Episode
DZ-106: How do you know if you have enough story?
- Published
- Dec 31, 2023
- Duration seconds
- 5773
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://draft-zero.com/2023/dz-106/
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Summary
Listen you're not sure whether your idea has enough fuel for 90 pages. In this episode, Chas, Stu and Mel attempt to answer a listener question: “In your own pre-writing process, how do you know you have enough for a feature? And do you have a specific pre-writing method you're going to?” Thus we launch into a discussion on our writing processes and the varying usefulness of tools such as log lines, turning points, beat sheets, synopsis, treatments, and scene breakdowns. We also tackle the challenges encountered while developing an idea to first draft, such as balancing the pace of the story, developing distinct character voices, character choices, plot changes, pacing, and thematic clarity. Is this backmatter? Or is it development tools? You decide! Hahaha. Thanks so much to Chris Walker for his excellent editing on this episode! As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes. LIKE THIS EPISODE? Watch and comment on YouTube . Send us feedback. Thanks to our Patrons, especially Lily, Alexandre, Malay, Casimir, Jennifer, Thomas, Randy, Jesse, Sandra, Theis and Khrob. → Read the transcript for this episode. ——— "for me, that's actually in a lot of ways easier to write. You don't need to conclude anything. And you can hopefully if you sell it, then you get a room of people and then it's all of your problems, you know, as opposed to just your problem and you're banging your head up against the wall on page 80 going, Oh my God, what have have I done?" — Mel Killingsworth @ 00:05:41 ——— CHAPTERS 00:00:00 – Cold Open 00:00:16 – The Listener Question: Do You Have Enough for a Feature? 00:00:30 – › Why features demand a known ending before you start 00:02:38 – Our Development Processes 00:05:20 – › Deciding format before askin…