Dispatch from The Quest: Jordan Earls
Last week as we did here on GITS, the Quest writers focused on the subject of style. As the screenwriting principle we started with is Style = Voice, the Questers spent a lot of time thinking about the importance of determining what their voice is in relation to the stories they write. Today: Jordan Earls with some reflections on Batman, Superman, and Dr. Seuss:
Voice is one of the harder topics to discuss as a writer. It’s a crucial element to a great screenplay, but because voice is so personal to the writer it’s difficult to tell a writer how to develop a narrative voice. If comparing two writers — say Aaron Sorkin and Shane Black, it’s easy to see there are distinct differences in their voices. Yet even the most avid screenplay enthusiasts would have a difficult time putting those differences into words. A screenplay with good concept, characters, structure and dialogue can be made great by a writer with a unique voice. Thinking about voice last week made me ponder certain writers I covet.
Personally, I’m a Batman girl. I’ve never enjoyed a Superman movie because going in I already know the “All Hope is Lost” moment of the film will involve Kryptonite. It’s not an exciting moment after seeing it a hundred times. However, I was lucky enough to get my hands on a draft of the J.J. Abrams Superman script. I assumed I would be bored to death, but I was enveloped in the story within the first page. Why? Because J.J. Abrams has a unique voice, a perspective nobody else could perfectly duplicate.
Then, I jumped to Stephen King. I recently read his novel 11/22/63 (a masterful piece of storytelling about the JFK assassination) and recommended it to several friends of mine. We were drunkenly discussing the book when my friend exclaimed, “You know what makes Stephen King so great? Because he’s Stephen King. He’s like, ‘I’m gonna write this book how I want to write it and if you don’t like it you can go eat a sandwich because I’m Stephen King and gold pours out of my fingers every time I write.” Okay, there was definitely some profanity I extracted out of that BUT the point is…
Great writers have distinct narrative voices because they believe in what they have to say. They believe in their words and their point of view. If you’re writing, you better — but I don’t think that faith is innate in all writers. I think it’s more innate to second guess yourself. That’s why we see so many screenwriters trying to be the next Shane Black or Aaron Sorkin.
I think Dr. Suess put it best, “Today you are You, and that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than You.” Forgive me for the cliché quote, but this is the wisdom I took from last week: If you want to be the next Shane Black or Aaron Sorkin, the trick is to write exactly what and how you want. Don’t put pressure on yourself to write like anyone else, just have faith in what you have to say.
In our weekly teleconference last Sunday, I told the Quest writers they should read scripts by professional screenwriters, even play around with emulating their style. This is no different than what musicians, artists, composers, and the like do. One value in writing a lot of scripts is over time, you develop your own sense of style reflecting your own voice. No harm in imitation as a bridge to the you that is “truer than true.”
Tomorrow: Another dispatch from The Quest.
About Jordan: Portland based writer. Connoisseur of film with an affinity for Nolan, Boyle and Jackson. Twitter: @jordanpaige00.
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