How to Build Story Momentum

screenplays of these long stories that span more than a hundred pages and a lot is supposed to happen between fade in and fade out so when you're looking at all of these pages that you have to fill how do you actually create a compelling well paced story from page one to page 120 how do you build change within your characters how do you create larger and larger conflict as the story goes forward and how do you apply all of these ideas to create a story that's actually engaging it's actually a lot simpler than you think if you're writing a narrative drama and you want to keep conflict and tension moving forward then you must build your story in a way that each scene creates the scene that comes after each scene builds upon the scene before and each sequence forces your character into new situations where they can no longer turn back so the story feels as though it unfolds rather than feeling shoved into a predetermined system so how do you do this remember when I talked about how characters have once characters have larger ones that span the entire story and they also have smaller ones in each scene but this is only half of what keeps a story moving forward to keep your story moving forward everything that your character wants should come at a cost let's take a look at the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark Indiana Jones grabs the idol but as decoy doesn't work and the temple starts destroying itself Indiana Jones must flee for his life through the temple Indiana Jones's want is the idol but it costs him something when he gets the Idol the temple begins to fall apart now imagine if he simply grabbed the idol and walked out pretty boring right the cost of Indiana Jones getting what he wanted pushed the scene forward and kept the story's pace alive so what happens next in the story Indiana Jones wants to get out of the temple alive and he does but again it costs him something Belloc and the indigenous tribe find him this continues even further now Indiana Jones wants to escape from the tribe and get to the plane he does but it costs him something there's a snake in the plane this is the flow of your story this simple idea gives your story its propulsion forward this is how you create turning points in your story the story turns changes and flows when the world reacts to the character were going after what they want in my video on midpoints I covered the midpoint of the Martian right in the middle of the story we can see this one cost relationship very clearly Watney has gotten what he wanted he has enough food to last until rescue and he has contact with NASA but this cost something the airlock tears completely destroying his plan for rescue in Saving Private Ryan the soldiers find Private Ryan they achieved their goal but it comes at a cost Ryan doesn't want to leave his post and there's a massive wave of German soldiers coming to take the bridge they are defending an interstellar the crew finally gets to man's planet believing they have found a new habitable planet for Humanity but this comes at an extreme cost man lied he betrays the crew and tries to take the endurance for himself another way to look at this relationship between one and cost is by making a character choose between two things that force the story in a new direction by choosing one the character loses the other by getting what they want they pay a cost because they lose something else that they wanted and whiplash Andrew breaks up with his girlfriend Nicole Andrew wants to be a great musician and he believes he must choose between his pursuit of greatness or his relationship with Nicole his choice to pursue greatness comes at the cost of his relationship now you may be asking an important question why does the one have to come at a cost this idea isn't simply hey here's a fun way to write a screenplay it's deeper than that when I say cost I'm saying that the character must pay or suffer in some way for the actions that they take and the choices that they make just like real people must do every day without suffering your characters aren't forced to change without suffering your characters do not have to confront what they believe without suffering your characters are not forced to act costs force your characters to suffer and through that we get to see who they really are what they really want and what they really believe in just like people characters who don't suffer may not truly know what they believe if a character or a person never confronts what they believe through their actions and decisions they will not grow and in the case of your story it will stall and become boring now does every single scene have to work like this no as usual there are exceptions when you get down to the level of each scene but if you're stuck and confused on how to keep up the conflict and forward movement and your story this is a great way to build scenes and sequences this is also what makes us care about what the character once if what they want doesn't cost them anything then it isn't engaging when a character's want cost them something we can see how serious they are about what they want and we get a clearer and clearer sense of how strongly they hold their particular beliefs Avengers infinity war is not a perfect film and I'm not at all saying it is but let's look at the Noah's Ark for a moment Thanos is a villain motivated by his beliefs he even speaks with a religious tone vanna's believes in destiny and believes he is doing good for the universe so how do you actually show the audience that Thanos believes these things rather than him simply being a power-hungry monster you do so by forcing him to choose between his goal and the beliefs that motivate him or the person he loves the most in order to take the stone you must lose that which you love this moment proves to us who Thanos is at his core he is willing to go against his deepest feelings to follow what he believes I don't think there's a more obvious example of want and cost than this scene here yes but it it cost everything character should get what they want but it should come at a cost that turns the story understanding the simple idea can help you move away from outlining and focus on what your characters want and what happens in reaction to the pursuit of their goal anytime you're stuck and you aren't sure how to keep your story pushing forward ask yourself these questions what does the character want what will it cost to get it how will they react to the cost and how do their reactions reveal or confirm what they believe hey everyone thanks for watching if you want more videos on storytelling and screenwriting click the guide to screenwriting playlists now also you should sign up for the practical screenwriting email list where I'm sending out emails talking about the practical day-to-day process of sitting down and writing I'll be talking about getting through writer's block staying consistent different writing processes rewriting and more when you sign up don't forget to check your spam folder for a confirmation email hundreds have already signed up and are reading the emails and I hope they can be a benefit to you as well thanks for watching

Channel: Tyler Mowery

Views: 65,381

Keywords: film analysis, movie review, tyler mowery, nerdwriter, lessons from the screenplay, every frame a painting, screenwriting, script breakdown, writing, workshop, writing course, teach screenwriting, oscar best screenplay, film school, thanos, avengers, engame, infinity war, interstellar, saving private ryan, the martian, story propulsion, story momentum, conflict

Id: wBwjM6p0Ubw

Length: 8min 11sec (491 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 28 2019