Rewriting: the Genre Pass
An overview of Rewriting, if you haven't read it yet.
I'm sure you regular readers have already gotten this message, but I'll say it again anyway: whatever genre you are writing in, your JOB as a writer is to deliver the promise of that genre, the EXPERIENCE of it, to your readers/audience: comedy in a comedy, action in an actioner or action thriller, romance and sex in a romance, romance and sex and comedy in a romantic comedy, romance and sex and comedy and action in a romantic comedy/adventure (see ROMANCING THE STONE for an excellent example of delivering all the promises of those genres in one seamless gem of a movie).
So today we're going to talk about the Genre Pass.
Of course, for my money, your first step is always to make a master list – ten movies and books in the genre you're writing that you can look at to see how the master storytellers deliver on the promise in the genre.
A great exercise is to go through a movie or book minute by minute, or page by page, and literally count the genre scenes. List each one and how many minutes, seconds or pages there are between each genre scene or moment. At the end of this exercise you should be able to say with confidence, for example, in GROUNDHOG DAY, there is a laugh-out loud moment every 4 minutes (or however many minutes it is) Seriously. This is a great way to internalize the rhythm of a particular genre.
I must confess, I personally believe that if you're not a comedian right here, right now, you're never going to be a comedian. BUT – if you are not a born comedian but are writing a romantic comedy, and you know need to get more laughs in, this a great way to do that. Other genres are, I believe, more forgiving than comedy and easier to learn how to do.
Another good method is to lay out your story on index cards or Post Its again, and this time use a particular color of card or Post It to signify a comedy (action, sex, suspense) scene. If when you step back and survey your story board and you see a long sequence of scenes with none of that color, that's a good indication that you need to work that sequence and those scenes to layer in genre elements.
The other thing that is essential to look at is how the act and sequence climaxes in a good movie or book are almost always genre scenes. In a love story, these turning points are emotional or sexual. In an action story, they are action scenes, with the essential revelations occurring within the action (Think of the climax of EMPIRE STRIKES BACK – Darth Vader didn't reveal Luke's parenthood to him while they were washing dishes, now, did he?). Even if you don't quite pull off every single act climax and sequence climax as a rip-roaring genre scene, it's not a bad idea to shoot for that, because then at the very least you will know that you have eight scenes that deliver on your genre promise, and that's a really solid foundation for a successful story. And when you get yourself to think specifically in terms of genre scenes, your mind will be automatically looking for other places to insert genre moments.
While we're on Act Climaxes, I just wanted to mention the concept of multiple climaxes (in storytelling; hopefully we're all experts at the other). Some people make themselves crazy looking for the exact scene that is the Act Climax. Well, if it's not obvious, then chances are you've got multiple climaxes, or what I like to call a "rolling climax". ROMANCING THE STONE's Act I climax is a perfect example of several different scenes that fulfill the genre promises of comedy, action, romance and sex, which all work togther to make up the act break – take a look at the discussion here:
And here are some posts to help you with identifying Act Climaxes:
- Identifying Act Climaxes
- Raiders of the Lost Ark - Act Climaxes
The good news here is that – you don't have to get all of this into your first draft! These are rewriting tricks. Write out the bones of your scenes and the story, first, and then start to layer in these genre elements. Take a look at where you might combine two completely different scenes so that you get a big revelation or plot twist inside of a comic or fight scene, or in the middle of sex.
This is the fun part of writing – everything after the first draft is icing. So enjoy!
- Alex
------------------------------------------------------------------
=====================================================
Screenwriting Tricks for Authors and Writing Love, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, II, are now available in all e formats and as pdf files. Either book, any format, just $2.99.
- Smashwords (includes pdf and online viewing)
- Kindle
- Barnes & Noble/Nook
- Amazon UK
- Amaxon DE (Eur. 2.40)
- Smashwords (includes online viewing and pdf file)
- Amazon/Kindle
- Barnes & Noble/Nook
- Amazon UK
- Amazon DE
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm sure you regular readers have already gotten this message, but I'll say it again anyway: whatever genre you are writing in, your JOB as a writer is to deliver the promise of that genre, the EXPERIENCE of it, to your readers/audience: comedy in a comedy, action in an actioner or action thriller, romance and sex in a romance, romance and sex and comedy in a romantic comedy, romance and sex and comedy and action in a romantic comedy/adventure (see ROMANCING THE STONE for an excellent example of delivering all the promises of those genres in one seamless gem of a movie).
So today we're going to talk about the Genre Pass.
Of course, for my money, your first step is always to make a master list – ten movies and books in the genre you're writing that you can look at to see how the master storytellers deliver on the promise in the genre.
A great exercise is to go through a movie or book minute by minute, or page by page, and literally count the genre scenes. List each one and how many minutes, seconds or pages there are between each genre scene or moment. At the end of this exercise you should be able to say with confidence, for example, in GROUNDHOG DAY, there is a laugh-out loud moment every 4 minutes (or however many minutes it is) Seriously. This is a great way to internalize the rhythm of a particular genre.
I must confess, I personally believe that if you're not a comedian right here, right now, you're never going to be a comedian. BUT – if you are not a born comedian but are writing a romantic comedy, and you know need to get more laughs in, this a great way to do that. Other genres are, I believe, more forgiving than comedy and easier to learn how to do.
Another good method is to lay out your story on index cards or Post Its again, and this time use a particular color of card or Post It to signify a comedy (action, sex, suspense) scene. If when you step back and survey your story board and you see a long sequence of scenes with none of that color, that's a good indication that you need to work that sequence and those scenes to layer in genre elements.
The other thing that is essential to look at is how the act and sequence climaxes in a good movie or book are almost always genre scenes. In a love story, these turning points are emotional or sexual. In an action story, they are action scenes, with the essential revelations occurring within the action (Think of the climax of EMPIRE STRIKES BACK – Darth Vader didn't reveal Luke's parenthood to him while they were washing dishes, now, did he?). Even if you don't quite pull off every single act climax and sequence climax as a rip-roaring genre scene, it's not a bad idea to shoot for that, because then at the very least you will know that you have eight scenes that deliver on your genre promise, and that's a really solid foundation for a successful story. And when you get yourself to think specifically in terms of genre scenes, your mind will be automatically looking for other places to insert genre moments.
While we're on Act Climaxes, I just wanted to mention the concept of multiple climaxes (in storytelling; hopefully we're all experts at the other). Some people make themselves crazy looking for the exact scene that is the Act Climax. Well, if it's not obvious, then chances are you've got multiple climaxes, or what I like to call a "rolling climax". ROMANCING THE STONE's Act I climax is a perfect example of several different scenes that fulfill the genre promises of comedy, action, romance and sex, which all work togther to make up the act break – take a look at the discussion here:
And here are some posts to help you with identifying Act Climaxes:
- Identifying Act Climaxes
- Raiders of the Lost Ark - Act Climaxes
The good news here is that – you don't have to get all of this into your first draft! These are rewriting tricks. Write out the bones of your scenes and the story, first, and then start to layer in these genre elements. Take a look at where you might combine two completely different scenes so that you get a big revelation or plot twist inside of a comic or fight scene, or in the middle of sex.
This is the fun part of writing – everything after the first draft is icing. So enjoy!
- Alex
------------------------------------------------------------------
=====================================================
Screenwriting Tricks for Authors and Writing Love, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, II, are now available in all e formats and as pdf files. Either book, any format, just $2.99.
- Smashwords (includes pdf and online viewing)- Kindle
- Barnes & Noble/Nook
- Amazon UK
- Amaxon DE (Eur. 2.40)
- Smashwords (includes online viewing and pdf file)- Amazon/Kindle
- Barnes & Noble/Nook
- Amazon UK
- Amazon DE
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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