Do you have an idea for a screenplay but are not sure where to begin? Are you struggling to write a film script and need some help and motivation? Or do you simply have a powerful urge to re-engage with your creative self by learning the craft of scriptwriting?
- Sign up for the Allaboutwriting five module ‘Preparation for Scriptwriting’ programme facilitated by Richard. The skills focused on are:
- Building characters
- What is story?
- Writing scenes
- Writing dialogue
- Creating suspense
- Once you have completed the ‘Preparation for Scriptwriting’ modules you are guaranteed a place on the Allaboutwriting Mentoring programme which.
We take a non-formulaic approach distinguished by personal attention and feedback.
These programmes will for the most part be run online. Mentoring feedback will be via Skype sessions. Richard can offer face-to-face meetings in Johannesburg or from his narrow boat in the UK.
For more information or to book your place on either the ‘Preparation for Scriptwriting’ or the Allaboutwriting Mentoring Programme please email us.
COURSE OUTLINE
Starter Pack – We give you the techniques to develop a unique style and voice. Learn the skills to avoid self-judgment and to write with flair. Learn how to view the world like a writer, developing the quality of active observation.
- What is the story?– No matter how plot- or character-driven, every narrative will contain certain elements that we expect of a story. If an element is fudged or, in experimental writing, implied or left out altogether, it needs to be done artfully and for literary effect.
This is equally true for documentaries.
Elbert Hubbard said that life was just one damned thing after another. This is not what we want in a story (nor, in fact, is it the ideal way of looking at life). Every story must have an arc that draws us through it.
- Building characters (real or fictional)– Characters are the most important part of any narrative. If they don’t hold us, if we don’t find them compelling, we won’t be drawn into their story.
Characters drive plot. The story should flow out of who they are and how they react. As readers, we should believe the story exists because of the people – the way they act, and how they react to events around them.
How they react to what is said and done around them should make psychological sense.
We encourage you to look at what makes them tick. Then we transfer that knowledge to the development of characters that stand out from the page. We show you how to build compelling, psychologically believable people.
- Scenes – This module deals with the hugely important building block of any narrative: the scene. If your story is a castle, its scenes are the bricks you will use to construct it.
- Dialogue – A story can succeed or fail on its dialogue. Badly done, it is actively off-putting. Well done, it can take a mediocre story to another level.
We look at the uses of dialogue and how to deploy it most effectively. Dialogue is not speech as it is used in real-life. It is the appearance of real speech. How do you achieve this?
- Suspense – The word “suspense” tends to make us think of plot-driven thrillers. But our definition is wide. We like to see it as anything that draws the reader forward. This is as relevant for all writers.
We look at the ways in which you can create an appetite for events yet to be described – a tension between the present moment, and the anticipated moment.
There is no story without some form of conflict. It’s the essential ingredient that keeps us reading. Something’s at stake, and the equilibrium is disturbed. In life, we long for equilibrium (unless we’re a war correspondent). But in stories, when equilibrium’s achieved, the story ends.
