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To War Against the Dialogue Tags!I am waging a war. Consider this your invitation to join my army.

What is this war about, you ask? It's about destroying dialogue tags. What are dialogue tags, you ask? They are the parts that explain who's talking, like "he said" and "she asked". Why am I doing this, you ask? It's not that they kicked my puppy (I don't even have one, despite the opposition's claim). It's not that they burned my toast. It's not even that they opened my favorite book too far and creased the spine. Here. Let me explain why you're going to be fighting the good fight.

Dialogue tags have a use. It's a very useful use, even. They prevent confusion about who gener
The Price of Plot TwistsPlot twists. Whether it be mystery novels, an M. Night Shyamalan movie, or the prolific father-son reunion in the Empire Strikes Back, plot twists pop up in every genre and medium of storytelling. With good reason, too. A plot twist surprises you, it makes you rethink everything you thought you knew, and it shatters whatever plot predictions you've racked up for the ride. A good plot twists enriches a story, it complicates it. A great one blows your freaking mind.
I think it's the "blows your freaking mind" variety that have really pumped us all up on the concept of twists. After all, when people talk about, say, The Sixth Sense, what do they always bring up? The heart-warming relationship between Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment? Of course not! It's that reality-shattering twist (which I will not name for the sake of those who haven't seen it yet). Or how about Shutter Island? That one had a bit of a doozy as well.
We've developed a bit of an addiction, I think.
The Necessity of Flaws in CharacterizationOkay. Close your eyes (well, maybe just one) and imagine your favorite fictional character. Are they strong? Compassionate and giving? Witty and clever? Wise and intelligent? No matter the make-up of their awesomeness, they probably bring a smile to your face and that warm, fuzzy feeling to your insides. You probably remember vividly their adventures and hijinks, their clever retorts, or how amazing they were at figuring out some wild and crazy puzzle. They probably inspired your own writing. You probably wanted to recreate that smile and fuzzy feeling with your own readers, so you made your version of the character (or took some of their tra
Planning the Evil Plot
A half-guide, half-narrative on writing a story
brought to you by Super Editor

Basics
Before I start writing, I like to have some idea of where I'm starting, where I'm going, and how I'm going to end up there. Let's say that I want to write a comedy about an author who suddenly changes places with her Mary Sue. I should jot down some basic ideas:

Characters:
Sarah, the author: ~13 years old, average-looking, glasses, rather tall and gangly
Ellemere, the Mary Sue: ~16 years old, long flowing hair, violet eyes, etc.
Forrest (Ellemere's love interest) : ~18, stereotypical bishie who is too dark and broody to make a good love interest
Leon: ~17
I'm Suing You: Why Do We Make Mary Sues?
First of all, I freely admit that what I say isn't gospel. I am a total amateur at art and writing. I've learned everything that I know via the internet and a few drawing books. It's just that I appreciate all of the tutorials here on dA that have helped me out, and I want to put a little bit of my own methods back in.

Let me get this out of the way:  I only write tutorials if I feel that I have something to add to the topic or if I feel like it's one that few people touch on.  So then why on Earth am I writing about Mary Sues?  Everyone's written about them!  And it's true; this topic has been well-explored in countless places that it seems
Proofreading Tips #1: Redundancies
Have you ever thought about how redundantly we speak in every day conversation? Sometimes this passes into our writing. For graduates especially, we are unfortunately trained to add extra "padding" into our text to reach a desired word count.
Word redundancies (known as pleonasms and sometimes given the nickname of "baby puppies") are one such way. Here is a list highlighting such phrases--avoid using these at all costs:advance warningalter or changeassemble togetherbasic fundamentalscollect togetherconsensus of opinioncontributing factordollar amounteach and everyend resultexactly identicalfew in numberfree and cleargrateful thanksgreat majo
Proofreading Tips #2 Semicolon Conjunctive Adverbs
...Wow, that's a mouthful! These suckers are used to attach two independent clauses as one single sentence. Many people have confusion about when to use commas, semicolons, and colons. Semicolon conjunctive adverbs are helpful to emphasize the relationship between two thoughts (as opposed to separate sentences). Here is a list of words commonly used for this:ConsequentlyFurthermoreHoweverThereforeThenThusAdditionallySimilarlySubsequently
Some examples in sentences include:
"She arrived to school late; consequently, the teacher did not accept her homework."
"Man could not overcome the demon army; thus, the age of darkness was born."
"He forgot
The Chronology of StorytellingImagine you're reading to a live audience. It can be as big or small as you'd like. It can be your writing or someone else's. It doesn't matter. Indulge yourself in the fantasy. So you're reading to a live audience. They're enraptured. They're engrossed. They're generating a movie in their heads as you weave your tale. Imagine how important every word you produce is to these movies. Every detail you provide adds another layer. They smell the flowers. They feel the roughness of the brick. They see the vivid colors of the clothes.

And then you require they perform time travel to make the movies accurate.

Wait. What?

The chronology, or order
Creating a balanced characterWhat is a well balanced character?
A well balanced charater is one you would believe is really existing. Creating a character like this may seem not easy at all and sometimes even impossible but it is all about relating information about your character, a bit knowledge of human nature and psychology with each other.
If you manage to master this combination, you will be able to create characters that can come to life on their own.
Sounds good  but pretty complex, right? Let me show you.

First of all: A character should always be the result of many factors being combined as I mentioned above.
-> Never say the creation progress is done whe
Writing Emotions VISUALLY
Writing Emotions VISUALLY

"What is ...VISUAL writing?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- Visual writing is when the reader can SEE your story unfolding in their imaginations just like a movie.

    * Non-visual: It was a dreary day.
    * Visual: Icy rain slithered down the window glass from an iron gray sky.

This is more commonly known as SHOWING vs. TELLING.

    * Telling: It was a dreary day.
    * Showing: Icy rain slithered down the window glass from an iron gray sky.

"What's wrong with just...Telling them?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- The problem lays with Reader interpre
Editing your writingSo, there are a lot of tutorials for writing; tutorials for character's names, personalities, storylines, and everything else under the sun. Don't get me wrong, some of those tutorials are pure gold. But, and keep in mind I'm no avid tutorial-reader and I haven't read all of them, I have yet to find one about editing. And it's about as important as the actual writing, because what's the writing if you can't read it? So, here I am, making one. If you've already read this far into the introduction, do me and you a favour, and read the rest of it, you might find some of it useful and I won't just be talking in a void. Please?

View of an Editor
Paper Villains
On writing three-dimensional villains
Brought to you by Super Editor

Disclaimer: (as experience suggests that I need one) This resource consists of opinions. There may be better ways to write, and my advice may not fit your type of story. Please use common sense when applying the ideas expressed below. Thanks for reading!

Do you remember the Big Bad Wolf? He destroyed the Three Little Pigs' houses and ate them (or only chased them, depending on the rendition). He ran to Little Red Riding Hood's home and devoured her grandmother. The Big Bad Wolf appears in countless fairy tales to eat and terrorize the general populace.

In many children's
The Cracks Begin to Show: Making Flawed Characters
First of all, I freely admit that what I say isn't gospel. I am a total amateur at art and writing. I've learned everything that I know via the internet and a few books. It's just that I appreciate all of the tutorials here on dA that have helped me out, and I want to put a little bit of my own methods back in.

I've run across an odd myth about fictional characters here on good ol' deviantART:  If my character isn't a Mary Sue then I've definitely written a good character.  Sadly, this is not so.  A Mary Sue (see here for more) is just a specific kind of bad character.  Not all bad characters are Mary Sues.  It would be like saying that sinc
The How To's of Dialogue: Grammar and OtherwiseWhen writing dialogue, it's easy to get confused as to what's proper grammar and what isn't. This is no surprise when considering all the variables involved, but not to worry. I'm going to go over the rules and variables of dialogue right now so you can clearly understand the do's and dont's. 
This guide has eight sections:
- Basic Dialogue
- Using other Identifiers
- Actions as Replacement Identifiers
- Interrupting Dialogue
- Using Ellipses, Hyphens, and Dashes
- Paragraphing 
- Long-Winded Dialogue
- Italics (Expanded: 5-1-12)
- One Last use of Italics (New: 5-1-12)
Basic Dialogue:
Example A1:
The man said, "Pass me the cricket bat."
The woman said, "I don't think I will."
- Observations:
     1) A comma after "said," before the quotation mark.
     2) The first letter of dialogue is capitalized since it is the first word of a vocalized sentenc
Interactive #1: Both Sides of the Equation
Introduction

Here we go.  Welcome to a new idea of mine called an "interactive."   Recently, I've been spending a lot of time learning about literature.  I've learned a bunch of new things, but I found that I was learning the most when I had other people to talk with and exchange ideas.  Now I already spend a lot of time talking with my lovely commenters, but my tutorials are focused on advice, what to do and what not to do.  I wanted to know: How could I integrate discussion into a writing aid?

As I stroked my magnificent, imaginary beard, an idea occurred to me.  What if I w
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More from ~Snapperz

Holy Water and Vodka.xviWell I suppose you could call it playing Heads or Tails with the rain. For the past half hour, I've seen maybe six, eight raindrops splatter the windshield, but whenever I think I hear that rumble of thunder, I see a spot of blue fighting its way through the clouds in the distance, and a sharp ray of light. Like the UFOs are finally landing. (Just make sure you take me with you, I think, smiling almost-sadly.)

A faded-denim white lightning bolt slices the air somewhere above the car, and for a moment, everything is illuminated. The streets appear to radiate; even the granite of gravestones seems to emit its own light. And yet the rain doesn'
Holy Water and Vodka.xvAccording to Gregory Neustadter's wristwatch, he'd been dead for roughly two minutes and twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine seconds. Careful not to aggravate the gash under the makeshift bandage, Allegron fastened that watch onto his own wrist. He watched the second hand twitch for a moment, then peered down at the watch's former owner, greyscale and shaded beneath the table, on top of all the other corpses, and the corner of his mouth pulled back.

He reached up, flicked at the strands of hair that fell in his face and studied the scrag set atop Neustadter's head, neat even in death. Neustadter's hair was dark enough that it wouldn't ma
Holy Water and Vodka.xiv"Hi. I'm uh, Bob, and I'm an alcoholic."

Quote Everybody in a resonant wave, like they do in the movies: "Hello, Bob." Sort of like the Stepford Wives.

Welcome to the Dark side.

* * *

"Fancy seeing you here," she says, peeling me open with her eyes. "So is your name actually Bob or Al?"

I feel my brow furrow a little, but all in all she isn't hard on the eyes, so I can't be too irked. I always thought she looked like the business-type woman that worries about how her looks are going to affect her next promotion amongst her alpha-dominant peers. But then I imagine she uses her looks well to her advantage.

I retort, "Are you actually st

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:iconsnapperz:
UPDATE:// :faint: A DD!! I'd like to thank you all sincerely for embracing my inner asshole and I hope it serves you well. I may not be able to get back to everyone who faves it, but seriously, BIG HUG.



Full Title: Back-To-Basics Screenwriting With Snappy (Or, Why The Biz Might Not Be For You)

Written because the Deviantart Scripts & Screenplays section makes me want to put my head through a wall. Repeatedly.

Hope this helps you, minions. If you have any more questions, feel free to let me know.

Ironically, I wasn't going to upload a PDF to facilitate viewing, but then I remembered DA's upload system sucks and I didn't want to reformat the dialogue, so, you get a PDF anyway.

For anyone who's actually interested in film school, I highly recommend the Vancouver Film School's Writing for Film & Television program. All my props come from there.

Ps. Please let me know about any typos; I admit I uploaded this hastily and PDFs are annoying to change.
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Daily Deviation

Given 2012-10-03
Back-To-Basics Screenwriting With Snappy by ~Snapperz Suggester Writes: This is a great, no-nonsense primer on how to format screenplays, by someone with actual screenwriting experience. ( Suggested by *SadisticIceCream and Featured by ^Beccalicious )
:icongriffkat:
*Griffkat Jan 20, 2013
Wow! This is very helpful! (It brought a lot of things to my attention!) Thanks :D
Reply
:iconsnapperz:
~Snapperz Jan 20, 2013   Writer
Thanks so much! Glad it helped you out. :)
Reply
:icongriffkat:
*Griffkat Jan 21, 2013
It deffinitely did! :D
Reply
:iconvelvetfish:
~VelvetFish Dec 10, 2012  Student Filmographer
thank you. :) and grats.
Reply
:iconsnapperz:
~Snapperz Dec 12, 2012   Writer
Thanks! :D
Reply
:iconpinballwitch:
~pinballwitch Dec 10, 2012
Congrats on DD! :D Well done. A lot more fun and snappier (forgive the pun) than similar intro to screenwriting docs I've seen. Thank you for sharing! :)
Reply
:iconsnapperz:
~Snapperz Dec 12, 2012   Writer
:lol: My name offers much punny goodness. Thanks so much!
Reply
:iconkelalewis-morin:
*KelaLewis-Morin Nov 23, 2012  Student Writer
this is really good I like your realistic narration its almost like anyone can be able to understand and relate to this. I read your bio section how did you get to the position you are in now with regards to screenwriting? because that is what I want to get into...eventually if I am good enough lol
Reply
:iconsnapperz:
~Snapperz Nov 23, 2012   Writer
Thanks much! I got my current gig with the help of someone who was in my class at film school -- he became the head of development of this company and thought of me for this script. So it was a bit of luck. I'd recommend just making industry connections and possibly going out for some internships (that's how my friend got his development position).
Reply
:iconkelalewis-morin:
*KelaLewis-Morin Nov 23, 2012  Student Writer
ohhh wow yeah it is amazing how much luck is actually a contributing factor in getting into the industry lol ahh I have tried I have some links but it seems to be a waiting game. I am supposed to have my first book due for publication but everything gets delayed too many external factors lol just having a bit of trouble at the moment thats why I thought I would talk to you you seem like you would understand lol
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