I discovered this book by listening to Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg on the Tim Ferris Show. They said they heard it was Woody Allen's favorite book, and that about sixty percent of it was outdated, but that other forty percent was gold. Overall I agree, I double-weighted the gold because I do think it gives important insights into how to tell a story.
My Notes
I. Premise
Every sensible invention must have a purpose, every planned sprint a destination.
- AKA: theme, thesis, root idea, central idea, goal, aim, driving force, subject, purpose, plan, plot, basic emotion.
- Character (e.g. Frugality)
- Conflict (e.g. leads to)
- End (e.g. waste)
Examples:
- Bitterness leads to false gaiety.
- Foolish generosity leads to poverty.
- Honesty defeats duplicity.
- Heedlessness destroys friendship.
- Ill-temper leads to isolation.
- Materialism conquers mysticism. [I happen to prefer them reversed.]
- Bragging leads to humiliation.
- Confusion leads to frustration.
- Craftiness digs its own grave.
- Egotism leads to loss of friends.
- Extravagance leads to destitution.
- Fickleness leads to loss of self-esteem.
*This [play] is missing the author's conviction. He must choose a side, and then spend the work convincing the audience of his conviction.
*The premise is the motivating power behind everything we do.
*You do not need to start with a premise. You can begin with a character or incident. You have time to find your premise through your mass material later. The important thing is that you find it.
*The premise should be a conviction of your own.
*Neither the premise nor any part of the story has a life of its own. All must blend in harmonious whole.
II. Character
A. The Bone Structure
- 3 human dimensions: physiology, sociology, and psychology.
- Sex
- Age
- Height and Weight
- Color of hair, eyes, skin
- Posture
- Appearance: good-looking, over- or underweight, clean, neat, pleasant, untidy. Shape of head, face, limbs
- Defects: deformities, abnormalities, birthmarks. Diseases.
- Heredity
Sociology
- Class: lower, middle, upper
- Occupation: type of work, hours of work, income, condition of work, union or nonunion, attitude toward organization, suitability for work.
- Education: amount, kind of schools, marks, favorite subjects, poorest subjects, aptitudes.
- Home life: parents living, earning power, orphan, parents separated or divorced, parents' habits, parents' mental development, parents' vices, neglect. Character's marital status.
- Religion
- Race, nationality
- Place in community: leader among friends, clubs, sports.
- Political affiliations.
- Amusements, hobbies: books, newspapers, magazines he reads.
Psychology
- Sex life, moral standards
- Personal premise, ambition
- Frustrations, chief disappointments
- Temperament: choleric [there's a $10 word], easygoing, pessimistic, optimistic
- Attitude toward life: resigned, militant, defeatist
- Complexes: obsessions, inhibitions, superstitions, phobias
- Extrovert, introvert, ambivert
- Abilities: languages, talents
- Qualities: imagination, judgement, taste, poise.
- I.Q.
B. Environment
*Every human being is in a state of constant fluctuation and change.
C. The Dialectical Approach
*Socrates: states a proposition (thesis), finds a contradiction to it (antithesis), and, correcting it in the light of his contradiction, finds a new contradiction. Now, resolution of this contradiction necessitates correction of the original proposition, and formulation of a third proposition, the synthesis, being the combination of the original proposition and the contradiction to it.
- These three steps--thesis, antithesis, synthesis--are the law of all movement. Everything that moves constantly negates itself.
- Permit characters to work out their own destinies!
D. Character Growth
*A charcter stands revealed through conflict; conflict begins with a decision; a decision is made because of the premise of your play. The character's decision necessarily sets in motion another decision, from his adversary. And its these decisions, one resulting from the other, which propel the [story] to its ultimate destination: the proving of the premise.
*Every character the dramatist presents must have within it the seeds of its future development.
E. Strength of Will in Character
*A weak character cannot carry the burden of protracted conflict in a play.
*All characters in great dramas force the issue until they are beaten or reach their goal.
*Contradiction is the essence of conflict, and when a character can overcome his internal contradictions to win his goal, he is strong.
*There is really no weak character. The question should be: Did you catch your character at that particular moment that he is ready for conflict?
F. Plot or Character--Which?
*Every great literary work grew from character, even if the author planned the action first. As soon as his characters were created they took precedence, and the action had to be reshaped to suit them.
G. Characters Plotting Their Own Play
*You have a premise on the one side and a perfect character study on the other. You must stay on the straight road marked by these limits and not wander off on a byway.
H. Pivotal Character
*Protagonist: one who takes the lead in any movement or cause.
- Without a pivotal character (PC) there is no play. The PC is the one who creates conflict and makes the play move forward. The PC knows what he wants. Without him there is no story.
- He must want something so badly that he will destroy or be destroyed in the effort to attain his goal.
- A man whose fear is greater than his desire, or a man who has no great, all-consuming passion, or one who has patience and does not oppose, cannot be a pivotal character.
-Two types of patience; positive and negative. The patience of a martyr, despite torture, is a powerful force we can use in any type of writing.
*There is a positive kind of patience which is relentless, death defying. Then there is negative patience which has no resilience, no inner strength to endure hardship.
*A PC is necessarily aggressive, uncompromising, even ruthless.
- Forced by circumstances inside and out to become what he is.
- The growth of the PC cannot be as extensive as the other characters.
- The PC can match the emotional intensity of his adversaries, but he has a smaller compass of development.
- A PC is forced to be a PC out of sheer necessity, and not because he wills it.
I. The Antagonist
*The one who holds back the ruthlessly onrushing protagonist.
*The one against whom the ruthless character exerts all his strength, all his cunning, all the resources of his inventive power.
*If antagonist cannot put up a protracted fight, you might as well look for another character who will.
*As strong and, in time, as ruthless as PC. Must be dangerous foes. Both ruthless
***A novel, play, or any type of writing, really is a crisis from beginning to end growing to its necessary conclusion.
J. Orchestration
*If all characters are the same type--for instance, if all of them are bullies--it will be like an orchestra of nothing but drums.
*Orchestration demands well-defined and uncompromising characters in opposition, moving from one pole toward another through conflict.
*Contrast must be inherent in character. Conflict is sustained through growth.
K. Unity of Opposites
*The real unity of opposites is one in which compromise is impossible.
***If we are given the opportunity of seeing how a murder is forced by necessity, environment, and inner and outer contradictions to commit a crime, we are witnessing the unity of opposites in action.
- Proper motivation establishes unity between the opposites.
III. Conflict
A. Origin of Action
*Action cannot come of itself. Action is not more important than the contributing factors which gave rise to it.
B. Cause and Effect
*The intensity of the conflict will be determined by the strength of will of the three-dimensional individual who is the protagonist.
C. Static
*You cannot expect a rising conflict from a man who wants nothing or does not know what he wants.
*No dialogue, even the cleverest, can move a play if it does not further the conflict. Only conflict can generate more conflict, and the first conflict comes from a conscious will striving to achieve a goal which was determined by the premise of the play.
*A play can have only one major premise, but each character has his own premise which clashes with the others.
D. Jumping
*If you know your character has to travel from one pole to another, you are in an advantageous position to see that he or she grows at a steady rate.
*Real characters must be given a chance to reveal themselves, and we must be given a chance to observe the significant changes which take place in them.
E. Rising
*Two determined, uncompromising forces in combat will create a virile rising conflict.
F. Movement
-The small movement becomes important only in relation to the big movement.
G. Foreshadowing Conflict
*Uncompromising characters create expectancy.
H. Point of Attack
*Necessity. There must be something at stake--something pressingly important. If you have one or more characters of this type, your point of attack cannot be anything but good.
***A story might start exactly at the point where a conflict will lead up to a crisis. A play might start at a point where at least one character has reached a turning point in his life. A story might start with a decision which will precipitate conflict.
***A good point of attack is where something vital is at stake at the very beginning of a play.
*The curtain rises when at least one character has reached a turning point in his life.
I. Transition
*We are never, for any two successive moments, the same.
J. Crisis, Climax, Resolution
***A single scene contains the exposition of premise for that particular scene, exposition of character, conflict, transition, crisis, climax, and conclusion. This procedure should be repeated as many times as there are scenes in your story, in an ascending scale.
*There is no beginning and no end. Everything in nature goes on and on. And so, in a story, the opening in not the beginning of a conflict, but the culmination of one. A decision was made, and the character experienced an inner climax. He acts upon his decision, starting a conflict which rises, changing as it goes, becoming a crisis and a climax.
IV. General
A. Obligatory Scene
*Not one but many obligatory scenes created the final clash, the main crisis--the proving of the premise.
B. Exposition
*Conflict is really exposition
C. Dialogue
*Dialogue must reveal character. Every speech should be the product of the speaker's three dimensions, telling us what he is, hinting at what he will be.
*You need not make a speech to give a protest.
*Generally, insecurity and the desire to be important are the fundamental reasons for all exaggerated traits. [Preach.]
*It is worthwhile to write about people only when they have arrived at a turning point in their lives. Their example will become a warning or an inspiration for us.
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