Snow

I miss snow. I’ve been away from harsh winters enough in recent years to be happy I don’t have to endure the slush and the ice and the freezing temps, but there’s a part of me that remembers other winters—winters filled with building snow forts and making snow people and sledding down the hills as the snow fell around you… not to mention snowball fights and walking in the snow on a calm winter night.

So let’s do something with snow.

I propose a film called The Snowman. Let’s create it.

Wait a sec, is coming up with a title the best way to create a film? Probably not. A film should come from someplace inside you, yes? It should be about something you want to say, some feeling you have that you want to capture and put into a story, some character that’s in your head telling you to put him or her in a story… but a title?

Here’s what starting with a title is all about—exercise. You do the treadmill to strengthen your body, you’re not actually running anywhere, you don’t go anyplace, you just run in place to help exercise those muscles. Well the storytelling brain is like that too—it needs exercise, it needs diversion—it needs to think of a plot for a movie called The Snowman.

OK, what are some possibilities?

1. It’s a story about a town’s annual competition to build the best snowman—and every house has a snowman on their lawn because this town has gone snowman-nuts with this competition except for one guy who refuses to participate.
2. It’s a story about a cocaine dealer who decides on Christmas Eve to get out of the business.
3. It’s a story about a teenage girl who builds an anatomically correct snowman and gets arrested on indecency charges.

Feel free to come up with more ideas for The Snowman before choosing one to flesh out. Looking at just the three above, #1 looks like a comedy, #2 could go drama and #3 could be a teen courtroom dramedy.

So having just come up with these ideas on the spur of the moment, I think the one I’d choose to develop is #2—because I just see this guy who’s never been a very good drug dealer anyway, kind of got into it to supply his parties and the parties of his friends, then when he lost his job on Wall Street, the cocaine sales have helped him get by… until he can get a new job, he tells himself. But he’s been out of work for three years and his only income is from the cocaine sales. He walks by a church on Christmas Eve and watches families coming out of a service and he longs for that. He goes into a Starbucks to get a coffee, sees someone who interests him but she pulls away when he approaches. That doesn’t stop him, he sits down next to her anyway.

He realizes pretty quickly that he knows her—she was a secretary at the firm when he lost his job. And she’s someone he never liked, and…..

See how it goes? You just start brainstorming the idea, thinking of things that could happen to start your story off, and you’ve got it: The Snowman.

Do this with ANY title. Think about the possibilities for your title while walking around outside, while driving to work, while doing the dishes after a long day, etc. Then sit down in front of your computer and just play with the title. This will strengthen your story-writing muscles, sharpen your character-creation skills, and all you have to do is type.

Have fun!

Copyright © Diane Lake

03Dec17

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com