Write What Interests You You've decided to write a script for stage screen or television Congratulations You have an exciting journey ahead of you Your first step toward creating that script is to come up with an idea Asking what if is a Reading can powerful way to come help you get up with new ideas For ideas example what if the sun didn't come up one morning What if your clothes were suddenly too big or too small Or you might already have things you want to write about Perhaps you have had a vivid dream that has stuck with you Or maybe you want to write about a book or an item in a magazine or newspaper You might admire a family member or friend and want to write about that person
Quick Tips THINK ABOUT IT Generate lots of ideas Narrow them down to those that give you energy Choose one you can see on the stage or screen Pull out your list of possible story ideas Which one could you actually see on a stage or screen Choose one you can visualize the best You could also brainstorm some ideas Give yourself a time limit say 10 minutes and make a list of ideas week or even a month Now come back to it Does it still excite you Now you know you've chosen well Not all the ideas you come up with will work well on stage or screen You need to find out which story you are most interested in which story gives you the most energy Review your list and monitor your own reaction to the ideas Do some make your heart beat a little faster Put a star next to those Your ultimate goal is to write a story that keeps your audience interested You want your audience to relate to your story emotionally That means you must too Let's say you've chosen the idea for your script Let it sit for a day a It may take many tries to find the right idea
Plan Out Your Story Expert screenwriters say that planning to write takes up about 65 percent of the time to create a screenplay Leading playwrights for example thoroughly outline their stories before actually writing their scripts the plot You probably have a main character in mind who serves as your hero That character has to have a problem and has to face challenges to get what he or she wants Think about the movie The Wizard of Oz After a twister hits her home Dorothy finds herself in a new land where everything is strange She wants to go home That sets up the plot for her journey where she What's involved in planning First you need to think about what happens in your story This is called Characters can face challenges from other people or from nature
TRY IT OUT Quick Tips Outline your story idea Feel free to use pictures Who are the major characters What is each character's role Where does the story take place What happens Plan out your story Think about your characters and their actions to create plot Plan for a new scene each time the location or time changes is tested by the Wicked Witch of the West before she can return home For now sketch out what you think your story will be Draw pictures of what you think important moments in each scene will look like A scene has a beginning a middle and an end It takes place in a certain place and time If you move the action to another place or another time then you need a new scene Scenes are your building blocks They come together to form the story structure Glinda the Good Witch left helps Dorothy on her journey back to Kansas
