Black List writers on the craft: Story Concepts (Part 5)

“It starts with a character, and then an arc, and then I build the story around that arc.”

Over the years, I have interviewed 50+ Black List screenwriters. Over the next four weeks, I am running a series featuring one topic per week related to the craft of writing.

This week: How do you come up with story concepts?

Here three writers zero in on questions as a starting point for generating story ideas:

Elijah Bynum: “It comes from a place of some question or theme I want to explore. And then, just by keeping my eyes peeled– listening to music or reading books or articles or documentaries–something will stand out. And it will present itself in such a way that it lends itself to fitting into this theme that I want to write.”

Will Simmons: “Story ideas usually begin with a burning question or a visual motif. If you’re about to spend months writing and developing a script, you want to be certain that the central concept is worthy of your time. So I look for ideas that haunt me and keep me up at night. If you can find a question that gnaws at your creative subconscious and refuses to fade away, then you’re primed to write a story from a position of strength. This is a profession of obsessions. As writers, we’re stalkers of the written word, always hunting for the perfect combination of ideas and phrases to express images flickering in our mind’s eye.”

Brad Ingelsby: “It starts with a character, I think. It starts with a character, and then an arc, and then I sort of build the story around that arc. In Run All Night, it was Jimmy, an aging hit man who has to reconcile with his son and his past. And then what are those conflicts that I can begin to place around Jimmy to have an exciting story? So, it starts with a character, then an arc, and then how do I visualize that arc in a way that feels exciting and interesting to an audience.”

A question or a theme. A burning question. Some central thesis which can serve as a cornerstone for a plot. We have visited this approach before through the use of two simple words: What if?

Consider anecdotes from three screenwriters:

“The inspiration for coming up with the story [Back to the Future] is that I was visiting my parents in the summer of 1980, from St. Louis Missouri, and I found my father’s high-school yearbook in the basement. I’m thumbing through it and I find out that my father was the president of his graduating class, which I was completely unaware of. So there’s a picture of my dad, 18-years-old… The question came up in my head, ‘gee, what if I had gone to school with my dad, would I have been friends with him?’ That was where the light bulb went off.” — Bob Gale (1941, Used Cars, Back to the Future I, II, III)

“The secret, the great key to writing Hook, came from my son. When he was six, he asked the question, ‘What if Peter Pan grew up?’ I had been trying to find a new way into the famous ‘boy who wouldn’t grow up’ tale, and our son gave me the key.” — James V. Hart (Dracula, Contact, Hook)

“The Shakespeare in Love screenplay was written by Marc Norman and playwright Tom Stoppard, although the original idea was rooted in a third creative mind — one of Norman’s son’s, Zachary. It was in 1989, while studying Elizabethan drama at Boston University, that the younger Norman phoned his father with a sudden brainstorm of a movie concept — the young William Shakespeare in the Elizabethan theater. The elder Norman agreed it was a terrific idea, but he hadn’t a clue what to do with it. Two years later, with bits of time stolen from other projects, the notion had formed — what if Shakespeare had writer’s block while writing his timeless classic, ‘Romeo and Juliet’”? — Marc Norman (The Aviator, Cutthroat Island, Shakespeare in Love)

What if I had gone to school with my dad? What if Peter Pan grew up? What if Shakespeare had writers block? Each the basis of a successful movie. Each a strong concept.

So a question can be the inspiration for a story concept. But why did I include this in the mix: “It starts with a character, and then an arc.” Because when you start with a character, some inkling of a figure, that immediately leads to questions. Who is this individual? Why are they the way they are? What is their personality? What is their backstory? What do they want? What do they need? Who might be providing opposition to them?”

Start with a character. Questions arise. With it… a plot and everything else.

How about you? Do you look to questions and characters for inspiration for your stories? If so, please stop by comments and share with us.

For Part 1 of the series on story concepts, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Part 4, here.

Next week, more insight into the writing craft from Black List honorees.