FA+
Shop
Screenplays vs. Storytelling
10 years ago
I finally submitted a written work, and it's in semi-screenplay format. I vaguely recalled many of the things I learnt about screenwriting in high school film literature class almost two decades ago, and churned out a rough script.
"But why this, and not traditional storytelling?" he queried, demonstrating a feeble attempt sullied by purple prose.
Because I suck at traditional storytelling. If I ramble easily with poor flow in speech and journals, I ramble just as easily when I try to describe things in a "pretty" storytelling fashion. I mean, have you ever tried to read and process every word of chapter 4 of Fellowship of the Ring? He was addicted to infodumps of detail and background information. That chapter was hell to wade through.
Trying to follow the ethic of "show, don't tell," I would instead try to tell a story in a flow of actions and dialogue. But this takes me to the opposite extreme - when I do that, most of my writing is a list of extremely short paragraphs where someone is saying this, or someone else is doing that. Basically, a glorified script with purple pose descriptors.
And in comes screenwriting, which always came fairly easy to me, because you can focus on the events as your mind's eye sees and hears them, and you can beige prose the actions and slug lines all you want. I mean, since my submission, I have decided to brush up on the tidier conventions involved in writing a screenplay - I had forgotten many small details, like which text should be in all-caps, which items should be on their own lines, etc. But with that, it all seems so easy again.
I don't write in screenplay format with the intent of actually getting anyone to adapt it to the screen. It is more accurate to say that screenwriting is my crutch - it is just a lot easier to write quickly and fluidly in screenplay format that it is in traditional storytelling. As such, my screenplays are actually meant to be read by the same kind of audience that reads novels - in text format only. It's just an added bonus if I'm able to write a screenplay that theoretically could be adapted to the screen in some form, since it means I did a decent job at it.
One thing, though. I prefer to use slug lines very sparingly. I hate micro-managing them, and I like to think that my screenplay can stand enough on its own to permit a variety of camera shot interpretations. I don't want to specify the exact angle and POV of each and every scene - that's the storyboarder's job. :3
"But why this, and not traditional storytelling?" he queried, demonstrating a feeble attempt sullied by purple prose.
Because I suck at traditional storytelling. If I ramble easily with poor flow in speech and journals, I ramble just as easily when I try to describe things in a "pretty" storytelling fashion. I mean, have you ever tried to read and process every word of chapter 4 of Fellowship of the Ring? He was addicted to infodumps of detail and background information. That chapter was hell to wade through.
Trying to follow the ethic of "show, don't tell," I would instead try to tell a story in a flow of actions and dialogue. But this takes me to the opposite extreme - when I do that, most of my writing is a list of extremely short paragraphs where someone is saying this, or someone else is doing that. Basically, a glorified script with purple pose descriptors.
And in comes screenwriting, which always came fairly easy to me, because you can focus on the events as your mind's eye sees and hears them, and you can beige prose the actions and slug lines all you want. I mean, since my submission, I have decided to brush up on the tidier conventions involved in writing a screenplay - I had forgotten many small details, like which text should be in all-caps, which items should be on their own lines, etc. But with that, it all seems so easy again.
I don't write in screenplay format with the intent of actually getting anyone to adapt it to the screen. It is more accurate to say that screenwriting is my crutch - it is just a lot easier to write quickly and fluidly in screenplay format that it is in traditional storytelling. As such, my screenplays are actually meant to be read by the same kind of audience that reads novels - in text format only. It's just an added bonus if I'm able to write a screenplay that theoretically could be adapted to the screen in some form, since it means I did a decent job at it.
One thing, though. I prefer to use slug lines very sparingly. I hate micro-managing them, and I like to think that my screenplay can stand enough on its own to permit a variety of camera shot interpretations. I don't want to specify the exact angle and POV of each and every scene - that's the storyboarder's job. :3
