Storytelling, Screenwriting
In cinematic storytelling, the power of visuals often surpasses that of dialogue, creating a more immersive and engaging experience for the audience. Screenwriters and directors must master the art of conveying emotions, actions, and character development through...
Storytelling, Screenwriting
Effective dialogue goes beyond mere conversation; it serves the story and scene by being a compressed and purposeful version of real-life speech. It’s more about the beats than the actual words, like in the classic scene from “On the Waterfront” where...
Storytelling, Screenwriting
Visual Storytelling over Dialogue: Movies rely heavily on visuals to tell the story. Effective storytelling uses actions, body language, and interactions with the environment rather than just dialogue. Replacing Dialogue with Visual Actions: Use visual beats to...
Storytelling, Screenwriting
Surprises, often called plot twists, turning points, or events, are crucial in storytelling. My favorite term is “reversal,” highlighting the shift from buildup to surprise. Regardless of genre, a well-crafted reversal shares structural similarities....
Storytelling, Screenwriting
Scenes are the building blocks of screenplays, each focused on a single action and culminating in a change. Scene length varies by genre, and scenes must be unified by time and space, unfolding in real time. A scene’s climax should bring about significant...
Storytelling, Screenwriting
1. Importance of Subtext: Dialogue should reflect how people communicate in real life—rarely straightforward. Characters often withhold information, hide emotions, and avoid certain topics, creating a layer of subtext beneath their spoken words. This underlying...
Storytelling, Screenwriting
Using Dialogue to Write Emotion Writing Dialogue to Reveal Emotions Effective dialogue combines verbal and nonverbal communication to reveal a character’s emotional state. The way characters communicate—through words, body language, and vocal cues—can deepen...
Storytelling, Screenwriting
The Power of Emotion Emotion is fundamental to successful novels across all genres, driving characters’ decisions, actions, and words, which in turn propel the story. Without emotion, plots become unengaging, and readers lose interest. Readers seek emotional...
Storytelling, Screenwriting
The science of storytelling has been a subject of increasing interest and research in recent years, as scholars explore how and why stories have such a powerful effect on the human brain. Here is a review of the key findings from the literature on the science of...
