There are many methods to writing stories. I tend to work more or less in the field of comedy, however, so naturally I'm going to gravitate to a method spearheaded by a comedian.
Allow me to present to you...
The Buster Keaton Method For Writing A Story
- Come up with a beginning
- Come up with an end
- The middle will take care of itself
What Buster meant by “the middle will take care of itself” is
actually really simple - if you have a beginning and an end, you know
what your characters’ goals are and you know whether or not they’re
going to reach them along the way towards that ending. Let the
characters guide you through writing the middle - what will challenge
them?
Lastly, Buster added the following:
- If a plot point doesn’t fit, DON’T TRY TO SQUEEZE IT IN.
Oftentimes Buster and his gag writers would come up with really
funny jokes. The problem was that these jokes didn’t fit into the rest
of the story. Buster was smart enough to not put these into the story if
they didn’t fit - he’d hang onto them to use them elsewhere. This
streamlined the stories, which kept the audience engaged, i.e. NOT
BORED.
Sometimes you’ll fall in love with ideas for plot points, but they
just won’t fit in the story. Save them - you’ll be able to use them on a
rainy day when you’re writing the next story.
Buster says you're welcome.
