3 Things that Star Trek Into Darkness Can Teach You About Writing

First of all, if you haven’t yet seen the movie, get going. This is a movie that has to be seen on the big screen to be fully appreciated. Though I’m an admitted sci-fi nerd, even people who don’t usually like sci-fi have said they loved it too. The writers of the Into Darkness screenplay (Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof, based on the series by Gene Roddenberry and directed by J.J. Abrams) can also teach you a thing or two about writing in general. Here are some things I took away, without giving any spoilers:

1) The bad guys don’t know they’re the bad guys. At least at first. Remember the old cartoons where the evil villain twirled his mustache while tying a damsel to the railroad tracks for the sheer glee of it. Star Trek does bad guys so much better than that. The “bad guys” are complex characters with reasons and motivations behind their actions, which makes them much more interesting. I thought the reveal of Khan in Into Darkness was brilliant. Even in the first 2009 movie, the Romulans had their justifications for being total asshats.

2) You can always be meaner to your main character (MC). I like to pride myself on being mean to my MC’s. I wonder what would be the worst thing that could happen to them and try to create it. What Star Trek: Into Darkness does to Captain Kirk, as well as the rest of the crew, makes it look like I sent my MC on a Disney Cruise with unlimited free ice cream. When the climax of the movie came, the thought that went through my head was “He is so f#*ked.” Anyway, that’s what I want readers to think while reading my book.

3) Lack of time increases tension. If Chekov or Scotty had days to fix the warp core or McCoy had hours to defuse the bomb, the tension wouldn’t have been nearly as high. The whole movie felt like a giant race against time, which kept me on the edge of my seat. Even if your chosen genre isn’t sci-fi, you’ll usually find some sort of time element working against the main character (e.g. cancer in The Fault in Our Stars, war in The Book Thief). Use time to raise the stakes in your novel.

Anyone else see the awesome that is this movie? Any tips you’d add? Any opinions on the best ever Captain Kirk? (cough*Chris Pine*cough) Also, this is the LAST day to enter my big cover reveal GIVEAWAY and win the YA book of your choice PLUS Defy the Dark.