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While you wrote your nanovel, the guy at Screenwriting Tips has kept his thing running. Let’s see what he’s been up to…<\/p>\n
442<\/a> You know how time becomes sort of elastic during action scenes in movies? You can replicate that in your script. Short words and clipped sentences when you want the action to skip along, bigger words and longer sentences when you want everything to slow down.<\/p>\n 443<\/a> What\u2019s Act Three? Act Three is your protagonist\u2019s nightmare scenario, the worst thing that could possibly happen. If it had happened to her in Act One, she\u2019d be curled up on the floor whimpering.<\/p>\n 444<\/a> Pitching your script as a mash-up of two well-known films is just an opening gambit \u2014 it\u2019s the \u2018jumping on\u2019 point so people will know what you\u2019re talking about. Once you\u2019ve got them, it\u2019s time to tell them why your story\u2019s\u00a0different<\/em>.<\/p>\n 446<\/a> Look at structure this way: If the driving force of a story is the dramatic question, then it\u2019s your job to keep reframing that question every fifteen pages.<\/p>\n 447<\/a> Ticking clocks work best when the protagonist fails to defuse them in time, and then has to deal with the consequences. Combine that failure with the end-of-Act-Two \u2018dark point\u2019 for fun and profit.<\/p>\n 448<\/a> Is your antagonist really dumb enough to fall for this obvious trick, come to this meeting without a backup plan, and lose his cool when he shouldn\u2019t? Then he\u2019s not a very scary antagonist, is he?<\/p>\n 449<\/a> Give the protagonist what they want\u2026 right after they\u2019ve realized they don\u2019t want it any more.<\/p>\n 450<\/a> Never interrupt when your characters are arguing with each other. Let them slug it out, then edit later.<\/p>\n 451<\/a> When designing your antagonist, remember: evil doesn\u2019t know it\u2019s evil. Evil gets out of bed in the morning and goes to work with a song in its heart, knowing that what it\u2019s doing is right.<\/p>\n 454<\/a> In ensemble stories with lots of people in lots of locations, keep the boredom to a minimum by cutting at the points of biggest conflict. Cut away right on the twists and the big dramatic questions \u2014 the audience will squirm, but they\u2019ll love you for it.<\/p>\n 455<\/a> Thunderstorms do not automatically make your third act more bad-ass.<\/p>\n 457<\/a> Scenes sagging? Lacking drama and conflict? Do the Worst Possible Outcome Test. It\u2019s easy: Find the last time your protagonist made a major decision. Ask yourself, what\u2019s the worst possible outcome of that decision? Then write that.<\/p>\n 459<\/a> Don\u2019t worry that you\u2019re getting too far away from the ideal movie in your head. Not only is that entirely normal, it actually means you\u2019re making progress.<\/p>\n 460<\/a> The best plot twists are the ones that make a shocking amount of sense.<\/p>\n 461<\/a> Everything doesn\u2019t have to work out for the best. The mentor character who was dying at the dark point doesn\u2019t have to be dancing at the wedding in Act Three.<\/p>\n 462<\/a> Steal a trick from video games: Halfway through the story, take your protagonist\u2019s best weapons away from her and see how she does without them.<\/p>\n