Tagged: Jackie Blain

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The Character Tag – Do We Know Who’s Who? By Jackie Blain

One of my screenwriting students came in one night with the first draft of his ensemble comedy. Now, those things – ensemble pieces – are notoriously hard to write whether you’re writing a script or a novel because there are so many characters you have to service.

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Create Dialogue… From the Outside In by Jackie Blain

Who doesn’t have trouble with dialogue, at least some of the time? It seems like some writers are just born with an ear while the rest of us work hard to develop ours. It used to be that we could go to coffee shops and listen to/make notes about the conversations going on around us, but coffee shops have become the new study hall, and conversations happen via text.

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Why In The World a Screenwriter Worries About Description by Jackie Blain

You’re probably wondering why in the world a screenwriter would worry about description. After all, don’t we just write dialogue and action? Well, no. Not entirely. We have to think in visuals, just like any creative writer does. But we have to pare down those visuals into a few words, to create tone and setting in a way that’s almost like poetry. And that means we really have to feel that setting. Get into our characters’ and story’s heads, if you will, so we can convey see their world through their emotions.

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Description is About Feelings by Jackie Blain

One of the delights of reading fiction is getting lost in the world of the story. Becoming so immersed in that place and time that we get confused when we look up from the page, and have to ask, “Where am I?”

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Don’t show. Don’t tell. Inhabit! by Jackie Blain

Today we welcome a new columnist, Jackie Blain who is stopping by to chat with us today about “don’t show, don’t tell, inhabit!”  from a screenwriter’s perspective. Enjoy! *** Here’s a simple description based on a short...

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