Snakes Eating Their Own Tails (It's a Circle)

I know I said twice a week. Maybe this will be my twice this week and I won’t post again until next week. At this stage of the process there really isn’t much writing going on. It’s a lot of musing and imagining and whittling away at ideas. I figure that’s a big part of the process so let’s talk about it as it happens.

If you’re thinking about writing a screenplay, whether it’s a short story, novel, screenplay, or anything else it can be pretty daunting when you start considering all your options. How do you start? What kind of story will it be? Should I outline first? Do note cards? Write a treatment? What’s the genre? Who’s the main character? How does it begin? How does it end? On and on and on. There are so many things to consider it can be overwhelming pretty fast. Hopefully you’ve got a seed of an idea that started you on the process and it’s most likely a good idea to start with that idea and build out from there. In this case I didn’t start with an idea beyond what was stated previously.

Where do I begin?

There are three elements of a story that feed each other in an endless loop: Plot, Character, and Theme. The character is revealed through the plot. The plot is driven by the character. The theme is revealed by the character interacting with the plot. So let’s see if anything strikes a chord as I consider plots, themes, and characters that might be interesting.

Plot

They say there are only 5 stories. Or 7. Or maybe it’s 13. Depends on who you talk to and what books they’ve read. There’s man vs. nature, man vs. self, man vs. I’m bored. Yes, at the most basic level there are very few stories out there. But a good story doesn’t have to be an entirely new idea that has never existed before. A good story is more than that. Obviously I don’t have any great ideas popping into my head regarding plot. I guess this won’t be a story derived from plot. We could have a great discussion about stories derived from plot so bring it up in the comments if you have some thoughts.

Theme

Themes, much like plots, can be boiled down to simple terms. Love, hate, anger, despair, joy, and peace are all examples of very simple themes to start with. As a theme I’ve been considering maturity as it relates to men. What does it mean to be a man in our modern American culture? Who are the great male role models of our time? Where do we learn what qualities are “manly”? In a way this could be a story about the search for identity.

I’m a big fan of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a tool for developing story. If a character is struggling to find shelter they probably won’t be that worried about their self-esteem. It’s a pretty valuable tool. If the theme is love then your character probably feels safe. A starving person doesn’t care about making out as much as they care about eating some food.

So if this story is about learning to be a man (whatever that might mean) it’s more about self-actualization than safety. Many of those lower tier needs are either met before the story begins or need to be met throughout the course of the story. Huh, that might be a good structure for the plot. A character that makes their way through the hierarchy might work. Food for thought.

Character

For me this is where the story comes from. Stories derived from theme can easily become heavy handed and preachy since everything is crafted to serve that theme. A story derived from plot can be complex and engaging but can just as easily be inaccessible and dry. It’s rare to find a plot or theme so interesting that it makes up for weak or uninteresting characters. The main character of a story should be someone you want to spend 2 hours hanging out with. If you’re like me you probably don’t watch Castle because the plots are all that engrossing. You probably don’t watch it to learn something deep and meaningful about life or love. I keep watching that show because I like hanging out with Richard Castle.

A main character doesn’t have to be likeable. Far from it. You can despise the main character. But, no matter how you feel about the character, the audience must want to spend time with them.

So I’m going to start with the main character.

To sum up

I’ve got a theme to work with, a possible plot (thanks Maslow), and the decision that the story will be derived from an interesting main character.

This is pretty basic stuff so if I’m putting too much time into talking about it let me know in the comments.

Next time we’re going to develop the main character. Let’s hear some possible names, traits, flaws, jobs, anything you guys think might be interesting for a character.