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dramatic irony

Unlock the Power of Cause & Effect in Your Writing with The Story Chain

All About The Story Chain Cause and effect is super-important in your novel or screenplay, which means a solid ‘story chain’ is everything. Cause and effect creates an engaging and cohesive story. In simple terms, cause and effect is all about showing how one event leads to another. This creates that ‘chain reaction’ that ultimately shapes the story. An obvious example of this we’re all familiar with is The Hero’s Journey. This plotting archetype shows us how a protagonist goes from ‘zero to hero’ via a number of well-thought-out steps that escalate. During the journey, the protagonist must go up… Read More »Unlock the Power of Cause & Effect in Your Writing with The Story Chain

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38 Good Reasons Your Script Might Get Rejected

Has Your Script Been Rejected? If your script has been rejected, you may be feeling confused and despondent right now. Often it’s hard to know why your script did not advance … especially when we compare our scripts to friends’ work, or produced stuff. You may remember this infographic from when it was doing the rounds three or four years back. I thought I’d revisit it and see if anything has radically changed in how I view it from B2W’s POV as a script reader and script editor. Since this blog always posits there’s no ‘right’ way to write (just… Read More »38 Good Reasons Your Script Might Get Rejected

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The Art Of The Unspoken: Give Your Reader A Chance To Fill In The Rest

If you want your readers to NOT get bored with a stereotypical ending and/or to keep them hooked, then it is high time for you to learn about The Art of the Unspoken! This technique can be hard to grasp and utilise effectively at first, but it means you will give your readers chance to fill in the rest WITHOUT you needing to be ‘on the nose’ with it. These 7 tips will make your journey to creating the breathtaking mysterious atmosphere easier. Chew on these for size: 1) Pacing With a purpose to create a mystery you need to control… Read More »The Art Of The Unspoken: Give Your Reader A Chance To Fill In The Rest

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3 Things You Need To Know About Plot Holes

Whenever *anyone* discusses a movie or TV show online, it’s not long before someone in the thread laments apparent ‘plot holes’ in the narrative. But what IS a plot hole? This definition, from Wikipedia, is actually pretty good: In fiction, a plot hole, plothole or plot error is a gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story’s plot. Such inconsistencies include such things as illogical or impossible events, and statements or events that contradict earlier events in the storyline. This, from Urban Dictionary  is NOT good: Here’s what you need to… Read More »3 Things You Need To Know About Plot Holes

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5 Ways Of Bringing Real Life Into Storytelling

For our latest venture at Broken Leg Theatre, the company I co-direct with Anna Jefferson, we spoke to a huge variety of women all over the UK. From a group of midwives in London, to a group of elderly women in Leeds (the oldest of whom was 102!), their real-life stories and experiences formed the inspiration for our new play, Three Generations of Women, which tours next month. These discussions, and our interactive online platform, provided us with some confessional and deeply personal stories. The response was overwhelming, flattering, and very humbling. At the end of the research process, Anna… Read More »5 Ways Of Bringing Real Life Into Storytelling

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5 Great Story Twists

It’s the Britcrime Festival this weekend, a free ONLINE event – and it’s going on right now! Get over to the Facebook page and DIVE IN! You can like the page & participate in panel discussions, HERE. To celebrate this great event, I’m delighted to host the amazing @AlexSokoloff on B2W, talking twists in the tale. Alexandra is both a novelist and screenwriter and has some GREAT writing insights, so make sure you check out her website & follow her on Twitter. Needless to say, this post is SPOILERIFIC and then some, but if you haven’t seen these classic movies… Read More »5 Great Story Twists

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8 Mistakes That Will Kill Your Comedy Screenplay DEAD

Being gifted at comedy always makes people popular. Why? Because no one EVER says, “You know what I need to do LESS in my life?? Laugh.”  On this basis then, writing comedy is a great way to get you and/or your work noticed. But, just like other genres that have their own specific pitfalls, comedy is no different. Feast your eyes on these issues that can make your comedy craptacular and your funny fizzle out in your spec screenplay: 1) Forget Physical Comedy Funny dialogue is absolutely essential in comedy screenplays, whether feature, TV pilot, sitcom or short film. However,… Read More »8 Mistakes That Will Kill Your Comedy Screenplay DEAD

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8 Mistakes That Will Kill Your Drama Screenplay DEAD

Drama can be ANYTHING. Literally, anything. So why am I reading the same stuff??? Whether short film, TV pilot or feature, here’s how to KILL your drama screenplay’s chances in the spec pile: 1) Write about the same-old, same-old These are the facts. Everyone writes dramas about: i) depression/suicide ii) addiction iii) domestic violence iv) terminal cancer v) poverty Sometimes ALL of these in one piece! True story. Now, you CAN write about these things, but you gotta have some authenticity and emotional truth, otherwise DON’T BOTHER (see number 2). Also, make sure it’s not written the same way as… Read More »8 Mistakes That Will Kill Your Drama Screenplay DEAD

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5 Times It’s OK To Sacrifice Facts For Drama

Getting Your Facts Right Writing historical fiction, I have come to learn, is like navigating a slippery slope along a precarious cliff. God forbid you get facts wrong. Anyone who knows anything about the time period you are writing about will let you know that you did: in the reviews, on the internet, for all to see. Let’s face it. Getting the clothing down, the setting, the politics and social graces of the times is the easy part. Keeping people entertained in another time period is what makes the story a story. So I have had to take liberties with… Read More »5 Times It’s OK To Sacrifice Facts For Drama

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7 Things NOT To Say Or Do When Meeting Your Idol

We’ve got a cautionary tale today about being THAT writer again – we make the mistakes at B2W, so you don’t have to! Round of applause for Janey please for having the guts to out herself … And enjoy, everyone else! A couple of years ago, I was travelling back to London from the South of France after a particularly depressing five days. I had gone there alone to see the sun, stare at the ocean and (most importantly) to try and finish my first screenplay. However, it poured with thunderous rain and just days earlier I had fallen out… Read More »7 Things NOT To Say Or Do When Meeting Your Idol

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Writing Women: 5 Lessons From Shakespeare

I’ve said it, countless times now: I’ve seen NO correlation between gender of writer and how “well” s/he writes female characters. In my experience, a male writer is just as likely as a female writer to write a GREAT, complex, flawed character who just so happens to be a woman. ‘Cos that’s what we’re aiming for, right? RIGHT. “Shakespeare’s a dead white guy, but he knows his shit!” YES, Shakespeare is well old and NO, he’s not PC because he was writing a trillion years ago, but he STILL managed to pull of complex female characters who were a helluva lot… Read More »Writing Women: 5 Lessons From Shakespeare

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Top 6 Reversals In Movies

FYI – SPOILERS! I’ve said only recently I don’t read enough reversals in spec screenplays, in ANY genre. I thought it time to offer up some examples of those I’ve watched that I felt were effective. Before we get going however, here is the definition of ‘reversals’ I am using for the purposes of this post … “A place in the plot where a character achieves the opposite of his aim, resulting in a change from good fortune to bad fortune.” You may also want to read THIS POST, which contains a definition of what screenplay reversals are. There’s also a great… Read More »Top 6 Reversals In Movies

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