Plot Vs. Structure Hello, everyone. I just gave a webinar through the Writers Store about the subject of story structure. Let me pass on some of the things I spoke about. The plot of a story is not the same thing as its structure. Let’s take Lethal Weapon, screenplay by Shane Black – starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. I like to use this example because this action film transcended the typical movie of its genre. It will last because it has something most action movies don’t have – true heart and emotion. The PLOT is that Mel Gibson, a burnt out cop on the edge of suicide, discovers a crime to smuggle in heroin from Southeast Asia by ex CIA types, who did this during the Vietnam War and are still doing it. With the help of his new partner Danny Glover, another cop who’s about to retire, they defeat the bad guys, and Mel Gibson redeems himself in the process. Plots aren’t really unique or memorable but great characters are. What is Lethal Weapon really about? That is truly the STRUCTURE. It’s about Mel Gibson – who wants to kill himself at the beginning of the story because of the death of his wife. When he hooks up with Danny Glover (who’s a family man with a great wife and kids) he begins to bond with another human being and connects with Danny Glover’s family. By the end of the movie he’s turned his life around and finds a reason to live again. So the last image is Mel Gibson going into his new partner’s house to celebrate Christmas. That is the real structure of the movie, it’s not the plot. The plot is only there is service the characters and the character arc. The true structure is why we care about the story and allows it to rise above the typical genre of this kind of film. It becomes memorable. Structure is an organic thing – it’s not a formula or something that can be quantified by: on this page # this happens or on this page # that happens. It’s not always clear at the beginning what your structure really is – because it develops as you’re writing and you begin to realize your movie is really about this one emotional thing. It’s always about the characters and how they grow and why we care and it’s almost always exemplified by a particular relationship – like that of Ron and Rayon in The Dallas Buyers Club. No one could have summed up this precept better than Charles Darwin who wrote: “It’s not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” That’s who our heroes are. They can change in a way only truly great people can. Look beyond the plot to why an audience will care, truly care about your story. Once you’ve got that, you’ve got the structure. It’s about the emotional journey of your character (how Mel Gibson goes from one emotion to an opposite one – from wanting to die to wanting to live). Once you’ve nailed that, milk that emotional element for all its worth. Once you’ve done that, you’ve created a unique structure that will make the difference between mediocrity and true greatness. We’ll talk more about structure in the weeks to come. Until then – KEEP WRITING!
Posted on: Sat, 15 Feb 2014 16:42:39 +0000
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