Thursday, April 22, 2010

People, Events, Ideas - Screenplays?

A few years ago I came across the following saying which one website attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt: "Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." I'd tweak this a bit and say, "Great minds tend to discuss ideas. Average minds discuss tend to discuss events. Small minds tend to discuss people."

I mention this because the woman who just read ACYW and provided feedback essentially said all I cared about were the ideas driving the plot and not the characters. While I do not subsequently align myself with Roosevelt's "great minds", I do agree with the assessment. While I grew to enjoy my characters after a lot of work, they do come second, if that, to the ideas that drive my writing.

To this end, she recommended I make ACYW a screenplay. I have never read a screenplay, but I requested some from the library and will do my homework.

This brings up some questions. First, why can ACYW afford to be less character driven as a screenplay than as a book? Second, why is it necessary to be intimately familiar with characters to appreciate the ideas at hand? Third, if a majority of the world thinks about events and people how screwed is work driven by ideas? This also, of course, begs a more personal question.

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