MY SCREENPLAY: Writing the Beast, Part 2

Shopping for the main ingredients

#BFAT,writing a screenplay, Walking for Little Fish, Stephanie DelTorchioYou love it when all the juicy flavors and textures of the final product blend together but you don’t want to know how it got made. No matter which screenwriter guru’s “recipe” you follow, it’s not a pretty process my friends. One can only hope that once all the ingredients are mixed together you end up with an appetizing final product.

From the spark of an idea to writing THE END, the flavorings, process and equipment are different for everyone. This was, is, my cooking class.

I began with the hint of a character and an event, the “meat” of my story. Not much really. Then I asked lots of questions like: What happens when a character must do something to make something else happen but then this thing happens and someone gets in the way and something else results? Good questions. And I had zero answers.

Then I focused on my characters, especially the main character. He would also need a support system of family members, friends, co-workers and most of all, a worthy opponent.

I wrote page-long character sketches listing individual traits, quirks, pains, desires, wants – everything I could think of to make each one unique and real. All of a sudden my room got very crowded with multiple personalities.

During long writing sessions I often felt like the mediator at a therapy session for dysfunctional characters.

A fictional map based loosely on an actual place was sketched to give myself a sense of space. This would help me as my characters “moved” around.

As the story evolved the time period became less of an issue. There was about a hundred year span of time I could choose from yet never found a good reason to change it from modern day. The event that is the climax of the story virtually has not changed. So it’s set in contemporary time.

Now I had some main ingredients: “meat” and “spices” but no perfect recipe. I also lacked the casing, or structure, to shape it into a story that made sense.

I went in search of others who had blended it all together and succeeded. And that’s where I realized the beast had the potential to be a monster sausage.

#screenwriting

#screenwriter

#followyourdream

#BFAT

 

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