You’ve got a great idea for a movie you’d love to see on the big screen. You even know the actors who would play the lead roles. You’ve always enjoyed writing and figure you might as well make a living doing something you love. Aye, there’s the rub.
As the great philosopher/poet Aristotle defined them, all stories need these simple elements: A beginning, a middle, and an end. Plotting them in advance helps keep your story focused.
There are both “good” (i.e. skilful) and “bad” (i.e. sloppy) exposition techniques. Make sure you emulate the good ones.
If you’ve been stalking the Facebook or Reddit groups or almost any other online screenwriting resource, chances are you’ve run across the “show don’t tell”
Not long after my divorce, my youngest daughter, Christine, was about to turn 10. It just so happened that her birthday fell on “my week.”
