Screenwriting : Plucking the Threads... by Daniel Doble

Some years ago, I found myself swimming in an Abundance of truly compelling narrative threads, gushing from inside me. With no visibility, no awareness, there was an obligation as a writer to pluck those threads and fit them into little plastic containers called Narrative Elements.

And certainly, no concept that there should be an organized assembly of those little containers or that they would need to be arranged properly inside bigger plastic containers called Narrative Structure.

Do you remember those days? When your creative animal bounced and kicked like a longhorn in a rodeo arena? Spilling golden drivel to friends and family that only made sense to you? I do.

And I got tired of the squinting and half-cocked faces looking back at me. “I don’t get it.” And rightfully so. I hated that. But I hated myself for it, even more. I wasn’t a writer. I was just a kneejerk reaction.

But then I got irritated just enough, shamed into, embarrassed into doing something about it. And I did… I learned. And just like you, I fell into the wonderful relief of knowing… knowing what it was to write a NEGATIVE TRUTH in one of those small containers. What it was to collect two or three of those little containers and place them in a large container called INCITING INCIDENT.

And I was free… at last.

After that the waterfall of creative consciousness still fell on me, but now I had a place to put it, a place to organize and construct, and eventually complete.

And suddenly, the faces changed. The squint softened, the cock was eased and heads straightened. And something grew, smiles, a look for interest, even a tear.

I know you recognize me. I know you know how this feels. Because…

I am you… a writer.