Art explores how to develop your Personal Story Arc to create compelling and emotionally-believable scripts.
"Write what you know" - Anonymous
This quote has been an old saw for writers for as long as I can remember, but its meaning has always been obscured.
I’m currently a judge for the screenwriting competition at the Austin Film Festival and others, and I’m employed in reading more than 100 scripts a month. Some of these are very good and will develop into some excellent film, but in so many cases I find that, while the words themselves may be there, the emotions they are meant to relate are missing.
That is, I am not feeling what the writer is trying to say.
Screenplays must be built upon scenes which convey universally relatable emotions because movies, at their most basic level, are emotion delivery systems. No successful film can reach an audience through intellectual argument alone.
We watch films to feel, and if the writer is only creating on the surface – that is, if they are not actively in touch with the emotions that they are writing about – the audience will never feel the power behind the word and the script (and the film) will fail.
So, the phrase “write what you know” does not mean you have to write about the things in your life that you have personal observed. But it’s meant to help you find a way to give more emotional meaning and connection to your writing, by using the personal examples in your own life to find those universally relatable emotions to bring veracity and power to what you create.
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Writing for Powerful Beats
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Disclaimer: The facts and opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. Picasso Creative Writing does not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article.
