Winter Films - 3

I hope you had a chance to look at the script for The Apartment in the last week and outline it. While we all love watching films, really studying the script can be even more important for a writer. Why? Because seeing what the screenwriter wrote on the page—before the sets and the actors came into it—gives you an idea of how one can use words to communicate that story.

I remember the first time I went to hear a novelist speak. At this point I was just toying with the idea of writing. As she spoke, she passed around the hard copy of a novel she had written—about 350 pages of prose. I’ll never forget the moment it was handed to me as it went around the room: it was just typing on paper. That was it. Now, I realize that should have been obvious to me, but I was astounded—I could see where the ink hit the page to form the words, it was just words on the page. Now the quality of those words, that’s another story. But until that moment I had thought writing—such a great thing to do in my mind—was reserved for some special class of people, and surely Diane Lake, from Iowa of all places, didn’t fall into any special group of people like writers!

So as you think about writing your own winter story, do remember that it’s usually that struggle between a character and her situation—she’s trying to overcome or change something in her life, but it seems almost impossible. And the weather becomes a metaphor for that. Think about it this way—you’re driving home from work and a sudden snowstorm makes visibility almost impossible, but you can’t stop, you’ve seen storms like this before and you know you could become a popsicle by the side of the road if you just stop. So you keep driving—an animal runs in your way, you just miss hitting it, you then have the veer around a car that is dead in the road, then a patch of ice forces you onto a side road and you have no idea where it leads… My point?

It’s all about obstacles. You put those obstacles in the way of your character getting what she wants in your story and it should feel to the viewer just like being in the car during a snowstorm, wondering if you’re EVER going to get out of this!

Want a silly, dare I say stupid, comedy to watch this week? Try Planes, Trains and Automobiles [1987] by John Hughes. After the sometimes funny but even more heart-wrenching The Apartment, Hughes’s comedy will be a stark contrast. And in this case, the title tells it all—a guy teams up with a stranger and the two do anything to get to their destination by Thanksgiving. Obstacles? Oh yeah, in the form of every possible mode of transport, not to mention characters.

In some ways, last week was the sublime and this week is the ridiculous—but that’s movies, they can be anything we want them to be and they can fit our every mood. Have fun!

Copyright © Diane Lake

09Dec18

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com