It was a dark and stormy night...
In preparation for NaNoWriMo, I’ve been reading up on creative writing techniques.
One excellent resource I’ve found is Forward Motion at HollyLisle.com – it’s full of articles on creating worlds, characters, scenes; everything you need to write your own novel.
Probably the key theme is one that I’ve come across before – conflict. A few years ago I was filled with a passion to write screenplays, and a major source of inspiration was Robert McKee’s book, Story.
Throughout the book, McKee states that every scene in a movie must contain two essential elements – conflict and change.
The conflict can be internal (against yourself), intra-personal (against someone else) or external (against the world), and within the scene something or someone must undergo a change that moves the story forward.
Keeping this edict in mind is probably going to be the hardest part of writing; identifying the conflict and the outcome before writing the scene, rather than plunging in without knowing where I’m going.
Filed under: Writing.
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