Plan the story before the pages run away with you.
Download the writing planning charts from Charles Harris’s book Teach Yourself: Complete Screenwriting Course.
These are the charts referred to in the body of the book and included in the appendix. They are designed for cinema and TV screenplays, but also work well for novels and theatre.
Free download
Planning charts for screenplays, novels and theatre.
Use these charts to develop a premise, think through genre, plan structure, manage flashbacks, balance unusual story forms and prepare a stronger pitch.
The full PDF contains the complete set of planning charts from the book, ready to download and use while developing your story.
Included Charts
Six practical tools for shaping a story.
- 1 Premise development checklist Clarify the core idea, stakes, protagonist, goal, obstacle, genre and dramatic difference before the story expands.
- 2 Genre planning Explore genre patterns, genre emotions, favourite examples, twists and surprises so the story knows what promise it is making.
- 3 Structure planning Map the story’s movement through normality, inciting incident, turning points, midpoint, final battle and ending.
- 4 Flashback planning Plan how a flashback enters and leaves the story, while keeping time, tension, stakes and dramatic movement clear.
- 5 Balancing unusual structures checklist Check momentum, theme, signposts, repetitions, stakes, obstacles and audience guidance in non-standard structures.
- 6 Pitching scratchpad Gather the memorable title, genre, logline, audience, comparables, key visuals, ideal cast and personal pitch material.
Using the Charts
Open, download and keep writing.
- PDF reader To use the charts you’ll need a PDF reader. Download a free reader from Adobe or Foxit.
- Screenplay formats and templates You can also download a range of screenplay formats for cinema and TV.
Download
Get the complete writing planning charts PDF.
Download the charts from Teach Yourself: Complete Screenwriting Course and use them to plan your screenplay, novel or stage story.