Chapter | thirteen

Advanced Structure: Getting from Good to Great

Structure is like a trusty mountain guide. He's walked these trails a thousand times before and he never wavers, not even in the face of freezing rain and heavy snow. He's forgotten more about this rocky path than you'll ever know, and if you earn his respect, he'll share his deepest secrets with you.

(And that, dear reader, is what we call a “labored metaphor.”)

Mountains aside, once you get comfortable with basic structure, you can start to pull off some clever new tricks. These are the sorts of techniques you should probably save for the rewrite – remember, the point of your first draft is just to get it done so you'll have something concrete to work on.

Screenwriting Tip #116 ...

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