Hannibal“s screenwriting page - Questions and answers

QUICK NAVIGATION

The front page
Begin here
Columns
Questions and answers
Dictionary
Library
Reference list
Links
About me
Sitemap
Contact me/Kontakta mig

Questions and answers

If you have any questions about writing, chances are that the answer is here. If not, just contact me.

Writing

How do you avoid writer“s block?
How do you come up with ideas?
How do you choose which idea you should work on?
In what order should you do things?
How do you know when you“ve done enough research for a story?
How do you know when you“ve rewritten enough?
How do you come up with good character names?

Format

What does correct format look like?
Do you have to follow the correct format?

In the industry

Can anyone come in and pitch?
How do you make sure you write different stories?

Writing

Q: How do you avoid writer“s block?
A: Like this

Q: How do you come up with ideas?
A: Well, first off the entirely imagination-free answer: you get your ideas by reading books, newspaper and magazines, watching lots of films and TV shows, and experiencing things.

I mean, that you know. What you“re asking is so much more intricate. It“s really about how you can insure that there will be a steady flow of ideas, because you“re a little uncertain about your creativity. And the answer is: you have to start the other way around - with a naļve belief that you will always have ideas. Because if you think about it, there“s no way anyone can guarantee that they will come up with anything ever again. That“s very depressing, so you“ll have to make yourself believe that you will always have ideas.

How do you do that?

You convince yourself by telling yourself that an idea is an idea whether it“s the greatest idea ever conceived or the worst idea in history. It“s still an idea. Certainly you can come up with the worst idea in history (unless you really aim to try to find the absolute, perfect, quintessential worst idea in the history of mankind...). That“s not hard. Just say something, anything at all.

If you can“t think of anything, look again at the Writer“s block column. But you can, and you will.

Now, the question has transformed into: how do you find good ideas? On the plus side, you have finally arrived to the real question. On the minus side, that question is much harder.

My advice is not to sit and wait for good ideas. Good ideas are like persons. They will be more attracted to you if they feel appreciated, and ideas want to be used - in stories, or to create a story. There“s really no meaning in just creating ideas and not using them, so they won“t come to you until you need them. But when you need ideas, they will come. You have to trust that.

That only leaves the question of how you know that an idea is a good idea. The boring and somewhat inaccurate answer is that you know it from experience. When you“ve written a few stories, you get a feel for what will probably work and what definitely won“t work. But that experience is not fool-proof. A more precise answer is that you don“t know, and you will never know for sure. But the only way to know is that feeling of "I can“t wait to write about X".

I should also add that there really are no bad ideas, but only faulty representations, small visions, and short time for development. You just have to find the unique quality, the proper form, and the right surroundings, and I“ll guarantee that it“ll work.

Q: How do you choose which idea you should work on?
First part of answer: By knowing yourself. That means understanding what you like, what you can write (well), what you want to write, and what you know (about the world).

Second part of answer: By understanding where an idea will lead. An easy example, when you come up with an idea about some women thinking about reading the same book, you automatically realise that it will be a talkie and not an action film. Knowing which idea to choose, is just a matter of drawing the idea to its logical conclusions, and then deciding if the result is something you like, and want to do for however long it“s going to take.

Q: In what order should you do things?
A: All right, it“s time to put my head in the lion“s mouth. Everyone writes in different ways, but there are some things that are given, and some things that are useless to do any other way. It“s for example no use revising your idea after you“ve submitted it, but before you“ve gotten a response on it.

That“s why I now with some confidence can give you this list:

1. Getting the idea and refining it - doing research
2. Creating and developing characters
3. Mapping out the story - at least knowing some of the beats
4. Writing the story
5. Analysing the story - perhaps with some help
6. Rewriting the story
7. Submitting the story
8. Start over
If your process is different, and if it works, that“s good too. If you“re not writing enough, try that order.

Q: How do you know when you“ve done enough research for a story?
A: A couple of hints:
1. You have at least three friends who are experts.
2. You can talk without a problem about the subject for hours, without lying, and with passion.
3. You have revised your story after you started your research.
4. You have familiarised yourself with the shelf on the subject at your local library and bookstore.
5. You have realised how little you know about the subject, and then passed that phase by going on to actually learning the subject.
6. You realise you have to explain things to your friends that you yourself feel are self-evident.
7. You can disprove common myths and misconceptions that people have about the subject.
and finally...
8. You have a degree from the university

Q: How do you know when you“ve rewritten enough?
A: There is no such thing as a finished script - it goes through changes all through filming and beyond even. One rule of thumb however is that the first draft should never be your last. I realise that first drafts tend to be fresh, quick, and natural. But that“s not how scripts should be. They should be well-written. That means that you need to rewrite it: lose some things, edit other things, rework still other things, and add new things.

Now, one of the problems with rewriting is that some things get better with each rewrite and other things get worse, and there“s really no way of knowing how a story will turn out till you“ve actually rewritten it. Fortunally, there are some clues to if you“re on your way of improving the script or just rehashing it:

Bad signs
1. You change the basic concept - this is key. If you change the basic story, you should definitely start a new story and save the original one, for when your inspiration for the new story has run out
2. You simplify the story for the sake of the audience - the lowest common denominator rarely attracts the big audience
3. Your primary concern is what "they" will think - whether it“s your mom, your boss, or some other person you respect. But give them a little credit - do you really think they can“t handle it? Even if you explain your side of things beforehand?
4. You include new material simply because it“s new - the new joke may be funnier to you who have read the original a dozen times, but try to look at it from the point of view of the fresh-eyed audience
5. The drafts are almost the same - nothing much new, nothing thrown out. This also applies to using the thesaurus and replacing one word with another. Real difference are felt, not read

But there are good signs as well. If these things happen while you“re rewriting, you“re on the right track:
1. The story continues to reconnect to itself - previously unconnected elements reflect and play off each other, things make more and more sense, and you can easily see what elements that don“t belong
2. The characters become more clearly drawn - to the point where you can recognise them by their dialogue, and where you can try to guess what they“ll do next
3. The genre is even throughout the story - if you start out with a thriller, the thriller elements should continue during the entire story
4. You“ve grown since the previous draft - you“ve come to know the story better, not just so that you can defend it, but so that you understand it andcan make others understand it easily
5. The story is known to your friends and colleagues - after you have proofread the first draft you should give it to at least a few other persons

For me, this takes me a good seven or eight drafts, and often more, with significant feedback, corrections and additions, until I“m satisfied. But by that time, I can defend every line. I can pitch it without hesitation, since I“ve talked it over with so many people already. And without fail, it has gotten a whole lot better!

Q: How do you come up with good character names?
A: There are several excellent sources where you can borrow names pretty freely:

phonebooks (don“t forget the Yellow Pages...)
books with suggestions for children“s names
signs in apartment lobbies with the occupants“ names
lists of authors, inventors, prize winners etc from your library“s inventory
local paper advertisments, birth and death columns
history books
foreign language wordbooks
foreign maps
friends“ aquaintences
nature: animals, plants, areas or even weather
objects: tools, cars, etc
occupations and titles
end titles of TV shows and films

Of course, you should not steal something so unique that everyone will understand where you took it, and you should also vary your sources, to make sure that not every character in the story is named after a historical figure, for example.

Looking thorugh these sources, you will find that it“s not all names fit. Some names are even bad. Common names like Smith and Jones are fine for one character per story - after that, it will not sound realistic anymore - no matter how many Smith“s there are in the real world.

But you can also create names of your own. Here are some techniques to do just that:

switch spelling or pronounciation of a name - Alan Smithee for example is totally original but nevertheless understandable. This is the most usual way to create new real surnames.
switch two syllables in a name or word, such as Patterson into Passerton, or machine into Michan/Meechan.
delete the first letter (or more) of a name or a word, as in Brooks turned into Rooks, or the last letter(s), as in Brown into Brow.
pick a name that rhymes with the most important/telling characteristic of your character. (I have heard that Ned Racine from Body Heat got his name as to sound like the word rancid.)
use foregin words that gives the right effect, i.e. ominous for the villains, hero-like for the hero, and wise for the mentor and fantastically beautiful for the love interest. For example Lord Vader, which has the added plus of meaning "father" in Dutch.

But what is a good character name? There is really only one rule for this, namely:

Good character names are memorable.

Perry Mason, Don Quijote, Mary Poppins, Nurse Ratched, Indiana Jones, James Bond - and his boss M and the inventor Q, Sara Sidle, Gordon Gekko, Huckleberry Finn, Erin Brokovich, Lex Luthor, Rikki-tikki-tavi, Obi-wan Kenobi, etc, are all good examples, but they seem to have very little in common.

Except that they are all easy to pronounce - even the ones with more than two syllables (Huckleberry has four and Rikki-tikki-tavi has as many as six). But short isn“t nescessarily good. Now, it seems, every TV show has a character known by his/her first name initials, and after a while that“s not effective anymore.

So another exception to their differences that is more important, all good names contain some form of alliteration (begin rhyme) or assonance (similar sounds, especially wowels). This makes the first and last name seem like they belong together. To get a better grasp of how to do this right, you might want to study phonetics a bit more, but I can give you some clues right here:

listen for where the sound is made in your mouth as you say it. The P and the M in Perry Mason, for example, are both made with your lips, while Indiana Jones has lots of wowels made by pressing the tongue against the ceiling of the mouth.
some wowel combinations are considered assonances, as u-o, i-y, and i-a.
most names do not have consonant clusters longer than two cononants, for example the K and the R sound in Christie, and the majority have no consonant clusters at all, as in Tom, Sue, Bill or Madelyn.
remember the word history and assimilation process. For example, the boss in Office Space is called Lumbergh, from the Scandinavian name Lundberg. The original nd-sound has transformed into a m-sound because m is closer to the b-sound that follows it, and the name has become more personal.

But my all time favorite way of making a good character name is this:

Let it make an impact with the other characters. If they think it“s a cool name, chances are we will too. If they shrink back when they hear it, we will start to wonder who the character with the powerful name is. So you see, it“s all connected.

Format

Q: What does correct format look like?
A: Check out the script sites among the links. And imitate.

Q: Do you have to write in the correct format?
A: Yes.

Or rather, no, you don“t have to if you want to. But you should anyway.

Follow-up question: Why?
Answer: There are several reasons why you should use the correct format, even if you don“t actually have to. The first is that if you don“t follow the correct submission protocols, it“s a sign that you“re a rookie, and that your script probably has the usual rookie mistakes (weak story, bland characters, and bad language, among others). It will make selling it that much harder. Plus it“s not very hard. You could learn it in less than a day. Just print out a page and imitate on your word processing program. Not learning it is arrogance on your part, which will lead to adversity in the industry. Learning it gives you the same advantages a second (or third) language.

The second reason is that this knowledge automatically will make your story better - more focused and more in style with the market. The screenplay format is geared towards images, places and action, and since there are specific boundaries for length, you tend to cut the dialogue (which takes up the most space) first. Limitations don“t take away any possibilities - they give you guidance and focus.

The third reason is that you really should concentrate on bigger things than wonder how things should be done. After you“ve learned the correct format, you can focus on writing the best story you possibly can, instead of wondering how this or that should be written, or how someone will read this or that paragraph. Think of it as a tool.

In the business

Q:Can anyone come in and pitch?
A: Yes, anyone can book a pitch meeting with almost any production company. But you should not count on actually selling anything.

First off, not many pitches are bought. I“ve heard numbers of one in a thousand. For several reasons: most ideas that are pitched are simply bad, or they are pitched before, or they are unrealistic, or they are pitched to someone who“s in a bad mood on that particurlar day, etc. If you“re not a professional, you will probably be in this category.

But more importantly, ideas are a dime a dozen (or even lower priced). Everyone in the business have lots and lots of ideas, and why should they pay someone else bagfulls of money for something they would rather do themselves? They wouldn“t. But they will pay you, if they sense that you can contribute something they cannot: certain types of expertise (brain surgery, rocket science, poisons, and along that line), certain types of connections (government, army, financial, etc), and, which is very rare, a willingness to work. If you can show that you“re not just an opportunist, but a hard-working professional, they will listen to your pitch, because they hope that you will do all the work.

Q: How do you make sure that you write different stories?
A: Some say that an artist can only do one work of art, with variations. Perhaps that is true. I prefer to try to surprise myself when I work. A couple of years back I suddenly decided to try to write a romantic comedy, which was very different from my ususal mystery output. So I had to learn the basics, which was fun, and then the more advanced parts of writing a romantic comedy, which was even more fun. Suddenly I found that I actually knew how to do it.

You can do the same. When you“ve done a romantic comedy, try a horror story. No, really. Do it. Take some time, and immerse yourself in the process and the thoughts and the literature. It“ll make you see things you have seen before, and make you experience problems different from your usual problems.

But that“s not what you asked, was it?

How do you make sure that your output is varied? Well, by learning something from everything that you“ve written. Try reading your old stuff once in a while, and you“ll see that things have changed. You“ve changed. And you will henceforward too. You can“t get stuck in time.

Do you still have any unanswered questions? Click here and I will answer as best and as fast as I can.

Sections

Writing
Format
In the industry

web hosting • domain names
web design • online games