THE ESSENTIALS OF CREATIVE WRITING

THE ESSENTIALS OF SCRIPT WRITING

If your characters don’t come alive in your script there is no way they will come alive on the stage or on the screen. In our daily lives, we come across people some are mere acquaintances while others are good friends. We are most likely to make surprise judgments of an acquaintance based on their appearance and first impressions but we are not likely to go beyond that. You may never have deep information as you may not know them completely. But a friend you know their background, likes or dislikes, their taste, lifestyle and a host of others.

This is exactly how characterization works; when you write you must ensure that your central character is someone they know back at home and in some cases their enemies. If this must happen you as a writer must first get to know your character very well because if you don’t know your character they will not appear rather they will appear flat.

The next question is how well do you know your character? You either know them by their biography or by their character analysis:

1.     By Biography: Some proponents advocated that when you write a complete biography of your principal character in short story format. While this is not a bad idea. It certainly takes a lot of time to do and that can be frustrating sometimes particularly for a young and inexperienced writer who is eager to write.

2.     By Character Analysis: It is used by writers as a guideline to understand how their character functions in life. Their background, likes, dislikes, and so on. If you know exactly how he/she react/act in a given situation, it will also help you to determine what your character says or do and how they say and do it.  

     

You must make your character moves and talks like real people. People that your audience can readily identify with such as your next-door neighbor. Therefore some major development that we all go through in life situation is not so different from the theatre and movies. Dramatic plays consist of a slice of life with the door cut away from it. But if you must go through radical changes such character must be prepared for it in advance. Your job as a writer is to make the change believable using appropriate clues.

DIALOGUE

It is easy for new writers to make a common mistake of making all their characters talk the same way. In real life what a person says and how the person says it will depend on a number of factors:

(a)  We all come from different backgrounds, different homes, different parents, and different educational backgrounds. Some have traveled around why others have never even as much as seeing the international Airport. Some have been involved with bad gangs and have possibly learned some bad languages in the process; some have foul languages in their speech which they called their lifestyle. Just ask yourself this simple question if we are so diverse in many ways how can we all speak in the same way? It is absolutely impossible! Simply put, make all your characters 

seak according to their character analysis because they are diverse in so many ways.

(b)  Another problem new writers could encounter is making a particular character sound the same no matter the circumstance. Obviously, one should speak differently when faced with an armed robber from when one has just won a brand new car from a promotion. In either way, in either circumstance, we are expected to speak and react differently.

(c)  The way to tackle this is to mentally put yourself in the writer’s circumstance before creating your own character. You can also recall how other people had behaved and spoken at such times.

(d) Hesitation, stops, starts, and even repetitions found in real speech are imperative to make your character sound alike. In real life, I am yet to see anyone who speaks fluidly as professional newscasters do on television without repetition, stops, hesitations pauses and clauses etc.

(e)   A school of thought believes that writers who write in a good dialogue are a gift. Although it can be learned with a lot of serious practice given to it. Points to note are:

(i)                Pay attention to lengthy sentences.

(ii)              Pay attention to the sense of rhythms, pace, tempo, etc.

(iii)            Pay attention to people in real life. When they speak and note how they speak in schools, bus stops, stores, markets, buses, clubhouses, etc. Be an active listener and note how people speak to one another.

ACTION

If you have worked seriously on your dialogue to write powerful images and believable works, you need to strive just as hard to ensure that you find the most effective ways of describing the action area. Because they lack proper co-ordination, new writers tend to place more emphasis on some areas and less on others when it comes to dialogue and action writing.

Just as you concentrate enough effort in making your dialogue powerful so you must give equal effort in describing the Action.

SETTING

The setting (location) constitutes a very great opportunity for you to enrich your material.  You should always maximize the visual interest of your story. Always keep an eye out for ways to use your location to reinforce, the point that you are not of a particular scene. Note that you are not necessarily required to give a definite action but your setting should be visually interesting enough to attract your audience and remember that if your reader is able to visualize what you have in mind when you are already on your way in writing a good script.

TEMPO

A thoughtfully constructed screenplay or drama scripts will have its tempo and changes of tempo or pace which are essential drive; the HOW of your stories to the enjoyment of the audience. It comprises the pages on which your character has longer speeches could be thought than before to change the rhythm; in order area, it will have staccato (brief) speeches for the same purpose. But the most important thing is that this should be as natural as possible. They should not look contrived or fake. You must choose your words most carefully so that the needed tempo is clearly indicated.

THINGS TO AVOID

I.                   Monologue: Monologue is delivered by a character that is alone on the scene. This device attempts to get into the character’s mind and exposes his thoughts to the audience. The stage convention had no other option of expressing this thought like electronic media.

II.                 Avoid similarities of expression in two different characters as well as in scenes.

THINGS TO DO

I.                   Write brief and medium-length dialogue speeches to sustain interest.

II.                 Even in a medium length speech, the sentences must be short, clear, and précised not convoluted.

III.              Juxtapose different character types to generate conflict.

SUSPENSE

Suspense is the thread that runs through your entire story. The function of suspense to your drama can be likened to salt in the soup. It is the thread that must hold all the actions in place to ensure the interest of your reader/viewer till the very end of the story.

 However, certain points are salient. You must ensure that the drama is effectively revolved and all the details are taken care of. You should not leave some loose ends that keep the viewers or readers wondering about what eventually happened to a certain character.

THE SCRIPT FORMAT

a.     The first page of your script begins with the little page all in capital letters centered on the page.

b.     Four spaces below this appear the words and original screenplay follow by your name and address to the right bottom of the page single and double line spacing in the title page.

c.      Dialogue / scene Description. All dialogue and scene descriptions are single spaces written in regular styling and italic.

d.     Use double spacing between the scene in describing and in the actual dialogue.

e.     Dialogue. Use double spacing between two different dialogues when used in direct conjunction with dialogue, the names of characters are capitalized and centered above the dialogue in single spacing.

f.       Fade in; Fade out (Dissolved) This appears at the beginning of the scene, and at the end or in the middle of the action as necessary. It must be typed in double space from the text before and after.

By

Eguriase S. M. Okaka