Murder My Sweet & Using IMdB for Dialogue

Murder My Sweet, is the film adaptation of Raymand Chandler's hardboiled detective novel Farewell My Lovely. It's one of the most effective adaptations of the writer's work with it's slick first person narrative, Dick Powell nailing the dry wit of Philip Marlowe, and director Edward Dymytryk presenting a dark, cynical vision of 1940s society.

Chandler's dialogue is second-to-none, and Dymytryk kept it all intact for the film - Marlowe's sarcasm and deadpan delivery are one of the great hallmarks of the noir genre - and something I and many crime fiction writer's aspire to emulate. So when researching Murder My Sweet on IMdB the quotes section proved a fantastic little resource. Nothing like reading the novel or watching the film to really get a feel for the rhythm and beats of the dialogue, but if you haven't got time for that commitment, but need some inspiration dialogue-wise, check out IMdB's quotes section of your favourite movies. If the dialogue's anywhere near as quotable as some of the classic film noir's, there's gonna be a shit-ton of great lines to inspire you.

Dan Harmon's Story Circle

My current obsession with Community has inevitably led me to discover the creator Dan Harmon. His story circle maps out the basic structure to satisfying stories, especially those that grace our screens. Sure it's a very simplified approach but it's also a massive help, a loose guide to the beats your main character is going to hit, the change they will experience, and where they'll end up.

Using Dan Harmon's story circle I thought I'd analyse an episode of Community to see how it fits with the creator's outline, coz I'm super-cool like that and totally didn't cry myself to sleep last night. Beginner Pottery is the 19th episode of the first season and sees Jeff enter the ultimate blow-off class - this is a very literal manifestation of the 'unfamiliar situation', however character-wise, the real unfamiliar situation comes from within the pottery class, when Jeff is upstaged by Rich. The episode deals with Jeff's obsession with being the best at everything, and his realisation that there are some things he's just mediocre at, and that's okay.

A character is in a zone of comfort: Jeff is in the study group room discussing the ultimate blow-off class - Beginner Pottery. He's content in his familiar role as cool guy leader of the group.

But they want something: Jeff wants an easy credit.

They enter an unfamiliar situation: So he attends the Beginners Pottery class for the first time. Although this is unfamiliar territory externally, the real unfamiliar territory is internal and comes when Jeff is upstaged by Rich, who is naturally gifted at pottery and creates an impressive vase.

Adapt to it: A very jealous Jeff stays behind to try and create a piece of pottery to rival Rich's, but his efforts are in vain. The next day, Rich notices Jeff's injured his finger and informs Jeff he's a doctor but Jeff doesn't believe him, instead he thinks Rich is a con-man, a pro at pottery who signs up to novice classes to bag girls.

Get what they wanted: When Jeff notices Rich's car plates are from Santa Fe, New Mexico, he stays up all night researching the area and concludes that anyone born in the region would naturally learn pottery. Jeff thinks he's got the information he needs to expose Rich as a charlatan.

Pay a heavy price for it: When Jeff confronts Rich in pottery class, he tries to copy Rich's technique but violates the professor's 'No Ghosting' rule and is chucked out of the class.

Then return to their familiar situation: Jeff finds Pierce and opens up to him about the difficulty of failure and realising you're not good at something. Failing to produce a good pot in the class made Jeff question himself.

Having changed: Jeff returns to pottery class, apologises to Rich for his crazy behaviour and finally accepts he can't be the best at everything and makes peace with being terrible at pottery.  

Character Bios

So I've just fallen in love with Community. I mean I'm proper head over heels, walking along the beach at sun-set, already imaging our future together in love with Community. The meta-humour relating to TV tropes and movie cliches is right up my sub-plot, as are the relentless pop-culture references, and, it's just a great sit-com, with a bunch of characters you can't wait to hang out with.

The Wikipedia page on the cast and characters is a perfect example of how to write short character bios. Obviously the more you know about your characters the better, but the few lines featured on Community's Wikipedia page sums up each character's major personality traits, their flaws and their subsequent room for growth.

Annie's bio jumped out at me, it reads -

"the youngest member of the group, a compulsive over-achiever, relentlessly organised and comparatively innocent. Annie was extremely unpopular in high school and formerly addicted to Addarall, which has caused her to be very insecure and desperate to prove herself in a variety of extra-curricular groups despite already being considered naturally intelligent and attractive by others. She is normally kind and docile, but can quickly turn obsessed or throw a tantrum when she fails to achieve or is denied something she strongly cares about, even if it's about something as simple as a pen."

This last line reminded me of Kurt Vonnegut's 8 rules to writing, the third states - "Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water." Characters with wants, aims and desires are essential because this is the centre of conflict - your character wants something, but something or someone gets in their way of obtaining it - voila! - conflict. Your characters' specific traits will set up the point of conflict for single scenes, whole episodes and a full season's narrative arch. For example Jeff wanting a date with Britta; this isn't only the over-arching point of conflict for series 1 but also the set-up for the show itself - Jeff creates the study group where our loveable bunch of misfits come together and become close friends, so he can be closer to Britta.

Using Wikipedia's Cast and Characters section is a great basis for writing your own character bios, try reading the entries for your favourite shows, see how they sum up David Brent, Tim Bisley and Phil Dunphey's strengths and weaknesses, then get off the bloody Internet and start writing!

Joss Whedon - Bafta Guru

The Bafta Guru site is a bountiful resource on filmmaking, they've got screenwriting lectures, interviews, and opportunities. This interview with Joss Whedon for their 'Life in Pictures' strand isn't just a great overview of the writer/director, it's also amazing what you can learn from just listening to him. Plus it's really fucking funny. Like really really funny. I've probably posted it before but after revisiting it last week, it bears repeat listening. This is the guy who created Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Serenity. He brought the Avengers together in a bickering harmony. I could listen to him all day.