Go Into The Story Resource: 30 Things About Screenwriting
Reflections on and basic tenets about the craft. They represent my take. If any of them resonate with you, great. If not, feel free to…
Reflections on and basic tenets about the craft. They represent my take. If any of them resonate with you, great. If not, feel free to ignore them. Bottom line: You need to figure out your own approach to screenwriting. My hope is what you read on this blog day after day feeds that process and provides you inspiration along the way.
On May 16, 2022, Go Into The Story turned 14 years old — you can read the very first blog post here. I led with this paragraph:
Welcome to Go Into The Story! Right now, it’s nothing but a humble, threadbare blog, but I hope it will evolve into an active resource for aspiring screenwriters, as well as a community for anyone interested in storytelling and the creative life.
And evolve it did! To the point where it was recently named “Best of the Best” Scriptwriting Website in the 20th Annual Writer’s Digest Best Websites for Writers list.
To celebrate 14 years of blogging about screenwriting, writing, Hollywood, movies, TV, and the creative life, each day in May, I’m going to feature a piece of Go Into The Story trivia, plus a writing resource you can find in the site’s archives. This is not an exercise in self-congratulations so much as I figured readers could use some tips about how to best use the site. With — to date — over 100 archive topics, there is a LOT of content here. Hopefully, these posts this month will clue in more recent followers and remind long-time readers about resources you can use to facilitate deepening your understanding of the writing craft.
Today’s Go Into The Story resource: A while back, I aggregated some reflections I had posted on the blog over the years into a month-long series called 30 Things About Screenwriting. Here they are:
1. There is no right way to write
2. Screenplays are stories, not formulas
4. Watch movies. Read scripts. Write pages.
5. A spec script will not sell unless it has a strong story concept
6. Write what they’re buying or sell them your dream
7. There are no screenwriting rules
9. When something happens… something ELSE happens
13. Living and writing in L.A.
16. Feet on the ground… head in the clouds
21. If you write a great script…
22. Movies don’t owe anybody a living
23. Story as psychological journey
27. Minimum words, maximum impact
29. The only way out is through
30. Go into the story and find the animals
Please feel free to pass along this link to any writers out there you feel may benefit from the posts.
Each day this month, I am taking the opportunity to thank you for supporting Go Into The Story. I’d love to hear from you in RESPONSES. When did you start following the blog? What are your favorite features? And as always, if you have any suggestions, feel free to suggest away.