All posts that are Essays
Maintain the Conflidiction
Conflict is often said to be the essence of drama. But unresolved conflict lasts longer. Don’t Burn all your Fuel at Once Open conflict burns [...]
All posts that are Essays
Conflict is often said to be the essence of drama. But unresolved conflict lasts longer. Don’t Burn all your Fuel at Once Open conflict burns [...]
When we rescue our characters, we think we’re being kind to the characters, and to the audience, who we hope also love our characters. What we’re actually doing is [...]
Don’t Explain, Reveal. And sometimes, Withhold. This essay builds directly on the principle explored in Don’t Explain, Reveal — that explanation weakens engagement, while discovery strengthens it. Here, [...]
How to design subplots that actively explore a story’s philosophical question. The Second Act Challenge Writing the second act of a story is often the writer’s biggest [...]
Don’t explain your story, reveal it and let the audience work things out for themselves. Aleksey Popogrebiskiy’s 2010 film, “How I Ended This Summer”, opens with [...]
Resist the urge to explain and sentimentalise. Contemporary drama often works hard to reassure us that a flawed character is not evil — that their [...]
A character’s personal integration, the moment when they finally become whole, is not the end of the story. Until they put the change into action, it’s only theoretical. [...]
For each project, give yourself an imaginary playground in a secret Imagination Book. Messy, private, driven by freedom and obstacles. When you start a project, buy [...]
If a scene only works when someone explains it, the problem started pages ago. Dialogue isn’t the solution you need Dialogue is the goody-two-shoes in [...]
The best stories work on many levels. Morality is almost always one of them — but morality, not moralism. There’s a difference between making a [...]