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alphabetical stories, beat, climax, scene, story engine, TV writing -

Many narratives are actually comprised of multiple interweaving “stories,” each of which has a function within the larger whole. We more typically see this kind of breaking in TV writing, and the use and definitions of the alphabetical “stories” vary between feature and TV. But the core concepts can certainly apply to a feature spec script. A-story. This is the main story, the “what the movie is about” story. This is the story on which we are breaking the structural beats: first-10, inciting, plot point one, midpoint turn, plot point two, climax, and denouement. This is also the external “stuff...

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beats, character, cliche, scene, writer's block -

Sometimes the script doesn’t want to cooperate. You stare at the page and nothing comes. The scenes you’ve written all seem tired and obvious. You’re forty pages into the script, and going further feels like a chore. What happens next? You don’t know. Nothing clicks. It’s the condition commonly known as writer’s block. There is no easy cure. But it’s just a part of the process. Everyone hits these odd corners of development, and solving for them is what makes writing an art and a craft. Each instance of block is its own beast, unique to the script, the writer,...

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