In praise of William C. Martell
I was trying to figure out how to turn the random scraps on unfinished stories I had half-written over the years into something. Why didn't any of these fragments grow and become a story I really wanted to write? There were some good ideas, but most just descended into rambling and fizzled to a halt.
One day I randomly picked up this book on screenwriting while riding home on the MUNI in San Francisco. Suddenly a lot of things began to click. Here are some of the things I learned from Martell's book:
It’s really the villain's story. Make sure the villain's story makes sense. Make sure his plan could work.
The villain's plan should threaten people like us, people we care about or people the hero cares about
Don't have more than one villain. You can have a ladder of henchmen to get to your main villain though.
The hero's day job, conflict are dependent on the villain's plan.
Have a whammo every 10 minutes, a cliff hanger every 15
Have more than one thing happening in an action scene.
Have a Big Clock that drives the pace of the story
Use scene clocks too
How action sequences are basically good news/bad news
Advice on how to add suspense to the story
Shortly after reading it I began writing my new book Day of the Devourer. Finally I had a great story, knew what to do with it, and how to finish it. If you're a writer, this book comes highly recommended. I'd also recommend all of the books in his Blue Book series.
