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Message: <blockquote data-quote="HRSegovia" data-source="post: 5668433" data-attributes="member: 99950">[FONT=&quot]2nd Time Back: Poetics [/FONT]  [FONT=&quot]Aristotle. His doctrine entitled Poetics has become the founding work on which all works are based. Imagine, if you will, a guide on how to write ANY STORY. Such is the work of Aristotle.[/FONT]  [FONT=&quot]Your story is like a newly carved piece of wood. It's choppy, blocky, and rough. The piece is there in it's entirety, but now it's time to make it into a work of art. Using Aristotle's manual, we are going to go through your story and smooth out the edges.Aristotle's Poetics are described as such: Imagine that you have a key chain with six lenses. Each lens is a different color with a different power/purpose. We will go through your script with each lens one-by-one. Remember, when scanning with a lens, ignore all other aspects of the story. You are looking through your script with a specific purpose.lens 1: PLOT - A plot is a series of events that chain together. If one action does not lead to another, it is not a link, and therefore not an event that is part of the plot. If your events don't link, then the story does not hold together from beginning to end. What this lens searches for is broken links. Each link must be solid. Don't count on any "iffy" events to be an important part of your plot. Be sure there is a chain you can follow from catalyst to showdown.lens 2: CHARACTER - With this lens, you are going to examine each character and their growth through the story. Like plot, their events need to chain. Each character's actions must be within the character's capability and personality. You cannot have the villain, for instance, help the hero without some purpose. That would be out of character. You cannot have a acrophobic leap from building to building without going through some growth period throughout the story. That would also be out of character. While you are looking for out of character issues, you must also look for ways to define the character. If a character is acrophobic, then make it apparent in some way. Don't just have him avoid jumping a building. This will just make your audience cock their heads curiously wondering what the force-field is that is blocking the character.[/FONT]  [FONT=&quot]lens 3: THOUGHT - This is the intangible spirit of the script. From the conceptual thought to the mindless dazing in between writing. You go back and re-examine what you were thinking when you wrote it. You examine what the characters are thinking at the moment. Rather than dialogue, through this lens, you will look at their actions and expressions (and lack thereof) so your audience can "see" into their heads without hearing the voices. In other words, can the audience get the message you are trying to send without the dialogue?lens 4: DICTION - Now that we've examine the negative space (the space in-between), it's time to examine the dialogue. Your story is there in action, expression, and plot, now to strengthen it with diction. Your characters need to be so unique from each other that your audience can tell who is speaking without looking at the name. This comes from accents, attitude, vocabulary, and education. It's easy to do this if you have built your characters from the ground-up with a background.lens 5: MUSIC - Music? Are you serious? Like music, writing is measured in beats. When you have a character pause for a second, it is referred to as a beat. With this lens, you are going to measure the pace of the story, imagine the background music that could be playing and see if it fits the mood you intended. In addition, you can imagine the background sounds and see if you included that in your story to set the mood for the reader. Birds sing, ironworks, clang, cars speed past - all these are "instruments" that play in your symphony and add "zing". Even The Magic Flute included an entire symphony of instruments. Use them.Finally, lens 6: SPECTACLE - This refers to drama and design. Ever heard about someone making their "grand entrance"? This is a spectacle. Think "spectacular". You are looking for ordinary things that may be better if made extraordinary. Remember when Justice entered the restaurant in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back? What about when the Alien hissed inches from Ripley's face in Alien 3. Of course we do! They were spectacular! Now, what color were Indiana Jones' boots? We can easily find out but that particular detail did not stick with us because it wasn't important enough. Know what to make into a spectacle and DO IT!Now, you are half way done. "Half way?!" Yes. If you write just for the hobby, then you're finished. But for a career, then it's time for the hard part... selling your script.[/FONT]</blockquote>

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