If you want to improve as a writer, try writing a screenplay

Frankly my dear, I don't give a dam... about what kind of writer you are. If you have a story to tell, learning about screenplay writing (or playwrighting if you're a theatre nerd like me) can help you improve exponentially as a writer. So, how to harness the power of script writing?

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1. Dialogue is a powerful writing tool. It can not only reveal your character, help move your character arc forward, and also advance plot.

One of my favorite professor's told us that the amazing thing about Shakespeare was that even if you could remove all the character names from one of his plays, you could still be able to tell which character was speaking.

Some common dialogue mistakes include writing (too much) 'filler' dialogue. This kind of dialogue is all the dialogue that doesn't move the story forward either externally (plot) or internally (character arc). For example:

Sam: Hey! How was your first day?

Mary: Good. First days are always hard, but at least a friend of mine's having a party tonight.

The problem with this dialogue is that the dialogue feels empty.

While exposition can be effective in dialogue, this example dialogue includes exposition that could be shown dramatically instead of simply stated. If you want to include exposition in dialogue, try to keep it short. And, try to either make it interesting/fun, or be the answer to some mystery that you brought up earlier in the story, or be motivated by a character's internal emotional termoil.

This example dialogue also needs subtext and some personality. Personality influences word-choice and what expressions people like to say, as well as sentence structure and length. Subtext is a bit trickier. Subtext is what the character really feels that the true dialogue is masking. Subtext is also the result of either the character's big objective (ex. win the big sport competition; get married; get revenge; etc), and/or the character's scene objective (ex. rally the team after a defeat; get their crush to ask them on a date; inflitrate gang to find your nemesis; etc), and/or want to do to the other character. Instead of the character outright asking for what they want, they need to manipulate the other character(s) in the scene to get what they want.

ex. If the coach needs to rally his team after a defeat, an example of dialogue without subtext would be the coach just talking about how the team need to win: "No matter what, we're still a team. We're in this together and we still have time to turn this around. We just need to play harder and start focusing." Instead, the coach should give a speech getting characters to focu. For example the coach might say, "You think I care we lost? I sure as hell don't. You think I care about the score? Why are you here? The fans? The glory? For some girl to see you throw a ball over a line? I care that you put your soul on the field because you're not playing for yourself, but your brothers sitting next to you."

Another great way to build subtext is through action lines.

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2. Action lines pack a punch. For those unfamiliar with the term, action lines is everything in a script that isn't dialogue; this includes the description of the scene setting, description of characters appearances, description of any character action that either reveal character or move the plot forward, etc. Action lines can show you character's internal emotional state, their relationship to the world around them and other people, and can move the plot forward. The key to writing action lines is making it as specific, clear, and succinct - writing only the essential to the story. Building on the example above:

An empty street at night. MARY - a naive intern wearing a thrifted pantsuit two sizes too large - pulls out her cellphone. It has a new text message saying, "Come on! The party's started already." She starts to reply "coming right n", but her phone dies.

Mary: Shit.

SAM - a priveledged boy in a buisness suit with a sociopathic smile - follows her.

Sam watches Mary riffle through her purse for makeup. She stops to reapply her fadded lipstick while looking at her reflection in a store window.

Sam: You're the new girl right?

She drops her lipstick and he picks it up for her.

Sam: My name's Edward. I work a few desks over. I just noticed we were walking the same direction - sorry if I scared you.

Mary: Oh no of course not. Nice to meet you.

She loosens her grip and puts her keys back in her pocket.

Sam: First day in the big city and you've already found the bad side of town.

Mary: Who says I'm not a city girl?

Sam reaches out to take the price tag off her suit jacket. Mary flinches. She pulls the tag off herself.

Mary: - sorry I think I'm getting a call.

She tries to hide her phone from him as she pretends to answer a call. Sam watches.

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3. Pacing - It's hard to move a story forward at the right pace. If your story is moving too quickly or too slowly, the reader starts to disconnect.

If you rush a plot point, then your reader can't get grounded. They can't connect with the character because the focus is too much moving the plot forward. Not enough time is spent on how the character feels, their internal/external struggle. If you're story's moving too quickly, then you need to put your foot on the breaks and slow down to let your character (and reader) process what's happening in your story. You need to slow down the scene to show the plot develop and show how the character responds, acts, and feels about what's happening. In this case, you need to think about: what are all the steps your character needs to take in this situation? How can other characters add conflict or make it more difficult for your character to get what they want? What order can information be revealed to increase tension and raise stakes?

Or you can spend too long on a plot point and whoever's reading your story gets bored. Heck your character's might even get bored too. If it feels like nothing's happening in your story, then you need to put your foot on the gas and figure out how to move the story forward. What new idea can your character try to get closer to their goal? Sometimes this might mean jumping to a new scene, adding in a new complication or struggle, and/or bringing a new character into the scene.

The example scene before was too short. The plot moved too quickly, so the scene didn't have enough time to let the tension build. Here's the scene with better pacing:

An empty street at night. MARY - a naive intern wearing a thrifted pantsuit two sizes too large - pulls out her cellphone. It has a new text message saying, "Come on! The party's started already." She starts to reply "coming right n", but her phone dies.

Mary: Shit.

SAM - a priveledged boy in a buisness suit with a sociopathic smile - follows her.

Sam watches Mary riffle through her purse for makeup. She stops to reapply her fadded lipstick while looking at her reflection in a store window.

A shadow behind her grows larger. Mary looks back at makes eye contact with Sam and drops her lipstick. She turns starts fast walking. She takes her keys out from her pocket, and tightly clenches them in her fist like brass knuckles.

Sam: You're the new girl right?

She ignors him and keeps walking. He holds out the lipstick she dropped and she cautiously takes it.

Sam: My name's Edward. I work a few desks over. I just noticed we were walking the same direction - sorry if I scared you.

Mary: Oh no of course not. Nice to meet you.

She loosens her grip and puts her keys back in her pocket.

Sam: First day in the big city and you've already found the bad side of town.

Mary: Who says I'm not a city girl?

Sam reaches out to take the price tag off her suit jacket. Mary flinches. She pulls the tag off herself.

Sam: So you grew up here too?

Mary: No moved here a year ago.

He walks next to her in silence.

Mary: - sorry I think I'm getting a call.

She tries to hide her phone from him as she pretends to answer a call. Sam watches.

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4. Stakes and objectives make us care about your character. Have you ever seen a movie where you end up rooting for the villain and not the hero? Usually it's because the hero in that story is lacking motivation and stakes. Without an objective, a character goal, then the protagonist can't drive the plot: the plot ends up happening to the hero without the hero changing. To put it simply: your character needs to want something and there needs to be consequences if they don't get what they want.

So building on the same example script as before with Mary and Sam, here are a few ideas on how the stakes can be raised:

• News articles are released about a serial killer on the loose.
• Sam is Mary's boss and has become infatuated with her.

These two ideas also clarify Sam's objective.

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Even if you're not a screenplay writer, I think learning to write scripts can be an incredibly powerful way to learn the fundamentals of storytelling.