If you want to be a screenwriter you have to sit down and write. No amount of rules or strategies will help you. But if you want to procrastinate and need a kick in the pants to get going, Anton Chekhov has a few tips for you. Chekhov is famous for his gun, but he also spent a lot of time writing letters to his brother. They'd talk and talk about life, writing, and writing tips. These letters were grouped into a book you can find on Amazon or in a library. Anton Chekhov’s Life and Thought: Selected Letters and Commentaries (public library). The point is, in an 1886 letter to his brother, Aleksandr, Anton wrote a checklist about what he thinks makes great fiction. 'Chinatown' (1974) WB What are Anton Chekhov's Six Tips for Writing Fiction? Let's get this out of the way, Chekhov wrote fiction in a time before movies. But we're going to take his tips and apply them to screenwriting. Here are Chekhov's tips: Absence of lengthy verbiage of political-social-economic natureTotal objectivityTruthful description of persons and objectsExtreme brevityAudacity and originality: flee the stereotypeCompassion So how do these tips help screenwriters? We'll go through them one by one to give you tips when it comes to your screenplay. 1. Absence of lengthy verbiage of political-social-economic nature Your action lines should be brief and to the point. No one wants to hear you waxing philosophical about your set pieces or character introductions. 2. Total objectivity Make your...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Yesterday