Blueprint for Screenwriting: A Complete Writer's Guide to Story Structure and Character Development
Rachel Ballon
This is a truly helpful book, no matter where you are in your screenwriting career. One of Dr. Ballon's particular strengths is to give you techniques to understand the psychology of your characters. She also gives you an excellent handle on the challenging and illusive -- though essential -- concept of subtext, which is an aspect of screenwriting that even highly experienced professionals struggle with. And I particularly appreciated her description of the ESSED syndrome. ESSED, she tells us, are qualities you can give your characters as they struggle towards a goal, qualities that intensify that struggle. ESSED is shorthand for words what end in "essed" -- words like obsessed, depressed, and dispossessed. This book covers all the basics of screenwriting, including format, structure, character development, and dialogue, and contains many helpful and stimulating lists of questions for you to ask yourself along the way as you build your script. It is a first-class addition to any screenwriter's library.
