Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting
As want collides with need, the greater truth – the gap between what characters say and do – is revealed. And that gap is the stuff of drama.
John Yorke • Into The Woods: How Stories Work and Why We Tell Them
Generally, PLAN and CENTRAL STORY ACTION are really the same thing: the Central Action of the story is the carrying out of the specific Plan. And the CENTRAL QUESTION of the story can be summed up in general: “Will the Plan succeed?”
Alexandra Sokoloff • Screenwriting Tricks for Authors (and Screenwriters!): STEALING HOLLYWOOD: Story Structure Secrets for Writing Your BEST Book
Well, everything you set up in act one regarding your protagonist and their situation should probably be paid off or resolved in act three. The resolution should be causally and emotionally connected rather than the plot going off on indulgent tangents and giving the audience a vague sense of conclusion.
Tim Clague • Write a Script in 10 Weeks
A well-told film or television work thus reveals its story through its structure – the order in which images appear. Characters are revealed through behaviour and explanation of motivation is avoided; characters do things, and through doing them we understand them. As long as a character has a clear goal, the way they choose to act in achieving it
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