If You Can't Answer These 6 Questions You Don't Have A Story - Glenn Gers

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#writing #screenwriting #screenplay

[filmcourage]

(More on this topic over on Glenn's YouTube channel)

[sperkzebrahymadams]

The 6 essential questions

1. Who is it about?
2. What did they want?
3. Why can't they get it?
4. What did they do about it?
5. Why doesn't that work?
6. How does it end?

[pav-el]

Me, who has never written or thought of writing and just clicked on a recommended video: "Interesting"

[AnnaSeale]

Every character thinks they are the main character ... this was definitely a lightbulb moment for me! Thanks for sharing your tips and knowledge :)

[karak]

His excitement for writing is radiating off him, it’s really inspiring because although writing is difficult it’s the most rewarding experience

[pantherman]

David Cornwall, aka John le Carré simply stated:
"'A Cat sat on a Mat' is not a story. 'A Cat sat on the Dogs Mat' is a story."

[DriveupLife]

I tried writing a novel on a computer for years. Last year I bought a typewriter, and the 80k word manuscript came out in 4 months. Cannot stress enough that your process is your process. Write on a jungle gym, upside down, on a yellow legal notepad with a crayon. Just get it out.

[hairohukosu]

This cured my writer's block, wow. I applied it to every character in my story, making all of them protagonists of their own journeys, and I found it to be much easier for me to develop both character, plot AND theme all at once, rather than the atomized way I used to do. Thank you so much for the advice and the video.

[ajmittendorf]

1. Who is it about? 2. What does he/she want? 3. Why can't he/she get it? 4. What does he/she do about that? 5. Why doesn't that work? 6. How does it end?

[TheMagnificentMongoSlade]

I often follow the four David Mamet questions from the memo:
1) What does your hero want? (GOALS)
2) Who/What Stands in their Way? (OBSTACLES)
3) What happens if they don't get it? (STAKES)
4) Why Now? (TIME/SITUATION)

You gotta think before you write

[polynomy]

"Would the reader be excited to read the next chapter?" Is my best writing question.

[Cinnjerm]

"The writing process is answering a series of questions?" It's wild to me how such a simple concept can totally dispel the mystery of writing creatively. I've struggled for years trying to find a way to pull ideas out of my head into something coherent, but I never could seem to develop a way of approaching the process that worked for me. Thanks for this video, it's already helped me a ton.

[johnkistler]

The "every character is their own main character" idea is very insightful! I've always had trouble making side characters interesting in my writing and now I know it's because I wrote them as tools and not people with their own intentions and conflicts.

[YouGuessIGuess]

I wrote half of a novel while sitting in my car during breaks at work. It was surprisingly efficient--no one to distract me, music if I chose, and a limited amount of time to get as much written as possible before I had to clock back in.

[BooneDavey]

The part after 1:12 just gave me a major perspective shift on approaching writing characters inside a world.
_"Every character thinks THEY'RE the main character."_

What a way to put it.

[NullAndVoidEmpire]

"Writing is a series of questions." I like that process. Asking questions about your character's goal, origins, mentality, action, non-action, social-climate, and so on. A great way to establish strong character writing for every moment & scene. 🤩

[r.michaelburns]

His point about everyone finding their own process is SPOT ON. The thing I liked least about my creative writing courses in college (it was my major, so I had many) was that every instructor seemed to assert that THEIR process was THE process, and everything else was bound to fail. (Even Stephen King falls into this trap when he insists that writers should never outline a story. I love King's work, but even some of his novels would have benefitted from a bit more preplanning.) Learning your OWN process is the only way to go.

[Rekaert]

I always loved the simple play-writing advice of:

Act 1: Get a character up a tree.
Act 2: Throw rocks at them.
Act 3: Get them down gracefully.

[TheSwartz]

I think Hollywood only asks one question now: "how do I piss off as many fans as possible?"

[KingMB_XJ_Official]

It's comforting to hear that this literally describes the plot structure I intend to write for my animated series.