally related, and I keep looking for ways to talk about it because this is such an important concept to master.
A reader/audience really needs to know what the overall PLAN is, even if they only get it in a subconscious way. Otherwise they are left floundering, wondering where the hell all of this is going.
In 2012, even in the midst of all the buildings crumbling and crevasses opening and fires booming and planes crashing, we understand on some level what is going on:
- What does the protagonist want? (OUTER DESIRE) To save his family.
- How is he going to do it? (PLAN) By getting the map from the nutjob and getting his family to the secret spaceships (that aren’t really spaceships).
- What’s standing in his way? (FORCES OF OPPOSITION) About a million natural disasters as the planet caves in, an evil politician who has put a billion dollar price tag on tickets for the spaceship, a Russian Mafioso who keeps being in the same place at the same time as Cusack, and sometimes ends up helping, and sometimes ends up hurting. (Was I the only one queased out by the way all the Russian characters were killed off, leaving only the most obnoxious kids on the planet?)
Here’s another example, from a much better movie:
At the end of the first sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark (which is arguably two sequences in itself, first the action sequence in the cave in South America, then the university sequence back in the US), Indy has just finished teaching his archeology class when his mentor, Marcus, comes to meet him with a couple of government agents who have a job for him (CALL TO ADVENTURE). The agents explain that Hitler has become obsessed with collecting occult artifacts from all over the world, and is currently trying to find the legendary Lost Ark of the Covenant, which is rumored to make any army in possession of it invincible in battle.
So there’s the MACGUFFIN, the object that everyone wants, and the STAKES: if Hitler’s minions (THE ANTAGONISTS) get this Ark before Indy does, the Nazi army will be invincible.
And then Indy explains his PLAN to find the Ark: his old mentor, Abner Ravenwood, was an expert on the Ark and had an ancient Egyptian medallion on which was inscribed the instructions for using the medallion to find the hidden location of the Ark.
So after hearing the plan, we understand the entire OVERALL ACTION of the story: Indy is going to find Abner (his mentor) to get the medallion, then use the medallion to find the Ark before Hitler’s minions can get it.
And even though there are lots of twists along the way, that’s really it: the basic action of the story.
Generally, PLAN and CENTRAL STORY ACTION are really the same thing – the Central Action of the story is carrying out the specific Plan. And the CENTRAL QUESTION of the story can be generally stated as – “Will the Plan succeed?”
Again, the PLAN, CENTRAL QUESTION and CENTRAL STORY ACTION are almost always set up – and spelled out – by the end of the first act, although the specifics of the Plan may be spelled out right after the Act I Climax at the very beginning of Act II.
Can it be later? Well, anything’s possible, but the sooner a reader or audience understands the overall thrust of the story action, the sooner they can relax and let the story take them where it’s going to go. So much of storytelling is about you, the author, reassuring your reader or audience that you know what you’re doing, so they can sit back and let you drive.
Try taking a favorite movie or book (or two or three) and identifying the PLAN, CENTRAL STORY ACTION and CENTRAL QUESTION of them in a few sentences. Like this:
- In Inception, the PLAN is for the team of dream burglars to go into a corporate heir’s dreams to plant the idea of breaking up his father’s corporation. (So the CENTRAL ACTION is going into the corporate heir’s dream and planting the idea, and the CENTRAL QUESTION is: Will they succeed?)
- In Sense and Sensibility, the PLAN is for Marianne and Elinor to secure the family’s fortune and their own happiness by marrying well. (How are they going to do that? By the period’s equivalent of dating – which is the CENTRAL ACTION. Yes, dating is a PLAN! The CENTRAL QUESTION is: Will the sisters succeed in marrying well?)
- In The Proposal, Margaret’s PLAN is to learn enough about Andrew over the four-day weekend with his family to pass the INS marriage test so she won’t be deported. (The CENTRAL ACTION is going to Alaska to meet Andrew’s family and pretending to be married while they learn enough about each other to pass the test. The CENTRAL QUESTION is: Will they be able to successfully fake the marriage?
Now, try it with your own story!
- What does the protagonist WANT?
- How does s/he PLAN to do it?
- What and who is standing in her or his way?
For example, in my spooky thriller, Book of Shadows , here's the Act One set up: the protagonist, homicide detective Adam Garrett, is called on to investigate the murder of a college girl, which looks like a Satanic killing. Garrett and his partner make a quick arrest of a classmate of the girl's, a troubled Goth musician. But Garrett is not convinced of the boy's guilt, and when a practicing witch from nearby Salem insists the boy is innocent and there have been other murders, he is compelled to investigate further.
So Garrett’s PLAN and the CENTRAL ACTION of the story is to use the witch and her specialized knowledge of magical practices to investigate the murder on his own, all the while knowing that she is using him for her own purposes and may well be involved in the killing. The CENTRAL QUESTION is: will they catch the killer before s/he kills again – and/or kills Garrett (if the witch turns out to be the killer)?
- What does the protagonist WANT? To catch the killer before s/he kills again.
- How does he PLAN to do it? By using the witch and her specialized knowledge of magical practices to investigate further.
- What’s standing in his way? His own department, the killer, and possibly the witch herself. And if the witch is right … possibly even a demon.
It’s important to note that the Plan and Central Action of the story are not always driven by the protagonist. Usually, yes. But in The Matrix, it’s Neo’s mentor Morpheus who has the overall PLAN, which drives the central action right up until the end of the second act. The Plan is to recruit and train Neo, whom Morpheus believes is “The One” prophesied to destroy the Matrix. So that’s the action we see unfolding: Morpheus recruiting, deprogramming and training Neo, who is admittedly very cute, but essentially just following Morpheus’s orders for two thirds of the movie.
Does this weaken the structure of that film? Not at all. Morpheus drives the action until that crucial point, the Act Two Climax, when he is abducted by the agents of the Matrix, at which point Neo steps into his greatness and becomes “The One” by taking over the action and making a new plan: to rescue Morpheus by sacrificing himself.
It is a terrific way to show a huge character arc: Neo stepping into his destiny. And I would add that this is a common structural pattern for mythic journey stories – in Lord of the Rings, it's Gandalf who has the PLAN and drives the reluctant Frodo in the central story action until Frodo finally takes over the action himself.
Here’s another example. In the very funny romantic comedy It’s Complicated, Meryl Streep’s character Jane is the protagonist, but she doesn’t drive the action or have any particular plan of her own. It’s her ex-husband Jake (Alec Baldwin), who seduces her and at the end of the first act, proposes (in an extremely persuasive speech) that they continue this affair as a perfect solution to both their love troubles – it will fulfill their sexual and intimacy needs without disrupting the rest of their lives.
Jane decides at that point to go along with Jake’s plan (saying, “I forgot what a good lawyer you are”). In terms of action, she is essentially passive, letting the two men in her life court her (which results in bigger and bigger comic entanglements), but that makes for a more pronounced and satisfying character arc when she finally takes a stand and breaks off the affair with Jake for good, so she can finally move on with her life.
I would venture to guess that most of us know what it’s like to be swept up in a ripping good love entanglement, and can sympathize with Jane’s desire just to go with the passion of it without having to make any pesky practical decisions. It’s a perfectly fine – and natural – structure for a romantic comedy, as long as at that key juncture, the protagonist has the realization and balls – or ovaries – to take control of her own life again and make a stand for what she truly wants.
I give you these last two examples – hopefully – to show how helpful it can be to study the specific structure of stories that are similar to your own. As you can see from the above, the general writing rule that the protagonist drives the action may not apply to what you’re writing – and you might want to make a different choice that will better serve your own story. And that goes for any general writing rule.
QUESTIONS:
1. Have you identified the CENTRAL ACTION of your story? Do you know what the protagonist's and antagonist's PLANS are? At what point in your book does the reader have a clear idea of the protagonist’s PLAN? Is it stated aloud? Can you make it clearer than it is?
2. What is Katniss's PLAN in The Hunger Games - in one word? (Or two at most).
Think about it, and we'll talk about it next post!
- Alex
=====================================================
All the information on this blog and more, including full story structure breakdowns of various movies, is available in my Screenwriting Tricks for Authors workbooks. e format, just $3.99 and $2.99; print 13.99.
STEALING HOLLYWOOD
This new workbook updates all the text in the first Screenwriting Tricks for Authors ebook with all the many tricks I’ve learned over my last few years of writing and teaching—and doubles the material of the first book, as well as adding six more full story breakdowns.
STEALING HOLLYWOOD ebook $3.99
STEALING HOLLYWOOD US print $13.99
STEALING HOLLYWOOD print, all countries
WRITING LOVE
Writing Love is a shorter version of the workbook, using examples from love stories, romantic suspense, and romantic comedy - available in e formats for just $2.99.
- Smashwords (includes online viewing and pdf file)- Amazon/Kindle
- Barnes & Noble/Nook
- Amazon UK
- Amazon DE
---------------------
You can also sign up to get free movie breakdowns here:
Get free Story Structure extras and movie breakdowns
May 1, 2018
Book of Shadows FREE this week (Happy Beltane!)
by Alexandra Sokoloff
May 1 is the pagan holiday of Beltane, for fire, fertility and the abundance of spring. You all know how I love those witchy celebrations, so I've made my spooky thriller Book of Shadows free in the US this week!
Grab it and add Audie and Voice Arts Award winner RC Bray's narration
"A wonderfully dark thriller with amazing "Is-it-isn't-it?"suspense all the way to the end. Highly recommended." - Lee Child
Amazon US
"Fast-paced with strong characterizations, fans will enjoy this superb thriller, as Adam and the audience wonder if The Unseen could be the killer." - Publisher's Weekly
Book of Shadows is about a cynical Boston cop who reluctantly teams up with a mysterious Salem witch to solve what looks like a Satanic murder.
It’s fascinating to me how when you write a book, everyone always assumes it’s about you. Few people get that sometimes, if not most times, when you write a book it’s about getting OUT of you. Just like reading is, right? So naturally everyone who reads it assumes that I’m a witch (that’s with a "w"). Oh, the interviewers don’t come right out and say it, but you know that’s what they’re asking. Well, I’m not. Really. Not really. No more than any woman is a witch. But I can’t deny that writing Book of Shadows was a really excellent opportunity for me to indulge some of my witchier nature. I wanted to dive right in and explore some of those things that make some men – and a lot of women – uncomfortable with feminine power, and feminine energy, and feminine sexuality, and feminine deity.
I was working up to this book for quite a while. I’ve been around practicing witches most of my life. That’s what happens when you grow up in California, especially Berkeley. Actually the Berkeley part pretty much explains why I write anything supernatural to begin with, but that’s another post. Those of you who have visited Berkeley know that Telegraph Avenue, the famous drag that ends at the Berkeley campus, is a gauntlet of clothing and craft vendors, artists, and fortunetellers, forever fixed in the sixties. Well, look a little closer, and you’ll see just how many pagans, Wiccans, and witches there actually are. I’ve walked that gauntlet thousands of times in my life. It does something to your psyche, I’m telling you.
There was also the Renaissance Pleasure Faire, where I spent many summer days in my interestingly misspent youth. Renaissance Faires are teeming with witches (check out the Fortune Tellers’ Grove next time if you don’t believe me).
So even though I don’t actually practice, not in an organized covenish kind of way, I’ve been to a ceremony or two, and you could say I’ve been researching this book for quite some time. In fact, I think I’ve known I was going to write this book ever since I first saw a "Calling of The Corners," a Craft ceremony which is one of the ritual scenes I depict in "Book of Shadows." It’s one of the most extraordinary spiritual experiences I've ever had -- such elemental, feminine power.
And in everyday life, there some things that are just useful to know about the Craft.I’m not much one for spells, I’m more of a meditator. But when I had to kick my evil tenants out of my rental house? A cleaning service was just not enough. You better believe that the second the locksmith was done changing the locks, I was down at the witch supply store, buying black and white candles (for protection and cleansing), and sage (smudge it for purification). I opened every window and swept the whole house widdershins (to the left, to dismiss) with a new broom dipped in salt and rosemary to dispel all lingering energy.
Ritual works, and it doesn’t really matter what accoutrements you use; it’s really about the intention: in this case to cleanse, heal, and start over fresh.
Another concept of the Craft that I’ve always found particularly useful is Maiden, Mother, Crone. Those are the three aspects of the Goddess, and also the three phases of the moon, corresponding colors white, red and black. They represent the three cycles of a woman’s life – youth, womanhood and age – but women also pass through all three aspects every month when they’re menstruating, and knowing that has saved my life (and the lives of many of those around me) many a time. The time right after your period is Maiden: you have a rush of estrogen, so you’re glowing, you’ve just dropped all that water weight, you have a ton of energy, and you’re – well, up for it. And men can sense it. Best time to snag a partner, although your choices might not be exactly the best in this phase of the cycle.
The Mother (also called Queen) phase of the month is around ovulation. You’re powerful, grounded, and can get a lot done, especially creatively, because of the pregnancy connotations. It’s a sexy time in a different way than Maiden, because there’s the extra knowledge that yes, you really can get pregnant right now.
The Crone phase is raging PMS and the "death" that a period often feels like. Wise people know to avoid you at this time unless they really want a faceful of truth, and I try not to schedule meetings, especially with men, when I’m in this phase. Best for me to be solitary and contemplative. And contain the damage. But the things that come out of your mouth during this phase are the deep truth, even if they’re not pleasant, and if you remember to breathe, put the knife down, and pay attention to what you’re feeling and saying, you can learn a lot about your life and what you really need to be doing. Also your dreams will tend to be the most powerful, vivid, and significant in this phase. I know mine are.
I appreciate the earth/nature centeredness of the Craft. I like to be aware of whether the moon is waxing or waning, and focus on bringing things into my life during the waxing, and letting go of things (or people!) in the waning. And I like knowing that there is extra power and magic at the Solstices and Equinoxes; that knowledge makes me stop at least four times a year to consider what I really want to manifest in my life. (Obviously I used all of that Moon knowledge and more in the Huntress Moon series, too…)
Let’s face it: I also like the clothes. With my hair, I’ll never be able to pull off the tailored look. I love lace and fishnets and velvet and sparkles and corsets and big jewelry. I love the candles and the scents and that every day has a color (today is white, if you’re wondering). And there is another aspect of the Craft that has been truly important to me, spiritually. It’s about balance. I have never, ever bought the idea that God is male. It runs contrary to my entire experience of reality. I love you guys, really I do, but you’re only half the equation. I can’t see how an ultimate power could be anything but BOTH male and female. So the notion of a Goddess, in all Her forms, to me, completes the equation.
And a Supreme Being who likes velvet and fishnets? Even better.
So how about you? What’s your take on witches? Are you familiar with the way witchcraft is actually practiced, or is that whole world completely mysterious to you? Or do you do the odd spell or two yourself?
-- Alexandra Sokoloff
Book of Shadows
Homicide detective Adam Garrett is already a rising star in the Boston police department when he and his cynical partner, Carl Landauer, catch a horrifying case that could make their careers: the ritualistic murder of a wealthy college girl that appears to have Satanic elements.
The partners make a quick arrest when all evidence points to another student, a troubled musician in a Goth band who was either dating or stalking the murdered girl. But Garrett's case is turned upside down when beautiful, mysterious Tanith Cabarrus, a practicing witch from nearby Salem, walks into the homicide bureau and insists that the real perpetrator is still at large. Tanith claims to have had psychic visions that the killer has ritually sacrificed other teenagers in his attempts to summon a powerful, ancient demon.
All Garrett's beliefs about the nature of reality will be tested as he is forced to team up with a woman he is fiercely attracted to but cannot trust, in a race to uncover a psychotic killer before he strikes again.
Amazon US
"Sokoloff successfully melds a classic murder-mystery/whodunit with supernatural occult undertones." - Library Journal
"Compelling, frightening and exceptionally well-written, Book of Shadows is destined to become another hit for acclaimed horror and suspense writer Sokoloff. The incredibly tense plot and mysterious characters will keep readers up late at night, jumping at every sound, and turning the pages until they've devoured the book." - Romantic Times Book Reviews
"
Fast-paced with strong characterizations, fans will enjoy this superb thriller, as Adam and the audience wonder if The Unseen could be the killer." - Publisher's Weekly
"
A wonderfully dark thriller with amazing is-it-isn't-it suspense all the way to the end. Highly recommended." - Lee Child
May 1 is the pagan holiday of Beltane, for fire, fertility and the abundance of spring. You all know how I love those witchy celebrations, so I've made my spooky thriller Book of Shadows free in the US this week!
Grab it and add Audie and Voice Arts Award winner RC Bray's narration
"A wonderfully dark thriller with amazing "Is-it-isn't-it?"suspense all the way to the end. Highly recommended." - Lee Child
Amazon US
"Fast-paced with strong characterizations, fans will enjoy this superb thriller, as Adam and the audience wonder if The Unseen could be the killer." - Publisher's Weekly
Book of Shadows is about a cynical Boston cop who reluctantly teams up with a mysterious Salem witch to solve what looks like a Satanic murder.
It’s fascinating to me how when you write a book, everyone always assumes it’s about you. Few people get that sometimes, if not most times, when you write a book it’s about getting OUT of you. Just like reading is, right? So naturally everyone who reads it assumes that I’m a witch (that’s with a "w"). Oh, the interviewers don’t come right out and say it, but you know that’s what they’re asking. Well, I’m not. Really. Not really. No more than any woman is a witch. But I can’t deny that writing Book of Shadows was a really excellent opportunity for me to indulge some of my witchier nature. I wanted to dive right in and explore some of those things that make some men – and a lot of women – uncomfortable with feminine power, and feminine energy, and feminine sexuality, and feminine deity.
I was working up to this book for quite a while. I’ve been around practicing witches most of my life. That’s what happens when you grow up in California, especially Berkeley. Actually the Berkeley part pretty much explains why I write anything supernatural to begin with, but that’s another post. Those of you who have visited Berkeley know that Telegraph Avenue, the famous drag that ends at the Berkeley campus, is a gauntlet of clothing and craft vendors, artists, and fortunetellers, forever fixed in the sixties. Well, look a little closer, and you’ll see just how many pagans, Wiccans, and witches there actually are. I’ve walked that gauntlet thousands of times in my life. It does something to your psyche, I’m telling you.
There was also the Renaissance Pleasure Faire, where I spent many summer days in my interestingly misspent youth. Renaissance Faires are teeming with witches (check out the Fortune Tellers’ Grove next time if you don’t believe me).
So even though I don’t actually practice, not in an organized covenish kind of way, I’ve been to a ceremony or two, and you could say I’ve been researching this book for quite some time. In fact, I think I’ve known I was going to write this book ever since I first saw a "Calling of The Corners," a Craft ceremony which is one of the ritual scenes I depict in "Book of Shadows." It’s one of the most extraordinary spiritual experiences I've ever had -- such elemental, feminine power.
And in everyday life, there some things that are just useful to know about the Craft.I’m not much one for spells, I’m more of a meditator. But when I had to kick my evil tenants out of my rental house? A cleaning service was just not enough. You better believe that the second the locksmith was done changing the locks, I was down at the witch supply store, buying black and white candles (for protection and cleansing), and sage (smudge it for purification). I opened every window and swept the whole house widdershins (to the left, to dismiss) with a new broom dipped in salt and rosemary to dispel all lingering energy.
Ritual works, and it doesn’t really matter what accoutrements you use; it’s really about the intention: in this case to cleanse, heal, and start over fresh.
Another concept of the Craft that I’ve always found particularly useful is Maiden, Mother, Crone. Those are the three aspects of the Goddess, and also the three phases of the moon, corresponding colors white, red and black. They represent the three cycles of a woman’s life – youth, womanhood and age – but women also pass through all three aspects every month when they’re menstruating, and knowing that has saved my life (and the lives of many of those around me) many a time. The time right after your period is Maiden: you have a rush of estrogen, so you’re glowing, you’ve just dropped all that water weight, you have a ton of energy, and you’re – well, up for it. And men can sense it. Best time to snag a partner, although your choices might not be exactly the best in this phase of the cycle.
The Mother (also called Queen) phase of the month is around ovulation. You’re powerful, grounded, and can get a lot done, especially creatively, because of the pregnancy connotations. It’s a sexy time in a different way than Maiden, because there’s the extra knowledge that yes, you really can get pregnant right now.
The Crone phase is raging PMS and the "death" that a period often feels like. Wise people know to avoid you at this time unless they really want a faceful of truth, and I try not to schedule meetings, especially with men, when I’m in this phase. Best for me to be solitary and contemplative. And contain the damage. But the things that come out of your mouth during this phase are the deep truth, even if they’re not pleasant, and if you remember to breathe, put the knife down, and pay attention to what you’re feeling and saying, you can learn a lot about your life and what you really need to be doing. Also your dreams will tend to be the most powerful, vivid, and significant in this phase. I know mine are.
I appreciate the earth/nature centeredness of the Craft. I like to be aware of whether the moon is waxing or waning, and focus on bringing things into my life during the waxing, and letting go of things (or people!) in the waning. And I like knowing that there is extra power and magic at the Solstices and Equinoxes; that knowledge makes me stop at least four times a year to consider what I really want to manifest in my life. (Obviously I used all of that Moon knowledge and more in the Huntress Moon series, too…)
Let’s face it: I also like the clothes. With my hair, I’ll never be able to pull off the tailored look. I love lace and fishnets and velvet and sparkles and corsets and big jewelry. I love the candles and the scents and that every day has a color (today is white, if you’re wondering). And there is another aspect of the Craft that has been truly important to me, spiritually. It’s about balance. I have never, ever bought the idea that God is male. It runs contrary to my entire experience of reality. I love you guys, really I do, but you’re only half the equation. I can’t see how an ultimate power could be anything but BOTH male and female. So the notion of a Goddess, in all Her forms, to me, completes the equation.
And a Supreme Being who likes velvet and fishnets? Even better.
So how about you? What’s your take on witches? Are you familiar with the way witchcraft is actually practiced, or is that whole world completely mysterious to you? Or do you do the odd spell or two yourself?
-- Alexandra Sokoloff
Book of Shadows
Homicide detective Adam Garrett is already a rising star in the Boston police department when he and his cynical partner, Carl Landauer, catch a horrifying case that could make their careers: the ritualistic murder of a wealthy college girl that appears to have Satanic elements.
The partners make a quick arrest when all evidence points to another student, a troubled musician in a Goth band who was either dating or stalking the murdered girl. But Garrett's case is turned upside down when beautiful, mysterious Tanith Cabarrus, a practicing witch from nearby Salem, walks into the homicide bureau and insists that the real perpetrator is still at large. Tanith claims to have had psychic visions that the killer has ritually sacrificed other teenagers in his attempts to summon a powerful, ancient demon.
All Garrett's beliefs about the nature of reality will be tested as he is forced to team up with a woman he is fiercely attracted to but cannot trust, in a race to uncover a psychotic killer before he strikes again.
Amazon US
"Sokoloff successfully melds a classic murder-mystery/whodunit with supernatural occult undertones." - Library Journal
"Compelling, frightening and exceptionally well-written, Book of Shadows is destined to become another hit for acclaimed horror and suspense writer Sokoloff. The incredibly tense plot and mysterious characters will keep readers up late at night, jumping at every sound, and turning the pages until they've devoured the book." - Romantic Times Book Reviews
"
Fast-paced with strong characterizations, fans will enjoy this superb thriller, as Adam and the audience wonder if The Unseen could be the killer." - Publisher's Weekly
"
A wonderfully dark thriller with amazing is-it-isn't-it suspense all the way to the end. Highly recommended." - Lee Child
April 25, 2018
What is a mentor?
My mentor died last week.
It was not unexpected. In fact, it was one of those long goodbyes. But the loss cuts deep. There are some people who, no matter how much water under the bridge, will always have that tidal effect.
Shireen StrookerI use water imagery for a reason, but what’s more immediately appropriate is – she was and is a star. The writer/director/producer/actor of hundreds of plays in the Netherlands, Europe and the US, some with the radical theater company Het Werkteater, many after that with her own company and others.
I was in my last year at Berkeley, and two of my actor/director friends, Karl Hamman and Andy Myler, had gotten a grant to bring Shireen over from the Netherlands to teach a company acting class, culminating in a play. The demand was so high that two classes were formed. We were theater students. Ridiculously young, impressionable, ambitious, pretentious. It was ages ago, now. Many of us are best friends to this day. Those of us still in theater and film trace our inspiration back to that class. No one who took it was not transformed in some way.
I’ve always loved that Kafka quote: “A book must be an ice-axe to break the sea frozen inside us.”
Shireen was an ice-axe.
She was brutal.
Like many great artists, she didn’t have the time or the patience to be encouraging or supportive. She didn’t sugarcoat anything. She went straight for the jugular.
The very first day she walked into our company class, the very first improvisation she had us do, she cast me as a child molester.
I’ve written before that one of the defining and traumatizing moments of my life was being approached at nine years old by a sexual predator who tried to grab me off the street.
Did she know this about me? Of course not. We’d never met, and it wasn’t something I could articulate at the time. That took a lot of therapy, later.
But I did the scene. You didn’t say no to Shireen.
After the improvisation, which I don’t remember much about except that it didn’t go well, she yelled at me for facing upstage for most of the scene “So we couldn’t see your ugliness.”
It became a theme between us. I’m not sure if that was a theme of hers in general or just what she was determined to bring out in me, particularly. But I heard it over and over from her. “Where’s the dirt?!” “Show me your ugliness!”
Or this gem: “You sit there like a giant spider in your web, always watching everyone.” I was twenty years old. It wasn’t what I wanted to hear about myself.
I hadn’t grasped the concept of Beauty and Truth.
Shireen demanded Truth.
Would she finally have been satisfied with the dirt in the Huntress series? Or am I still not being quite ugly enough? I’m getting enough hate mail these days from people who are disturbed by my last book. But still, I wonder.
I do know that however far I’ve gone in the Huntress series, she wouldn’t think it was far enough. For her, that was the whole point of theater, of play-making. To cross every line and shatter every barrier.
And to that effect, she wanted her players raw.
I don’t know if it was a deliberate strategy or an unconscious one: to break actors so that they would do ANYTHING you told them to do on command. Much like the military.
I teach, on occasion, and some of my students see me as a mentor. I ask myself sometimes if I am being too easy. If I wouldn’t do better for promising students by being more cruel. Being easy is the easy way out. Cruelty is no way to raise children - but maybe it’s the way to shape a professional artist.
It’s definitely what she did. She said horrible things to us. Horrible because we believed in her so absolutely. We wanted so desperately to please her. And the lessons weren’t all brutal, though they were always shattering.
One priceless lesson I learned from her is synchronicity. That when you start a play (a book, a film, a dance piece) – EVERYTHING that happens is relevant and belongs in the play. I heard her say hundreds of times, “But we MUST have THAT in the play!” And so it was. "Dare to be bad" was another concept. When you think about it, what's the worst that can happen on stage, or on the page? You can suck. Furthermore, you're going to suck. Guaranteed. Sometimes you just suck. But once you get over your fear of sucking? That fearlessness translates into a confidence that takes you places you were always afraid to go, before. And once you've made a bad choice, you've eliminated something that doesn't work and are one step closer to finding something that does work.
She taught me not to care about what anyone else thought. She was loathed and mocked by the mostly male and casually, devastatingly sexist professors of the Department of Dramatic Art. It was abundantly clear that they were terrified of this feminine force. It made us love her more.
Everyone else around her was profoundly influenced.
My friends Jess Winfield and Reed Martin – Jess, author/screenwriter, tv and theater producer, one of the creators of the Reduced Shakespeare Company. Reed, who became part of the later RSC company and went on to co-write, produce and star in numerous other RSC shows. Phil Abrams, an actor all of you know from television, whether or not you know his name. Nina Ruscio, my brilliant production designer friend (currently designing Shameless and Animal Planet), who taught me one of the most career-making lessons in visual storytelling that day when I tagged along with her into the depths of Zellerbach Hall, to the prop warehouse, to create the look of our play Ondine. Stan Lai, now the most famous theater writer/director/producer in Taiwan.
We were a cult, really.
Shireen and I became very close that year, which was in a way unlikely.
Our company class was rehearsing an improvisational adaptation of Jean Giradoux’s Ondine.
I was quite possibly the worst actor in the class. I just never cared as much about what I was doing in my own role as I did about the big picture. I’d wisely given up acting completely for writing the year before, and was only reluctantly persuaded into the ensemble by Andy and Karl (for which I owe them more than I will ever be able to repay).
But Shireen needed an assistant (actually she needed as many as she could get) and I knew I needed to hear – or observe - WHY she was doing what she did.
I didn’t get praise from her. I got assignments. But for Shireen to turn to me and say – “You will write this for us to do tomorrow” was better than praise. It was a specific acknowledgement of what I could do.
And the lessons went on and on.
Including one I teach in all my own workshops: The Dark Moment. All is Lost. The Dark Night of the Soul. In other words, you must lose everything before it all comes together.
And in almost all mentor narratives, in Act II:2, the mentor goes away.
Which is what Shireen did, a few weeks before Ondine opened. She had another play on in Amsterdam that she had to get back to. But we all threw ourselves into rehearsing ourselves.
The night she came back and saw our run-through, she ripped into us as I’ve never been ripped into before or since. She ranted at us for what seemed like an eternity, saying we’d unraveled all the work she’d done with us. She told us we’d have to cancel the performance.
I’ll never be sure if that was what she really thought or if it was another way of getting what she wanted from us.
Because in effect, she terrified us into working 24/7 for the last week before the show. (I’m remembering now that for the first and only time in my college career I told one of my drama professors I’d have to turn my final paper in late because of rehearsal. This highly mediocre professor was one of Shireen’s detractors and told me that if I didn’t get the paper in on time I’d fail the class. I was pretty much a straight-A student, Phi Beta Kappa, and I’d seen him give extensions for performance to any number of his students - it was a theater department, after all. He refused. I told him to fail me. It didn’t occur to me to take the issue higher – I simply didn’t care. I don’t think he actually failed me, but I do have those dreams, you know… that you realize you never actually graduated from college….)
We lived in that theater for that week. We slept there, some nights.
And the show was – beautiful.
Shireen's 210 company class in OndineFor all Shireen’s talk about ugliness (maybe only with me), Ondine was a shimmeringly romantic fairy tale. There were moments so poetic I heard audience members gasp aloud. There are whole scenes from that show I will remember in entirety for the rest of my life.
My favorite moment was neither artistic nor poetic. Among other roles I played the Queen, and there was a royal court scene that the whole cast could never, ever get through without collapsing into hysterical laughter. A lot of this was because of the King, Reed (he of the Reduced Shakespeare Company), a brilliant comedian who every rehearsal went out of his way to find new ways to make the rest of us break.
But of course you always somehow pull it together for opening night, and we did several performances without a hitch. And then - one night when King Reed stood in all pomp and circumstance from his throne, one of the pearls from his ermine robe caught on the mesh train of my gown. And as he started walking downstage, both our robes rose, grandly enormous, filling the stage like the wings of giant swans.
Well, the courtiers almost lost it. The audience totally lost it. But we were professionals, or aspiring, anyway, and the courtiers got hold of themselves and somehow Reed and I did a little shimmy and two-step to get unhooked, shooting each other marital looks of annoyance, and we resumed the scene.
And it happened again. Same pearl, same mesh, same swan wings.
It was pandemonium. We could not stop laughing. Literally. Could. Not. Stop. I know from this moment what it means to be rolling on the floor laughing, because half of the actors on stage were, literally. I was doubled over on my throne, laughing my guts out. Reed was collapsed in my lap. The audience was shrieking. We could hear Shireen out in the house just wailing with laughter. It went on for minutes, which on stage is eternity.
I don't know how we finally pulled ourselves together, but somehow we did. And after the show I have never had so many people thank me for the best laugh of their lives.
And Shireen told us backstage, “That is the BEST gift you could have given me.” It was the most pleased I ever saw her.
That moment was something so much more than theater. It taught me that precision is nothing, compared to the truth of a moment.
I can only remember one spoken compliment I ever got from her. Not a compliment, really – a validation.
It was when I sold my first screenplay, for an enormous amount of money to me, and enough fanfare that I, a complete Hollywood outsider (and a woman, one-fourth as likely as a man to get paid for it) suddenly had a screenwriting career.
I visited Shireen that winter in Amsterdam and she said to me, “I knew you had this in you. From the first day, the moment I saw you, this was all there.”
Was that true? I wonder. It’s so easy to say in retrospect. But I like to think that she saw that in all of us.
Because we do all have that in us. I will always believe that.
But some of us are lucky enough find a Shireen to hack it out of us.
With an ice axe.
April 1, 2018
Camp Nanowrimo, anyone? Answer these 3 questions first!
Who’s doing Camp Nanowrimo?I’m not being official about it, but the lure is too great to resist. If I do 1000 words a day for the month of April, I should have a rough first draft of the sixth (and last!) book in my Huntress series by May 1.
Well, who could pass that up? And it’s totally doable.
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I bet some of you are doing Camp. I know some of you are having a resentful wave of panic at the very thought, possibly because you still haven’t even started your freaking taxes yet, and what sadist from hell ever thought APRIL was a good month for this anyway?
Oh, believe me. I know.
Still. You don’t HAVE to complete a draft (which I would contend is not all that possible in a month, anyway). You don’t HAVE to write 1000 words a day. How about starting with 15 minutes a day and see where that goes?
And you could start today by not writing a word, but simply answering, or starting to ponder these essential questions about your story:
1. What does your main character WANT?2. What is her or his PLAN to get it?3. Who or what is standing in her way?
Most people leave out the most essential element of all: #2: THE PLAN.
So if you are not familiar with this concept of THE PLAN, we’ll talk about it this week!
Meanwhile, have a great holiday weekend, whatever you’re celebrating.
- Alex
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Want more? Get full story structure breakdowns of ten movies in each of my workbooks.
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STEALING HOLLYWOOD
This new workbook updates all the text in the first Screenwriting Tricks for Authors ebook with all the many tricks I’ve learned over my last few years of writing and teaching—and doubles the material of the first book, as well as adding six more full story breakdowns.
STEALING HOLLYWOOD ebook $3.99
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WRITING LOVE
Writing Love is a shorter version of the workbook, using examples from love stories, romantic suspense, and romantic comedy - available in e formats for just $2.99.
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---------------------
March 24, 2018
Stealing Hollywood - Character Introductions
There are so many tricks that authors can take from filmmaking to help with character.
Today’s example is the CHARACTER INTRODUCTION.
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I’ve been breaking down HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE for the online class I’m teaching and that movie is superb for this character technique. Every major character has a fantastic character introduction.
Character introductions are painstakingly developed by screenwriters because the making of a movie (at least in the past) almost always hinges on attachments – that is, attracting a star big enough to “open” the movie – that is, bring in enough box office on the opening weekend to earn back production costs.
When you have an actor like that, the studio will finance the movie.
(Okay, now we could go into the fact that lately studios are less and less willing to rely on stars to open movies and why, but this isn’t an article on film financing, it’s an article on character).
And since the character introduction is the first thing an actor will read in the script, and may be the one thing that makes him or her decide to keep reading, that character introduction may be your one shot at the actor who will make your film or consign it to that grim warehouse (one of many grim warehouses) where scripts with no attachments end up.
Actors don’t always read the whole script. I am absolutely sure that all your favorite actors do. And there are actors who convince great directors to sign onto scripts that they love. There are actors who love a script so much that they produce it themselves, without even taking a role in it, to get it made.
Still, and I know you may find this hard to believe - some actors only flip through the script reading all their own lines, and make the determination of whether or not they will play a part from that.
And so no matter how brilliant the rest of your script is, an irresistible character introduction may be your one shot at getting an actor who can get your movie made.
But what does all this have to do with writing novels, you ask?
Well, what I’m saying is that even as a novelist, it doesn’t hurt to think of character in terms of casting. I know some of you design characters (in novels as well as scripts) with actors in mind. I certainly do. You may start writing a scene imagining a certain actor playing the role of the character you have in mind, and use that actor’s voice. I do this, not all the time, but fairly often. I can feel myself writing for an actor, and imagining an actor saying the lines – but then ALWAYS, at a certain point, the character just takes over. Everything I do with character until that point is just treading water until the REAL character shows up.
Then I forget all about actors and creating and designing - I’m really just following the character around taking dictation.
But – until that point, imagining an actor, and writing for that actor, can be a real help in attracting that mysterious being called character.
(I would be worried about sounding completely psychotic at this point except that I’m talking to a bunch of writers and I KNOW YOU KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT.)
So, if you’re willing to buy into this metaphor I’m working on, that characters are much like actors, and you have to design parts that will attract them to your story and convince them to take on the role…
A really good way to do this is to create an irresistible CHARACTER INTRODUCTION.
Let’s take a look at some great ones.
- Rita Hayworth throwing back her hair in GILDA.
- Dustin Hoffman on stage playing a tomato in TOOTSIE (and then the equally classic introduction of “Dorothy”, struggling to walk down a crowded NY street in high heels and power suit.)
Hoffman as a tomato tells us everything about his character, both his desires and problems: we see the passion he has for acting, the fact that he’s not exactly living up to his potential, and how extremely intractable he has, basically unemployable. It’s also a sly little joke that he’s playing a “tomato” – a derogatory word for a woman.
- Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: “Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. I want a BIG one.” And freeze frame on that handspan… fabulous, funny, sexy introduction. (That big, huh? Mmm.)This intro also tells us something about George Bailey’s outer DESIRE line – he wants to do big things, build big things, everything big. In fact, the story will be about how all the LITTLE things George does in his life will add up to something more than simply big, but truly enormous.
- Mary Poppins floating down from the sky holding on to that umbrella.
- Katharine Hepburn in PHILADELPHIA STORY, throwing open the window shutters on a gorgeous day and exclaiming, “Good going, God!”
- And okay, let’s just look at the mother lode of brilliant character introductions: HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE.
- Dumbledore: an elderly, medieval looking wizard regally walks down a modern street, using some flashlight-like device to kind of vacuum the lights from the streetlamps into this tool.
- MacGonegal: A cat on a porch meows at Dumbledore, then the shadow of the moving cat turns into the shadow of a witch in pointed hat, and MacGonegal walks regally into frame.
Hagrid: first appears as a glowing light in the sky, very conscious reference to Glinda’s magical appearance in the glowing bubble in THE WIZARD OF OZ (and Hagrid will be the fairy godmother to Harry). Then the Wizard of Oz reference has a humorous twist – Hagrid descends not in a shimmering bubble, but on a Harley.
But the introduction of Hagrid is more than humorous – it tells us a lot about the character. First, the debate that Dumbledore and MacGonegal have over whether Hagrid should have been trusted with the baby tells us a lot about this character we’re about to meet. And when we see Hagrid carrying the baby this hulking giant is as tender as a mother.
Harry Potter: we see him first as a baby in swaddling clothes, left on a doorstep (like every fairy tale changeling and also Moses in the bulrushes, the child who grows up to be the leader of his people), while the witch and the wizard talk about how important he’s going to be - then the scar on the baby’s forehead is match cut to the scar on 11-year old Harry’s forehead to pass time and introduce Harry again.
Again, note that this introduction of Harry tells us a lot about this character – in pure exposition and also by using the visual, archetypal references to Moses – and, let’s face it, the baby Jesus with the three kings (wizards and witch).
Olivander, the wand master: John Hurt slides into frame on a ladder, slyly glowing as only John Hurt can glow.
Nearly Headless Nick: pops his head right through the dinner table.
Of course, having actors like all of the above has more than a little to do with the power of those introductions – obviously we’re talking about screen royalty here.
But those introductions were also specifically designed to be worthy of those stars.
So add character introductions to your list of things to watch for when you look at movies and read books. Note the great ones. The more you become aware of how other storytellers handle this, the better you will be at writing them yourself, for your own characters.
You know the question by now. What are YOUR favorite examples of character introductions?
- Alex
PS - I'm now microblogging on my Facebook page. Check out how Lee Child introduces Reacher in 61 HOURS!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Want more? Get full story structure breakdowns of ten movies in each of my workbooks.
Get free Story Structure extras and movie breakdowns
STEALING HOLLYWOOD
This new workbook updates all the text in the first Screenwriting Tricks for Authors ebook with all the many tricks I’ve learned over my last few years of writing and teaching—and doubles the material of the first book, as well as adding six more full story breakdowns.
STEALING HOLLYWOOD ebook $3.99
STEALING HOLLYWOOD US print $14.99
STEALING HOLLYWOOD print, all countries
WRITING LOVE
Writing Love is a shorter version of the workbook, using examples from love stories, romantic suspense, and romantic comedy - available in e formats for just $2.99.
- Smashwords (includes online viewing and pdf file)- Amazon/Kindle
- Barnes & Noble/Nook
- Amazon UK
- Amazon DE
---------------------
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My Thriller Award-nominated Huntress/FBI Thrillers are ON SALE on Amazon UK.
All five books 99p each.
A haunted FBI agent is on the hunt for a female serial killer. This time, the predators lose. Shop for all five here
March 8, 2018
A Wrinkle in Time for International Women's Day
Today is International Women’s Day. And tomorrow A Wrinkle in Time opens in theaters nationwide. So I thought I’d combine those topics and write about the book, before I line up to see the movie tomorrow. And then of course I can talk about the movie adaptation!
But first, the book. And women. And writing.
A Wrinkle in Time the story of thirteen-year-old misfit Meg Murry, who on a dark and stormy night is visited by three mysterious and iconically eccentric women who transport her, her child prodigy brother Charles Wallace, and her high school crush Calvin O'Keefe, on a cosmic adventure to rescue her scientist father from the evil forces holding him prisoner on a distant planet.
Famously, when author Madeleine L’Engle finished the book in 1960 (pre-YA is putting it mildly!) it was rejected by at least 26 publishers, because it was "too different", and "because it deals overtly with the problem of evil, and it was really difficult for children, and was it a children's or an adults' book, anyhow?" Oh, and “It had a female protagonist in a science fiction book.”
I’m eternally grateful to whatever forces of light were looking out for it.
When people ask me why I write what I do, or even just why I write, instead of rambling on, I could just as well just say A Wrinkle in Time. Countless female author and screenwriter friends, and a good number of the men as well, have said the same thing to me over the years—I suspect just about every woman genre writer who came of age pre-Harry Potter. Meg Murry wasn’t just our Hermione – she was our Harry Potter, too. She is every smart girl who ever lived. We didn’t just read that book—we lived it. We are Meg. And I’m thrilled that through the casting of Storm Reid, the new movie is bringing even more girls into the universality and outsiderness of Meg.
I’ve read just about everything L’Engle ever wrote. Once in a while I realize I’ve missed something and it’s always a treat to add that book to my shelf. She was a huge part of my extremely random spiritual education… in fact she might have been singlehandedly responsible for any spiritual sense I did have in my childhood and early adulthood. I was raised with both no religion and a smattering of a large number of religions. My parents took me and my siblings to Native American ceremonies, Orthodox celebrations, and Hindu holy days. If I spent a weekend night with a friend whose family had a religious practice, they’d drag me along to church or temple. But I was never sold on the idea of a single male God (I mean, come on, really? I love men in general, but omniscient? Let’s just look at the facts, here!).
Then A Wrinkle in Time introduced me to the concept of the Goddess, in the three “witches”: Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and the very intimidating Mrs. Which. That powerful, eternal feminine triumvirate, whether you describe them as former stars, guardian angels, messengers, centaurs (don’t you love that scene where the three children try to explain them to Mr. Murry?) —is to me the Triple Goddess. It was the most positive depiction of spirituality I’d ever encountered, and the one that made the most sense to me: that the universe manifests itself in guardians, and we are watched over, and we are loved.
(L’Engle herself was a devout Christian, yet the book often appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books, because of references to witches and crystal balls, because it "challenges religious beliefs", and because Jesus appears on a list of “names of great artists, philosophers, scientists, and religious leaders".)
L’Engle’s equally profound influence on me (it’s inseparable, really) was as a genre writer. I always gravitated toward the spooky, the thrilling, the fantastical, the twisted, in my reading. I discovered A Wrinkle in Time when I was in sixth grade and something in my mind said – “THIS is what a book is supposed to be, do, feel like.” It’s a thrilling adventure with flawed but deeply moral characters, fighting for cosmic stakes. While you’re reading you experience it as a breathless, nail-biting ride, but the moral implications imprint on your soul.
In fact, I was so obsessed with the book the year I first read it that I wrote a movie adaptation of the book. This was a pretty radical and prescient thing for me to have done (at age ten!), considering a lot of adults don’t even understand that there is such a thing as an adaptation process from book to screen. I had no inkling at the time that I would grow up to work as a screenwriter and make a living adapting novels for screen. And no desire to, either.
It was just that book. I wanted to live in that book. I wanted to somehow create the world of that book around me. I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything ever since (except, um, Hamlet) that feels as perfect in every way – character, theme, structure, dialogue, action, spectacle, catharsis – every single layer and detail.
I’ve read it dozens, maybe hundreds of times, and I learn something new about how to tell a story every single pass. And not just about the how of it, but the WHY as well. It makes no sense on the surface to write as dark as I do and say that I aspire to the spirituality of that book, but it’s true.
As L’Engle said:
“Why does anybody tell a story? It does indeed have something to do with faith, faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.”
I struggle with every book of my Huntress Moon series (currently on Book 6, somewhere in the swamps of Act Two, Part 1…). These are very dark books. They confront crimes so heinous that I think they can only be called evil. My FBI protagonist is often on the verge of giving up entirely; he feels so powerless in the face of what he’s being exposed to. But these crimes exist. Someone must face them and fight them. And once again, I’m looking to A Wrinkle in Time to remind me that even in the darkest abyss, the universe manifests itself in guardians—and we are watched over, and we are loved.
There are other books of L’Engle’s that shaped me as a writer, an author, a genre writer. She wrote thrillers: Arm of the Starfish is a wonderful YA spy thriller, again with a profound spiritual dimension, and even her dramas have such an thriller edge – I’m thinking specifically of A Ring of Endless Light – that I’d almost call them cross-genre. She put urgency and cosmic stakes into everything she ever put on paper.
But A Wrinkle in Time is a masterwork… and I guess it’s always in the back of my mind, the question – will I ever be open enough, focused enough, skilled enough, mature enough… enough anything – to write something that is everything I could write, in a perfect world?
I don’t know. But at least I have a light to guide me on that path.
So how about you, readers and authors? Do you have A Wrinkle in Time experiences? Or was there another book that most influenced your childhood and/or writing?
Are you seeing the movie this weekend?
- Alex
http://alexandrasokoloff.com
But first, the book. And women. And writing.
A Wrinkle in Time the story of thirteen-year-old misfit Meg Murry, who on a dark and stormy night is visited by three mysterious and iconically eccentric women who transport her, her child prodigy brother Charles Wallace, and her high school crush Calvin O'Keefe, on a cosmic adventure to rescue her scientist father from the evil forces holding him prisoner on a distant planet.
Famously, when author Madeleine L’Engle finished the book in 1960 (pre-YA is putting it mildly!) it was rejected by at least 26 publishers, because it was "too different", and "because it deals overtly with the problem of evil, and it was really difficult for children, and was it a children's or an adults' book, anyhow?" Oh, and “It had a female protagonist in a science fiction book.”
I’m eternally grateful to whatever forces of light were looking out for it.
When people ask me why I write what I do, or even just why I write, instead of rambling on, I could just as well just say A Wrinkle in Time. Countless female author and screenwriter friends, and a good number of the men as well, have said the same thing to me over the years—I suspect just about every woman genre writer who came of age pre-Harry Potter. Meg Murry wasn’t just our Hermione – she was our Harry Potter, too. She is every smart girl who ever lived. We didn’t just read that book—we lived it. We are Meg. And I’m thrilled that through the casting of Storm Reid, the new movie is bringing even more girls into the universality and outsiderness of Meg.
I’ve read just about everything L’Engle ever wrote. Once in a while I realize I’ve missed something and it’s always a treat to add that book to my shelf. She was a huge part of my extremely random spiritual education… in fact she might have been singlehandedly responsible for any spiritual sense I did have in my childhood and early adulthood. I was raised with both no religion and a smattering of a large number of religions. My parents took me and my siblings to Native American ceremonies, Orthodox celebrations, and Hindu holy days. If I spent a weekend night with a friend whose family had a religious practice, they’d drag me along to church or temple. But I was never sold on the idea of a single male God (I mean, come on, really? I love men in general, but omniscient? Let’s just look at the facts, here!).
Then A Wrinkle in Time introduced me to the concept of the Goddess, in the three “witches”: Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and the very intimidating Mrs. Which. That powerful, eternal feminine triumvirate, whether you describe them as former stars, guardian angels, messengers, centaurs (don’t you love that scene where the three children try to explain them to Mr. Murry?) —is to me the Triple Goddess. It was the most positive depiction of spirituality I’d ever encountered, and the one that made the most sense to me: that the universe manifests itself in guardians, and we are watched over, and we are loved.
(L’Engle herself was a devout Christian, yet the book often appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books, because of references to witches and crystal balls, because it "challenges religious beliefs", and because Jesus appears on a list of “names of great artists, philosophers, scientists, and religious leaders".)
L’Engle’s equally profound influence on me (it’s inseparable, really) was as a genre writer. I always gravitated toward the spooky, the thrilling, the fantastical, the twisted, in my reading. I discovered A Wrinkle in Time when I was in sixth grade and something in my mind said – “THIS is what a book is supposed to be, do, feel like.” It’s a thrilling adventure with flawed but deeply moral characters, fighting for cosmic stakes. While you’re reading you experience it as a breathless, nail-biting ride, but the moral implications imprint on your soul.
In fact, I was so obsessed with the book the year I first read it that I wrote a movie adaptation of the book. This was a pretty radical and prescient thing for me to have done (at age ten!), considering a lot of adults don’t even understand that there is such a thing as an adaptation process from book to screen. I had no inkling at the time that I would grow up to work as a screenwriter and make a living adapting novels for screen. And no desire to, either.
It was just that book. I wanted to live in that book. I wanted to somehow create the world of that book around me. I’m not sure I’ve ever read anything ever since (except, um, Hamlet) that feels as perfect in every way – character, theme, structure, dialogue, action, spectacle, catharsis – every single layer and detail.
I’ve read it dozens, maybe hundreds of times, and I learn something new about how to tell a story every single pass. And not just about the how of it, but the WHY as well. It makes no sense on the surface to write as dark as I do and say that I aspire to the spirituality of that book, but it’s true.
As L’Engle said:
“Why does anybody tell a story? It does indeed have something to do with faith, faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.”
I struggle with every book of my Huntress Moon series (currently on Book 6, somewhere in the swamps of Act Two, Part 1…). These are very dark books. They confront crimes so heinous that I think they can only be called evil. My FBI protagonist is often on the verge of giving up entirely; he feels so powerless in the face of what he’s being exposed to. But these crimes exist. Someone must face them and fight them. And once again, I’m looking to A Wrinkle in Time to remind me that even in the darkest abyss, the universe manifests itself in guardians—and we are watched over, and we are loved.
There are other books of L’Engle’s that shaped me as a writer, an author, a genre writer. She wrote thrillers: Arm of the Starfish is a wonderful YA spy thriller, again with a profound spiritual dimension, and even her dramas have such an thriller edge – I’m thinking specifically of A Ring of Endless Light – that I’d almost call them cross-genre. She put urgency and cosmic stakes into everything she ever put on paper.
But A Wrinkle in Time is a masterwork… and I guess it’s always in the back of my mind, the question – will I ever be open enough, focused enough, skilled enough, mature enough… enough anything – to write something that is everything I could write, in a perfect world?
I don’t know. But at least I have a light to guide me on that path.
So how about you, readers and authors? Do you have A Wrinkle in Time experiences? Or was there another book that most influenced your childhood and/or writing?
Are you seeing the movie this weekend?
- Alex
http://alexandrasokoloff.com
February 19, 2018
Women in Horror: Crossing Genres to Create Theme
February is Black History Month, which I'm happily observing this week by watching Lena Waithe's fabulous The Chi on Showtime; reading the time-travel classic Kindred, by Octavia Butler, visiting the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Museum in Joshua Tree; and lining up for Black Panther.
February is also Women in Horror Month. I hadn't remembered that until today, because, well, it's been Women in Horror Year, now into Year Two of the horror.
But my name and books always pop up for Women in Horror month in my Twitter feed and on my Facebook page (like this review of Hunger Moon in Cemetery Dance) because that's where I started as an author, and did quite a lot of as a screenwriter before that. Being a woman in horror gained me some instant recognition, because there are so few of us writing if. In fact, I was just at The Last Bookstore in downtown LA this week, and the "Horror Vault" (a literal bank vault) consisted of shelves of male authors plus Anne Rice, whose books I love, but to my mind she's not really a horror writer at all.
And neither am I, any more, for many reasons.
There’s definitely a bias in the industry against female horror authors. It doesn’t affect me in a practical sense because I’ve moved into writing very dark thrillers rather than overt horror. I love both genres; I went back and forth between the two, or crossed the two, as a screenwriter – and I’m a full-time writer, so I’m not about to struggle against a genre that disparages women AND doesn’t pay as well as the thriller genre.
The Haunted thrillers, box setBeyond that, I’d really rather not use the word “horror” to describe even my four supernatural novels because I think the genre has been brought to a very low, base level by torture porn. I find it disgusting and harmful. It doesn’t deserve to be listed with the true psychological horror of Jackson, Lovecraft, Shelley, King, Poe – the great explorers of the dark side. I don’t write torture porn and I won’t read or watch it, either.
But there's no question that part of my brand as an author is mixing elements of horror with crime. I started that with my witch thriller Book of Shadows , which crosses a police procedural with an exploration of modern witchcraft practice and the possibility of demonic possession and satanic murder.
But I really found my stride with the Huntress Moon series, which confronts the existential horror of sexual abuse, sexual assault and sex trafficking in a realistic FBI procedural. The collective evil of sexual predation and the laws and social systems that defend and perpetuate sexual abuse take on an almost supernatural presence in the books, without ever becoming overtly supernatural.
I use techniques I learned writing horror for both books and film to create that creeping sense of suspense and evil, and it gets readers turning pages ever though I'm writing blatantly social and political themes and confronting real legal deficiencies and institutional atrocities.
It's made the series quite successful as books and led to a TV deal, because this is just the kind of edgy boundary-pushing that is finally, finally popular in television now.
Using horror to explore social and political issues can be powerfully effective, as we saw last year in Jordan Peele's razor-sharp, game-changing Get Out.
And I just read Kindred, the classic, brilliant, brutal time travel/neo slave narrative novel by the Grande Dame of science fiction, Octavia Butler (my way of celebrating both Black History and Women in Horror at once).
Kindred takes its 1970's African American heroine, Dana, on a harrowing time trip back to the 1815 plantation where her ancestors were enslaved, and she must both survive the constant atrocities of the time, and guard her white plantation ancestor from harm in order to preserve her own family line.
Now that's horror - the horror of slavery that we've never healed as a nation, so evident in the racism which is rising up around and apparently in us again today. (People in my neighborhood got it delivered right to their doorsteps this week: racism not only in the headlines, but in the white supremacist flyers that someone had slipped into the newspapers).
And of course, using horror to explore philosophical and political issues of the day goes back much, much farther than that. Consider Mary Shelley, whose Frankenstein is being feted all over the world on its bicentennial anniversary. Her themes of the moral implications of scientific exploration and the failings of the patriarchy still resonate powerfully today.
So how about you authors out there? Have you ever considered using the conventions and sugarcoating of genre to deliver the themes that are most important to you?
And readers, do you have favorite genre-benders that carry a potent social or political or philosophical message?
- Alex
All five books of the Huntress/FBI Thrillers are on sale - $2.00 through February on Amazon US.
This really is a series that needs to be read in order, so this is a fabulous way to get started.
Audiobook fans - you can add RC Bray's award-winning narration for $3.99 or under!
Shop for all five here
Special Agent Matthew Roarke and mass killer Cara Lindstrom return - in
Book 5 of the Huntress/FBI Thrillers.
College rapists better watch their backs.
Book 5: in print, ebook and audio. Buy here,
In the new book, Roarke and his FBI team are forced to confront the new political reality when they are pressured to investigate a series of mysterious threats vowing death to college rapists... while deep in the Arizona wilderness, mass killer Cara Lindstrom is fighting a life-and-death battle of her own.
For thousands of years, women have been prey.
No more.
February is also Women in Horror Month. I hadn't remembered that until today, because, well, it's been Women in Horror Year, now into Year Two of the horror.
But my name and books always pop up for Women in Horror month in my Twitter feed and on my Facebook page (like this review of Hunger Moon in Cemetery Dance) because that's where I started as an author, and did quite a lot of as a screenwriter before that. Being a woman in horror gained me some instant recognition, because there are so few of us writing if. In fact, I was just at The Last Bookstore in downtown LA this week, and the "Horror Vault" (a literal bank vault) consisted of shelves of male authors plus Anne Rice, whose books I love, but to my mind she's not really a horror writer at all.And neither am I, any more, for many reasons.
There’s definitely a bias in the industry against female horror authors. It doesn’t affect me in a practical sense because I’ve moved into writing very dark thrillers rather than overt horror. I love both genres; I went back and forth between the two, or crossed the two, as a screenwriter – and I’m a full-time writer, so I’m not about to struggle against a genre that disparages women AND doesn’t pay as well as the thriller genre.
The Haunted thrillers, box setBeyond that, I’d really rather not use the word “horror” to describe even my four supernatural novels because I think the genre has been brought to a very low, base level by torture porn. I find it disgusting and harmful. It doesn’t deserve to be listed with the true psychological horror of Jackson, Lovecraft, Shelley, King, Poe – the great explorers of the dark side. I don’t write torture porn and I won’t read or watch it, either.But there's no question that part of my brand as an author is mixing elements of horror with crime. I started that with my witch thriller Book of Shadows , which crosses a police procedural with an exploration of modern witchcraft practice and the possibility of demonic possession and satanic murder.
But I really found my stride with the Huntress Moon series, which confronts the existential horror of sexual abuse, sexual assault and sex trafficking in a realistic FBI procedural. The collective evil of sexual predation and the laws and social systems that defend and perpetuate sexual abuse take on an almost supernatural presence in the books, without ever becoming overtly supernatural.
I use techniques I learned writing horror for both books and film to create that creeping sense of suspense and evil, and it gets readers turning pages ever though I'm writing blatantly social and political themes and confronting real legal deficiencies and institutional atrocities.
It's made the series quite successful as books and led to a TV deal, because this is just the kind of edgy boundary-pushing that is finally, finally popular in television now.
Using horror to explore social and political issues can be powerfully effective, as we saw last year in Jordan Peele's razor-sharp, game-changing Get Out.
And I just read Kindred, the classic, brilliant, brutal time travel/neo slave narrative novel by the Grande Dame of science fiction, Octavia Butler (my way of celebrating both Black History and Women in Horror at once).
Kindred takes its 1970's African American heroine, Dana, on a harrowing time trip back to the 1815 plantation where her ancestors were enslaved, and she must both survive the constant atrocities of the time, and guard her white plantation ancestor from harm in order to preserve her own family line.
Now that's horror - the horror of slavery that we've never healed as a nation, so evident in the racism which is rising up around and apparently in us again today. (People in my neighborhood got it delivered right to their doorsteps this week: racism not only in the headlines, but in the white supremacist flyers that someone had slipped into the newspapers).
And of course, using horror to explore philosophical and political issues of the day goes back much, much farther than that. Consider Mary Shelley, whose Frankenstein is being feted all over the world on its bicentennial anniversary. Her themes of the moral implications of scientific exploration and the failings of the patriarchy still resonate powerfully today.
So how about you authors out there? Have you ever considered using the conventions and sugarcoating of genre to deliver the themes that are most important to you?
And readers, do you have favorite genre-benders that carry a potent social or political or philosophical message?
- Alex
All five books of the Huntress/FBI Thrillers are on sale - $2.00 through February on Amazon US.
This really is a series that needs to be read in order, so this is a fabulous way to get started.
Audiobook fans - you can add RC Bray's award-winning narration for $3.99 or under!
Shop for all five here
Special Agent Matthew Roarke and mass killer Cara Lindstrom return - in
Book 5 of the Huntress/FBI Thrillers.
College rapists better watch their backs.
Book 5: in print, ebook and audio. Buy here,
In the new book, Roarke and his FBI team are forced to confront the new political reality when they are pressured to investigate a series of mysterious threats vowing death to college rapists... while deep in the Arizona wilderness, mass killer Cara Lindstrom is fighting a life-and-death battle of her own.
For thousands of years, women have been prey.
No more.
February 9, 2018
Don't start a new book! Finish the old one!
<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Arial; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073711037 9 0 511 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073786111 1 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:#0563C1; mso-themecolor:hyperlink; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; color:#954F72; mso-themecolor:followedhyperlink; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} span.apple-converted-space {mso-style-name:apple-converted-space; mso-style-unhide:no;} span.aolmailecxapple-style-span {mso-style-name:aolmailecxapple-style-span; mso-style-unhide:no;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} </style> --><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">by <a href="http://alexandrasokoloff.com/" target="_blank">Alexandra Sokoloff</a> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oTDiHSQLFD..." imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1004" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oTDiHSQLFD..." width="200" /></a></div><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I recently did a Skype session with a writing group, and I started it as I always start a workshop, with these questions: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="aolmailecxapple-style-span"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> 1. The genre of your WIP (Work in Progress)</span></span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /><span class="aolmailecxapple-style-span"> </span><br /><span class="aolmailecxapple-style-span"> 2. The premise of your book - the story in one or two sentences. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /> 3 <span class="aolmailecxapple-style-span">. </span> <span class="aolmailecxapple-style-span">A list of TEN books and films (at least five</span> <span class="aolmailecxapple-style-span">films)</span> <span class="aolmailecxapple-style-span">in your genre that are somewhat similar to your book structurally. </span> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Just that bit of information on my audience or students helps me focus the session or class so that everyone gets the most out of our time together. And you know what I find over and over?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Very few people can tell me about their ONE book.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Because most of the participants have five, six, seven, even eight (I’m<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> dying </i>here…) book or story projects going at once.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Oh. My. God.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />Over the years I have been astonished at how many people in my workshops have multiple projects in various stages of completion. It's not astonishing at all that most of these people remain unpublished. Because published authors are writers who suck it up and FINISH their books. They COMMIT. They deal with the reality of what they have written instead of the fantasy of what they thought they were writing. They develop the Teflon skin that allows them to put their work out there to be criticized—and yes, rejected. Lots of rejection.</span><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span> <a href="http://eepurl.com/bghqB5">Get free Story Structure extras and movie breakdowns</a><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />Some of these unfinished projects will never be good enough to be published. The unfortunate truth of writing is that you won't know that until you finish. But you have to become a writer who finishes what you start, even if you then have to throw a whole completed project away once in a while. That is part of the process of becoming a professional writer. You must figure out how to FINISH every book you write.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So here’s the takeaway.</span><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DON’T write a new book. FINISH the old one.</span></b><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />I am pretty sure that what most aspiring authors need to be doing is using the New Year, or Junowrimo, or Nanowrimo, wherever you are in the year, to FINISH an old book.<br /><br />Part of that process is picking the right premise to begin with. But another critical part of that process is ramming your head into a concrete wall (metaphorically speaking) until you're battered and bloody but you finally figure out how to make that particular book work. Some books are just harder than others, but you must demonstrate to the Universe that you are willing to do whatever it takes to make ANY book work. It's a trust thing. Your books must trust you to fully commit to them.<br /><br />And that time is NEVER wasted, even if you never make money off that book. It is professional and more importantly - CREATIVE development.<br /><br />I have a book hidden in my files in the Cloud that I could be making quite a lot of money on if I just self-published it, or even had my agent go for a traditional publishing deal on it. People would buy it and a lot of readers would enjoy it. One of my trusted Beta readers says it’s her favorite of all my books. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I know all that. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">me -</i> it's not as good as the rest of my books and I don't want it out there. It just doesn’t have the theme, the MEANING I want in my books. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I finished it, evaluated it—and then put it away and wrote another. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That was a big gap in my publishing schedule, let me tell you. Good thing I had some savings.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BUT—my next book was<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Huntress-Moon-..." target="_blank"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Huntress Moon</span></i></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, a real breakthrough in my writing. It was the book and series I was meant to write. The Huntress series combines my political and social activism, my rage at the abuse of children and women and the plain fact that we are not yet as a society committed to ENDING that abuse, and my skill at working those issues into highly readable thrillers. Because I’ve written this series, I honestly could die right now and feel that I’d fulfilled one crucial thing I was meant to do on this planet.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So my putting that other book away? I don't think that's a coincidence. I think my creative mind and the Universe understood that I was finally ready to do more, mean more, with my writing.<br /><br />So I beg you all, just as I am begging my workshop students. If you haven't finished the book you're on, DON'T start a new book for Junowrimo, or Nanowrimo, or the New Year, just because.<br /><br />Commit to the book you're already writing, in whatever stage of the process you're at, and finish THAT one.<br /><br />And then go get published.</span><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />- Alex</span><br /><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i>(This week I heard from a good friend, a fabulous director and writing professor, who says she passed this post of mine on to a student of hers - who took the advice, FINISHED her book, and just landed an agent! Just saying....) </i></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-style: italic;"><b> STEALING HOLLYWOOD</b></span></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>This new workbook updates all the text in the first <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Screenwriting Tricks for Authors</i> ebook with all the many tricks I’ve learned over my last few years of writing and teaching—and <i>doubles</i> the material of the first book, as well as adding <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">six</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>more full story breakdowns.<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dJMygnCcTnM..." style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dJMygnCcTn..." width="160" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><a href="http://hyperurl.co/sqrkry">&l... HOLLYWOOD </i></a><i>ebook<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> $3.99</span></i><br /><a href="https://www.createspace.com/5312389&q... HOLLYWOOD</i></a><i> US print<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> $14.99</span></i><br /><a href="http://hyperurl.co/qyquh2">&l... HOLLYWOOD</i></a><i> print, all countries </i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /><br /><i><b><br /></b></i><i><b>WRITING LOVE</b></i></div><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Writing Love</span> is a shorter version of the workbook, using examples from love stories, romantic suspense, and romantic comedy - available in e formats for just <span style="font-weight: bold;">$2.99.</span><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZneOFcfA8k..." onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644435457160854226" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZneOFcfA8..." style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 132px;" /></a>- <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/... (includes online viewing and pdf file)<br /><br />- <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Love-Sc... /><br />- <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/writi... & Noble/Nook</a><br /><br />- <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Love-... UK</a><br /><br />- <a href="http://www.amazon.de/Writing-Love-Scr... DE</a><br /><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">---------------------</span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can also sign up to get free movie breakdowns here:</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"> </span><span style="color: #420278; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><a href="http://eepurl.com/bghqB5">Get free Story Structure extras and movie breakdowns</a></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KM973run8F..." style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="1600" height="160" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KM973run8F..." width="640" /></a></i></div><br /><br /><span style="color: #420278; font-family: "arial"; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"> </span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">My Thriller Award-nominated Huntress/FBI Thrillers is </span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><b>ON SALE </b>for<b> $2.00 each. </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><b>A haunted FBI agent is on the hunt for a female serial killer. </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><b>This time, the predators lose. </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><b> </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"> </span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: small; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07..." target="_blank"><b>Shop for all five here</b></a></span></div></div><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span> </span></div>
February 2, 2018
Groundhog Day: Story Structure Breakdown
Happy Groundhog Day! Let's celebrate by taking a look at the story structure set up of one of my favorite movies of all time
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Groundhog Day Written by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis
Directed by Harold RamisStarring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell1993Running time 101 min.
Groundhog Day is one of my favorite film love stories, with a rare protagonist: an unlikable one who goes through a major character arc because of the crucible of love (and with a little help from the weather gods). Along with being a time loop story, an alternate reality story, and a high-concept comedy, it’s a great example of a male redemption story which also manages to hit all the right love story beats while at the same time completely satirizing those love story beats. It’s an anti-chick-flick story which nonetheless charms the chicks. In fact, I’m pretty certain that Ramis or Rubin, or both, made themselves a list of romantic comedy tropes and set out to mock every one of them, starting with the concept of the MAGICAL DAY — in this case, the least likely magical day you can imagine. Who ever would associate Groundhog Day with love? (But note that it is the closest holiday to Valentine's Day....)
ACT ONE
SEQUENCE ONE
OPENING IMAGE: This is one of my favorite, sly opening images of all time. It’s a shot of very fast moving clouds in a blue sky, with some sort of carnival music underneath. Now, this is a natural image for the story, which is about a weatherman. But I think there’s a lot more going on with this image. Those are very active clouds. I would even say they’re scheming. Yes, I’m from Berkeley and this may be some overanthropomorphizing on my part (or possibly some sort of flashback) — but I honestly think I’m on to something here. I think the filmmakers are deliberately making the weather an antagonist — and mentor — for the protagonist, who has some pretty severe need of character change. Call it weather, call it the weather gods, call it fate — but think about it. There’s no obvious human antagonist in this story. Instead, there is some kind of supernatural force working here to effect the change in surly protagonist Phil Connors.
And the shot to me also recalls the opening image of It’s a Wonderful Life, to which this film obviously owes much. In IAWL, the opening scene consists of snow falling heavily on small town Bedford Falls, with voice-over prayers for someone named George Bailey, which drift gradually upward until we fix on clusters of stars in a night sky. Two of the constellations start to talk about how this is George’s critical night — and we understand there is going to be some heavenly intercession in whatever this George Bailey’s crisis is.
And intercession is exactly what happens with Phil in Groundhog Day, in a more subtle but very effective way.
CUT TO: A news studio, with weatherman Phil Connors doing his shtick in front of a blue screen (basically waving his arms around, a nice visual depiction of the meaninglessness of his job). However, despite his sarcasm and his obvious disdain for what he does — and disdain for his coworkers, too — Phil has star quality (it’s Bill Murray, after all) and he is more than providing the show that the job calls for.
HERO’S OUTER DESIRE: Phil wants out of Pittsburg and onto a major network. One of his first off-camera lines of dialogue is that a major network is interested in him. Yes, have the hero STATE WHAT HE WANTS.
We learn right away that Phil is en route to one of his most despised shoots — up to tiny Punxsutawney to report on the annual Groundhog Day festival (the INCITING INCIDENT — he’s sent off on a job). Going with him are long-suffering cameraman Larry and wholesome, optimistic producer Rita, whom we see first on camera, trying to figure out how the blue screen works. There’s a long close up on Phil’s face as he watches her — it looks like he thinks this woman is a moron. At least, that’s what we would expect him to be thinking. Actually, this is his real CALL TO ADVENTURE (so often in a love story the CALL is seeing the beloved for the first time). And much later in the story Phil confesses to a sleeping Rita what he was actually thinking when he looked at her — it’s a wonderful PLANT.
So they’re off on the road; under the credits we see shots of the big city (relatively), Pittsburgh, then the van drives over a bridge and into snow-dusted mountains with small towns. (The song: “I’m Your Weatherman)." This is the first, more overt INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD moment. Remember that bridges are overt symbols of transition and change. Out of the city, into a small mountain town. This kind of contrast underscores the feeling of newness and adventure we want to experience in an Into The Special World transition. But a second, more magical INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD is coming...
In the van, Phil mocks both the festival and impossibly upbeat Rita mercilessly, but still does it with enough Bill Murray charm that we see Rita is amused, and attracted. (Right off the bat we get the DANCE scene — they play well together and Rita is unflapped by Phil’s volleys; she’s able to keep his humor from descending into outright meanness. But meanness is definitely a danger; Phil desperately needs redeeming.)
The crew arrives on Main Street, Punxsutawney, which if you ask me looks exactly like Bedford Falls. Rita has booked Phil into a nice B&B while she and Larry are staying in a cheap hotel. She tells him to “Get some sleep.”
Lights out, and then up on the clock alarm by Phil’s bed (this clock will play a huge role) — clicking over to 6 a.m. for the first time in the film as “I Got You, Babe,” plays. (I have to think this is the Fates having a laugh; they certainly have “got” Phil. But of course, it’s also a love song … ) The whole following sequence — every comic bit, line of dialogue, action and character in it — is the master sequence for all the variations on it that are to come.
• Phil washes up at the sink to the obnoxious patter of the radio jockeys talking about Groundhog Day.• Phil is scathing to a cheery overweight guest in the upstairs hall.• Downstairs, Phil mocks the even more cheery proprietress of the B&B.• On the street, Phil joins the townspeople heading toward Gobbler’s Knob.• Phil pretends he has no money for the elderly panhandler on a street corner.• Ned Ryerson, a high school non-friend of Phil’s, recognizes him and tries to sell him life insurance.• Phil steps in an icy pothole while trying to escape from Ned.• Phil walks through the throngs of Groundhog Day festival-goers at the Knob (as the band plays “The Pennsylvania Polka”) to join Rita and Larry. Phil does the TV commentary on the groundhog festival: groundhog “Phil” is removed from his cave, consults with town fathers, and sees his shadow. Six more weeks of winter (FORESHADOWING).• Phil insists on leaving town immediately.• On the road, the crew hits a roadblock — cars are being turned back because of a big blizzard. (HERO LOCKED INTO THE SITUATION.)(This is a trope in romantic comedy — the Fates seem to intervene in the form of the weather, forcing the hero or heroine onto a path s/he hadn’t planned for, as we see in New in Town and Leap Year. Groundhog Day takes this and many other romantic comedy clichés and mocks them at the same time as it gets all the mileage it can out of the romance of the situations — which is a big reason the story appealed equally to male and female audiences. Note that the same slightly surreal music from the opening shot is playing under this scene — it’s the Fates stepping in, I’m telling you! I’d also call this the ANTAGONIST’S PLAN. It’s just delicious that the weather has turned into Phil’s opponent. And Phil knows it, as he rails at the roadblock cop: “I make the weather.” (Uh, oh — if I’m not mistaken, this is DEFYING THE GODS. It’s never good when mortals do that …)• Back in the B&;B, Phil can’t find transportation or even a phone line out of town.• In his room he tries to shower and is assaulted by icy water; the pipes are frozen.• He goes to bed. (18:30)
SEQUENCE TWO
And in the morning, Phil wakes up — to the exact same clock shot, the exact same song, the exact same radio patter. Phil assumes the repetition is a studio gaffe: they’ve put in yesterday’s tape by mistake. (A great rational response to a bizarre situation.) But when he looks out the window there’s very little snow on the ground, and people seem to be headed toward Gobbler’s Knob in droves, just as they did yesterday.
And here’s the second, more subtle, but real CROSSING THE THRESHOLD/INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD: when Phil wakes up in the morning to a replaying of the day he just spent. The filmmakers cue this moment with the shot of the clock alarm clicking over to 6 a.m., while “I Got You, Babe” plays on the radio. It’s a big visual that will repeat and repeat and repeat. The numbers on the clock are like a door, and they usher Phil into the real Special World: a time loop where every day is Groundhog Day and there’s no escaping Punxsutawney, PA.
Out in the hallway he runs into the same portly guest, who asks him the same cheery questions. Phil starts to get uneasy then attacks the guest, demanding to know what’s going on.
In the breakfast room, a dazed Phil is nicer to the proprietress just from shock.
He is increasingly distressed as he goes to Gobbler’s Knob (meeting Ned again, stepping in the icy pothole) and finds the festivities occurring in the same order. His newscast is considerably less sarcastic, and Rita wonders.
By now sure that the blizzard is coming and he’s trapped, Phil doesn’t leave in the van with Larry and Rita. At the B&B he again phones a travel agent and tries to get out of town some other way; when the travel agent suggests he try again tomorrow, Phil rails, “What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn’t today.” A nice bit of comic dialogue that also clearly states Phil’s FEAR. (SPELL IT OUT.)
Before he goes to sleep he breaks a pencil and sets it on the bed table. (TESTING THE RULES.) (25:44)
Phil wakes for the third time to the same song, the same radio banter. The pencil is intact, reconstituted.
Phil speeds through the same sequence of events, then at Gobbler’s Knob tells Rita he’s not going to do the show; he’s already done it twice already, and something is terribly wrong. Rita insists he do the show, they’ll talk after. (27:30)
At the diner, Phil tells Rita “I’m reliving the day over and over. I need help.”
Rita thinks he needs a doctor. (So this is the minor, initial PLAN.) Note the stopped clocks on the wall behind Phil, and the bumper sticker that says “The Spirit” behind Rita. In fact, the Tip Top café logo outside on the building is a clock — with no hands.
Rita and Larry take Phil to a doctor. The CAT scan is clean; the doctor suggests a shrink. Phil visits a very young psychologist who has no idea what to do with his problem but suggests they meet again tomorrow.
Phil gets drunk in a bowling alley with two locals. He asks them: “What if you woke up in the same place every day and every day was just the same and there was nothing you could do about it?” The men seem to feel that’s life, in a nutshell. (THEME.) As they leave the bar, the two men are way too drunk to drive, so Phil gets into the driver’s seat of the car and then suddenly takes off, asking, “What if there were no consequences?” One of the drunks answers, “We could do whatever we wanted.” And Phil says, “Exactly.” (PLAN). He races through the town, picking up a police tail, drives on the railroad tracks, barely missing a train, and crashes into a giant groundhog cutout in a parking lot. The sequence ends with the jail cell door closing on Phil … (35 min).
ACT ONE CLIMAX (A comic car chase, crash, SETPIECE.)
… and Phil wakes up in the morning in the B&B bed, to the same clock, the same song.
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This new workbook updates all the text in the first Screenwriting Tricks for Authors ebook with all the many tricks I’ve learned over my last few years of writing and teaching—and doubles the material of the first book, as well as adding six more full story breakdowns.
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A haunted FBI agent is on the hunt for a female serial killer. This time, the predators lose. Shop for all four here
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Groundhog Day Written by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis
Directed by Harold RamisStarring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell1993Running time 101 min.Groundhog Day is one of my favorite film love stories, with a rare protagonist: an unlikable one who goes through a major character arc because of the crucible of love (and with a little help from the weather gods). Along with being a time loop story, an alternate reality story, and a high-concept comedy, it’s a great example of a male redemption story which also manages to hit all the right love story beats while at the same time completely satirizing those love story beats. It’s an anti-chick-flick story which nonetheless charms the chicks. In fact, I’m pretty certain that Ramis or Rubin, or both, made themselves a list of romantic comedy tropes and set out to mock every one of them, starting with the concept of the MAGICAL DAY — in this case, the least likely magical day you can imagine. Who ever would associate Groundhog Day with love? (But note that it is the closest holiday to Valentine's Day....)
ACT ONE
SEQUENCE ONE
OPENING IMAGE: This is one of my favorite, sly opening images of all time. It’s a shot of very fast moving clouds in a blue sky, with some sort of carnival music underneath. Now, this is a natural image for the story, which is about a weatherman. But I think there’s a lot more going on with this image. Those are very active clouds. I would even say they’re scheming. Yes, I’m from Berkeley and this may be some overanthropomorphizing on my part (or possibly some sort of flashback) — but I honestly think I’m on to something here. I think the filmmakers are deliberately making the weather an antagonist — and mentor — for the protagonist, who has some pretty severe need of character change. Call it weather, call it the weather gods, call it fate — but think about it. There’s no obvious human antagonist in this story. Instead, there is some kind of supernatural force working here to effect the change in surly protagonist Phil Connors.
And the shot to me also recalls the opening image of It’s a Wonderful Life, to which this film obviously owes much. In IAWL, the opening scene consists of snow falling heavily on small town Bedford Falls, with voice-over prayers for someone named George Bailey, which drift gradually upward until we fix on clusters of stars in a night sky. Two of the constellations start to talk about how this is George’s critical night — and we understand there is going to be some heavenly intercession in whatever this George Bailey’s crisis is.
And intercession is exactly what happens with Phil in Groundhog Day, in a more subtle but very effective way.
CUT TO: A news studio, with weatherman Phil Connors doing his shtick in front of a blue screen (basically waving his arms around, a nice visual depiction of the meaninglessness of his job). However, despite his sarcasm and his obvious disdain for what he does — and disdain for his coworkers, too — Phil has star quality (it’s Bill Murray, after all) and he is more than providing the show that the job calls for.
HERO’S OUTER DESIRE: Phil wants out of Pittsburg and onto a major network. One of his first off-camera lines of dialogue is that a major network is interested in him. Yes, have the hero STATE WHAT HE WANTS.
We learn right away that Phil is en route to one of his most despised shoots — up to tiny Punxsutawney to report on the annual Groundhog Day festival (the INCITING INCIDENT — he’s sent off on a job). Going with him are long-suffering cameraman Larry and wholesome, optimistic producer Rita, whom we see first on camera, trying to figure out how the blue screen works. There’s a long close up on Phil’s face as he watches her — it looks like he thinks this woman is a moron. At least, that’s what we would expect him to be thinking. Actually, this is his real CALL TO ADVENTURE (so often in a love story the CALL is seeing the beloved for the first time). And much later in the story Phil confesses to a sleeping Rita what he was actually thinking when he looked at her — it’s a wonderful PLANT.
So they’re off on the road; under the credits we see shots of the big city (relatively), Pittsburgh, then the van drives over a bridge and into snow-dusted mountains with small towns. (The song: “I’m Your Weatherman)." This is the first, more overt INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD moment. Remember that bridges are overt symbols of transition and change. Out of the city, into a small mountain town. This kind of contrast underscores the feeling of newness and adventure we want to experience in an Into The Special World transition. But a second, more magical INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD is coming...
In the van, Phil mocks both the festival and impossibly upbeat Rita mercilessly, but still does it with enough Bill Murray charm that we see Rita is amused, and attracted. (Right off the bat we get the DANCE scene — they play well together and Rita is unflapped by Phil’s volleys; she’s able to keep his humor from descending into outright meanness. But meanness is definitely a danger; Phil desperately needs redeeming.)
The crew arrives on Main Street, Punxsutawney, which if you ask me looks exactly like Bedford Falls. Rita has booked Phil into a nice B&B while she and Larry are staying in a cheap hotel. She tells him to “Get some sleep.”
Lights out, and then up on the clock alarm by Phil’s bed (this clock will play a huge role) — clicking over to 6 a.m. for the first time in the film as “I Got You, Babe,” plays. (I have to think this is the Fates having a laugh; they certainly have “got” Phil. But of course, it’s also a love song … ) The whole following sequence — every comic bit, line of dialogue, action and character in it — is the master sequence for all the variations on it that are to come.
• Phil washes up at the sink to the obnoxious patter of the radio jockeys talking about Groundhog Day.• Phil is scathing to a cheery overweight guest in the upstairs hall.• Downstairs, Phil mocks the even more cheery proprietress of the B&B.• On the street, Phil joins the townspeople heading toward Gobbler’s Knob.• Phil pretends he has no money for the elderly panhandler on a street corner.• Ned Ryerson, a high school non-friend of Phil’s, recognizes him and tries to sell him life insurance.• Phil steps in an icy pothole while trying to escape from Ned.• Phil walks through the throngs of Groundhog Day festival-goers at the Knob (as the band plays “The Pennsylvania Polka”) to join Rita and Larry. Phil does the TV commentary on the groundhog festival: groundhog “Phil” is removed from his cave, consults with town fathers, and sees his shadow. Six more weeks of winter (FORESHADOWING).• Phil insists on leaving town immediately.• On the road, the crew hits a roadblock — cars are being turned back because of a big blizzard. (HERO LOCKED INTO THE SITUATION.)(This is a trope in romantic comedy — the Fates seem to intervene in the form of the weather, forcing the hero or heroine onto a path s/he hadn’t planned for, as we see in New in Town and Leap Year. Groundhog Day takes this and many other romantic comedy clichés and mocks them at the same time as it gets all the mileage it can out of the romance of the situations — which is a big reason the story appealed equally to male and female audiences. Note that the same slightly surreal music from the opening shot is playing under this scene — it’s the Fates stepping in, I’m telling you! I’d also call this the ANTAGONIST’S PLAN. It’s just delicious that the weather has turned into Phil’s opponent. And Phil knows it, as he rails at the roadblock cop: “I make the weather.” (Uh, oh — if I’m not mistaken, this is DEFYING THE GODS. It’s never good when mortals do that …)• Back in the B&;B, Phil can’t find transportation or even a phone line out of town.• In his room he tries to shower and is assaulted by icy water; the pipes are frozen.• He goes to bed. (18:30)
SEQUENCE TWO
And in the morning, Phil wakes up — to the exact same clock shot, the exact same song, the exact same radio patter. Phil assumes the repetition is a studio gaffe: they’ve put in yesterday’s tape by mistake. (A great rational response to a bizarre situation.) But when he looks out the window there’s very little snow on the ground, and people seem to be headed toward Gobbler’s Knob in droves, just as they did yesterday.
And here’s the second, more subtle, but real CROSSING THE THRESHOLD/INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD: when Phil wakes up in the morning to a replaying of the day he just spent. The filmmakers cue this moment with the shot of the clock alarm clicking over to 6 a.m., while “I Got You, Babe” plays on the radio. It’s a big visual that will repeat and repeat and repeat. The numbers on the clock are like a door, and they usher Phil into the real Special World: a time loop where every day is Groundhog Day and there’s no escaping Punxsutawney, PA.
Out in the hallway he runs into the same portly guest, who asks him the same cheery questions. Phil starts to get uneasy then attacks the guest, demanding to know what’s going on.
In the breakfast room, a dazed Phil is nicer to the proprietress just from shock.
He is increasingly distressed as he goes to Gobbler’s Knob (meeting Ned again, stepping in the icy pothole) and finds the festivities occurring in the same order. His newscast is considerably less sarcastic, and Rita wonders.
By now sure that the blizzard is coming and he’s trapped, Phil doesn’t leave in the van with Larry and Rita. At the B&B he again phones a travel agent and tries to get out of town some other way; when the travel agent suggests he try again tomorrow, Phil rails, “What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn’t today.” A nice bit of comic dialogue that also clearly states Phil’s FEAR. (SPELL IT OUT.)
Before he goes to sleep he breaks a pencil and sets it on the bed table. (TESTING THE RULES.) (25:44)
Phil wakes for the third time to the same song, the same radio banter. The pencil is intact, reconstituted.
Phil speeds through the same sequence of events, then at Gobbler’s Knob tells Rita he’s not going to do the show; he’s already done it twice already, and something is terribly wrong. Rita insists he do the show, they’ll talk after. (27:30)
At the diner, Phil tells Rita “I’m reliving the day over and over. I need help.”
Rita thinks he needs a doctor. (So this is the minor, initial PLAN.) Note the stopped clocks on the wall behind Phil, and the bumper sticker that says “The Spirit” behind Rita. In fact, the Tip Top café logo outside on the building is a clock — with no hands.
Rita and Larry take Phil to a doctor. The CAT scan is clean; the doctor suggests a shrink. Phil visits a very young psychologist who has no idea what to do with his problem but suggests they meet again tomorrow.
Phil gets drunk in a bowling alley with two locals. He asks them: “What if you woke up in the same place every day and every day was just the same and there was nothing you could do about it?” The men seem to feel that’s life, in a nutshell. (THEME.) As they leave the bar, the two men are way too drunk to drive, so Phil gets into the driver’s seat of the car and then suddenly takes off, asking, “What if there were no consequences?” One of the drunks answers, “We could do whatever we wanted.” And Phil says, “Exactly.” (PLAN). He races through the town, picking up a police tail, drives on the railroad tracks, barely missing a train, and crashes into a giant groundhog cutout in a parking lot. The sequence ends with the jail cell door closing on Phil … (35 min).
ACT ONE CLIMAX (A comic car chase, crash, SETPIECE.)
… and Phil wakes up in the morning in the B&B bed, to the same clock, the same song.
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