Bearing in mind that they are focussed on screenwriting, there's a lot that is useful to fiction writers. Every story, they say, needs:
- interesting characters
- intense conflict
- visual opportunity (using imagination instead of eyes)
- emotional power
Every story has a Major Dramatic Question, (MDQ) which becomes the single driving force of the plot. Example - Will Scarlett win Ashley? That is the MDQ for Gone With the Wind. She fails to win him, but it is still the MDQ.
2 comments:
Interesting, Jen. I just attended the Historical Novel Society conference in Chicago and heard much the same about what makes a good story.
There's so much out there to help aspiring authors, isn't there? I see from the back blurb that the Gotham Writers have done a book on fiction, so I'll see if I can get hold of it.
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