This question from Brian Peck merits vigorous discussion:
Hey all,
Ben, thanks for this post…it definitely grounds me. My struggle is on a long term basis, how can I create a structure in which the type of TPRS you describe in its must pure form can happen? I have bought in to the backwards planning from novels idea meaning that I pick my structures based on a novel I am hoping my students will be able to read. I am trying to really limit what structures I use and be strategic. The only problem with this is that the scripts out there…like Matava and Jim’s scripts and even Carol’s and Blaines don’t always fit in to to the progression of structures that I like to use. No problem right…just write my scripts? Well, I find that I somehow always make them so much more complicated than required and lose sight of the basic principles (3 locations, a conflict, good characters, etc). My question is, am I missing a point here. Is it better to utilize the good scripts out there and just don’t worry about where the structures lead? When I did that though, I often found that we rarely recycled structures from our good stories and then the novels didn’t always include the structures I used in TPRS. How do others reconcile this tension between targeting specific structures to align to a novel or a text versus going with good stories? Or am I missing a point altogether?
Brian