Truby's Screenwriting

TRUBY'S TAKE

What a Mother Knows
Leslie’s Lehr’s What A Mother Knows gives me a wonderful opportunity to talk about story in the novel. I saw this book develop through every step of the rewriting process. So I can give you a close-up view of how this novelist crafted a successful work of fiction in today’s competitive marketplace.

What A Mother Knows opens literally with a bang: main character Michelle Mason is in a car crash that kills her passenger and puts her in a coma. When she awakes, she has lost a good part of her memory, and her 16-year-old daughter has disappeared. As she looks for the missing girl, she must confront the crucial question: how far would you go to protect your child? The answer to that question comes in an ending that is both shocking and totally justified.

Any piece of fiction is the product of literally hundreds of structural decisions that will make or break the final novel. In What A Mother Knows, the biggest decision of the entire writing process was shifting from an overall story structure and genre that didn’t work to a structure and genre that did. Lehr’s first version of the book was a drama structured with an advanced crosscut between two different story lines in time. This is the structure you would use if you were trying to write what’s known as “literary fiction,” since it allows you to play with two of the three keys of advanced novel, time and point of view.

But Lehr realized that this wouldn’t do, because a slow crosscutting comparison couldn’t sustain a narrative line. As she said, “so much felt dark and internal, and it placed too much pressure on the reader to connect the details.”

Lehr knew that the single biggest element in popular fiction today is narrative drive. So she shifted structures to one of the strongest of all storylines: the detective-thriller. Now the personal drama and the complex moral challenge inherent to her story would have plenty of narrative drive to rush it along and create maximum suspense.

The main technique Lehr used to make this new structure work was to base her thriller on something deeply personal, a mother’s love for her child. Structure forms like thriller and personal drama seem like opposites, but they can be mutually beneficial. This is the same technique Stephen King uses when he builds his horror stories on regular families. The technique is to construct a thriller on top of the real, identifiable feelings of the average person. Thriller gives the drama excitement and plot. Drama gives the thriller a solid base of deep feelings. Done right, it’s an unbeatable combination.

The third genre in the story blend in What A Mother Knows is romance. Love is not only a natural experience for this main character, it is deeply embedded in her character change. Character change should always guide the plot. And in What A Mother Knows, romance is part of Michelle’s rejuvenation, the true endpoint of her search.

Another major structure decision Lehr made was to extend the mother’s search outside of the city. The city is the classic detective arena. But this mother- detective covers the entire breadth of the United States.

Structurally, what Lehr is doing is extending the detective line out to the myth arena. This is hard to do. But the reason for doing it, indeed why it has to be done, goes back to the fundamental question of the novel: how far a mother will go to save her child. Turns out this mother will go very far.

The main challenge in extending the physical boundaries of the hero’s quest is the risk of losing narrative drive. You have to have complex story work to literally drive a story that far, and the story has to build. In the Anatomy of Story Masterclass, I talk a lot about the all-important technique of the vortex. Vortex is where we set up a funnel pointing to the final battle, and this funnel not only creates a convergence of all characters and actions, it interweaves all the genres into a single powerful line. More >>

Truby's Upcoming Classes

LONDON: June 15-17
Story Masterclass
MOSCOW: June 22-24
Story Masterclass
LOS ANGELES: July 20-21
TV Class - 2 days on TV Drama and Sitcom
LOS ANGELES: December 6-8
Story Masterclass
LOS ANGELES: December 13-15
3 one-day genre classes on Comedy, Detective/Crime/Thriller and Love Story

Click here to sign up

Recommended Articles


	STARBUCK / THE BACHELOR
	GIRLS
	2012 SCRIPTS NOMINATED FOR OSCARS

Screenwriting

Over the course of 3 decades, John Truby has taught more than 30,000 students the art of screenwriting. Providing the knowledge and expertise he has applied as a consultant on over 1,000 movie scripts, Truby offers an approach to storytelling that has earned acclaim for his instructional classes and screenwriting software from students and critics alike.

Screenwriting Software

Truby's Blockbuster screenwriting package allows students to learn the art of developing ideas into fully realized, professionally structured scripts right at home. Based on a user interface that teaches as you write, Truby's Blockbuster screenwriting software shows you the deep structural weaknesses that are likely to be in your script and takes you through the ideal order for fixing them.

Truby's Blockbuster software package is the only screenwriting program of its kind to focus in on writing for specific genres. With add-ons for action, comedy, horror and every genre of screenwriting, Blockbuster can be tailored to fit exactly the style of movie you?re working on.

Screenwriting Classes

From the writers, directors and producers of Shrek to Sleepless in Seattle to Star Wars, Truby's screenwriting classes have trained some of the top players in Hollywood today. Truby's audio and video screenwriting courses will teach you hundreds of screenwriting techniques that will allow you to compete with the best.

Truby's 14 hour audio classes and 8 hour video courses focus on the 22 building blocks of every script. These screenwriting tools will take you from beginning to end in the development process of your script idea.

Screenwriting Online Classes

In addition to screenwriting courses and software, Truby.com also offers classes which include one-on-one interaction with a personal mentor. The Great Screenwriting Online Class is 12 weeks long and contains all the information from the Truby live seminar. Writing exercises at the end of each lesson help you apply the course information to your story.

LEARN THE SCREENWRITING TECHNIQUES THE PROFESSIONALS USE


SUBSCRIBE TODAY AND ENJOY: - Free monthly screenwriting tips - Newsletter with special discounts - Sneak peeks at new courses and software


E-mail:

	MASTER YOUR STORY
	In screenwriting, story is king. But most writers know only a handful of story techniques. Get the only screenwriting software that gives you a great story, in a fraction of the time, while you write your script.

	MASTER YOUR GENRE
	You can't be a top writer without knowing the techniques and tools of professional writers. These techniques include everything from grand story strategy to scene sequencing to setting up and paying off scene patterns to blending dialogue. Learn hundreds of professional techniques that will allow you to compete with the best.

ON SALE TODAY

	Write Comedy at the Professional Level		Yes, You Can Write A Thriller Script That's Totally Original
	Our Comedy Software takes you beyond being funny to writing a professional script that builds its humor all the way to the end.		Our Thriller Software is specially designed to help you write something unique in this popular but often predictable genre.
	99.00 List price 49.00 Sale price		99.00 List price 49.00 Sale price

	Rewrite and Development Techniques from 'the best script doctor in the movie industry.'		Announcing A Whole New Approach to Writing Your Memoir
	All scripts must undergo the rewriting and development process. With our Story Development Course, you'll learn the most advanced techniques in the business.		With our Memoir & True Stories Course you will learn the simple but powerful '10-10-10 System' that will turn your personal vignettes into a story with universal appeal.
	$99.00 List price $49.00 Sale price		$99.00 List price $49.00 Sale price