Hello all,
Does anyone know what a "story question" is in terms of storytelling? It's mentioned in a writing contest I'm entering, but they don't explain what they mean.
Here's the paragraph that has me pulling my hair out:-
Develop a clear master question and three smaller dramatic questions for your world.
I've Googled "master question" and every related phrase I could think of, but I'm no clearer on just what the hell they're getting at.
Any help appreciated!!!!
Interesting. I've never heard of it before. Maybe it means what's the point of the story i.e if a character has to murder someone for the greater good the "master question" would be one of morality? That is a complete guess and look forward to the answers from someone who actually knows
I have no idea. What an annoying and unclear set of instructions.
Might mean plots - a main plot strand and some smaller side ones. God knows.
Maybe just email them and tell them to express themselves properly. I imagine they want some clarity from the people entering the contest, might be an idea if they showed a bit themselves!
Maybe the master question could be something like "What if?"
e.g. "What if the world was run by penguins?"
Then the smaller dramatic questions could be:
"Do humans still exist in this world?"
"If so, are they slaves to the penguins?"
"Are humans planning to overthrow them?"
It does seem rather strange. Kind of reminds me of the dwerks who plan their scripts with beatsheets.
What's the competition?
Never heard of these terms.
And don't knock the Beat Sheet Mikey!
Personally I wouldn't dream of starting a screenplay without one by my side!
Just found this....
http://www.fiction-writers-mentor.com/dramatic-question.html
I saw that comp, it's one of the most baffling ever, I withdrew my piece...
Quote: Mikey Jackson @ October 31 2011, 7:32 PM BSTKind of reminds me of the dwerks who plan their scripts with beatsheets.
What's a beatsheet?
A document that lists every beat in a screenplay; a way of mapping out the plot before writing it.
Mr Ashdown talks about them here: https://www.comedy.co.uk/forums/thread/20324/2#P736993
Quote: Marc P @ October 31 2011, 9:57 PM BSTWhat's a beatsheet?
The new series of TV Burp?
Ok, well pretty much every script I have written I have done a scene by scene breakdown and within those scenes written the important beats.
Quote: Marc P @ November 1 2011, 9:03 AM BSTOk, well pretty much every script I have written I have done a scene by scene breakdown and within those scenes written the important beats.
Dwerk.
And, to be fair, Mikey, your original link was to a site dedicated to wannabe writers who create beatsheets from existing films - a fairly pointless exercise much akin to tracing a famous painting.
I've never called it a beatsheet before but I find mapping out a plot scene by scene before I launch into writing in script form invaluable. Heading off into the wild with no destination in mind is all well and good for a cross-country road trip but it doesn't serve my story writing at all. If that makes me a "dwerk" so be it. I would however suggest that anyone professing to know the "right" way to write a screenplay is something of a dwunt.
Oh, I write a few notes, granted. The basic plot, characters, sub-plots, the odd bits of dialogue. But it isn't set in stone.
Therefore, yes, I'm a bit of a dwunt.
By dwerk, I was more referring to people who try to ram the beat sheet down your throat, claiming it's the only way, all because they've learnt it from some old course/book/speaker etc.
You get a lot of them on Twitter.
Yes, sure, everybody writes differently, but if everything's all mapped out scene by scene, and cannot be deviated from, where's the space for artistic licence? i.e. getting to a scene a thinking, "Actually, it would be better if I did it this way."
Quote: Lazzard @ November 1 2011, 10:25 AM BSTAnd, to be fair, Mikey, your original link was to a site dedicated to wannabe writers who create beatsheets from existing films - a fairly pointless exercise much akin to tracing a famous painting.
Yes, I noticed that afterwards, (I only linked to it as it explained roughly what a beat sheet was) so I changed it to a link to a convo about a beatsheet guy.
Of course things can be deviated from, an outline is an outline a scene by scene evolves from that and script evolves from the SxS - and then it gets rewritten - and rewritten. )