[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: Why is it important for writers to understand that the idea of the story is not the whole story well?
Alan Watt, Author/Screenwriter and [Founder of L.A. Writers’ Lab]: I do always say that to my writers that your idea of your story is never the whole story. It’s not that the idea is incorrect, it’s that the idea is incomplete. Being a writer, being a storyteller, being an artist is humbling because you’re not the author, you’re the channel. When I’m working with writers I’m really speaking to their higher self. I believe that your subconscious is the seed of your genius and genius is not a noun, it’s a verb, it’s something we all have access to.
You have to let go of your idea of your story, you have to let go of your ego because as Einstein says You can’t solve a problem at the same level of consciousness that created the problem. Every story begins with an apparent dramatic problem but you can’t solve it at the same level of consciousness that created it. You’ve got to let go of this idea of what the story is in order for the truth of the story to emerge.
If I was to reduce or distill story structure to three words I’d say it’s desire, the protagonist has to want something that stakes are life and death. If I don’t get blank my life will be unimaginable. If Jan Brady doesn’t get a date with Tad Hamilton she will positively die.
Then surrender, your protagonist has to let go of the meaning they made out of their goal and then finally…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
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