Screenwriting & Writing Advice — Part 3

Let Characters Make Stupid Decisions

One thing I want to emphasize is that characters don't always have to make the logical decision.

People do stupid things when they're scared.

Panic can make an intelligent person do something completely irrational. You can have a character who is normally extremely intelligent suddenly make an awful decision because they're frightened, desperate, angry, or overwhelmed.

That's realistic.

Screenwriting & Writing Advice — Part 2

Give Your Characters Actual Reasons to Break Up

If a character is going to break up with someone, give them a reason.

Don't have the relationship end simply because the plot needs it to.

For example, imagine Samantha is dating Carter. Carter is obsessive and eventually becomes controlling and dangerous. He cheats on her, becomes increasingly jealous, and starts behaving like a stalker.

That's much more interesting than simply having Samantha announce:

Screenwriting & Writing Advice — Part 1

This advice comes from the perspective of a casual film viewer, not a critic or professional reviewer. I grew up watching movies simply because I enjoyed them. I wasn't sitting there thinking about whether a character was relatable enough or whether the story followed the correct filmmaking rules. If something looked cool, was fun to watch, and kept my attention, that was enough.

A lot of these observations came from watching Lifetime movies with my mom. Those were some of the only movies I felt comfortable watching with her. Over time, I noticed a few patterns that stood out to me.

Don't Follow the Same Formula Every Time

One of the biggest problems is predictability.