Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Salmon Swimming Upstream

Okay, it happened again. I just read a screenplay by a fellow aspiring writer and guess what? No conflict! Oh sure, the protagonist has a daunting journey, but everyone in the story is on the very same journey. There is nothing that makes the protagonist stand out. If everyone has the identical conflict, it's not a conflict at all. If every fish is swimming upstream to spawn, you have to point out the one I am supposed to care about by making him or his situation unique. Otherwise, there isn't a story.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

if everyone is walking the same way, all the writer had to do was make one of them walk in the opposite direction, blocking the path of one of the walkers..instant conflict

Anonymous said...

I guess life would be very boring if we were all walking in the same direction.

Thanks for the illuminating thought, both of ya.