Palmer plan handbook; photoplay writing, simplified and explained (1919)

KEEPING A PLOT FLUID. 27. The most frequent and grievous fault that I have found among untrained individuals who try to write scenarios is the obstinate and non-elastic mind, the sin- gle-track horse-car line of thinking, and this wholly from lack of training or from a wrong conception of the orderly quest of a plot. 28. One young woman to whom I returned a manuscript while I was manag- ing editor of a producing company in Los Angeles, secured a personal interview with me and I pushed aside the work of a particularly busy day to show her where her plot was wrongly constructed and how to change it, and thus greatly improved what was not a good stor>' at best. Whereupon she quoted a line that she had read somewhere, embodying the statement that the true poet scorns to mend his verse, and arguing therefrom and therefore that a scenario writer should scorn to change his or her plot, hanging on the first inspiration for dear life. Whereas, the contrary is the truth. With rare exceptions, so rare as to be practically nil, a scenario of merit is the result of many eliminations and additions, of tearing down here and building up there, possibly hitting upon a new line of thought that changes the whole trend of the story after its first completion. Never be satisfied until you believe that there is not a flaw or weakness in your manuscript that can be remedied. 29. Select a theme or a situation, or sequence of situations, from which a plot may be built and give ample preliminary thought to every angle before you decide upon a choice of treatment. When you have done so, you will be possessed merely of material to work with; j'our actual work has just started. Keep your mind open and active. Allow one incident to suggest another, and if you suddenly run into a new vein of thought that seems better, discard the old one, making a note of it for future reference. 30. In working out the details of your plot do not permit yourself to accept as final the first convenient thought that springs to your mind. For instance, suppose you are dealing with the pursuit of a character whose identification needs to be established by the pursuer. An easy way of accomplishing this is to allow the fugitive to write a note or telegram in ink and then, in blotting it, leave his signature in re- verse upon the blotter. The pursuer finds the blotter, holds it up to a mirror, dis- covers the name of the fugitive, and upon this clue pursues until the capture is made. 31. This is quite natural and plausible treatment and serves the purpose well, but it has not been used more than two or three thousand times up to date, and, therefore, in spite of its merit, it is somewhat hackneyed. Don't use it! Use your brains instead and originate some other means of attaining the same end. This is a single example of a problem that will constantly arise in the work of every photoplay- wright. The moral is: shun the obvious and hackneyed and use every effort to be original in your treatment of the details of plot construction. 32. When you have a story worked out carefully, write it down in detail and lay it aside for a day or week, dropping it out of your mind. Wlien you finally dig it up for a critical review, you will possibly find faults that you had quite overlooked in the flush of your first enthusiasm. Do not prepare it for final submission to a pro- ducing company until you are satisfied that it is the very best work that you are capable of. A bad scenario will leave a negative impression, while a well-constructed story, even if not available at the time of its submission, will leave a good impression, and perhaps pave the way for acceptance next time. 33. Before sending your manuscript on its way to possible purchase and pro- duction, test it to your complete satisfaction, and ascertain if it possesses a sufficient 85