Jeffrey Hirschberg believes there are 11 Laws of Great Storytelling – trends that exist in many of the most memorable stories of all time.
“While it is impossible to have a foolproof formula, I have learned certain principles dramatically increase the probability of your story achieving a modicum of greatness.”
Far be it from me to argue – all 11 of his laws are right on target. And, if you’re in this business or thinking about making films, one of the identities you’ll want to cultivate is that of a story-teller.
The 11 Laws of Great Storytelling | The Story Department.
One of the areas he discusses is writing dialog that’s too “on the nose”.
This means that the dialog is exactly what everyone would write in this scene. There’s nothing left to imagine, nothing hidden, just clear and direct dialog.
And all of that ends up being boring. So boring no one will care.
Someone once said that to take your script and divide into three parts. Then throw away the first 3rd.
Bring your audience into the middle of the story and you’ll have them trying to figure out what’s going on. Do this just enough and people get hooked on the story and will watch it to the end.
I know you may not be writing a feature length script but the concepts he talks about here work for a 3 minute video on youtube.com just as well.
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