William Goldman’s “Ten Commandments on Writing”

Per the dean of contemporary American screenwriting:

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

1. Thou shalt not take the crisis out of the protagonist’s hands.

2. Thou shalt not make life easy for the protagonist.

3. Thou shalt not give exposition for exposition’s sake.

4. Thou shalt not use false mystery or cheap surprise.

5. Thou shalt respect thy audience.

6. Thou shalt know thy world as God knows this one.

7. Thou shalt not complicate when complexity is better.

8. Thou shalt seek the end of the line, taking characters to the farthest depth of the conflict imaginable within the story’s own realm of probability.

9. Thou shalt not write on the nose — put a subtext under every text.

10. Thou shalt rewrite.

Which ones of these are most ‘sacred’ to you? Do you have any others you might add?

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