Writing off the page

If you’re having a hard time finding a character’s voice, get him talking about something unrelated to the scene at hand.

Let your hero knock back a beer with his college roommate. Have your corporate spy meet-cute a potential suitor at a ski lodge. Pick situations that couldn’t possibly fit in your actual movie. You just want to get your character talking so that you can eavesdrop.

Open a new document and start typing.

It can be a monologue or a discussion between several characters, but go for pure dialogue, no scene description. Let it ramble on for one page or twenty. Again: you’ll never use this, so there’s no pressure to get it right or tight.

Just like a painter will often do sketches and studies before embarking on a major portrait, writing “off the page” lets you figure out what’s interesting about your character before you burden her with plot. It’s also fun. It’s the easy part of screenwriting you imagined before you actually sat down to do it.

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August 12, 2010 @ 10:50 pm | Add a comment
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Desde johnaugust.com. Buen consejo.

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August 9, 2010

Ant Warfare

Interesting:

According to Moffett, we might actually learn a thing or two from how ants wage war. For one, ant armies operate with precise organization despite a lack of central command. "We’re accustomed to being told what to do,” Moffett says. “I think there’s something to be said for fewer layers of control and oversight."

Which, according to Moffett, is what can make human cyberwar and terrorist cells so effective. Battles waged on the web are often "downright ant-like," with massive, networked groups engaging in strategic teamwork to rise up with little hierarchy. "Such 'weak ties' ­ wide-ranging connections that take us beyond the tight-knit groups we interact with regularly -- are likely of special importance in organizing both ants and people," Moffett notes in his book.

Posted on August 9, 2010 at 7:12 AM • 19 Comments

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