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All the years I spent acting taught me a number of things about writing. 

First it was important to know how to spot good and bad writing based on what the actors did in a scene.

If you find a scene or a section in your writing lagging or lacking tension and you want to know how to make your reader (and you) turn the page take this to heart.

Ask yourself “What does my character want at this moment?” Ask it for everyone in the scene because everyone does have a want in every scene.

Then ask yourself to come up with six ways for your character to get that very thing.

Beg, threaten, cajole, joke, intimidate, encourage, bribe, seduce

Then have them do all of them. Every scene should have at least one if not three or four ways utilized.

Take Cat on a Hot Tin Roof–in that first scene Maggie wants something. -She wants a child.

Now send your kids out of the room because we are going to get specific.

She wants a kid. Her husband doesn’t want to sleep with her. There are reasons for these things but first…

It is a 45 minute or so monologue. Her husband says maybe 10-15 words. If all she does is berate him its a bore.

She needs to seduce, invite, convince, beat him up, threaten cajole encourage bribe because each of those intentions creates an act of doing. You don’t threaten the way you bribe. You don’t beg the way you seduce. She has to get creative.

If you look at Maggie from any distance you see she is Scarlett O’Hara and she is never going to be hungry again.

Conflict arises when he doesn’t want to have sex with her. He wants to be left alone to get drunk. He is also probably gay. BUT in order to get into his father’s will they need to have a kid. His father is dying.

The whole time I am writing this I am wishing I could have seen Natalie Wood play this part but it was Elizabeth Taylor–who was excellent–but in my head I am seeing Natalie. Don’t know why but interesting casting.

Maggie in that first scene is an excellent example which I use also in the post below. If the actress playing her had two things she is doing during that scene it is a long sludge through.

You can create so much more by know what a character wants and what they are doing to get it.

Send me an email with your thoughts.

Check out the following posts for more on how to make your writing sing by using intentions and conflict