There is no road map

There is no roadmap for writers. There’s no arrow saying “You are here”, with a lot of other signs pointing to other places you may or may not want to go. You can only look back at where others have been and learn. Then you must go into the unknown, the places marked on the map “Here there be dragons”. This is the only way to progress in your journey, because to stay on the well-trodden path is merely to revisit what has already been done. Exploration will find your unique voice. There is no right way to write. Read: novels and screenplays; learn from others, see what they did and then find your own voice. The books will tell you about structure, about beat, about subtext: all very necessary. But don’t let them take over your own ability to tell a story. There are only three real cardinal rules. Every story must have a beginning, middle and an end. You must engage your audience immediately, keep them engaged throughout, and then finish off with a bang, give them an ending that leaves them guessing or blurs their eyes with tears. But whichever way you do it, there’s got to be a “wow” factor. Your reader or cinema viewer has got to put down your book or walk out of the darkened theatre thinking they’ve had their money’s worth and are going to tell someone else about it.