…just remember Robert McKee’s words:
Let’s say that this morning our storyteller tells her friends the story of “How I Put My Kids on the School Bus.” Like Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, she hooks everyone’s attention. She draws them into her spell, holding them slack-jawed over their coffee cups. She spins her tale, building them up, easing them down, making them laugh, maybe cry, holding all in high suspense until she pays it off with a dynamite last scene: “And that’s how I got the little nosepickers on the bus this morning.” Her coworkers lean back, satisfied, muttering, “God, yes, Helen, my kids are just like that.”
Given the choice between trivial material brilliantly told versus profound material badly told, an audience will always choose the trivial told brilliantly.”
McKee, Story, page 28
Many writers will be familiar with Story: Substance, structure, style, and the principles of screenwriting – a fantastic reference. I read it last week while I was panicking about the book and it calmed me down again. I know what needs to be done.
