Digesting Big MF'ing Notes.

 Although nothing really “happened” this week, it was nonetheless eventful and enlightening for me. The beginning of the week, I got notes. They weren’t the notes I was hoping to get. They were the kind of notes I wanted to hide under my covers from. They were the kind of notes that I would have to change the fundamental way I thought about my story in order to address. They were the kind of notes I wanted to ignore.

I have always said… I’ll do anything to make the story better. I’ll rewrite it any way that will help the script sell or get made. I’m not precious. I understand the business of screenwriting. I get the whole “kill your darlings” thing. Change the protag to an alien? Sure! I had no darlings. I was open.

Ha! I was wrong. I guess it’s inevitable that we get attached to our ideas. In order to work through my resistance to these notes, I did some honest digging. I wanted to know what was causing my resistance and then what to do about it.

The Honest Why’s to Resisting Notes…(in any situation, not just the one I was facing this week.)

- Burn out. I’m not a lazy person by nature, but hell, everyone gets tired. I’ve spent a lot of energy, time and effort on this story. At a certain point, even the smallest change can feel like Mount Everest.

- Being too close to it. When every word has been considered, dialogue dripping with subtext, it can feel like a colossal waste of effort to even consider ditching those crafted little details. Forest. Trees.  

- Being scared that I won’t be able to pull off something different. That I won’t be able to make all the pieces fit as well. That I’ll screw it up.

- Losing the passion for the story. I have started on my next screenplay, which is all shiny and new. This unexplored world beckons me, while I am faced with a broken world waiting to be fixed. I am a product of our instant-gratification, throwaway society. This also falls into the “too impatient” category. I’ve never been praised for my patience. I am getting better with effort, but that’s simply part of my nature that I’ll have to do battle with forever. Breath by breath.

- The person giving the notes seemed condescending. Now, this shouldn’t even enter into the equation, but it does. I suspect we all want respect. We want our hard work recognized and understood. So, when I get notes that seem to disregard my efforts, I can feel myself shut off. I try not to, but it’s like a door that has a will of it’s own. SLAM. It’s not helpful. It’s ego. Yuck. But true. I read in some management-training book somewhere that people need to hear ten times the positive reinforcement to negative reinforcement in order for the negative to be accepted. Jesus, we’re fragile beings.

- There is of course, the first reason I tell myself why I am resistant to notes. That the notes suck. And sometimes, even after an open and honest evaluation, this is true. Not every story is for every person. Not every person giving feedback is a good, objective story analyst. Sometimes, the note-giver might know something’s wrong, but they don’t know how to fix it. Or they don’t know how to express the problem. That's very common. So this is the easiest way for me to fool myself when I get a note that makes my heart sink for any of the above reasons. I will try to justify why the notes suck, instead of why I am resistant to giving them a fair chance.

So, the first thing I’ve learned to do when I get this feeling of opposition to notes is to step away. Distance myself from the whole affair. Do things that inspire me. Watch movies. Read a good book. Or as this week was the Cannes Film Festival, I engrossed myself in that. I let the filmmakers’ excitement and love of storytelling infect me. I listened to Stephen Spielberg; I read articles about the films in the festival. I watched interviews where actors talked about the scripts that inspired them. I saw audiences moved by the films they saw.

And I was back. Inspired. Full of energy. Both eyes on the prize. Flying over the trees to see the forest. Ego in check. Door wide open. A willingness to do anything to make my story better; which would eventually get my script sold or made.

I re-read the notes. It’s much easier now to resist the urge to fall into darkness and despair. Now it’s time to do the work.

The biggest decision at this point is whether to take the notes on board. This depends on how I feel about the person giving the notes. Do I trust their opinion? Are they invested in helping me improve the script? Did they put time and effort into their feedback? Are they someone who could help me with my end goal of a sale or a "written by" screen credit?

If I answer yes to any of those questions, then the next step is figuring out the reason for the notes. People DO give notes for a reason. I’d be a self-indulgent idiot if I didn’t think all my stories could be improved. That’s not a lack of confidence, or false humility. It’s just true. So I have to figure out what didn’t click for them, or make them feel the way they hoped to feel. What was missing for them? That is the art of note deciphering.

I am incredibly lucky that I have people I trust and respect that I can ask for help. My manager, John, is one, and my friend and story analyst, Joey, is another. They both have a brilliant instinct for story, and clarity for the bigger picture that is rare and invaluable. I also have a very close-knit circle of wonderfully talented writer friends, and we constantly share and learn from each other. I’d be lost without these people.

So, once I’ve accepted that I need to really consider the notes, I must leave everything I’ve done behind. Everything is liquid once again. Anything can change. Nothing is pre-determined. I’m back to “what if…?” It took me a long, hard week from getting the notes to here.

And here’s the funny part. Once I arrived at this point, and started working through the new perspective of the story, brainstorming ideas and figuring out how it could all work, I started to get excited. This was good shit. This could be a better story. I could see how it was clearer, with a better structure, and still held the mystery and emotional content of the relationships that was so important to me.

I wrote up a new 4-page synopsis of the story in half a day. I guess really it was a week and a half a day, if you count all my mucking around. Some might call that the “creative process”, I guess. I call it somewhat embarrassing, but a great week of discovery.

Onward and upward!

My 11 Commandments

I did a consultation with a development exec about a month ago. His knowledge about comedy and story are impressive. I'm looking forward to our next consultation with a new draft based on all his clever suggestions.

One of his suggestions was that I should list ten things to use as my commandments. Put them on a wall. Let them be a reminder of what I need to do. Wall. Blog. Same thing.

I ended up with 11. I’ve compiled it based on some of the wonderful things I’ve learned from people like that devel exec, Orson Scott Card, John Cleese, The Actor’s Studio, my friends, and my mom. 

1. Don't be married to words. Be married to the ideas behind them. Too many great words kill a good read.

2. Use the best characters for my story and it's audience, not just the ones I enjoy writing.

3. Don't settle on the first idea no matter how brilliant. I can always come back to it, but never pass up an opportunity to brainstorm. It’s is a free ticket to go nuts. Use it to be bold. Sexy. Inappropriate. Angry. Wild. Random. Idiotic. Truthful. 

4. Listen to my gut when it's telling me something needs more work. If I have to ask... "Is this too..." the answer is always "Yes". Convincing myself something is good means that it isn't.

5. Don't simply watch the movie unfold as I write. Live it. Be in it. Feel what the characters are feeling. Wear their shoes.

6. If I don't adore my main character, if I'm not anxious for them, horrified, elated, devastated, then no one else will be.

7. Keep it simple. One goal. One story. One theme. Overcomplicating is easy. Simple is hard.

8. Write a killer logline before committing to the story. If I can't interest someone in the concept, then it doesn't matter how it’s written. No one will read it. A logline is the quickest way to see if I'm about to waste a colossal amount of time and effort.

9. Learn from the least likely source. If someone is willing to help me, be grateful, regardless of their suggestions. Ideas are like balls in a pinball machine. The more they bounce around, the more points I'm going to get in my game.

10. Trust my path. It's not going to be the same as anyone else's. If someone says I can't do something, remember that's what they feel they can't do. Listen. Learn. Evaluate. Be open-minded. Be honest. Keep going. Onward and upward.

11. The very best way to learn how to write is to write lots.

Awesome Madness

 My last post I was waiting for a lot of things. Well… since then…

My sci-fi didn’t advance past the semi’s of Nicholl, but I had no idea that the semi’s would still get me reads! And it did. I got 14 script requests from various producers and managers to read that script. And from those requests, a few read more of my scripts… and from that… I’m getting ahead of myself.

I have been entering The Page Awards for many years, and each year, I did a little better. I feel like I have been growing up with Page, their competition tracking my progress. They are always filled with such enthusiasm and support. I went from quarters, then semi’s and then last year one of my scripts (a comedy) got into the finals. So it was super significant for me when I won 3^rd place for another comedy script last year. I found out in October. (I partied hard.) From that placement, I got 12 script requests from various managers and producers, and a few read more of my scripts… and from that… well, I’m getting ahead of myself again.

In October, I met The Happy Writers. These guys have changed my life. No joke. My friend, Caz, recommended them to me. I went to them for script consulting. I knew as soon as Joey emailed me back within 5 minutes that I’d hit on a company that was different. He was personable, for God’s sake. Not like ScriptShark, or any other consultant I’ve used. The feedback was stellar, totally bang on. I did more consulting. And more. They showed me how to look at my script from a producer’s perspective. I’d never had that before. Eye opening.

Then Joey told me about the Skype pitching services they were doing. You pay to have the opportunity to pitch via Skype to a manager, agent or a producer. My friend Caz helped me with my first pitch. Thank God. I was crapping my pants in that first pitch. But it went down well, and a lovely manager asked to read my script. I was hooked. Joey and Alexis helped me even more with my pitches. I started pitching like mad.

I want to just pause for a moment, to say how much my yearlong association with Toastmasters paid off in spades for me. I was able to do my pitches without throwing up from nerves. Seriously. I am so grateful to them for helping me through my issues with public speaking. Nevermind the difference it made in my face to face meetings… but again, I’m getting ahead of myself.

In Nov, I found out that my drama won the Reel Author’s awards, which was awesome. It’s the first time I’d actually won a contest. A few weeks later, I found out that I’d won The Happy Writer’s contest with the same drama script. Now, I was chuffed that I’d won the Reel Authors, but I was over the moon that I’d won THW. Part of the prize was that they would set up meetings for me in LA. And another part was that I got my services from them for free for a year. That’s right. Free pitching. They’re crazy. I pitched to EVERYONE. I have done 39 pitches since last October. I’m a pitching fool.

I just came back from my 2 week trip to LA, where I got to see my mum, and so many of my wonderful friends (I lived there for 7 years) did 4 Skype pitches with THW, had a consult with an awesome guy from Disney on my comedy, met Joey and Alexis (LOVE those guys!!!!) met with a manager I was connected to via Page (more of that in a mo), met with an amazing A-list producer, 3 devel execs from fantastic production companies, and 2 other managers - all via Joey (truly he’s a superstar!), met the exec director of Page (she’s such a sweetheart!), and the judge who read my script (so incredibly helpful and lovely! A working writer for the past 20 years!), met with a director who was interested in one of my scripts via Nicholl (more of that in a minute), and as if all that wasn’t enough… my brother, who I hadn’t seen in 17 years, flew over from NYC to see me, which I can’t even tell you how wonderful that was.

F*ck me. Quite a trip.

The tangible results from those two weeks are that I now have :

- A manager whom I adore. I met John via The Page Awards. I would be friends with John even if we didn’t have a 2-year contract. (I’m SO thrilled). John is everything I wanted in a manager. We had two amazing meetings, and I feel in my gut that we are going to have a lot of fun together for many years to come.

- An option deal for my psych thriller, that John is working through right now. If it all goes through, as I hope hope it does, then I’ll tell you more about it. For now, I’ll just say that I had two meetings with this director (that I met via the Nicholl Awards), and he’s Awesome. We had a 3-hour story meeting, brainstorming and going through the script. It was a first for me, talking turkey with the director and his fabulous assistant, and really getting to the heart of the story, and bringing it to another level. I learned so much from them, and am so excited about the rewrite. We left feeling like family. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience for my first (potential) option.

- Connections with some amazing people via Joey, who have all told me to stay in touch. They all want to read my scripts, some need rewrites, some haven’t even been written yet. Ha! One of the devel execs I met will come visit NZ, and stay in our guest room. These meetings went well because I had so much experience pitching with THW. I was never caught out by a question I hadn't heard in some form already. I knew all my stories and pitches with ease. And I also felt comfortable talking with each of them, as I had already pitched to them all once before. I had no idea at the time I was pitching that it would save my ass later.

- My brother Jonathan, who is a brilliant composer/lyricist told me that he and a fabulous woman he writes with, want to turn one of my comedies into a musical. This is so incredible for me. First of all, I always saw this story as a musical. Don’t ask me why. Unlike my brother, I am not musical in any way. But the main reason I’m so excited and honoured that this is happening, is that I’ll get to work with Jonathan. Imagine that. Couldn’t be happier about this.

The intangible results are that I got to hang out with my Mom and her hubby. Which was awesome. I really miss her. Jonathan and I got to spend a lot of time together, getting reacquainted. I am so proud to be his sister. And I got to hang with many of my dear friends. I had a blast. We went to the Magic Castle (thanks Michael! And everyone who came. So awesome to see you guys!), the Getty (Great suggestion Robin!) and did some fabu shopping with Lisa! Keg had bubbles at the ready when I got the option (you so ROCK!). Got to meet Joey and Alexis in the flesh. How can you two be so fabulous and so gorgeous as well? Met up with my wonderful friends from the first writing group I ever belonged to. So great to see you guys! Had dinner with some old friends, which was just amazing. Big love and hugs to you all.

I didn’t get to see some pals… Christina, Karen, David, Erin, Barb… I’ll see you guys all next time!!

And that’s the news. I’ve gotten such amazing support from so many people during all this madness. It really does make all the difference.

I am one lucky puppy.

And I have a lot of writing to do...

Waiting and Working

A few things on the go that I wanted to share. Plus my latest writing revelation. (I think it's a biggie)

My sci-fi script, GAME OF THE GODS, is in the semis of the Nicholl Fellowship. I'm still in shock. They are down to 129 scripts of nearly 7200 entrants. Now they tell me 4 Academy members read my script. And my name goes on a list that gets sent to around 200 agents/producers/managers, etc for becoming a semi-finalist.

My comedy script, 10 INTERVIEWS, is in the semi-finals of the Page Awards. I have no idea how that happened. 

A fantastic manager has contacted me (unsolicited?!) and requested to read GAME OF THE GODS. He didn't say anything about Nicholl, but why else?

I'm waiting to hear back from a producer in Vegas about my script set in Vegas. He seems lovely, and liked my script enough to pass it onto his director to see if there's interest. On his request, I've sent him a new outline based on some comments he made, and thoughts I had. I've basically changed more than half the script. But it will be so much better. I'm grateful to him, even if he passes.

So, yeah. F*ck me. Patience is key.

But I love having a few things on the go. That means I'm not pinning all my hopes on one thing. I think it's important for my moral. I've entered many more contests, and contacted more producers, and had other rejections, but the more I do, and the more I put my scripts out there, the more of a chance I have. Fingers, pies, many.

While my "business side" waits, my writing side is working away. I have the usual long list calling me. First is to get some of my sci-fi concepts in line. Then the rewrite of the Vegas script, and finally, I have a new sci-fi (a space cowgirl flick) that I'm dying to get at.

But I've also been thinking a lot about emotional content. I have come to the conclusion that I haven't been infusing enough emotional content into my scripts. I'm plot driven. So it takes me a lot of drafts to get the emotion into the script. But it's the emotional content that makes someone fall in love with a story and a character. So I've been reading some books on Method Acting. That's right. Because the theory (from what I can tell) about Method Acting, is that you don't play the part, you are the part. That way you aren't acting, you're feeling. It's intuitive. You can't hide from the emotions of the character, because they are your emotions. And this has made me ask myself, when I'm writing, do I simply watch the story unfold, or do I live the story as it's being told? I can put myself in my character's shoes, but it's more of an empathetic stance, than a completely personal stance. And I think there's a world of difference in that. So, while writing my next script I'm going to engage in the exercises a Method Actor does, and find shoes that my character would wear, and literally walk in them. Yup. I'm going to actually wear their shoes while I write. Of course, as a writer writing all the parts, instead of an actor acting one part, that's a lot of shoes. But it might work. Or I might go mad. But I think it's going to be worth a shot! I'm excited. Method Writing. WTFN?

Life Lessons

Tomorrow night I am giving my 8th speech in my Toastmasters Group. Three more speeches to be deemed a "competent communicator". Woot. I love my group, and have gone from thinking I will throw up before a speech, to enjoying the experience and having fun with it. I hope this will translate into pitching scripts, which was my reason for going. I couldn't have gotten worse. And the fact that I'm not obsessing, feeling ill, or getting nervous ticks indicates I've come a long way baby.


In any case, my speech tomorrow night is about storytelling, and what life lessons it's taught me, so I thought I'd post it, as I've been slack with the posts, and what the hell, I'm a lazy ass and this is already written.

I have been learning how to write screenplays for a while now,  through books, university courses, online courses, seminars, coaches, consultants, managers, agents, website and webinars. For the most part, from what I can see, there’s a definitive way to tell a good story.

You have a beginning, something happens, there's trouble, it goes from bad to worse, then completely horribly wrong, there's a choice, fight back, a crisis, win/lose something (often both), a resolution.

That’s pretty much how most stories go. Give or take.

But a good story isn’t just structure. And here’s where storytelling gets interesting. The art of good storytelling is in engaging the audience. Somehow, they have to connect to the story. Become emotionally invested.

How does a storyteller do that? I've narrowed it down to three things.

ONE. Characters. You love them, hate them, they make you laugh or cry. And here’s the catch. The best characters have flaws. They are not perfect. We don’t find perfect characters interesting or endearing. What we find engaging in characters are their flaws more than their virtues.

For example:

Captain Jack Sparrow. He is a bit nasty, and a drunk. But we love him.

Indiana Jones. He’s a thief. Grave robber. Cocky. And he can’t hang onto anything he steels.

Batman. He’s out for revenge. He’s emotionally unstable.

TWO. Villains. We love good villains. Really bad, scare the pants off you, terrifying evil people. Because we love to see them defeated. The bader the better. The stronger they are, the more we want them taken down. The harder it seems for the good guy to win, the sweeter their victory will be.

For Example:

Jaws. That shark is terrifying. Who didn't cheer when that sucker blew up?

Hannibal Lecter. He’s a frickin' nightmare. And a starling has to take him down.

Darth Vadar. He is not just the baddest ass villain, he's your father. Say no more.

THREE. Relationships. We love to watch how characters relate to each other in a story. We want them to have someone to share a revelation with. Or a moment of glory, or the aftermath of victory. Love. Friendships. Rivalry. We can connect to characters based on the relationships in their lives.

For example:

Obviously the romantic comedies like Pretty Woman. And buddy movies like Men In Black, or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But take an action movie.

Die Hard. If his wife wasn’t in the building, and we weren’t already hoping they would get back together, it wouldn’t have mattered as much if he won.

The Hunger Games. It’s a sci fi action adventure. But the thing that kept me hooked through the story is who will she end up with? And I loved her because of her unconditional love and sacrifice for her sister.

So, to recap…

1. Being perfect is over rated. It’s boring, and no one will find you interesting.

2. Getting something good is sweeter with sacrifice and hardship. We like to earn our glory. We find it more satisfying to work for it than to have it handed to us.

3. Ultimately, what matters the most to us, are the people in our lives. Without someone to share the ups and downs with, the hardships and the glory, life can be a bit shallow.

Storytelling has taught me to embrace my flaws, welcome my challenges, and enjoy the people in my life. These are the key ingredients to my own good story.

The Almightly Logline

 Logline: A sentence that gets your script read, or more heartbreakingly, not read.

I shudder when I have to write one. I am constantly re-thinking them when I do. And I’m never, and I mean NEVER happy with them, even after the 50^th rewrite of that one, short, simple little line.

Because this one simple line has to sum up a gigantic volume of time, effort, passion and polish. This one line might encompass a year of your blood, sweat and tears. (Oh come on, admit it. You’ve have too cried over your stories.) 

And regardless of if you do well in a contest (which is truly great, I’m not saying it isn’t) or if your writing group thinks you have a sure fire hit (which is also incredibly rewarding, no doubt about it), or if you know in the pit of your gut, in that one place that never ever lies, that this is a damn good script…

It doesn’t mean jack if you can’t get it read by that Influential Group of agents/managers/producers who can get real traction for your script.

And they only read it if the logline grabs em. 

Just to be clear. I’m not talking about a writer whose name is what gets a script read. So, for example, if Terry Rossio & Ted Elliott have a script, their logline could suck ass, and everyone would be climbing over themselves to read their script anyway. Maybe they don’t even have to write loglines anymore (why should they?!) but I’m talking about Ms. No-Name-Writer here, with “please-read-my-script” tattooed on her forehead. The thing that will get my script read is a good logline.  

Is that fair? Damn straight it is. Because the flip side to this is, I often only see a movie if the tagline grabs me via advertising. And that’s a whole completed movie that potentially took years, and tons of people, and lots of money, and I bet their fair share of tears, to make. And I can judge all that work by one line in two seconds and sum it up with “Nah sounds boring.” And I move onto the next movie in the list. I do this. I sometimes even judge a whole body of work on just the title alone! I do. I bet you do too.

SIDE NOTE

“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”. There is no way I’d see that movie. And there are other people who are dying to see it. All based on the title alone. Nevermind a logline. Which btw, if you’re interested is: “Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, discovers vampires are planning to take over the United States. He makes it his mission to eliminate them.” Anyway… Seth Grahame-Smith wrote it, and he’s on the hot list now. He wrote Dark Shadows. So I’m obviously talking smack. Vamp Hunter is probably going to rule the box office. But it will rule it without my $15.

/SIDE NOTE

So I don’t BLAME the Influential Group for judging my script on a logline. I get it. It’s how it works. It just makes me so super-hyper-aware of how important that damn unforgiving logline is. 

Before I started marketing my scripts, I knew I had to write one; I saved it for the end (procrastinated), categorized it under “cursed marketing” and didn’t really give it much weight. WRONG. I couldn’t have been more misguided.

Now, with a bit of marketing experience under my belt, and seeing what scripts of mine get requested, and which ones don’t (despite being a finalist in Page) I see that the logline is KING. So much so that I can’t afford to think of it as a royal pain-in-the-ass anymore. In fact, I have to start thinking of the logline as something that's not only used to get someone to read my script. I have to start thinking of it as a development tool for my story.

It will show me if my main character is worth writing a story about. It will tell me if the conflict is big enough and if the stakes are high enough. But most importantly… it will tell me if my story has heart. It will show me if it’s a movie I would want to see or if I would pass over it in a listing of 15 other movies with “Nah sounds boring”. It would make it perfectly clear to me, what is it about this story that I simply have to tell it? It will sell me on my story.

I’m finding it interesting to go through IMDB and my cinema guides, and read the loglines of movies that have been made. Some of the loglines seriously suck. And some of those movies are good too, and the logline doesn’t do it justice. Which just confirms that loglines are freakin’ hard! But when I come across a good logline, it sticks out. It makes me smile. I nod my head. Yeah… I’d see that. You know the idea has heart. Even if the resulting movie was terrible, that script got read!

Obviously, getting a request to read a script is just step one, but without passing step one… you’re still at step one. And a logline does not determine if the script is good. But it will determine if the concept is good. And maybe even more importantly, it will show if the story has that special something that everyone looks for, but no one can define. In the age of ADD, I call it AAK (An Attention Keeper).

So, that’s my weekend task. I am going to re-examine 2 of my loglines, and see why they are not getting script requests. I sense a few rewrites in my near future once I figure out the problem with The Almighty Logline.

My latest revelation

OK, so you probably already know this. And I guess I did too on some level, because it just makes sense. But it's finally hit me what is the main thing I yearn for in a story, the thing that keeps propelling me through pages, or screen time. The thing that makes me love a movie or book.

This came to me in a variety of ways, all accumulating to my big revelation.

First, were the managers. Several managers liked the logline of one of my scripts enough to request I send it to them. The feedback I got was positive, it was a solid script, well written, well crafted, yadda yadda... but bottom line was they didn't fall in love with it enough to campaign for it.

Then, after several friends recommended I read "The Hunger Games" I picked up the first one, and devoured them straight through till the end of the 3rd book.

And finally, I read this article that a friend emailed out. It's about a producer named Lindsay Doran, and what she thinks makes a movie joyful. She talks about a bunch of things, but there was one point in particular that she made that stood out to me.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/movies/lindsay-doran-examines-what-makes-films-satisfying.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

Here it is. Here's my big revelation.

The two things that hook me in a story, that make me turn the page as fast as I can to see what will happen, are:

1) If I fall in love the main character.
2) To see what will happen with his/her relationships.

It's not to see how they'll get out of jail, or get rich, or learn a secret, or save a city. Nor is it to see if the bomb goes off, or the bad guys die, or the mystery is solved. I mean, I care about those things. They have to be good. Put me on a roller coaster. Make me tense and scared. But that's not what makes me fall in love with a story.

It's the people. And who they care about. And what's going to happen to them.

Lindsay Doran said that “Audiences don’t care about an accomplishment unless it’s shared with someone else. What makes an audience happy is not the moment of victory but the moment afterwards when the winners shares that victory with someone they love.”

What was it about The Hunger Games, that I had to see what happened? Sure the games were horrible and graphic, and the distopian future was engaging and the premise and the story line, and all that was fast paced and interesting. But the one question that kept popping into my mind, the one that I had to find out the answer to, was... who would she end up with? I fell in love with the main character, and I loved the people she loved and I had to know who she would end up with from this romantic triangle she was caught in. And the scenes where this was touched on, the emotional moments she had with the two prospects, were the ones I savoured.

Maybe I would have been embarrased to admit that before, so I never really recognized it. Does a wonderful sci fi tale really all come down to trashy romance? Yes. It does. Those are the juicy bits. Of course, the story has to be good, and engaging and that needs to move forward, uping the stakes and so on. But the thread that gives a the heart a tug, the emotional yeaning, the thing that makes us fall in love with the story, are the relationships.

Lindsay Doran also said when the hero realizes the relationship is more important than the achievement, that makes us happy.  But also, this doesn't mean that it has to end all peaches and cream. A movie can end with the lovers not getting to be together. Look at Casablanca. He gives up his own love for her to be happy, and he finds another relationship that will be meaningful for him. But it's still about the relationships. That's what we want to know about. It's not about what kind of man will Rick turn into. It's who will be in his life? Who matters to him? Will his relationships come to a satisfactoy conclusion?

Harry Potter. Would we have cared so much about this boy if he didn't have friends he loved to share his adventures with? If it was just Harry against the world, alone, fighting for good, I doubt it. 

I thought of the managers. One said "I didn't fall in love with it enough to campaign for it." And I now know why. I had no one, not really, for her to share her conquest with. It was hers and hers alone. The relationships in my story were secondary to the plot and action. I got it backwards. What we love the most, are the relationships. The connection between people. Whatever causes emotions. Love, hate, jelousy, fear, passion, shared joy. These moments are made between people. These moments are the ones that makes us love the story.

Thanks to The Hunger Games, I also realized that for me, I must love the main character, in order to really care about his/her relationships. I can like a story where I don't love the main character, but I won't love it. What makes me love a main character? When they love someone else more than themselves, or if they are kind to someone when no one else was, or the relationship they have with another person, even if it's in need of repair. What makes me love them is how they relate to other people (or sometimes animals).

And then I thought of all the books I've loved the most, the movies where I would hold my breath and then cry the hardest, were all because I loved the main character, and I became invested in the relationships in their life. Some of the greatest moments in movies are that moment when the relationship is resolved, or a success is shared. Or a loss of a relationship is felt.

For example:
"Sense and Sensibility" - when Edward tells Elinor that he's not married, and all her reserve shatters into sobs of relief and joy. (this still makes me cry!)

"When Harry Met Sally" - it's New Years Eve and Harry give his speech to Sally, ending with "When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

"Dangerous Beauty" - when she's at trial, and the love of her life, a man who was more concerned with his status than their relationship, stands up in front of everyone to defend her, causing a chain reaction of all the men who secretly loved her, and who's lives she touched, to defend her.

"Blade Runner" - The scene on top of the roof in the rain when Roy says to Decker "All those moments will be lost, like tears in the rain." It's the moment that Decker sees Roy as human. Their relationship changes in that moment just before Roy dies.

Sure I have favorite moments that have nothing to do with relationships, but it's the relationships that make me fall in love with the story in general, and how the main character relates to others is what makes me fall in love with them.

I am rewriting my sci fi story now. I am focusing on the relationships in her life, as she goes through her journey. Focusing on the people she loves, and her difficulties with them. I'm excited. This is the stuff that moves me. And I'd somehow neglected this most crucial part of storytelling.

Onward and upward.