If you’re an aspiring writer and have a great story that’s waiting to be told, you need to also consider learning the best script writing techniques. So you can properly structure your story and ensure your audience is engaged at all times.
If you’re interested, pay attention because in this blog, we’ll cover the best script writing techniques that any writer can employ in their scripts. You better stay until the end because we’ll reveal the best online writing tool that will help you be much more effective with your work.
Foundations: Structure and “Show Don’t Tell”
You always need to ensure your script is not only entertaining, but it has a solid foundation. To achieve this you need to understand the three-act structure, which is a narrative framework that is used in different genres, and it’s crucial to incorporate it.
The first act establishes your characters and their backstory, the setting, and central conflict, in the second act is where your characters face different challenges, raising the stakes and pushing them towards a hard decision that will change the story, and finally the third act unleashes the consequences, and resolves the main conflict leaving a lasting impression in the audience.
When you’re using this structure, you need to remember the golden rule: “Show Don’t Tell”. For example don’t try to explain emotions or the thoughts of your characters, instead let their actions show what’s going through their head.
Developing Compelling Characters: The Heart of Your Story
Characters are the heart of any story, and it’s what actually makes your audience feel related, let’s see how to make them unforgettable:
- Create Your Characters: Compelling and relatable characters is what makes a story memorable, deeply elaborate your main characters, focus on their desires, fears, strengths, and weaknesses. Before fully developing your characters, ask yourself some questions that will help you develop better: What motivates them? How will they change throughout the story? Focus on creating a strong backstory for each character, and also consider how their different personalities will clash or complement each other.
- Deep Through Dialogue:You need to make your characters unique and unforgettable, so use powerful dialogues, and give them a well-structured backstory, relatable motivations, and let their dialogues show their real personality and ideas.
Plot And Pacing: Keep Readers Engaged
It’s important to consider the screenplay’s structure before you begin writing it. Screenplays often adhere to a three-act framework in order to craft a compelling and well-developed narrative.
First Act: The first act is the setup, in which you introduce your characters, create the scene, and outline the primary conflict.
Second Act: The clash starts here, and this is where the main character has to overcome significant difficulties.
Thir Act: All connections are severed and a satisfying resolution to the story is reached when the protagonist faces the primary issue.
Mastering The Format: The Language of Scripts
Don’t try to make it perfect because eventually you will make many adjustments. The goal of your first draft should be to get your story down on paper, you don’t need to worry about making it perfect or polish the story because this is your chance to explore your ideas freely and let your creativity dictate the story.
- Formatting: Always use industry-standards formatting software or templates to ensure your format is correct, this also ensures your script is professional and easy to understand.
- Scene Headings: Each scene needs to start with a scene heading that shows the place and the time of the day.
- Action Lines: Always describe what the audience sees by using concise and descriptive language that will help you focus on actions, movements, and the most relevant details of the scene.
Sharpen your skills
Remember that at the end of the day your script-writing skills are what will make a great story, and make you stand out from the rest. And the key to developing any skill is constant practice, so you need to practice every day to become 1% better everyday, because that will make a huge improvement in your skills with time.
It’s also important to read the best scripts of all time, and the best work of your favorite script writers, to learn how professionals structure their stories, characters, conflicts, and resolutions.
The Best Script Writing Tool
The use of different tools is the key to ensure a well structure, so you can focus on creativity and leave the technical work to these tools.
And the best online tool out there is Script-Timer, because in a couple minutes you can correct all grammar mistakes, improve your scripts with the AI powered Script Coach, track your progress with the integrated word counter, and many more things. You just need to sign up to unlock all these cool tools for writers, it’s free!
