Are you IC7 or maybe an angler?
So you come across a police cordon on your way from the tube station. There are blue flashing lights and donotcross tape stretches over the road. Of course you don’t want to look too nosey,…
Wants and Needs in writing
Wants and Needs in Writing A few weeks ago I wrote about my GOATS method for writing fiction and screenplays. Anna Mönnich wrote in response from Germany. Her email brings up an issue that often…
The GOATS method for writing and editing
How to write powerful stories using the GOATS method. Great stories possess great power. Whether fiction, movies, TV or theatre, they have the power to move, to change people’s lives (and even to earn their…
The challenge of finding subtext in interrogations
Unusual dialogue: subtext in interrogations:I’ve written a number of articles on dialogue and subtext but this week playwright Sarah Hamilton came up with a problem about subtext in interrogations that I’d not covered before. Sarah…
Want screenplay dialogue with sizzle – cut the ping-pong!
Why does some screenplay dialogue sizzle while other lines end up like cold toast? Here’s one tip I picked up many years ago: check that you haven’t started to play ping-pong! The problem is the “di”…
Seven ways of writing dialogue that stands out from the crowd
I received an email this week from a novelist who wanted to learn more about becoming a screenwriter and in particular wanted some tips on writing dialogue – whether for his books or for the…
9 steps to writing dialogue with rich subtext
9 ways to get your subtext muscle working for readable, rich dialogue
Why do we call them Screen – Plays?
Want your script to stand out from the crowd? Want it to be read from cover to cover and passed from hand to hand? It’s time to discover your inner playfulness. Playfulness is not the…
A Clever, Sneaky Way To Hide Exposition
The ability to handle exposition really sorts the professionals from the wannabes, and I’m going to share one of my top exposition techniques with you here.
Deep Language – Free Tip
In screenwriting we don’t talk much about language. Yet, once these have been sorted, what do we have to work with other than words? We need to understand how language works at its deepest levels – for it is these that profoundly affect the way we hear and understand – these deep structures can either create the strongest emotional effects… or ruin them!