Want to study fiction? Watch movies!

Eva Marie Everson

We book writers often study the works of other book writers … not to copy work, but to learn more about craft. If this book made it to #1 on any list, the question of “why” must be answered.

We study things like opening pages, middle of the book techniques (how do we keep the story interesting), the climax and the wrap-up. We write down characters’ names, their background stories and how the author seemed to effortlessly wove that back story into the novel.

We look at plot points, at the Major Dramatic Question, and at dialogue (Did it sound realistic? Did it push the story forward? Did it incorporate dialect without overburdening the reader?)

But did you know you can do the same thing with movies?

Years ago, I decided I wanted to write a novel. But I had to admit I knew nothing about writing a work of fiction. I knew all about reading them … and I

lso knew a lot about watching movies. I had my favorites–those I watched over and over again. And why? Because the story had been well-told.

But how?

I began to break down movies, scene by scene, character by character … and I noted a pattern. Using that, I wrote my first novel … and my second … and my third … and my sixteenth, which releases this April (The One True Love of Alice-Ann. Tyndale).

For several years now I’ve been teaching the techniques I learned and incorporated and, quite honestly, nothing thrills me more than hearing other writers say, “I can’t watch a movie now without seeing the pattern!” This is not movie-spoiling. This is movie enhancement!

I hope you’ll join me for my continuing workshop Foundations of Fiction Through Film. We’re sure to bring new light to movies as well as to your work.