A while back I've read a script whose Act 1 - the whole set-up of characters and situation, conflict - made it seem to be utterly predictable. I continued reading despite the sea of red flags mainly because the writer is a pretty good writer so I wanted to see where this was going. Stop. I didn't just continue reading. I scrolled down and read the last two pages. It didn't go where I had feared it would go (I could tell from who was still alive in the end;) so I continued reading, somewhat less alarmed. Something like that happened again with another script, a WIP.
This time I didn't know if I could trust the author or not, I wasn't familiar with his work at all. So I wanted to know where this was going. I was told about "red herrings" and that my assumptions would turn out to be wrong. Well, good. Or is it?
[Disclaimer: I'm not talking about romcoms. Of course we meet the destined-to-be-a-couple early on and hopefully we'll root for them to get together or back together or whatever. But romcoms are a different ballgame. We want to know and see how they get to that place, not if.]
Back to other genres. Author # 2 thought he was terribly clever by designing his Act 1 to look predictable and lead the reader/audience astray. I don't know if Author # 1 also did this intentionally or not.
I think it's a bad idea.Why?
1. If I don't know the author, I will most likely not read on. Part of those predictable set-ups were familiar chars and situations. In other words - not all that exciting. If I feel like it, I skip to the ending and read the last couple of pages and then decide if it looks worth my time/interesting.
Call me full of it, but if I feel and act this way, one or the other reader might do the same. Especially if s/he isn't required to read the whole thing.
2. If a script starts out like that I'm prejudiced against what will come. Of course I am, why wouldn't I be? I'm bored, I feel bad, I'm already worried if I just wasted 20 minutes or so of my life on a total stinker, Not just something that needs tweaking, snip here tuck there. So this script now has to work hard. Oh, it has to work so many times harder than any other script now. Act 2 has to be mindboggling. Nothing short of fascinating. How else would it get me out of my Act-1-induced funk? I hate it and it has to make me fall in love with it. Good luck.
Often you hear people say stuff like: read the whole thing, don't judge it by the first 10, 20, or 30 pages. Question: why would I assume that the rest is any better? Or different?
Or people complain "the reader must've only read Act 1! That's outrageous". Gee, I wonder why. If it was anything like those two above, I wouldn't blame the reader. Even if it's their job to read, they don't get paid to endure torture.
If those poor souls (not talking about the few pompous f-ucks who get annoyed by the littlest things - usually simply their own personal pet peeves - things that don't even have anything to do with story, plot, structure, character arcs; not anything story-related. Not talking about those PFs, but the others.) are required to finish the read and cover the thing, they might resort to skimming which may not help the falling-in-love part.
I'd say that all that speaks against predictable-by-design-Act-1. Don't you?
[Example for strong set-up with a decline so steep it feels like you just jumped off a hi-rise: John Grisham's Skipping Christmas. This was, for reasons I cannot comprehend, not for the life of me, made into a movie. Christmas with the Kranks. It didn't go over so well with audiences, either. It helps to be literate. Those black thingies are the letters. Read the bloody book and weep. Sober up. The world doesn't need crap like that. Thanky. Grumpy]
98°F ... NO A/C anywhere...
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4 comments:
Your romcom standard “We want to know and see how they get to that place, not if” can be applied to other genres as well. The better the writing or storytelling, the more patience we tend to have. Shakespeare often gave away his ending in the prologue (From forth the fatal loins of these two foes / A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life), but the audience hung in there, wanting to know how it happened. Actually, I appreciate the modern-day hubris of a writer who gives away the ending at the start . . . sort of challenging us to come along for the ride.
I don’t know . . . what do you think? Have at me.
Have you been sent to the hospital with heatstroke?
No heatstroke, December, though --- all systems were down for a couple of weeks. Can't work from home right now which puts a serious dent (adding two hours daily commute, sheesh) in my daily schedule.
Adam, not sure about giving away the ending. I see romcoms/romances as an exception. With other genres I prefer a bit of suspense and surprise.
Having said that --- we know that our superheroes will survive, don't we? And I personally hate it when the main char I was rooting for for almost two hours dies in the end. Not fair. There ya have it.
Okay, putting out an Amber Alert for A.M. Was last seen posting here.
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