Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

Sharing an advice

Gotham Writers’ Workshop asked Robert McKee, a noted screenwriter, of:

http://mckeestory.com/

"What is the most valuable advice you received as a young writer?
A: The best advice my writing professor gave to me I pass along to you:"Convert exposition to ammunition". Your characters know their world, their history, the other characters and themselves. When writing dialogue, let them use what they know as ammunition in their struggle to get what they want. Don't write "Mary, how long have we known each other now? Must be over twenty years, right? Ever since we were in school together? Girl, that's a long time. On the nose dialogue like that always feels phoney and stops a scene dead. Instead, insert conflict and convert those facts to ammunition: "Mary, for God's sake blow your nose and stop crying. Girl, you are the same weepy child you were twenty years ago in school. Time to grow up." The audience's eye will jump across the screen to catch Mary's reaction while it indirectly learns the character history it needs to know...and the scene flows."

I loved the example that explains the meaning in the rule, which we already know and parrot out to each other.

Happy writing!