Invisible Ink: A Practical Guide to Building Stories that Resonate

193 Pages·2010·0.51 MB·English

by  Brian McDonald

Invisible Ink — Brian McDonald
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Copyright © 2003-2005 Brian McDonald
Invisible Ink — Brian McDonald
Praise for Brian McDonald and Invisible Ink
“If you follow Brian McDonald’s map, you will reach your destination.”
—August Wilson (Pulitzer Prize-wining playwright)
“Writing stories is hard. They are stubborn by nature. No matter how many times you
master one, the next story is obligated to conceal its faults with an entirely new disguise.
Your only recourse is to keep writing, while concurrently increasing your understanding
of this deceivingly simple, yet highly complex, organism we call story. Brian McDonald’s
insightful book does just that. Somehow, Brian has found yet another fresh and objective
way to analyze how great stories function, and emboldens you to face the challenge of scaling
whatever story mountain looms before you. If I manage to reach the summit of my next
story it will be in no small part due to having read ‘Invisible Ink’.”
—Andrew Stanton (co-writer Toy Story 1 & 2,
A Bug’s Life, Monster’s Inc. and cowriter/director
Finding Nemo and Wall-E)
“Invisible Ink is a powerful tool for anyone who wants to become a better screenwriter.
With elegance and precision, Brian McDonald uses his deep understanding of story and
character to pass on essential truths about dramatic writing. Ignore him at your peril.”
—Jim Taylor (Academy Award-winning screenwriter of
Sideways and Election)
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Copyright © 2003-2005 Brian McDonald
Invisible Ink — Brian McDonald
“Brian McDonald knows that underneath a good story are the difficult mechanics of plot.
He offers insights into both the construction needed and the art of hiding that
construction.”
—Jim Uhls (Screenwriter of Fight Club)
“Brian McDonald’s Invisible Ink is a wise, fresh, and highly entertaining book on the art
of storytelling. I read it hungrily in one sitting, delighted by his careful and illuminating
analysis of my favorite films, novels, television shows, and even comics. A multitalented
creator, McDonald never errs in his critical judgments or the very practical principles he
provides for creating well-made stories. I recommend this fine handbook on craft to any
writer, apprentice or professional, working in any genre or form.”
—Dr. Charles Johnson (National Book Award-winning
author of Middle Passage)
“Nobody, in Hollywood or out, understands story better than Brian McDonald. Never
give a script to Brian to read casually, because he doesn’t know how to do that. He only
knows how to make it better—whether you like it or not.”
—Mark Handley (Screenwriter of Nell)
“If you want to write scripts, listen to Brian. The guy knows what he’s talking about. A
very well-thought-out, easy-to-follow guide to the thing all we writers love to pretend we
don’t slavishly follow—story structure.”
—Paul Fieg (Creator of NBC’s Freaks and Geeks)
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Copyright © 2003-2005 Brian McDonald
Invisible Ink — Brian McDonald
Foreword
“This is the only book on screenplay structure I have ever had the least inclination to read
all the way through. Something has always
kept me out of structure books: they seemed too confident to reach for and very
unpleasant if you got there. Any semblance of structure in my screenplays has been
mainly accidental, relying on emotional tides that often beguiled then drowned me. I love
INVISIBLE INK for inviting me in, for showing me I can touch the stove without
burning my hand, and for not holding up to me, as examples to follow, more than one of
those overwhelmingly intimidating models, the 3 C’s: Citizen Kane, Chinatown and
Casablanca. Brian McDonald’s rich curiosity takes him to different allusions, unexpected
literary originals that anyone of courage who had a childhood can climb. Eerily and
precisely to the point, they enroll us without threat, not just because they’re entertaining
in themselves, but because his examples let us hold out our aprons safely to all the trees
he plucks them from as we walk with him on the guided tour of his wonderful varied
orchard - here Aesop, there Nursery Rhymes, farther on Fairy Tales, Comic Books,
Cartoons, the Bible, the Theatre, Anthropological Discoveries, Barroom Jokes, Billy
Wilder, Shakespeare, Spielberg, Pixar, the Wizard of Oz, Ancient African Proverbs, and
two irreplaceables, Joe Guppy and Matt Smith. With INVISIBLE INK Brian McDonald
has written us a book to keep and heed forever because,
through the simple, graceful, graspable, original wisdom of it, we might just save our
screenwriting lives.”
Stewart Stern Screenwriter of Rebel Without a Cause
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Copyright © 2003-2005 Brian McDonald
Invisible Ink — Brian McDonald
I N V I S I B L E I N K
The understructure of story
By
Brian McDonald
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Copyright © 2003-2005 Brian McDonald
Invisible Ink — Brian McDonald
For Scott Tolson,
A friend, a brother, a teacher and a storyteller.
This book was written on location at Victrola Coffee, Seattle, WA.
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Copyright © 2003-2005 Brian McDonald
Invisible Ink — Brian McDonald
If you put a gun onstage in Act I you must use it by Act III. —Anton Chekhov
If there is something wrong with the third act, it’s really in the first act. —Billy Wilder
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Copyright © 2003-2005 Brian McDonald
Invisible Ink — Brian McDonald
| TABLE OF CONTENTS |
Chapter I
WHAT IS INVISIBLE INK?
Chapter II
SEVEN EASY STEPS TO A BETTER STORY
ONCE UPON A TIME ...
UNTIL ONE DAY ...
AND BECAUSE OF THIS ...
AND BECAUSE OF THIS ...
UNTIL FINALLY ...
AND EVER SINCE THAT DAY ...
Chapter III
THE ARMATURE
JOKE EXERCISE
WHAT MEANS TO DRAMATIZE AN IDEA
THEME BEATS LOGIC
“BUNDLE OF STICKS”
THE USE OF CLONES
Chapter IV
RITUAL PAIN
PERSONAL HELL EXERCISE
THE CRUCIFIXION
FROM BUTTERFLY TO CATERPILLAR
FLIP-FLOPS
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Copyright © 2003-2005 Brian McDonald
Invisible Ink — Brian McDonald
CHARACTERS WHO DON’T CHANGE
KILLING THE PROTAGONIST
Chapter V
TELL THE TRUTH
THE MASCULINE AND THE FEMININE
DRAMA IN REAL LIFE
THE MYTH OF GENRE
CLIMAX
GOD FROM THE MACHINE
SUPPORTING PLOTS (SUB-PLOTS)
SLAVE, NOT MASTER
Chapter VI
DIALOGUE
SOUNDING NATURAL
ADDRESS AND DISMISS
ADDRESS AND EXPLAIN
Chapter VII
SUPERIOR POSITION
SHOW THEM ONCE SO THEY KNOW
Chapter VIII
WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD STORIES
HOW TO TRANSLATE CRITIQUES
JUDGING YOUR OWN WORK
Chapter IX
GOOD STORIES, GOOD BUSINESS
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Copyright © 2003-2005 Brian McDonald
Invisible Ink — Brian McDonald
Chapter X
MY OWN PROCESS
“WHITE FACE”
TELL THEM WHAT YOU TOLD THEM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Copyright © 2003-2005 Brian McDonald