Feature film Story narration is Plot
In narrative, a plot or storyline is the rendering and ordering of the events and actions of a story, particularly towards the achievement of some particular artistic or emotional effect.
A plot is "the arrangement of incidents" that (ideally) each follow plausibly from the other. The plot is like the pencil outline that guides the painter's brush (compare sketch), and as such can be distinguished from the story or narrative that is framed by the plot. When a plot is like the pencil outline that guides the painter’s brush, the story is comparable to the finished painting. Aristotle notes that a string of unconnected speeches, no matter how well-exhausted, will not have as much emotional impact as a series of tightly connected speech delivered by perfect speakers.
Aristotle used the term mythos to denote plot. The description is deceptively simple, because the actions are performed by particular characters in a work and are the means by which they exhibit their moral and dispositional qualities.
The concept of plot and the associated concept of construction of plot, emplotment, has developed considerably since Aristotle made these insightful observations. The episodic narrative tradition which Aristotle indicates has systematically been subverted over the intervening years, to the extent that the concept of beginning, middle, end are merely regarded as a conventional device when no other is at hand.
This is particularly true in the cinematic tradition, in which the folding and reversal of episodic narrative is now commonplace. Moreover, many writers and film directors, particularly those with a proclivity for the Modernist or other subsequent and derivative movements which emerged during or after the early 20th century, seem more concerned that plot is an encumbrance to their artistic medium than an assistance.
The main plot in a story is called the A-Plot. The B-Plot is another independent plot within the same story.
The term plot-driven is used to describe work in which a preconceived plot and climax is the main thrust of the work, with the characters' behaviour being moulded by this inevitable sequence of events. It is usually regarded as being the opposite of character-driven.
The chief character in a plot is a protagonist, and he or she is pitted against an antagonist.
There is a great variety to plot forms. Some plots are designed to achieve tragic effects and others to achieve the effects of comedy, romance, satire or any other genre.
Elements of Fiction
Plot is one of the five elements of fiction, along with character, setting, theme, and style. Of these five elements, character is the who, plot is the what, setting is the where and when, and style is the how of a story.
Typical plot structure
Initial situation - the beginning. It is the first incident that makes the story move.
Conflict or Problem - goal which the main character of the story has to achieve.
Complication or Rising action- obstacles which the main character has to overcome.
Climax - highest point of interest of the story.
Suspense or Falling action- point of tension. It arouses the interest of the readers.
Dénouement or Resolution - what happens to the character after overcoming all obstacles/failing to achieve the desired result and reaching/not reaching his goal.
Conclusion - the end result of the climax
Note that this is a simplification, and that not all stories follow this archetypal structure.
Srivenkat Bulemoni
Friday, August 31, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Act structure (film)
Act structure for films.
Act structure explains how a plot of a film story is composed. Just like plays (Staged drama) have 'Acts', critics and screenwriters tend to divide films into acts; though films don't require to be broken down as such in reality.
Whereas plays are actual live performances that need 'breaks' in the middle for change of set, costume, or for the artists' rest; films are recorded performances shown mechanically and therefore don't need actual breaks. Still they are divided into acts for reasons that are in aesthetic and structural conformation with the original idea of Act in theatre. Act breaks in a film are usually very obscure for lay audience and only a trained person can detect the ending of one act and the beginning of the other in the progression of a movie. The idea of Act structure is of more value while writing a Screenplay than watching a film, though the Act breaks are never actually written in the final copies of screenplays, however, in television scripts called Teleplays clear detonations as such are almost always included.
Act is the broadest structural unit of enacted stories. The most common paradigm in theatre, and so in films, is that of the 'Three-Act structure' proposed by Aristotle. It simply means that any story has a 'beginning', a 'middle' and an 'end'. Playwrights and screenwriters divide their stories into three major parts viz. 'Set up', 'Confrontation' (alternatively called as 'conflict' or 'complication') and 'Resolution'. These form the basic three acts of any performance- staged or screened.
Though various theories have been proposed and debated, the Three-act structure stands as the most popular one. Also, this is what Hollywood and Bollywood has discovered and proved as the most successful. The rest of the world cinema may have its own ways of looking at the plot.
The 'Three-Act structure'
According to Hollywood, feature films are considered as audio-visual narrative forms which can be seen in distinct parts called 'Acts'.
It follows that the enacted story opens with the introduction of characters and situations, backdrop, locale etc. It creates interest in the audience and takes them to feel concerned as to what the real problem is and what may happen with it. Plays, and screenplays, usually revolve around main characters- the 'Protagonist' and the 'Antagonist' who engage themselevs into a battle. That is "Set up".
The next part- and considered to be more important- is complication of the problem of the story. It intrigues the audience all the more, giving them more and more information and putting vaious points of view for imaginative comparison. This eventually leads to higher points of audience interest. Because this second Act of most screenplays adds all the possible dramatic values to the plot, this is considered to be the core of the same. The Antagonist and the Protagonist try and experiment with all their strengths (and weaknesses of the other) to win the battle. That is "Confrontation".
This takes us to the third- and the most important- act, the "Resolution". This means it tends to 'solve' the problem (-s) of the story developed so far. But this is not obvious, as it is expected to bring the 'climax' (or a series of climaxes) to give the audience the pay-off. The tool usually implemented is a 'do or die' situation where doors of escape for either or both of the two characters go on closing one by one, leaving them with only a thin chance that demands the fullest exploitation of their qualities and energies. This so called jaw-dropping, breath-taking, arm-rest-grabbing moment for the audience leads to the final outcome of the entire plot. And it is usually the triumph of the good (Protagonist) over the evil (Antagonist), with rare exceptions.
Srivenkat Bulemoni.
Act structure explains how a plot of a film story is composed. Just like plays (Staged drama) have 'Acts', critics and screenwriters tend to divide films into acts; though films don't require to be broken down as such in reality.
Whereas plays are actual live performances that need 'breaks' in the middle for change of set, costume, or for the artists' rest; films are recorded performances shown mechanically and therefore don't need actual breaks. Still they are divided into acts for reasons that are in aesthetic and structural conformation with the original idea of Act in theatre. Act breaks in a film are usually very obscure for lay audience and only a trained person can detect the ending of one act and the beginning of the other in the progression of a movie. The idea of Act structure is of more value while writing a Screenplay than watching a film, though the Act breaks are never actually written in the final copies of screenplays, however, in television scripts called Teleplays clear detonations as such are almost always included.
Act is the broadest structural unit of enacted stories. The most common paradigm in theatre, and so in films, is that of the 'Three-Act structure' proposed by Aristotle. It simply means that any story has a 'beginning', a 'middle' and an 'end'. Playwrights and screenwriters divide their stories into three major parts viz. 'Set up', 'Confrontation' (alternatively called as 'conflict' or 'complication') and 'Resolution'. These form the basic three acts of any performance- staged or screened.
Though various theories have been proposed and debated, the Three-act structure stands as the most popular one. Also, this is what Hollywood and Bollywood has discovered and proved as the most successful. The rest of the world cinema may have its own ways of looking at the plot.
The 'Three-Act structure'
According to Hollywood, feature films are considered as audio-visual narrative forms which can be seen in distinct parts called 'Acts'.
It follows that the enacted story opens with the introduction of characters and situations, backdrop, locale etc. It creates interest in the audience and takes them to feel concerned as to what the real problem is and what may happen with it. Plays, and screenplays, usually revolve around main characters- the 'Protagonist' and the 'Antagonist' who engage themselevs into a battle. That is "Set up".
The next part- and considered to be more important- is complication of the problem of the story. It intrigues the audience all the more, giving them more and more information and putting vaious points of view for imaginative comparison. This eventually leads to higher points of audience interest. Because this second Act of most screenplays adds all the possible dramatic values to the plot, this is considered to be the core of the same. The Antagonist and the Protagonist try and experiment with all their strengths (and weaknesses of the other) to win the battle. That is "Confrontation".
This takes us to the third- and the most important- act, the "Resolution". This means it tends to 'solve' the problem (-s) of the story developed so far. But this is not obvious, as it is expected to bring the 'climax' (or a series of climaxes) to give the audience the pay-off. The tool usually implemented is a 'do or die' situation where doors of escape for either or both of the two characters go on closing one by one, leaving them with only a thin chance that demands the fullest exploitation of their qualities and energies. This so called jaw-dropping, breath-taking, arm-rest-grabbing moment for the audience leads to the final outcome of the entire plot. And it is usually the triumph of the good (Protagonist) over the evil (Antagonist), with rare exceptions.
Srivenkat Bulemoni.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Screenwriting-3
Screenwriting formats
Screenplays and teleplays have set of standardizations in place, beginning with proper formatting. These rules are in part to serve the practical purpose of making scripts uniformly readable "blueprints" of movies, and also to serve as a way of distinguishing a professional from an amateur.
Feature film
Motion picture screenplays intended for submission to mainstream studios, whether in the US or elsewhere in the world, are expected to conform to a standard typographical style known widely as studio format which stipulates how elements of the screenplay such as scene headings, action, transitions, dialog, character names, shots and parenthetical matter should be presented on the page, as well as the font size and line spacing.
One reason for this is that, when rendered in studio format, most screenplays will transfer onto the screen at the rate of approximately one page per minute. This rule of thumb is widely contested — a page of dialog usually occupies less screen time than a page of action, for example, and it depends enormously on the literary style of the writer — and yet it continues to hold sway in modern Bollywood and Hollywood.
There is no single standard for studio format. Some studios have definitions of the required format written into the rubric of their writer's contract. The Nicholl Fellowship, a screenwriting competition run under the auspices of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has a useful and accurate guide to screenplay format. A more detailed reference is The Complete Guide to Standard Script Formats.
Traditionally, a screenplay should be 90-110 pages long. Comedies and children's films tend to weigh in at the lower end.
Screenplays are almost always written using a monospaced font, often a variant of Courier.
Television
For American TV shows, the format rules for hour-long dramas, like CSI, and single-camera sitcoms, like Scrubs, are essentially the same as for motion pictures. The main difference is that TV scripts have act breaks. Multi-camera sitcoms, like Two and a Half Men, use a different, specialized format that derives from radio and the stage play. In this format, dialogue is double-spaced, action lines are capitalized, and scene headings are capitalized and underlined.
Documentaries
The script format for documentaries and audio-visual presentations which consist largely of voice-over matched to still or moving pictures is different again and uses a two-column format which can be particularly difficult to achieve in standard word processors, at least when it comes to editing. Many script-editing software programs include templates for documentary formats.
Physical format
American screenplays are printed single-sided on three-hole-punched letter sized (8.5 x 11 inch) paper, and held together with two brass brads in the top and bottom hole. The middle hole is left empty. In the UK, double-hole-punched A4 paper is often used, although some UK writers use the US letter paper format, especially when their scripts are to be read by American producers, since otherwise the pages may be cropped when printed on US paper. Despite the use of double-punched paper, it is common to see scripts in the UK held together by a single brad punched in the top left hand corner. This makes it easy to flip from page to page during script meetings and may have something to do with the taller page of A4.
Screenplays are usually bound with a light card stock cover and back page, often showing the logo of the production company or agency submitting the script.
Increasingly, reading copies of screenplays (that is, those distributed by producers and agencies in the hope of attracting finance or talent) are distributed printed on both sides of the paper (often professionally bound) to cut down on paper waste out of environmental concerns. Occasionally they are reduced to half-size to make a small book which is convenient to read or put in a pocket; this is generally for use by the director or other production crew during shooting.
Although most writing contracts continue to stipulate physical delivery of three or more copies of a finished script, it is common for scripts to be delivered electronically via email. Although most production companies can handle scripts in most formats, it is better practice to supply scripts as a PDF file where possible. This is because it gives the writer final control over the layout of the script, which may otherwise vary depending on what fonts and/or paper size the recipient uses to print the script out. The formatting software programs listed at the bottom of this article produce industry formatted standard screenplays in PDF.
Dialogue & description
The following is an example from an unproduced screenplay which may give the reader an idea of how a scene without camera angles can be descriptive, and perhaps even poetic, so as to convey the proper time frame (1910) and/or feeling:A BUNCH OF GARDENIAS
makes a sudden burst of BRIGHT RED. A hand removes each petal--one at a time. The petals fall on the ground.
Following the petals--
A part of a woman's SHOE is seen. It is strangely ornate with a shabby heel.
Giggles erupt, and the extravagantly painted face of a very young prostitute appears.
Her hand is at the arm of a man who is older by at least a couple of decades.
Imagery
Imagery can be used in many metaphoric ways. In The Talented Mr. Ripley, the title character talked of wanting to close the door on himself sometime, and then, in the end, he did. Rain is commonly used to express a character feeling depressed, while sunny days promote a feeling of happiness and calm. Use imagery to your advantage to sway the emotions of your audience and to clue them in to what is happening.
Imagery is well defined in City of God. The opening image sequence sets the tone for the entire film. The film opens with the shimmer of a knife's blade on a sharpening stone. A drink is being prepared, The knife's blade shows again, juxtaposed is a shot of a chicken letting loose of its harness on its feet. All symbolising 'The One that got away'. The film is about life in the favelas in Rio - sprinkled with violence and games and ambition.
Character
It is very important to develop your characters, because that is who the viewers will be relating to. Characters, especially major characters, should be original and interesting. A character's true nature is revealed by his or her actions in overcoming obstacles.
Dialogue
Dialogue is very important to the film industry, because there are no written words to explain your characters or the plot; it all has to be explained through dialogue and imagery. If your script has weak dialogue, there is a good chance it will lose a reader's or viewer's interest. Make your dialogue sharp, snappy, and easy to follow.
Plot
While the story is what will be told (narrative); the plot is how the story will be told (narration). This vocabulary is not indisputable, though. Sometimes in literature story and plot are used exactly the other way round. Develop your plot before you begin work, write a treatment or a short outline for a film and follow it, but feel free to branch out in other directions if you feel that it would make your script more interesting.
Srivenkat Bulemoni.
Screenplays and teleplays have set of standardizations in place, beginning with proper formatting. These rules are in part to serve the practical purpose of making scripts uniformly readable "blueprints" of movies, and also to serve as a way of distinguishing a professional from an amateur.
Feature film
Motion picture screenplays intended for submission to mainstream studios, whether in the US or elsewhere in the world, are expected to conform to a standard typographical style known widely as studio format which stipulates how elements of the screenplay such as scene headings, action, transitions, dialog, character names, shots and parenthetical matter should be presented on the page, as well as the font size and line spacing.
One reason for this is that, when rendered in studio format, most screenplays will transfer onto the screen at the rate of approximately one page per minute. This rule of thumb is widely contested — a page of dialog usually occupies less screen time than a page of action, for example, and it depends enormously on the literary style of the writer — and yet it continues to hold sway in modern Bollywood and Hollywood.
There is no single standard for studio format. Some studios have definitions of the required format written into the rubric of their writer's contract. The Nicholl Fellowship, a screenwriting competition run under the auspices of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has a useful and accurate guide to screenplay format. A more detailed reference is The Complete Guide to Standard Script Formats.
Traditionally, a screenplay should be 90-110 pages long. Comedies and children's films tend to weigh in at the lower end.
Screenplays are almost always written using a monospaced font, often a variant of Courier.
Television
For American TV shows, the format rules for hour-long dramas, like CSI, and single-camera sitcoms, like Scrubs, are essentially the same as for motion pictures. The main difference is that TV scripts have act breaks. Multi-camera sitcoms, like Two and a Half Men, use a different, specialized format that derives from radio and the stage play. In this format, dialogue is double-spaced, action lines are capitalized, and scene headings are capitalized and underlined.
Documentaries
The script format for documentaries and audio-visual presentations which consist largely of voice-over matched to still or moving pictures is different again and uses a two-column format which can be particularly difficult to achieve in standard word processors, at least when it comes to editing. Many script-editing software programs include templates for documentary formats.
Physical format
American screenplays are printed single-sided on three-hole-punched letter sized (8.5 x 11 inch) paper, and held together with two brass brads in the top and bottom hole. The middle hole is left empty. In the UK, double-hole-punched A4 paper is often used, although some UK writers use the US letter paper format, especially when their scripts are to be read by American producers, since otherwise the pages may be cropped when printed on US paper. Despite the use of double-punched paper, it is common to see scripts in the UK held together by a single brad punched in the top left hand corner. This makes it easy to flip from page to page during script meetings and may have something to do with the taller page of A4.
Screenplays are usually bound with a light card stock cover and back page, often showing the logo of the production company or agency submitting the script.
Increasingly, reading copies of screenplays (that is, those distributed by producers and agencies in the hope of attracting finance or talent) are distributed printed on both sides of the paper (often professionally bound) to cut down on paper waste out of environmental concerns. Occasionally they are reduced to half-size to make a small book which is convenient to read or put in a pocket; this is generally for use by the director or other production crew during shooting.
Although most writing contracts continue to stipulate physical delivery of three or more copies of a finished script, it is common for scripts to be delivered electronically via email. Although most production companies can handle scripts in most formats, it is better practice to supply scripts as a PDF file where possible. This is because it gives the writer final control over the layout of the script, which may otherwise vary depending on what fonts and/or paper size the recipient uses to print the script out. The formatting software programs listed at the bottom of this article produce industry formatted standard screenplays in PDF.
Dialogue & description
The following is an example from an unproduced screenplay which may give the reader an idea of how a scene without camera angles can be descriptive, and perhaps even poetic, so as to convey the proper time frame (1910) and/or feeling:A BUNCH OF GARDENIAS
makes a sudden burst of BRIGHT RED. A hand removes each petal--one at a time. The petals fall on the ground.
Following the petals--
A part of a woman's SHOE is seen. It is strangely ornate with a shabby heel.
Giggles erupt, and the extravagantly painted face of a very young prostitute appears.
Her hand is at the arm of a man who is older by at least a couple of decades.
Imagery
Imagery can be used in many metaphoric ways. In The Talented Mr. Ripley, the title character talked of wanting to close the door on himself sometime, and then, in the end, he did. Rain is commonly used to express a character feeling depressed, while sunny days promote a feeling of happiness and calm. Use imagery to your advantage to sway the emotions of your audience and to clue them in to what is happening.
Imagery is well defined in City of God. The opening image sequence sets the tone for the entire film. The film opens with the shimmer of a knife's blade on a sharpening stone. A drink is being prepared, The knife's blade shows again, juxtaposed is a shot of a chicken letting loose of its harness on its feet. All symbolising 'The One that got away'. The film is about life in the favelas in Rio - sprinkled with violence and games and ambition.
Character
It is very important to develop your characters, because that is who the viewers will be relating to. Characters, especially major characters, should be original and interesting. A character's true nature is revealed by his or her actions in overcoming obstacles.
Dialogue
Dialogue is very important to the film industry, because there are no written words to explain your characters or the plot; it all has to be explained through dialogue and imagery. If your script has weak dialogue, there is a good chance it will lose a reader's or viewer's interest. Make your dialogue sharp, snappy, and easy to follow.
Plot
While the story is what will be told (narrative); the plot is how the story will be told (narration). This vocabulary is not indisputable, though. Sometimes in literature story and plot are used exactly the other way round. Develop your plot before you begin work, write a treatment or a short outline for a film and follow it, but feel free to branch out in other directions if you feel that it would make your script more interesting.
Srivenkat Bulemoni.
Screenwriting-2
Theories on writing a screenplay
Fundamentally, the screenplay is a unique literary form. It is like a musical score, in that it is intended to be the basis of other artists' performance, rather than serving as a "finished product" for the enjoyment of its audience. For this reason, a screenplay is written using technical jargon and tight, spare prose when describing stage directions. Unlike a novel or short story, a screenplay focuses on describing the literal, visual aspects of the story, rather than on the internal thoughts of its characters. In screenwriting, the aim is to evoke those thoughts and emotions through subtext, action, and symbolism.There are several main screenwriting theories which help writers approach the screenplay by systematizing the structure, goals and techniques of writing a script. The most common kinds of theories are structural. Screenwriter William Goldman is widely quoted as saying "Screenplays are structure."
Three act structure
The first, most basic theory of screenwriting is Aristotle's Poetics, which explains the Three Act Structure. The Three Acts are Beginning, Middle and End. The first act is generally used to establish the dramatic situation and introduce the main characters. At the end of the first act, an inciting incident complicates the story and moves the screenplay into the second act. The second act, commonly described as "rising action", typically depicts the protagonist attempting to solve the problems caused by the inciting incident. The Climax, which ends the second act, is the scene or sequence in which the main tension and dramatic questions of the story are brought to their most intense point. Finally, the third act features the resolution of the story and its subplots.
The Hero's Journey
The Hero's Journey, also referred to as the Monomyth, is an idea formulated by noted mythologist Joseph Campbell. The central concept of the Monomyth is that a universal pattern can be seen in stories and myths across history and cultures. Campbell defined and explained that pattern in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces(1949).
Campbell's insight was that important myths from around the world which have survived for thousands of years, all share a fundamental structure. This fundamental structure contains a number of stages, which includes
A call to adventure, which the hero has to accept or decline
A road of trials, regarding which the hero succeeds or fails
Achieving the goal or "boon," which often results in important self-knowledge
A return to the ordinary world, again as to which the hero can succeed or fail
Application of the boon, in which what the hero has gained can be used to improve the world
Later, screenwriter Christopher Vogler refined and expanded the Hero's Journey for the screenplay form in his book, The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers (1993).
Syd Field's Paradigm
Screenwriting guru Syd Field wrote the seminal book Screenplay, and posited a new theory, which he called the Paradigm. Field noticed that in a 120-page screenplay, Act Two was notoriously boring, and was also twice the length of Acts One and Three. He also noticed that an important dramatic event usually occurred at the middle of the picture, which implied to him that the middle act was actually two acts in one. So the Three Act Structure is notated 1, 2a, 2b, 3, resulting in Aristotle's Three Acts divided into four pieces.
Field also introduced the idea of Plot Points into screenwriting theory. Plot Points are important structural functions that happen in approximately the same place in most successful movies, like the verses and choruses in a popular song. In subsequent books, Field has added to his original list, and students of his like Viki King and Linda Seger have added to the list of Plot Points. Here is a current list of the major Plot Points that are congruent with Field's Paradigm:
Opening Image: The first image in the screenplay should summarize the entire film, especially its tone. Often, writers go back and redo this as the last thing before submitting the script.
Inciting Incident: Also called the catalyst, this is the point in the story when the Protagonist encounters the problem that will change their life. This is when the detective is assigned the case, where Boy meets Girl, and where the Comic Hero gets fired from his cushy job, forcing him into comic circumstances.
Turning Point 1: The last scene in Act One, Turning Point One is a surprising development that radically changes the Protagonist's life, and forces him to confront the Opponent. In Star Wars, this is when Luke's family is killed by the Empire. He has no home to go back to, so he joins the Rebels in opposing Darth Vader.
Pinch 1: A reminder scene at about 3/8 the way through the script (halfway through Act 2a) that brings up the central conflict of the drama, reminding us of the overall conflict. For example, in Star Wars, Pinch 1 is the Stormtroopers attacking the Millennium Falcon in Mos Eisley, reminding us that the Empire is after the stolen plans to the Death Star that R2-D2 is carrying and that Luke and Ben Kenobi are trying to get to the Rebel Alliance (the main conflict).
Midpoint: An important scene in the middle of the script, often a reversal of fortune or revelation that changes the direction of the story. Field suggests that driving the story towards the Midpoint keeps the second act from sagging.
Pinch 2: Another reminder scene about 5/8 through the script (halfway through Act 2b) that is somehow linked to Pinch 1 in reminding the audience about the central conflict. In Star Wars, Pinch 2 is the Stormtroopers attacking them as they rescue the Princess in the Death Star. Both scenes remind us of the Empire's opposition, and using the Stormtrooper attack motif unifies both Pinches.
Turning Point 2: A dramatic reversal that ends Act 2 and begins Act 3, which is about confrontation and resolution. Sometimes Turning Point Two is the moment when the Hero has had enough and is finally going to face the Opponent. Sometimes, like in Toy Story, it's the low-point for the Hero, and he must bounce back to overcome the odds in Act 3.
Showdown: About midway through Act 3, the Protagonist will confront the Main Problem of the story and either overcome it, or come to a tragic end.
Resolution: The issues of the story are resolved.
Tag: An epilogue, tying up the loose ends of the story, giving the audience closure. This is also known as denouement. In recent decades, films have generally had longer denouements than films made in the 1970s or earlier.
The sequence approach
The sequence approach to screenwriting, sometimes known as "eight-sequence structure", is a system developed by Frank Daniel, while he was the head of the Graduate Screenwriting Program at USC. It is based, in part on the fact that, in the early days of cinema, technical matters forced screenwriters to divide their stories into sequences, each the length of a reel (about ten minutes).
The sequence approach mimics that early style. The story is broken up into eight 10-15 minute sequences. The sequences serve as "mini-movies", each with their own compressed three-act structure. The first two sequences combine to form the film's first act. The next four create the film's second act. The final two sequences complete the resolution and denouement of the story. Each sequence's resolution creates the situation which sets up the next sequence.
Srivenkat Bulemoni
Fundamentally, the screenplay is a unique literary form. It is like a musical score, in that it is intended to be the basis of other artists' performance, rather than serving as a "finished product" for the enjoyment of its audience. For this reason, a screenplay is written using technical jargon and tight, spare prose when describing stage directions. Unlike a novel or short story, a screenplay focuses on describing the literal, visual aspects of the story, rather than on the internal thoughts of its characters. In screenwriting, the aim is to evoke those thoughts and emotions through subtext, action, and symbolism.There are several main screenwriting theories which help writers approach the screenplay by systematizing the structure, goals and techniques of writing a script. The most common kinds of theories are structural. Screenwriter William Goldman is widely quoted as saying "Screenplays are structure."
Three act structure
The first, most basic theory of screenwriting is Aristotle's Poetics, which explains the Three Act Structure. The Three Acts are Beginning, Middle and End. The first act is generally used to establish the dramatic situation and introduce the main characters. At the end of the first act, an inciting incident complicates the story and moves the screenplay into the second act. The second act, commonly described as "rising action", typically depicts the protagonist attempting to solve the problems caused by the inciting incident. The Climax, which ends the second act, is the scene or sequence in which the main tension and dramatic questions of the story are brought to their most intense point. Finally, the third act features the resolution of the story and its subplots.
The Hero's Journey
The Hero's Journey, also referred to as the Monomyth, is an idea formulated by noted mythologist Joseph Campbell. The central concept of the Monomyth is that a universal pattern can be seen in stories and myths across history and cultures. Campbell defined and explained that pattern in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces(1949).
Campbell's insight was that important myths from around the world which have survived for thousands of years, all share a fundamental structure. This fundamental structure contains a number of stages, which includes
A call to adventure, which the hero has to accept or decline
A road of trials, regarding which the hero succeeds or fails
Achieving the goal or "boon," which often results in important self-knowledge
A return to the ordinary world, again as to which the hero can succeed or fail
Application of the boon, in which what the hero has gained can be used to improve the world
Later, screenwriter Christopher Vogler refined and expanded the Hero's Journey for the screenplay form in his book, The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers (1993).
Syd Field's Paradigm
Screenwriting guru Syd Field wrote the seminal book Screenplay, and posited a new theory, which he called the Paradigm. Field noticed that in a 120-page screenplay, Act Two was notoriously boring, and was also twice the length of Acts One and Three. He also noticed that an important dramatic event usually occurred at the middle of the picture, which implied to him that the middle act was actually two acts in one. So the Three Act Structure is notated 1, 2a, 2b, 3, resulting in Aristotle's Three Acts divided into four pieces.
Field also introduced the idea of Plot Points into screenwriting theory. Plot Points are important structural functions that happen in approximately the same place in most successful movies, like the verses and choruses in a popular song. In subsequent books, Field has added to his original list, and students of his like Viki King and Linda Seger have added to the list of Plot Points. Here is a current list of the major Plot Points that are congruent with Field's Paradigm:
Opening Image: The first image in the screenplay should summarize the entire film, especially its tone. Often, writers go back and redo this as the last thing before submitting the script.
Inciting Incident: Also called the catalyst, this is the point in the story when the Protagonist encounters the problem that will change their life. This is when the detective is assigned the case, where Boy meets Girl, and where the Comic Hero gets fired from his cushy job, forcing him into comic circumstances.
Turning Point 1: The last scene in Act One, Turning Point One is a surprising development that radically changes the Protagonist's life, and forces him to confront the Opponent. In Star Wars, this is when Luke's family is killed by the Empire. He has no home to go back to, so he joins the Rebels in opposing Darth Vader.
Pinch 1: A reminder scene at about 3/8 the way through the script (halfway through Act 2a) that brings up the central conflict of the drama, reminding us of the overall conflict. For example, in Star Wars, Pinch 1 is the Stormtroopers attacking the Millennium Falcon in Mos Eisley, reminding us that the Empire is after the stolen plans to the Death Star that R2-D2 is carrying and that Luke and Ben Kenobi are trying to get to the Rebel Alliance (the main conflict).
Midpoint: An important scene in the middle of the script, often a reversal of fortune or revelation that changes the direction of the story. Field suggests that driving the story towards the Midpoint keeps the second act from sagging.
Pinch 2: Another reminder scene about 5/8 through the script (halfway through Act 2b) that is somehow linked to Pinch 1 in reminding the audience about the central conflict. In Star Wars, Pinch 2 is the Stormtroopers attacking them as they rescue the Princess in the Death Star. Both scenes remind us of the Empire's opposition, and using the Stormtrooper attack motif unifies both Pinches.
Turning Point 2: A dramatic reversal that ends Act 2 and begins Act 3, which is about confrontation and resolution. Sometimes Turning Point Two is the moment when the Hero has had enough and is finally going to face the Opponent. Sometimes, like in Toy Story, it's the low-point for the Hero, and he must bounce back to overcome the odds in Act 3.
Showdown: About midway through Act 3, the Protagonist will confront the Main Problem of the story and either overcome it, or come to a tragic end.
Resolution: The issues of the story are resolved.
Tag: An epilogue, tying up the loose ends of the story, giving the audience closure. This is also known as denouement. In recent decades, films have generally had longer denouements than films made in the 1970s or earlier.
The sequence approach
The sequence approach to screenwriting, sometimes known as "eight-sequence structure", is a system developed by Frank Daniel, while he was the head of the Graduate Screenwriting Program at USC. It is based, in part on the fact that, in the early days of cinema, technical matters forced screenwriters to divide their stories into sequences, each the length of a reel (about ten minutes).
The sequence approach mimics that early style. The story is broken up into eight 10-15 minute sequences. The sequences serve as "mini-movies", each with their own compressed three-act structure. The first two sequences combine to form the film's first act. The next four create the film's second act. The final two sequences complete the resolution and denouement of the story. Each sequence's resolution creates the situation which sets up the next sequence.
Srivenkat Bulemoni
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Screenwriting-1
Screenwriting
Screenwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for film, television or videos.
Writing for film is potentially one of the most high-profile and best-paying careers available to a writer, and as such, it is perhaps the most sought after. It is increasingly difficult to make a living as a Bollywood,Hollywood,Tollywood or Kollywood screenwriter, but that does not stop tens of thousands of people from trying every year, as the capricious nature of the film industry makes it possible for a complete unknown to launch a career simply by writing a commercially-appealing screenplay and getting it into the hands of the right people.
Screenwriting in the entertainment industry
The act of screenwriting takes many forms across the entertainment industry. Often, multiple writers work on the same script at different stages of development with different tasks. Over the course of a successful career, a screenwriter might be hired to write in a wide variety of roles.
Some of the most common forms of screenwriting jobs include:
Spec script writing
Spec scripts are feature film or television show scripts written on speculation, without the commission of a studio, production company, or network. The vast majority of scripts written each year are spec scripts, but only a small percentage make it to the screen. A spec script is usually a wholly original work, but can be an adaptation of an existing source.
In television writing, a spec script is a sample teleplay written to demonstrate the writer's knowledge of a show and ability to imitate its style and conventions. It is submitted to the show's producers in hopes of being hired to write future episodes of the show.
Feature assignment writing
Scripts written on assignment are screenplays created under contract with a studio, production company, or individual. Assignment scripts are generally adaptations of an existing idea or property owned by the hiring company, but can also be original works based on a concept created by the writer or producer. Because assignments are created for hire, the writer typically has less creative freedom than on a spec script, and must meet specific criteria dictated by the producer.
Rewriting and script doctoring
Most produced films are rewritten to some extent during the development process. Very frequently, they are not rewritten by the original writer of the script. Many established screenwriters, as well as new writers whose work shows promise but lacks marketability, make their living rewriting scripts.When a script's central premise or characters are good but the script is otherwise unusable, a different writer or team of writers is contracted to do an entirely new draft, often referred to as a "page one rewrite." When only small problems remain, such as bad dialogue or poor humor, a writer is hired to do a "polish" or "punch-up."Depending on the size of the new writer's contributions, screen credit may or may not be given. For instance, in the American film industry, credit to rewriters is given only if 50% or more of the script is substantially changed. These standards can make it difficult to establish the identity and number of screenwriters who contributed to a film's creation.When an established, successful writer is called in to rewrite portions of a script late in the development process, they are commonly referred to as script doctors. Prominent script doctors include William Goldman, Robert Towne, and Quentin Tarantino.
Television writing
A freelance television writer uses spec scripts or their previous credits and reputation to get contracted by an existing tv show to write one or more episodes. After the episode is written, the teleplay is submitted to the network and rewriting or polishing may be required. Subsequent drafts of the script may be done by the freelancer or by the show's staff.A staff writer for a television show generally works in-house writing and rewriting episodes for the show. Staff writers - often given other titles, such as story editor, or producer - work both as a group and individually on episode scripts to maintain the show's tone, style, characters, and plots.
Television show creators, also known as show runners, write the pilot episode and bible of a new television series. They're responsible for creating and managing all aspects of a shows characters, style, and plots. Frequently, a creator remains responsible for the show's day-to-day creative decisions throughout the series run.
Video game writing
With the continued development and increased complexity of video games, many opportunities are available to screenwriters in the field of video game design. Video game writers work closely with the other game designers to create characters, scenarios, and dialogue.
Srivenkat Bulemoni.
Screenwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for film, television or videos.
Writing for film is potentially one of the most high-profile and best-paying careers available to a writer, and as such, it is perhaps the most sought after. It is increasingly difficult to make a living as a Bollywood,Hollywood,Tollywood or Kollywood screenwriter, but that does not stop tens of thousands of people from trying every year, as the capricious nature of the film industry makes it possible for a complete unknown to launch a career simply by writing a commercially-appealing screenplay and getting it into the hands of the right people.
Screenwriting in the entertainment industry
The act of screenwriting takes many forms across the entertainment industry. Often, multiple writers work on the same script at different stages of development with different tasks. Over the course of a successful career, a screenwriter might be hired to write in a wide variety of roles.
Some of the most common forms of screenwriting jobs include:
Spec script writing
Spec scripts are feature film or television show scripts written on speculation, without the commission of a studio, production company, or network. The vast majority of scripts written each year are spec scripts, but only a small percentage make it to the screen. A spec script is usually a wholly original work, but can be an adaptation of an existing source.
In television writing, a spec script is a sample teleplay written to demonstrate the writer's knowledge of a show and ability to imitate its style and conventions. It is submitted to the show's producers in hopes of being hired to write future episodes of the show.
Feature assignment writing
Scripts written on assignment are screenplays created under contract with a studio, production company, or individual. Assignment scripts are generally adaptations of an existing idea or property owned by the hiring company, but can also be original works based on a concept created by the writer or producer. Because assignments are created for hire, the writer typically has less creative freedom than on a spec script, and must meet specific criteria dictated by the producer.
Rewriting and script doctoring
Most produced films are rewritten to some extent during the development process. Very frequently, they are not rewritten by the original writer of the script. Many established screenwriters, as well as new writers whose work shows promise but lacks marketability, make their living rewriting scripts.When a script's central premise or characters are good but the script is otherwise unusable, a different writer or team of writers is contracted to do an entirely new draft, often referred to as a "page one rewrite." When only small problems remain, such as bad dialogue or poor humor, a writer is hired to do a "polish" or "punch-up."Depending on the size of the new writer's contributions, screen credit may or may not be given. For instance, in the American film industry, credit to rewriters is given only if 50% or more of the script is substantially changed. These standards can make it difficult to establish the identity and number of screenwriters who contributed to a film's creation.When an established, successful writer is called in to rewrite portions of a script late in the development process, they are commonly referred to as script doctors. Prominent script doctors include William Goldman, Robert Towne, and Quentin Tarantino.
Television writing
A freelance television writer uses spec scripts or their previous credits and reputation to get contracted by an existing tv show to write one or more episodes. After the episode is written, the teleplay is submitted to the network and rewriting or polishing may be required. Subsequent drafts of the script may be done by the freelancer or by the show's staff.A staff writer for a television show generally works in-house writing and rewriting episodes for the show. Staff writers - often given other titles, such as story editor, or producer - work both as a group and individually on episode scripts to maintain the show's tone, style, characters, and plots.
Television show creators, also known as show runners, write the pilot episode and bible of a new television series. They're responsible for creating and managing all aspects of a shows characters, style, and plots. Frequently, a creator remains responsible for the show's day-to-day creative decisions throughout the series run.
Video game writing
With the continued development and increased complexity of video games, many opportunities are available to screenwriters in the field of video game design. Video game writers work closely with the other game designers to create characters, scenarios, and dialogue.
Srivenkat Bulemoni.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Writing Genres
Fiction
Fiction is the genre of imaginative narrative, including novels and short stories. More generally, fiction is written and oral imaginative literature, including comic books, fables, fairy tales, films, plays, poems and video games. Works of fiction need not be entirely imaginary, and may include real people, places, and events.
Fiction is largely perceived as a form of art or entertainment, although not all fiction is necessarily artistic. Fiction may be created for the purpose of educating, such as fictional examples used in school textbooks. Fiction is also frequently used in propaganda and advertising. Fiction may be propagated by parents to their children out of tradition or in order to instill certain beliefs and values. Fables with an explicit moral goal are not necessarily targeted at children, however.Fiction is a fundamental part of human culture, and the ability to create fiction and other artistic works is frequently cited as one of the defining characteristics of humanity.
Drama
Dramas can be performed in various media: improvisation, live performance, radio, film or television and nowadays web chat. Drama is also often combined with music and dance, such as in opera which is sung throughout, musicals which include spoken dialogue and songs, or plays that have musical accompaniment. Improvisational drama, a form of improvisational theatre, is drama that has no set script, in which the performers take their cues from one another and the situations in which their characters find themselves to create their own dialogue as they perform. Improvisational drama is made up on the spot using whatever space, costumes or properties are available.
Poetry
Poetry is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. Poetry may be written independently, as discrete poems, or may occur in conjunction with other arts, as in poetic drama, hymns or lyrics.Poetry, and discussions of it, have a long history. Early attempts to define poetry, such as Aristotle's Poetics, focused on the uses of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and comedy. Later attempts concentrated on features such as repetition and rhyme, and emphasised the aesthetics which distinguish poetry from prose. From the mid-20th century, poetry has sometimes been more loosely defined as a fundamental creative act using language.Poetry often uses particular forms and conventions to expand the literal meaning of the words, or to evoke emotional or sensual responses. Devices such as assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve musical or incantatory effects. Poetry's use of ambiguity, symbolism, irony and other stylistic elements of poetic diction often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly, metaphor and simile create a resonance between otherwise disparate images—a layering of meanings, forming connections previously not perceived. Kindred forms of resonance may exist, between individual verses, in their patterns of rhyme or rhythm.Some forms of poetry are specific to particular cultures and genres, responding to the characteristics of the language in which the poet writes. While readers accustomed to identifying poetry with Dante, Goethe, Mickiewicz and Rumi may think of it as being written in rhyming lines and regular meter, there are traditions, such as those of Du Fu and Beowulf, that use other approaches to achieve rhythm and euphony. In today's globalized world, poets often borrow styles, techniques and forms from diverse cultures and languages.
Screenwriting
Screenwriting refers to the art and craft of writing screenplays for film or television.Writing for film is potentially one of the most high-profile and best-paying careers available to a writer, and as such, it is perhaps the most sought after. It is increasingly difficult to make a living as a Telugu (Tollywood),Hindi (Bollywood), Tamil (Kollywood), English (Hollywood) or other areas screenwriter, but that does not stop tens of thousands of people from trying every year, as the capricious nature of the film industry makes it possible for a complete unknown to launch a career simply by writing a commercially-appealing screenplay and getting it into the hands of the right people.
Creative nonfiction
Creative nonfiction should not be confused with "literary journalism" and "narrative journalism." Creative Nonfiction is a type of writing which uses literary skills in the writing of nonfiction. A work of creative nonfiction, if well written, contains accurate and well-researched information and also holds the interest of the reader. Creative nonfiction is contrasted with "research nonfiction" which may contain accurate information, but may not be particularly well written and may not hold the attention of the reader very well. Literary journalism is, first and foremost, journalism, i.e., writing done from reporting, which excludes much other nonfiction like the essay. Literary journalism is a style of writing that combines the storytelling elements of fiction with the truth-telling elements of traditional journalism.Narrative nonfiction is a type of creative nonfiction which tells a story, for example, Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden. Black Hawk Down began as a series of newspaper and Internet articles. Its availability as an Internet series gave the author the benefit of extensive feedback from viewers. Bob Woodward of the Washington Post is also noted for his skills at narrative nonfiction, in books like All the President's Men and Bush at War.There has been a recent movement among younger writers in the craft to adopt a more liberal meaning of the term "creative nonfiction". Some writers consider certain forms, most notably poetry, to be an acceptable form of creative nonfiction in certain cases.
Srivenkat Bulemoni.
Fiction is the genre of imaginative narrative, including novels and short stories. More generally, fiction is written and oral imaginative literature, including comic books, fables, fairy tales, films, plays, poems and video games. Works of fiction need not be entirely imaginary, and may include real people, places, and events.
Fiction is largely perceived as a form of art or entertainment, although not all fiction is necessarily artistic. Fiction may be created for the purpose of educating, such as fictional examples used in school textbooks. Fiction is also frequently used in propaganda and advertising. Fiction may be propagated by parents to their children out of tradition or in order to instill certain beliefs and values. Fables with an explicit moral goal are not necessarily targeted at children, however.Fiction is a fundamental part of human culture, and the ability to create fiction and other artistic works is frequently cited as one of the defining characteristics of humanity.
Drama
Dramas can be performed in various media: improvisation, live performance, radio, film or television and nowadays web chat. Drama is also often combined with music and dance, such as in opera which is sung throughout, musicals which include spoken dialogue and songs, or plays that have musical accompaniment. Improvisational drama, a form of improvisational theatre, is drama that has no set script, in which the performers take their cues from one another and the situations in which their characters find themselves to create their own dialogue as they perform. Improvisational drama is made up on the spot using whatever space, costumes or properties are available.
Poetry
Poetry is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. Poetry may be written independently, as discrete poems, or may occur in conjunction with other arts, as in poetic drama, hymns or lyrics.Poetry, and discussions of it, have a long history. Early attempts to define poetry, such as Aristotle's Poetics, focused on the uses of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and comedy. Later attempts concentrated on features such as repetition and rhyme, and emphasised the aesthetics which distinguish poetry from prose. From the mid-20th century, poetry has sometimes been more loosely defined as a fundamental creative act using language.Poetry often uses particular forms and conventions to expand the literal meaning of the words, or to evoke emotional or sensual responses. Devices such as assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve musical or incantatory effects. Poetry's use of ambiguity, symbolism, irony and other stylistic elements of poetic diction often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly, metaphor and simile create a resonance between otherwise disparate images—a layering of meanings, forming connections previously not perceived. Kindred forms of resonance may exist, between individual verses, in their patterns of rhyme or rhythm.Some forms of poetry are specific to particular cultures and genres, responding to the characteristics of the language in which the poet writes. While readers accustomed to identifying poetry with Dante, Goethe, Mickiewicz and Rumi may think of it as being written in rhyming lines and regular meter, there are traditions, such as those of Du Fu and Beowulf, that use other approaches to achieve rhythm and euphony. In today's globalized world, poets often borrow styles, techniques and forms from diverse cultures and languages.
Screenwriting
Screenwriting refers to the art and craft of writing screenplays for film or television.Writing for film is potentially one of the most high-profile and best-paying careers available to a writer, and as such, it is perhaps the most sought after. It is increasingly difficult to make a living as a Telugu (Tollywood),Hindi (Bollywood), Tamil (Kollywood), English (Hollywood) or other areas screenwriter, but that does not stop tens of thousands of people from trying every year, as the capricious nature of the film industry makes it possible for a complete unknown to launch a career simply by writing a commercially-appealing screenplay and getting it into the hands of the right people.
Creative nonfiction
Creative nonfiction should not be confused with "literary journalism" and "narrative journalism." Creative Nonfiction is a type of writing which uses literary skills in the writing of nonfiction. A work of creative nonfiction, if well written, contains accurate and well-researched information and also holds the interest of the reader. Creative nonfiction is contrasted with "research nonfiction" which may contain accurate information, but may not be particularly well written and may not hold the attention of the reader very well. Literary journalism is, first and foremost, journalism, i.e., writing done from reporting, which excludes much other nonfiction like the essay. Literary journalism is a style of writing that combines the storytelling elements of fiction with the truth-telling elements of traditional journalism.Narrative nonfiction is a type of creative nonfiction which tells a story, for example, Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden. Black Hawk Down began as a series of newspaper and Internet articles. Its availability as an Internet series gave the author the benefit of extensive feedback from viewers. Bob Woodward of the Washington Post is also noted for his skills at narrative nonfiction, in books like All the President's Men and Bush at War.There has been a recent movement among younger writers in the craft to adopt a more liberal meaning of the term "creative nonfiction". Some writers consider certain forms, most notably poetry, to be an acceptable form of creative nonfiction in certain cases.
Srivenkat Bulemoni.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Creative film writing
Creative writing is a term used to distinguish certain imaginative or different types of writing from technical writing. The lack of specificity of the term is partly intentional, designed to make the process of writing accessible to everyone (of all ages) and to ensure that non-traditional, or traditionally low-status writing (for example, writing by marginalized social groups, experimental writing, genre fiction) is not excluded from academic consideration or dismissed as trivial or insignificant. This distinction is helpful in separating the writing from more technical writing, proffetional writing or journalistic writing. However, the term 'professional' may be misleading because many novelists are professional writers in that they write for a living. Any novel provides an example of what creative writing is.
Thus, creative writing includes but is not limited to:
FICTION
DRAMA for stage or screen;
POETRY
SCREENWRITING— writing for FILMS;
SELF-EXPORATORY writing (e.g. AUTOBIOGRAPHY);
CREATIVE NON-FICTION
writing that self-consciously mixes these or other GENRES.
Taught courses in creative writing are increasingly popular, ranging from one-day workshops to three- or four-year university degrees. The university program has become a common and popular addition to the English field of study alongside such emphases as English education, technical writing, communication and professional writing. While some people still argue that true talent for writing cannot be taught, many argue that it is possible to teach techniques which help people access or exploit their creativity, from overcoming writer's block and generating random ideas, to understanding how standard genres of writing achieve their effects and structuring their work. The field has also made a way to teach young minds about the processes of editing and publishing such work. In fact, such noted authors as Michael Chabon, Kazuo Ishiguro, Decheonbae Jones, Ian McEwan and Rose Tremain are graduates of university creative writing programs as are popular screenwriters David Benioff and Peter Farrelly.
From the above attempt at definition, it is also clear that "creative writing" implies the possibility of "creative reading." A literary artifact whose author did not consider it creative may be read, ingenuously or disingenuously, as if it were written in a creative context. The reverse process can also be applied – often a kind of criticism analogous to "my five-year-old could have done that" – so creative writing, its definition and the ways that it is (or even the fact that it is) taught continue to be controversial issues in literary circles.
Srivenkat Bulemoni
Thus, creative writing includes but is not limited to:
FICTION
DRAMA for stage or screen;
POETRY
SCREENWRITING— writing for FILMS;
SELF-EXPORATORY writing (e.g. AUTOBIOGRAPHY);
CREATIVE NON-FICTION
writing that self-consciously mixes these or other GENRES.
Taught courses in creative writing are increasingly popular, ranging from one-day workshops to three- or four-year university degrees. The university program has become a common and popular addition to the English field of study alongside such emphases as English education, technical writing, communication and professional writing. While some people still argue that true talent for writing cannot be taught, many argue that it is possible to teach techniques which help people access or exploit their creativity, from overcoming writer's block and generating random ideas, to understanding how standard genres of writing achieve their effects and structuring their work. The field has also made a way to teach young minds about the processes of editing and publishing such work. In fact, such noted authors as Michael Chabon, Kazuo Ishiguro, Decheonbae Jones, Ian McEwan and Rose Tremain are graduates of university creative writing programs as are popular screenwriters David Benioff and Peter Farrelly.
From the above attempt at definition, it is also clear that "creative writing" implies the possibility of "creative reading." A literary artifact whose author did not consider it creative may be read, ingenuously or disingenuously, as if it were written in a creative context. The reverse process can also be applied – often a kind of criticism analogous to "my five-year-old could have done that" – so creative writing, its definition and the ways that it is (or even the fact that it is) taught continue to be controversial issues in literary circles.
Srivenkat Bulemoni
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