5 secrets of good writing from a Hollywood screenwriter

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Every writer has several secrets to creating the perfect text. This article contains recommendations from Andrew Kevin Walker, writer of Seven and many other mind-blowing Hollywood blockbusters.

Thanks to the internet: people are reading and writing more than ever. But have you ever felt that the quality of your writing is getting worse?

Nevertheless, there are advantages to this. Undiluted, strong text nowadays stands out from the crowd. And the ability to write well and interestingly will be useful to you, even if you do not do it professionally.

Want to learn how to write better? Or do you dream of taking on a great novel or screenplay? Want to write like a pro? The recommendations of the famous Hollywood screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker will help you with this.

By the way, in the credits to Fight Club, you might have noticed that the police officers who attacked Edward Norton were named Andrew, Kevin and Walker.

In this article, you will learn:

• what immediately tells the reader if you are a good writer;
• how to surprise your audience;
• how to think in order to write like a professional;
• the secret of effective cooperation;
• how to make the reader empathize.

And many more interesting things.

1. How to improve your text

Andrew gives two main tips to help you dramatically improve your writing. It doesn't matter what you write: email, presentation for work, or script for Hollywood. So, let's begin.

When I read a text, the structure helps me to understand whether I am in good hands or not. Andrew Kevin Walker

Does your text have an introduction, a main part, a conclusion? Do they go sequentially one after the other? Is there a sense of movement? Does thought really go through all the stages?

The main thing is to understand where you are going. If you don't understand this, how can you know what a topic is? How can you anticipate reading expectations? If you know what the ending should be, then you know how to write. The ending may change as it is written, but you still need to have "true north" to which you are going. True North is your ending. You don't have to know all the details. While working on the script for the movie Seven, I always knew that there were seven murders associated with the seven deadly sins. This idea defined the structure. A good cop should end up with anger. Thanks to this, I had a skeleton on which the story was built. Andrew Kevin Walker

Good stories are built on contradictions. This ensures that there are twists and turns, ups and downs, a development of what came before and what became after.

Now let's move on to the next recommendation. Recycle the text. A rough sketch is never final.

The golden rule "to write is to rewrite" is often overlooked. Finishing is half the battle, then you need to go back to the beginning of the text and finish it again. This is the most important part of the process. You should even rewrite what has been rewritten. Andrew Kevin Walker

Harvard professor Steven Pinker made a similar point:

Most of the tips on how to write well are actually variations of the “rework” tip. Because very few people are smart enough to formulate some semblance of an argument and at the same time express it clearly. Most writers require two approaches to do this. Once they've outlined all the ideas, it's time to clean up and polish. Because the order in which ideas come to the writer seldom coincides with what will be best assimilated by the reader. Even a good text needs to be improved. Stephen Pinker

The structure and refinement will certainly help improve your writing. But how to attract the reader's attention, especially in our time when the ability to concentrate tends to zero? You must surprise him.

2. How to surprise the reader

To surprise is to exceed expectations. To do this, you first need to know what your audience expects from your text. This is true for both PowerPoint presentations and creative essays.

Know your genre and what your audience expects of it, and you'll know what to do to surprise them.

Only by being well versed in genre and audience expectations can you really surprise people. Using the scenario of Seven as an example: this is a film about heroes who desperately want to catch the killer, and the audience expects catharsis - the moment of capture. And then the killer appears, who surrenders himself. It is necessary not to allow the expectations of the audience to be justified, to pump out all the air from the room - and the heroes (and with them the audience) will lose their balance. This is when “I don’t know what will happen in the next moment” happens. Andrew Kevin Walker

Here's this exciting episode:

Howard Suber says these kinds of surprises are necessary to create compelling text.

No surprises, no twists and turns, if you don't splurge on the audience's eyes, you're unlikely to be able to do something memorable. It is the fact that things are not what they appear to be that makes the story interesting. Howard Saber

Okay, you have structure, you reworked the text, added surprise. Your writing has definitely gotten better. But what does it take to write like a professional?

3. How to write professionally

Do you like to dump words on paper? Do you smile when you write? Congratulations, you screwed up.

When you write while feeling very happy and having fun, you are most likely doing something wrong. To be a good writer is to be a perfectionist. And that means feeling at least a little unhappy. This has its advantages. Perfectionism forces you to rework the text. When you’re depressed, writing helps you find your own path, while a happy writer doesn’t put in a lot of effort. Andrew Kevin Walker

Sounds weird? Research shows that experts in different fields tend to be critical of themselves and their work. They have to be like that. If you don’t search over and over again for what’s not working, you won’t be able to improve anything.

Before you show the text to someone else, honestly ask yourself: is it as good as possible? Were you as strict with yourself as possible? Because your work can accidentally get to an agent or a publisher, and this happens very rarely, and you will no longer have a second chance. Andrew Kevin Walker

We've heard a lot about the state of the flow. It's nice, but it doesn't make you better. Georgetown University professor Cal Newport advises "weighing practice" to improve your skills. Its essence lies in the fact that you are working at the edge of your comfort zone, rather than being in a blissful state of flow.

Okay, you focused on the negative … But at the same time, you must remain optimistic.

You are probably now thinking, "Ha, how the hell am I supposed to think about the negative while still being optimistic?"

If you focus on the negative all the time, it's easy to get depressed and give up. Research shows that pessimism kills persistence. And with all the rejections and criticism in Hollywood, giving up is very easy. As such, you should focus on the negative while writing, but prepare for the best when looking at the big picture.

One of the most important things for any writer is to constantly replenish their reserves of naivety. If I had not been naive with all my heart, just like on the first day after graduating from film school, when I was going to achieve something in the world of screenwriting, I still would not have done it. It's like selective memory. If you cannot redo all your unsuccessful works - and they are numerous - and do not try to forget about them, replenish your optimism, then you will simply stop … to completely delusional work. Accepting delusion with open arms is actually important. It is sometimes said that doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is crazy. But in Hollywood, if you don't do that, you simply won't survive. This can only be done by a person who continues to say "yes", despite all the "no" that he receives. Andrew Kevin Walker

Not only Andy speaks about such a little crazy thinking, but also top-echelon athletes.

The ability to think in two ways is essential for athletes. Take top golfers. They have to scrupulously, rationally make decisions about the shot (for example, make a hard hit with a bounce of the ball, instead of rolling it on the grass), but once they hit it - of course, they train to readjust - they need to be optimistic about the result. Nick Faldo, who has won the competition six times, has a similar thought after winning the Open in 2008:

You have to check the correct blow with mathematical precision. You must make a decision realistically assessing your own weaknesses and opportunities for failure. But, as soon as you have made a decision, a switch must click in your head, you must execute the blow as if there were no doubts. Nick Faldo

Andy calls this approach a manic-depressive need to write. But how does he do it? How to keep negative and positive in your head at the same time? Andy does not reveal this perfectionist recipe, but he is confident that it takes regular success.

Another important thing is to feel some kind of completeness every day or every week. I have been writing one script for several months or even years. A film based on it may not be removed. And if they do, then after a few years. I can't finish the script today, but I can sweep the floor. I can't finish my romance today, but I can finish my sandwich. Any distraction or procrastination ends sooner or later, but it is also a small reward for the person who writes, because his real reward is so far away and its timing is so uncertain. Andrew Kevin Walker

Several bestselling author Dan Pink has written about the power of small victories to keep us going. A study by Teresa Amabile of Harvard found that nothing motivates more than a sense of progress.

But you may be challenged to write something together with another person. Or what if someone else is writing and you have to give your opinion? How can you help him become better and at the same time not offend him?

4. The right approach to cooperation

Andy has worked with director David Fincher on several famous films including Seven and Fight Club. Why was their collaboration so effective? Because Fincher is a master at putting his ego aside when he needs to voice his opinion.

Fincher does a lot of things that people usually don't. He is listening. He's really collaborating. He is incredibly specific in his conclusions. But he doesn't go to extremes and doesn't stigmatize anything. When you get notes on a project, you can see that the person who wrote them usually really wants his voice to be heard, thereby putting his ego on alert. Andrew Kevin Walker

In an interview, FBI behavior expert Robin Dreeke said how to deal effectively with other people: "Hold your ego."

The secret to good writing when you work as a team is to give others a chance to contribute, especially in areas where they know more than you do.

Really good actors like Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt or Kevin Spacey will take your worst material and make it a thousand times better than it was on paper. Therefore, the lesson for those who want to achieve the desired goal on their pages: the less the better. You will be surprised how transformed the text is in the right hands. Andrew Kevin Walker

It's only when good writing, good direction and good actors meet in one place that moments like this appear:

We learned a lot about good writing. But in the end, there is nothing stronger than emotional human empathy. How can you achieve it?

5. How to make the reader feel something

The answer comes down to one word.

Sincerity is the most important ingredient. Andrew Kevin Walker

This is why Seven works. Of course, Andy wasn't literally following the old "write what you know" advice. He was never a cop or a serial killer. But the script was sincere because Andy described New York as he saw and felt it.

Seven is a very personal job. The argument that occurs between Mills (the character of Brad Pitt) and Somerset (the character of Morgan Freeman) is an argument that I had with myself when I lived in New York in the late 1980s. I have never written about what I know; I've never been a police officer looking for a horrible villainous killer, but I thought about what this city had become. I endowed John Doe with my own disappointments and brought them to their worst incarnation. I had an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, and the argument Mills and Somerset had in the movie was actually with me. Morgan Freeman wanted to quit, but Brad didn't. And as a screenwriter, I had to bring the plot to the point where Morgan Freeman, despite all his pessimism about the city, decides not to give up. This is what makes him say at the end of the film: "I will be there." Andrew Kevin Walker

Let's sum up

Let's recollect all Andy's advice:

• The structure lets the reader know that he is in good hands. Completing the text is just the beginning. To write is to rewrite.
• Unexpected twists come when you know your audience's expectations and turn them upside down.
• The best writers know how to balance the negativity that comes from perfectionism and optimism about the future. Small victories will help you and build confidence.
• Collaboration is impossible without restraining your ego. Stop thinking about yourself and focus on how to objectively make the passage better.
• Write in such a way that the reader feels your sincerity. You don't have to fly in from the future to write science fiction, but add something personal to the story that will help you convey your emotions.

These guidelines aren't just for writers. You can be an artist in any field if you think like an artist and strive to be the best at what you do.

At the same time, the art can be making surfboards or designing cars, as well as the art of conducting gas in homes or cleaning up trash. It doesn't matter how much you get paid for what you do. You need to understand that your business is art, and do not be afraid of the artist within you. Look for art in everything you do. Andrew Kevin Walker

Writing well is a useful skill, and it's not that hard to develop. The best way is through "", a free and cool writing course from the editors of Lifehacker. A theory, many examples and homework awaits you. Do it - it will be easier to complete the test task and become our author. Subscribe!