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Outlines And The Thematic Method
Your story is like a road trip... but where are you going? What's the best route to get there? What are the best sights to see along the way? Just as you plan a vacation instead of just jump in the car and start driving, it's a good idea to plan your story. An artist does sketches before breaking out the oils, so why shouldn't a writer do the same? This Blue Book looks at various outlining methods used by professional screenwriters like Wesley Strick, Paul Schrader, John August, and others... as well as a guest chapter on novel outlines. Plus a whole section on the Thematic Method of generating scenes and characters and other elements that will be part of your outline. The three stages of writing Pre-writing, Writing, and Rewriting... this book looks at that first stage and how to use it to improve your screenplays and novels. A working professional screenwriter gives you step-by-step guidance on how to outline your screenplay or novel, with ten different methods (which is best for you?) Plus techniques for improving your pacing, how to use motifs, the importance of throughlines, and an entire section on theme as well as the Thematic Method for generating scenes and characters and dialogue... with the hit movie “Ghost” as an example. Everything you need to plan your roadtrip and make sure you get to your destination on time!
- GenresWriting
318 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 24, 2017
86 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
About the author
William C. Martell
34 books28 followersWilliam C. Martell has written nineteen produced films, including three HBO World Premiere movies: the Tom Clancy style techno-thriller STEEL SHARKS (filmed with full U.S. Navy cooperation) with Gary Busey, Billy Dee Williams, and Billy Warlock, the submarine thriller CRASH DIVE! starring Frederic Forrest, Catherine Bell, Chris Titus, and Michael Dudikoff (also with Navy cooperation), and the sci-fi actioner GRID RUNNERS starring Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Michael Dorn and Athena Massey (all three produced by Ashok Amritraj, producer of the Bruce Willis Comedy BANDITS and the Steve Martin - Queen Latifah comedy BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE.)
His two Showtime Films include BLACK THUNDER, about a stolen stealth fighter plane, starring Michael Dudikoff and Richard Norton and a sci-fi film (both produced by Andrew Stevens, producer of Jack Nicholson's THE PLEDGE and the Bruce Willis-Matthew Perry film THE WHOLE 9 YARDS and its sequel). He has written a couple of CineMax Premieres like action-thriller TREACHEROUS which stars Tia Carrere, C. Thomas Howell, and Adam Baldwin (from 20th Century Fox), the martial arts vampire flick NIGHT HUNTER and military action flick THE BASE (starring Mark Dacascos), plus a USA Network thriller.
His noir thriller HARD EVIDENCE (starring Gregory Harrison and Joan Severance - from Warner Bros.) was "video pick of the week" in over two dozen newspapers, was a Blockbuster featured new release, and beat the Julia Roberts film "Something To Talk About" in video rentals when both debuted the same week.
He is the West Coast Editor of Scr(i)pt Magazine (the largest circulation screenwriting magazine in the world) where he has written the "Independents" screenwriting column for over a decade, a contributor to Writer's Digest Magazine and a past columnist for The Hollywood Scriptwriter Magazine. He was Entertainment News Editor for Dean (INDEPENDENCE DAY) Devlin's Eon Magazine, wrote the Screenwriting 101 column for the Independent Film Channel Magazine, and was the only non-nominated screenwriter mentioned on "Siskel & Ebert's If We Picked The Winners" Oscar show in 1997. He is a frequent contributor to Ebert's Movie Answer Man syndicated column and Ebert's annual Year In Film books. He was on the jury of the Raindance Film Festival (London) in 2001 (with director Mike Figgis and actress Saffron Burrows) and again in 2004 (with actor Lennie James and director Edgar Wright) and just returned from 2009 "jury duty".
His two Showtime Films include BLACK THUNDER, about a stolen stealth fighter plane, starring Michael Dudikoff and Richard Norton and a sci-fi film (both produced by Andrew Stevens, producer of Jack Nicholson's THE PLEDGE and the Bruce Willis-Matthew Perry film THE WHOLE 9 YARDS and its sequel). He has written a couple of CineMax Premieres like action-thriller TREACHEROUS which stars Tia Carrere, C. Thomas Howell, and Adam Baldwin (from 20th Century Fox), the martial arts vampire flick NIGHT HUNTER and military action flick THE BASE (starring Mark Dacascos), plus a USA Network thriller.
His noir thriller HARD EVIDENCE (starring Gregory Harrison and Joan Severance - from Warner Bros.) was "video pick of the week" in over two dozen newspapers, was a Blockbuster featured new release, and beat the Julia Roberts film "Something To Talk About" in video rentals when both debuted the same week.
He is the West Coast Editor of Scr(i)pt Magazine (the largest circulation screenwriting magazine in the world) where he has written the "Independents" screenwriting column for over a decade, a contributor to Writer's Digest Magazine and a past columnist for The Hollywood Scriptwriter Magazine. He was Entertainment News Editor for Dean (INDEPENDENCE DAY) Devlin's Eon Magazine, wrote the Screenwriting 101 column for the Independent Film Channel Magazine, and was the only non-nominated screenwriter mentioned on "Siskel & Ebert's If We Picked The Winners" Oscar show in 1997. He is a frequent contributor to Ebert's Movie Answer Man syndicated column and Ebert's annual Year In Film books. He was on the jury of the Raindance Film Festival (London) in 2001 (with director Mike Figgis and actress Saffron Burrows) and again in 2004 (with actor Lennie James and director Edgar Wright) and just returned from 2009 "jury duty".
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 20, 2023
Great Book for Writers
Let’s face it, there is no void in the category of writing tutorials, and there are plenty of titles that your writing friends tell you is the 'Bible’ of writing/screenwriting how to books. You have some of those titles on your shelves: Trottier, Field, Mamet, King, Vogler, that cat one…my favorite is William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade. I've even got that Lajos Egri one that I will always wonder if I’m pronouncing right, and there's a good chance that I've just spelled wrong…
The point is that there are a lot of books, and as writers, we can’t read them all (well we could, but who wants to…) Still, there are times when we need a quick refresher, or even a fresh perspective on organizing our writing journey, and Bill Martell fills that bill.
Martell offers nothing really new here, in fact, he emphasizes that there’s nothing really new with any of the writing how to's out there, and I tend to agree. So, what he's done in this book in particular is to focus on why an outlining process is important and how defining a theme helps bring it all together. He eventually breaks down the film Ghost to work through the idea of a theme.
He also mentions a lot of those other books and he emphasizes that what's important is to find the method that works for you. He packs a lot of information into this little book—it's down and dirty, and the occasional typo proves it. But it's valuable information. It's a fantastic substitute for the struggling writer on a budget, and I highly recommend it.
Let’s face it, there is no void in the category of writing tutorials, and there are plenty of titles that your writing friends tell you is the 'Bible’ of writing/screenwriting how to books. You have some of those titles on your shelves: Trottier, Field, Mamet, King, Vogler, that cat one…my favorite is William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade. I've even got that Lajos Egri one that I will always wonder if I’m pronouncing right, and there's a good chance that I've just spelled wrong…
The point is that there are a lot of books, and as writers, we can’t read them all (well we could, but who wants to…) Still, there are times when we need a quick refresher, or even a fresh perspective on organizing our writing journey, and Bill Martell fills that bill.
Martell offers nothing really new here, in fact, he emphasizes that there’s nothing really new with any of the writing how to's out there, and I tend to agree. So, what he's done in this book in particular is to focus on why an outlining process is important and how defining a theme helps bring it all together. He eventually breaks down the film Ghost to work through the idea of a theme.
He also mentions a lot of those other books and he emphasizes that what's important is to find the method that works for you. He packs a lot of information into this little book—it's down and dirty, and the occasional typo proves it. But it's valuable information. It's a fantastic substitute for the struggling writer on a budget, and I highly recommend it.
June 10, 2018
Great Guide to Outlining from Someone who Should Know
I agree with W. C. Martell—nothing is as important as knowing your theme. So naturally nothing is as difficult to wrap your brain around. This book gives good guidance for finding the theme behind your idea. Mostly, though, it gives a step by step writing process for developing a well paced, full length feature screenplay that centers around a single theme so that every scene will inevitably touch that theme. The end result should be a cohesive, resonant script. Novel writers would benefit from this advice as well.
Martell has plenty of examples and analyses several films in detail as examples. He particularly breaks down the movie Ghost and shows you how theme was used in every scene.
Would have given this book 5 stars but the book has to compete with masters like McKee’s Story, James Scott Bell and Dwight Swain.
I agree with W. C. Martell—nothing is as important as knowing your theme. So naturally nothing is as difficult to wrap your brain around. This book gives good guidance for finding the theme behind your idea. Mostly, though, it gives a step by step writing process for developing a well paced, full length feature screenplay that centers around a single theme so that every scene will inevitably touch that theme. The end result should be a cohesive, resonant script. Novel writers would benefit from this advice as well.
Martell has plenty of examples and analyses several films in detail as examples. He particularly breaks down the movie Ghost and shows you how theme was used in every scene.
Would have given this book 5 stars but the book has to compete with masters like McKee’s Story, James Scott Bell and Dwight Swain.
June 9, 2018
Yes!Yes!Yes!
This really is an awesome book. I was blown away on how useful it truly was.
There are so many *obvious* things he points out to make a scene better I felt like a newbie. And I'm not.
Let me just say that I love making lists. I have 100s of notebooks with lists in them so I appreciate the appeal of lists. If you do not... Maybe you should learn.
If you are taking a Film class, you need these books. He has done so much of the homework already. Really. He has plotted movies that reminds you to notice the small details in the outlines for a coherent throughline.
Really, really amazing.
This really is an awesome book. I was blown away on how useful it truly was.
There are so many *obvious* things he points out to make a scene better I felt like a newbie. And I'm not.
Let me just say that I love making lists. I have 100s of notebooks with lists in them so I appreciate the appeal of lists. If you do not... Maybe you should learn.
If you are taking a Film class, you need these books. He has done so much of the homework already. Really. He has plotted movies that reminds you to notice the small details in the outlines for a coherent throughline.
Really, really amazing.
April 11, 2019
Having been struggling to formulate new story ideas recently, I turned to this series of blue books for some guidance from a master of screenwriting.
This book covered various ways of outlining novel ideas, so that you have a solid concept and storyline to work on. Not every method of outlining will work for every writer: hell, you may not even want to outline and there's no shame there either.
For people looking to learn how to outline, this book will offer several methods of doing just that. I found this to be an invaluable tool in improving my writing and outlining skills.
This book covered various ways of outlining novel ideas, so that you have a solid concept and storyline to work on. Not every method of outlining will work for every writer: hell, you may not even want to outline and there's no shame there either.
For people looking to learn how to outline, this book will offer several methods of doing just that. I found this to be an invaluable tool in improving my writing and outlining skills.
December 3, 2018
Wonderful Writing Resource
Any writer of stories in any form can improve their craft by reading, digesting and applying the ideas presented in this book. Mr. Martell has a knack for teaching practical writing skills in a way that is easy to understand and use immediately.
Any writer of stories in any form can improve their craft by reading, digesting and applying the ideas presented in this book. Mr. Martell has a knack for teaching practical writing skills in a way that is easy to understand and use immediately.
October 3, 2019
Great book!
This book works for any one who needs to understand the art and craft of writing of any kind. The tips and insisted William gives can help you be a much better writer because he breAks down what and how an outline works.
This book works for any one who needs to understand the art and craft of writing of any kind. The tips and insisted William gives can help you be a much better writer because he breAks down what and how an outline works.
September 1, 2019
A bit long, but lots of great info for writers in this book.
May 27, 2023
I've always been a BIG fan of the OUTLINE as an author, and knew I wanted to take the same approach with my films. This book certainly helped navigate the process. Great job. Highly recommend.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews