Creative Writing & Screenwriting Worksheets

Transcription

1 Creative Writing & Screenwriting Worksheets Collated from a decade of material used in Jamie Rhodes courses and workshops, this collection of exercises is a public resource for writers seeking to develop their creative writing and screenwriting skills. Written by: Jamie Rhodes Jamie Rhodes 0 P a g e

2 Contents Forward by Jamie Rhodes..3 Finding the Story.4 Character 10 Structure...17 Dialogue. 23 Genre...30 Writing Technique..35 Jamie Rhodes 1 P a g e

3 Forward My first gig teaching creative writing was in my very early twenties, freshly trained as a script reader, I walked nervously into an all girls secondary comprehensive school. Standing in front of thirty rowdy teenage girls, hoping they will be remotely interested in what you have to say and praying they won t heckle too viciously is quite a daunting experience! Thankfully, it went well and went on to teach screenwriting and creative writing in many schools, colleges, universities, media centres, community groups and homeless shelters throughout the country, working with adults and young people of all ages and backgrounds. Over ten years, I have developed a large selection of worksheets and exercises to suit specific audiences in terms of age, ability and desired outcomes. I felt the time had come to offer these worksheets publicly in one simple pack, grouped according to the particular writing elements they are designed to address. I hope you find them useful. The exercises do not need to be followed in any particular order, and not every exercise in each section will appeal to every writer. Everybody works in different ways, but it is my intention that the exercises should be diverse enough in their approach that there is something in each section for every writer. I use many of these exercises when writing my own stories, turning to different chapters of the pack to improve my work and keep practicing. Feel free to get in touch and let me know what has worked for you. Happy writing! Jamie Rhodes 2 P a g e

4 Finding the Story 3 P a g e

5 Finding the Story Exercise 1 Before the Internet With the Internet offering such a wealth of information at your fingertips, it is easy to forget how vital other avenues of research can be to finding intriguing stories. The local library is a good place to find information that is not available on the Internet. A quick look at the local history section can reveal some unique inspiration for true stories. 1. Scan the books about local history for potentially interesting people or events in your region. 2. Choose one person and one event, then either: a. Put the person in the event and write about how they might react. b. Make note of the main plot points taking place in the event, adapt them slightly to increase drama if needed. c. Write a brief character study on the person and identify a dramatic turning point in their life. 3. Using part 2, write a timeline for how the story that you have found or adapted could be told. 4 P a g e

6 Finding the Story Exercise 2 New Information Researching something that you have absolutely no knowledge of can be interesting and useful when finding a story to tell. First choose a character, it can be one that already exists or you can invent one. Think of one subject that your character knows a lot about, but that you know nothing about. 1 Now list ten facts about this subject: These facts will be known by your character and will contribute to his/her personality. Make notes on how this aspect of a character s personality could be used within a story. 5 P a g e

7 Finding the Story Exercise 3 Interview We are constantly surrounded by stories, every person has a story to tell, and so a brilliant story may be closer than you think. For this exercise, ask a relative or family friend if you can interview them about their life (bear in mind an older person will have more stories to tell). Interview them in a journalistic way, asking detailed, probing questions. Be sure to take notes about periods of their life stand out as particularly dramatic or emotive. From the interview, pick apart one thing to focus on and write a short sentence for a potential story idea. Example: If I interviewed my Granddad, a succinct story idea description might be: 1. A short film about the emotional journey of an old widower whose only son has left home to join the army and fight in a war. Story Ideas: P a g e

8 Finding the Story Exercise 4 Quick Writing Getting a story out of your head is difficult, but it helps if you remember that at this early stage it doesn t have to be ground breaking or even good. Just get it on paper. This exercise will help to dump a batch of story ideas out of your head, and then sift through them for potential gems. Write 25 titles in the boxes on the left hand side of the table below. Swap your titles with a partner and have them circle 5 that sound interesting. Of these, choose 3, and write a short synopsis about the story behind the title. Title Brief Synopsis Title: Title: Title: 7 P a g e

9 Finding the Story Exercise 5 5-point Treatment Development A treatment is a summary of what happens in a story. It can help you to see the direction a story will take before you start writing up the work. It is also useful for producers/publishers/agents to get a feel for a story before they read a longer piece of work. A simple treatment can be broken down into five main points. For this exercise, fill in the five points for two different story ideas: Idea 1 1. Title: 2. Logline: (A Logline is one sentence that explains what the story is about) 3. Set up: (This is a little about background and some build up of the story) 4. Hook: (This is the aspect of the story that makes it different and original) 5. Resolution: (How does the story turn out?) Idea 2 1. Title: 2. Logline: 3. Set up: 4. Hook: 5. Resolution: 8 P a g e

10 Character 9 P a g e

11 Character Exercise 1 Determining the Main Character Stories are often character driven; this means that a character (or characters) in the story has a particularly interesting personality, and it is their way of perceiving and interacting with the things around them that moves the story forward in an entertaining way. This exercise will help you develop your main character, but it can also be applied to other characters. 1. Consider what might be your character s Dramatic Need? This means, what does the character want to win/gain/get/achieve over the course of the story? Define this in a sentence or two 2. What is your character s Point of View? This is their way of seeing the world around them, for example; are they a cynic/idealist/dreamer/optimist? Define this in a sentence or two. 3. The final aspect to consider is Change. Seeing how a character changes allows the audience to connect more with that character. What sort of change does your character undergo over the course of the story? Write a few sentences about this. 10 P a g e

12 Character Exercise 2 Bringing a Character to Life Without a well-developed back-story, characters can easily lapse into being flat stereotypes or clichés, rather than interesting three-dimensional individuals. The best way to make your characters more real is to understand their history; giving your character a history in turn gives them an individual personality influenced by everything they have been through just like a real person. Though the audience will not necessarily see all, or any, of the biography, the character s actions and behaviour that is in the story will be directly related to their past. For this exercise, you need to write a brief biography of your character, starting from their birth up to the point at which we meet them in your story. 11 P a g e

13 Character Exercise 3 The Life-Changing Moment. A life-changing moment is an interesting point around which to create a story. It could happen at the beginning of a story in which a character has to come to terms with their new life. It could happen at the end of a story in which the character is dissatisfied with their life and wants a way to change it. Or it could happen part way through a story and contain aspects of both. Either way, going through a life-changing moment can make a character more believable and well rounded. For this exercise create a transformational moment in a character s life and answer the following questions: What was the character s life like before the transformation? What took place during the transformation? What were the obstacles to transforming (both inside the character and external)? How did the character face these obstacles? Name the other people involved in this transformation. What were their roles in the moment transformation? What happened to them because of this transformation? What was the outcome for the character? 12 P a g e

14 Character Exercise 4 Personality Traits Knowing your characters personality traits is important when writing a script; personality traits will dictate how someone reacts in different situations. This simple exercise will help to cement a character s personality, and stick firmly in your mind as you write. Write your character s name vertically down the left hand side of the page. Then for each letter of their name, write an aspect of their personality. Example: For a character called Homer, the following might be true. Hates exercise Often forgets Makes trouble Eats too much Rude frequently First Name: Surname: 13 P a g e

15 Character Exercise 5 Depth and Balance Adding depth and balance to your characters makes the story that surrounds them much richer. In real life, nobody is happy and lively ALL the time no matter how they may appear. Equally nobody is serious and dull ALL the time. The same should be true of your characters to make them behave more like real people. For this exercise, first choose a well-known over-the-top comedy character, and write a short paragraph about their emotional life. Character: Next, choose a well-known serious or emotional character and list ten things that they do for fun or that make them happy. Character: P a g e

16 Character Exercise 6 Character Descriptions This is a quick method for practicing effective character descriptions. Think of ten wellknown film characters and write a one-sentence description of each of them in the left-hand column of the table below (don t write their name yet!). Now swap with a partner and see if they can guess the characters by writing their guess in the middle column. Finally, in the last column write the character you were describing and see how many your partner got right. Description Partner s Guess Actual 15 P a g e

17 Structure 16 P a g e

18 Structure Exercise 1 Preparing to Write the Story Before you start writing your story, try the following exercise. Breaking down the story in the way shown below, you will be able to see: 1) how many pages you estimate to spend on each scene, 2) the main scenes in the story, and 3) the overall length of the story. Example: Scene No. Brief description. 1 Old man going to shop to buy groceries Two young men enter shop and pull a gun out on shopkeeper. Old 2 man sneaks out unseen. 3 Old man at home shaken up. Hears on radio someone in the area has 1 been shot. 4 No. Of Pages Used As you write the script you can refer back this table. For the example above, if you get to scene 3 and find you have written 5 pages, you know you have been waffling. If you have only written a page and a half, you know you are missing some detail. However it is up to you to make a judgement call as to whether your initial estimation was wrong. Scene No Brief description. No. Of Pages Used (Continue on another page if needed) 17 P a g e

19 Structure Exercise 2 Timeline Timelines are visual tools that help create chronological outlines of characters lives. For this exercise, create a timeline for the internal and external events in your character s life from the beginning to the end of the story. Internal events are things that happen to the character inside their mind or body. External events are those that happen on the outside (i.e. meeting people, going places, etc.). External Internal 18 P a g e

20 Structure Exercise 3 Brainstorming Structure Once you have your main story idea, there are many different ways of telling the story. For example, who s perspective could you tell the story from? Where could you start the story? Are there any sub-plots that could work well? Are there any underlying themes in the story? For this exercise, put your story idea in the centre box, then brainstorm all of the structural possibilities that could link your story together. 19 P a g e

21 Structure Exercise 4 Overcoming Obstacles A character encountering and overcoming problems can provide interesting and pivotal moments in a story. This is a simple exercise in thinking about potential obstacles that may hinder your character reaching their goal. On one side of the paper put the character, and the other side, their goal, then fill the space on the middle line between with possible obstacles. Now, on the next layer out from the timeline, write some action the character could take, or conversations they could have to overcome these obstacles. CONVERSATIONS HAD C H A R A C T E R OBSTACLES G O A L ACTION TAKEN 20 P a g e

22 Structure Exercise 5 Break Down a Story A good way to understand structure is to get into the habit of noticing the structure in other people s work. For this exercise, examine a story make a list of each scene. Make a note of where it takes place and a brief description of the point of the scene, answering the questions in the table below. Scene No. What happens in the scene? Is the intention of the scene to move the plot forward? Is the intention of the scene character development? 21 P a g e

23 Dialogue Dialogue Exercise 1 Uses of Dialogue 22 P a g e

24 There are broadly two kinds of dialogue: Expository dialogue and Action dialogue. Expository dialogue says something about the characters, and the who, what, why, how and where of the film s narrative. Action dialogue, on the other hand, is a way of moving the plot forward. For this exercise, write a sequence of dialogue between two characters to expose them and move them to the next scene. Dialogue Exercise 2 Conversation on a Journey 1. Open a phone book to two random pages, and select two businesses. You are going to move two characters from Business A to Business B by whatever means you like and create a 23 P a g e

25 reason for the journey. Journey From: To: Reason: 2. Write a conversation between two characters on this journey. Try to use the interchange not only to explore the reason for the journey, but in doing so, reveal who the characters are, individually and in their relationship to each other. Dialogue Exercise 3 The Subtext of Conversations 24 P a g e

26 Writing dialogue is not only writing what people say. It includes writing why we say or don t say the things we do. For this exercise think about the last few conversations you had, then answer the following questions: Did I say everything I wanted to say? Why or why not? What did I leave out? What is my general attitude when I talk? How does it change depending on whom I m with? Dialogue Exercise 4 The Way We Talk 25 P a g e

27 Think about what defines the way a person talks; do you see people differently because of it? Many aspects of someone s personality can be revealed through the way they talk. Focusing on a character you have developed for this exercise, first: Make a list of 3 things that define your character s personality: Now, list 2 ways this personality reflects in the way they talk Finally, write one scene with dialogue that reveals aspects of your character s personality. Dialogue Exercise 5 Show Don t Tell 26 P a g e

28 It is important to remember that it is much better to show the audience what is going on, rather than telling the audience what is going on. For this exercise, convey the five statements below using brief passages of descriptive dialogue, without using the actual statement itself. 1. I love you. 2. I don t trust you. 3. Accept me for who I am. 4. We re in danger 5. I m really excited Dialogue Exercise 6 Drawing on real life conversations Writing dialogue that sounds natural is difficult, especially if that dialogue is then going to be performed by actors when you are writing for stage, screen or radio. One way to write better dialogue is to use actual dialogue you have heard. Accurately making a mental note of 27 P a g e

29 the things you hear is a skill you can develop through practise, repeating the following exercise a few times will help you recall conversations more accurately. (You will need a Dictaphone or tape recorder for this exercise). 1. Record two people having a conversation for 5 minutes then stop and do something else for 10 minutes. 2. After 10 minutes, write down as much of the dialogue as you can remember. Recreate the conversation as accurately as you can, include the details of how the people speak, not just what they say. 3. Check how you did by playing the recording back. 28 P a g e

30 Genre 29 P a g e

31 Genre Exercise 1 Confrontation in Genre Different genres follow different sets of conventions. Establishing and maintaining the conventions of the genre in which your story takes place is vital in allowing the audience to follow what is happening, and giving an amount of expectation as to what is possible further into the story. Although it is possible for certain genres to overlap, it would be confusing for the audience and inconsistent if, for example: a confrontation in what started as a romantic comedy suddenly featured the bloody slaughter of a ghost-hobbit by an FBI agent with a lightsaber! Too many genres are mixed up. For this exercise, think about how confrontational situations are resolved in different genres. Imagine two vehicles arrive at the same parking spot; changing the vehicles and characters accordingly, write about what would happen if the genre were: 1. Romantic Comedy: 2. Action Adventure: 3. Horror: 4. Fantasy/ Sci-fi: 30 P a g e

32 Genre Exercise 2 A New World Many horror, fantasy, and science fiction stories create whole new worlds for the audience to partake in. Identifying the rules for these worlds and displaying them for the audience is important in explaining the plot. Before writing a story in any of these genres you must identify the rules of the world in which your story is based. For example, is there gravity? Are there humans? Do the same rules apply to all characters in the world? In this exercise, invent a set of rules that could apply to a new world you create, then write a title and one sentence story idea based in your new world. New world: Potential Story Title: Short summary: 31 P a g e

33 Genre Exercise 3 Made You Jump There are certain characteristics that give a story its genre. For example, all horrors are intended to make people scared. Focusing on horrors for this exercise, study what induces fear. As you engage with a horror story, or part of one, take note of each scary point. When you have finished, look at all the scary points and write a short paragraph about the common thread between them. Story: Scary Points: Common Thread: 32 P a g e

34 Genre Exercise 4 Re-writing Genre A good understanding of codes and conventions used in different genres is vital when writing a new story. A good way to see the true value of different genre conventions is to take a story out of the genre it was originally written for. For this exercise, choose one scene that you know well. It could be a scene you have been working on, or a famous scene. Then re-write the scene as though it were part of a different genre, either: 1. Romantic Comedy 2. Action Adventure 3. Horror 4. Fantasy/ Science Fiction Original Scene: Scene re-written in 33 P a g e

35 Writing Technique 34 P a g e

36 Screenwriting/Storytelling Technique Exercise 1 Chase Scenes Chase scenes are fast paced, action packed scenes that require little or no dialogue. The type of chase will depend on the nature of the story, but the means by which the action is conveyed will often be similar. This exercise will explore different types of chase scene. First, write a short chase scene involving one of these methods of travel: Horse Helicopter Boat Foot Car Now, using the same scene, change the method of travel and write the scene again. Finally, write a paragraph about the things that remain consistent in both scenes. This will highlight the typical conventions of a chase scene. Screenwriting/Storytelling Technique 35 P a g e

37 Exercise 2 Creative Instruction Learning how to get ideas out of your head clearly and concisely, can give you a better understanding of how to write visual sequences. For this exercise, you will need a partner. You are going to give them a brief set of instructions on how to put on a shoe, however, your partner is to behave as though they have never seen a shoe, don t know what it is, and don t know what its various parts are or do. Write no more than ten bullet points of instruction, and then deliver them verbally without pointing at any parts of the shoe. Every part of the explanation needs to be clear and effective enough for your partner to get the shoe on P a g e

38 Screenwriting/Storytelling Technique Exercise 3 Someone Else s Action When describing action in a script, it shouldn t take longer to read than it would to see on screen. Keep this in mind for this exercise. Watch an action film and choose one scene to focus on, in the space below, write out the action in that scene using a script format. Use as few words as possible to convey what happens. 37 P a g e

39 Screenwriting/Storytelling Technique Exercise 4 The Visual Medium Screenwriting is a visual medium and as such, it is important that characters actions convey meaning in some way. For this exercise, try writing 5 brief scenarios to convey the following 5 sentences: 1. I love you. 2. I hate you. 3. I m hungry. 4. I m scared. 5. We need to get out of here. 38 P a g e

40 Screenwriting/Storytelling Technique Exercise 5 Economy with Words When writing a story, it is good to be descriptive. When writing in a screenplay format, it is imperative to narrow that descriptive drive into shorter sentences and less words. The point is to get more into less. Think of a place and come up with 10 words that describe this place. Now, narrow it down to 3 that truly capture its essence. Finally, write 1 punchy descriptive sentence that captures this place. Place: 10 Words to describe: 3 to truly capture the essence of the place: 1 Descriptive Sentence: 39 P a g e

41 Screenwriting/Storytelling Technique Exercise 6 Reacting to Circumstances People s reaction to sudden occurrences can make very interesting viewing, and reveal a large amount of information about character and setting. For this exercise, imagine two people are on a couch watching television. Suddenly, a siren or alarm is heard. Or the phone rings. Or a doorbell goes. WRITE THE SCENE. Think about: Who are these people? Who are they to each other? What are the immediate circumstances? How does the sound affect them? What do they do? Try placing ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, or extraordinary people in ordinary circumstances. 40 P a g e

42 Screenwriting/Storytelling Technique Exercise 7 Outside The setting in which a story takes place has a massive influence on they way the story is received by the audience. The whole feel of a scene can change dramatically, simply by changing the setting slightly. For this exercise find a short scene that takes place out in the sunshine. Your task is to rewrite this scene changing only the setting. 1. Write the scene taking place in the rain. 2. Write the scene taking place at night. 41 P a g e

43 Screenwriting/Storytelling Technique Exercise 8 Plot Devices A Plot Device is a person or object in a story that is used to drive the narrative and move the plot forward. Effective use and understanding of plot devices can provide sturdy pivot points around which to improve the tension, construction, and pacing of a story. For this exercise, identify a plot device from three different stories. Example Film: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Plot Device: The Vanishing Cabinet 1. Story: Plot Device: 2. Story: Plot Device: 3. Story: Plot Device: 42 P a g e