Over the last year or so I've been working through John Truby's Anatomy of Story, as to my delight and dread, It been a detailed as I have hoped but as dense as I could chew on as I am new to the screenwriting process. I'm heading into to the final stretch in following his steps and I've felt that I've been repeating the same steps over again. This has lead me to constantly rethink my entire story. Has anyone ran into this issue working from this book or is it just me?
Screenwriting : How much is enough by Louis A Blackshear
How much is enough
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I feel it, I'll continue to pull and research.
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Truby is good. I have his book and I've been to his weekend seminars. He also has a series of video clips on YouTube talking about the genres. When you get away from the academic parts of writing, you'll get to the heart of the story put the emotion on the page. But you need the academic parts of writing to fix all the problems you created in the first draft.
Main thing is to just keep writing and working on it. Usually takes 3-5 scripts before a writer starts to pull everything together (story concept, structure, dialogue, subtext, theme, genre, etc.).
Christopher Phillips Thank you and much appreciation. The academic portion is what I have been pursuing, and by not being in a class room, it's felt like I've been spinning wheels getting nowhere. So your response is comforting.
A lot of people say read a book. Learn the rules. Then forgot them and write.
Craig D Griffiths I've heard that as well, however I don't believe I'm there yet. I've written many academic papers on analyzing stories but I've been learning how to apply what I can easily point out
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Louis A Blackshear I have never read a book. I watched a few youtube videos.
I am a massive podcast fan. Scriptnotes, Draft-Zero is all that you need to listen to. I tell stories that don’t fit. But that is me. I can confidently say my stories aren’t for everyone.
If I wrote Nemo he would be served in a butter sauce LOL.
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Craig D Griffiths HA HA, Thanks I'll add those to my podcast list. I've been looking for some decent writing podcasts to listen to
Louis A Blackshear if you have suggestion for podcasts, I am all ears (pun intended).
Craig D Griffiths Well, If you're into true crime, and based off some of your work, I'd suggest shows like Criminal and Cult. While on the screenwriting side, Bulletproof Screenwriting.