This is the thing
When it comes to writing a story – any story! – there are two fundamentals that you have to nail, every time … Character and structure. Audiences and readers need to be able to RELATE to the characters in your screenplay or novel, in order to invest in the story.
But we all know this … After all, NO writer says: “You know what? I’m going to come up with the DULLEST story imaginable, with the most boring or weird characters EVAH.”
So how do we do it??
Character + Structure = Story
Lots of writers argue over ‘which’ is more important – character or structure? I argue they’re both as important as each other.
You cannot separate them. Character and story are inextricably linked by STRUCTURE. After all, we don’t watch or read stories ‘just’ about characters.
Someone once said to me that it’s not even 50/50 – it’s 100% character, 100% structure. Even though that person clearly doesn’t understand how maths works, I actually agree 250% (arf).
So summarising, we want great stories about characters who do stuff. That stuff may be good or it may be bad – or it may be both – but it’s that sense of a JOURNEY we want. See More . . .
