This book (along with Pride and Prejudice) has been a classic DIY MFA example and one that I use when talking about lots of different aspects of the craft. I like to put The Hunger Games side-by-side with Pride and Prejudice in particular because it shows that these craft elements are not arbitrary and they apply to vastly different types of literature.

I’ve been talking about the three-act structure a lot lately, but if you’re not familiar with the framework (or want a refresher on how it works), check out this article.

Spoiler Alert! Okay, since this book was published in 2008, I think the statute of limitations on spoilers has long since expired. But just in case, let me say this: there will be spoilers. It’s impossible to talk about a book’s story structure without giving away key plot twists or the ending. So if you’ve been waiting to read The Hunger Games and you don’t want spoilers… well, you have been warned.

Alright, let’s dive into our analysis of The Hunger Games.

ACT 1: The Hunger Games has one of the shortest first acts in all of literature. The entirety of Act 1 is compressed into the first chapter. By the time we get to chapter two, we are already at the pivot point and well on our way into Act 2. But just because Act 1 is short doesn’t make it incomplete or ineffective. Act 1 of The Hunger Games fulfills all five promises that the reader expects, and it does so with laser-sharp efficiency.

CHARACTER: Katniss Everdeen is our protagonist. We don’t know much about her in Act 1, but we know she’s good at hunting and she cares deeply about her younger sister Prim. She and her best friend, Gale, talk about running away to someplace where they (and their younger siblings) could be safe.

VOICE: The story is narrated in first person present tense, so we feel like we are right there in the middle of the action. There is an immediacy to the first person present tense that draws readers into the story.

WORLD: We learn a lot about the world of Panem in that first chapter. We learn that there has been a revolution during the “Dark Days” where the districts rose up against the Capitol. Twelve of these districts were defeated and returned to Capitol rule, while the thirteenth district was destroyed and eliminated altogether. Now, as a way to celebrate the peace (and remind the districts of who’s in charge) they have the Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death in an outdoor arena where each district sends one male and one female tribute to participate. The games continue until only one tribute is left standing.

PROBLEM: It’s Reaping day and the odds are definitely not in Katniss’ favor. In order to keep her family fed, she had to put her name in the tribute jar extra times, meaning that it’s quite possible she will be chosen as tribute. The other, bigger problem is that her younger sister, Prim, is eligible for the reaping for the first time. Her name is only in the jar once, but Katniss is still worried.

EVENT: All eligible young people go to the town square for the Reaping ceremony.

PIVOT POINT 1: Primrose (Prim) Everdeen’s name is chosen from the tribute jar. Katniss gets turned into a tailspin. All she has ever wanted to do is protect her sister and now her sister has been chosen for The Hunger Games. In a moment of panic, not knowing what else to do, Katniss volunteers to take her sister’s place.

ACT 2:  Katniss is thrust full-speed into the world of the Games. After barely being able to say goodbye to her family, she boards a high-speed train to the Capitol, where she is introduced to her stylists and mentor, as well as the other tributes. After a few chapters in the Capitol, Katniss is sent to the arena, where most of the rest of the story takes place.

SUPPORTING CAST:  There are several key characters in The Hunger Games who we meet in Act 2. First we have Peeta Mellark, Katniss’s fellow tribute from District 12. We learn that Peeta has always been secretly in love with Katniss and at one time he saved her (and her family) from starvation.

In addition, we have several mentor-like characters including Effie Trinket (the Capitol liaison with District 12), Haymitch Abernathy (the only living Hunger Games victor from District 12), and Cinna (the head stylist and trusted friend to Katniss). While these mentor characters cannot come with Katniss into the arena, the short span of time she spends with them in the Capitol has a strong influence on her.

Finally, we also have other tributes who play important roles in the story. The career tributes—in particular, Cato—are the primary antagonists when Katniss enters the arena. Plus, Rue (the young tribute from District 11) becomes an important ally for Katniss. Rue reminds Katniss a lot of her sister Prim and serves as a stand-in character who fills the same role, even though Prim is back home in District 12.

RULE OF 3:  There’s a Rule of 3 where Katniss faces off against the career tributes (the most vicious tributes, those from districts 1 and 2). The first incident is when she cuts down a branch that has a tracker jacker’s nest on it and it falls right on top of where the career tributes are sleeping. In this case, Katniss is just trying to survive because the careers had her cornered in a tree.

The second time she faces off against the career tributes is when she and Rue plot to destroy their supplies. Here, Katniss doesn’t actually deal with any career tributes directly. She waits for Rue to cause a distraction and when the careers leave their supplies unattended, she destroys them by setting off a landmine.

The third incident where she faces off against the career tributes is at the very end, when she, Peeta, and Cato are at the cornucopia. Katniss and Peeta have formed an alliance, and Cato is the only other tribute remaining. They are on top of the cornucopia, surrounded by muttations (mutant monsters). Katniss and Peeta fight Cato and Katniss finally vanquishes him. 

W.O.R.S.T.: Katniss wants more than anything to survive and also to protect her family, especially Prim. The primary obstacle getting in her way is that she’s stuck in the Hunger Games, having to fight with the vicious career tributes who want nothing more than to see her dead. Despite starting out not wanting to harm any other tributes, Katniss is willing to do anything to protect her family—even kill. If she doesn’t survive the Games, she can’t go home to her family and there’s a good chance her mother and sister will starve. Katniss starts out a loner in the games, but eventually starts forging alliances (first with Rue, then with Peeta) and those alliances are what ultimately help her survive.

MIDPOINT: Katniss is injured and trapped up in a tree, with the career tributes down below, waiting to kill her. She sees a tracker jacker nest on one of the branches and cuts it down. In the process of doing so, she gets bitten by the insects and starts to hallucinate. She’s able to knock down the branch and the tracker jackers drive away the career tributes, killing one. In the chaos of the moment, Katniss gets down from the tree, grabs a bow and some arrows from the dead tribute, and runs into the forest. She runs directly into Peeta, who up until that point she thought was in cahoots with the career tributes. Peeta tells her to run, showing that he’s still on her side. Katniss runs until she collapses in a hallucinatory stupor. This is her first real victory against the career tributes and it serves as a Temporary Triumph.

PIVOT POINT 2: After destroying the career tributes’ supplies, Katniss regroups with Rue, when suddenly Rue is shot by a spear from one of the career tributes. Katniss quickly retaliates and kills the career tribute, but Rue is far too wounded to survive. Katniss sings to her as she dies, then does a burial ritual surrounding her with flowers. Finally, Katniss gets up and gives a peace signal to the camera televising the Games.

This is the first time Katniss has stood up to the Capitol in any way. Up until now, she has tried to keep her head down and survive so she can go home to her family. But losing Rue feels almost as if she’s lost her sister. She reaches her lowest point when Rue dies, and once she pulls herself together she takes her first step toward standing up to the Capitol.

Interestingly enough, this Pivot Point 2 for book one of the series also serves as Pivot Point 1 for the entire trilogy. It is the moment when Katniss goes from being “the girl on fire” to becoming “the mockingjay” and symbol of the revolution.

ACT 3: After Rue dies, the Gamemakers change the rules and state that two tributes may emerge as victors, so long as they are from the same district. At this point, Katniss realizes she needs to find Peeta because they can now survive the games together.

Katniss finds Peeta badly injured and she hides with him in a cave. They have a tender moment where they kiss, and Katniss begins to have feelings for him. Peeta is still very sick from his injuries, and the Gamemakers announce that there are “gifts” for each of the remaining tributes at the cornucopia. Certain that this “gift” is medicine for Peeta, Katniss risks her life to get it. 

CLIMAX: Once Peeta has recovered, the tension of the story begins to rise. The Gamemakers let loose muttations on the remaining tributes, driving them toward the cornucopia for the “grand finale.” Katniss and Peeta fight Cato (the one remaining tribute) atop the cornucopia and they win. Suddenly the Gamemakers change the rules again and say that only one tribute can be a victor. Katniss refuses to let the Gamemakers have their way. She has poison berries in her pocket and she divides them between herself and Peeta. Just as they are about to eat the poison berries, the Gamemakers announce that they are, in fact, the victors after all.

ENDING TYPE: Despite all the dark, painful moments, this story has a “happy ending.” Katniss wants to survive and that desire carries her through to the end of the story. She gets what she wants (survival) and she still wants it, making this a happy ending.

DENOUEMENT: After the climax, the story concludes rather quickly. There’s a short interview where Katniss and Peeta appear on a talk show with Cesar Flickerman and discuss their experience in the games. Then they head back to their home in District 12.

The important consideration with the denouement is that Katniss has to mask the reason why she pulled the poison berries stunt. We readers know that it was her way of making the Capitol look bad, but both she and Peeta insist publicly that they did it out of pure love for each other. They couldn’t stand the idea of being without the other and would have rather died than lose one another.

While this is a small detail in this book, it becomes increasingly important for book two of the trilogy. In Catching Fire (book 2), Katniss has to work hard to convince the authorities in the Capitol (especially President Snow) that she is not trying to cause trouble. The relationship between Peeta and Katniss continues to develop, becoming more and more important as the trilogy continues. In Mockingjay (book 3) Katniss and Peeta are separated with Katniss in a district and Peeta imprisoned in the Capitol, and the Capitol uses Peeta as a pawn, a way to get revenge on Katniss by harming someone she loves.

CONCLUSION: Many people talk about the three-act structure and how much of the story should occur in each act. The typical framework is 25% of the story in Act 1, 50% in Act 2, and 25% in Act 3. This book is proof that you don’t have to follow the framework to a T for your story to work. In The Hunger Games, Act 1 is only the first chapter, and after that we dive right into Act 2. This goes to show that, as long as you set the scene right and draw in the reader, you don’t have to follow the typical framework to the letter. 

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

The post Writer Fuel: Three-Act Analysis of The Hunger Games appeared first on DIY MFA.

Spoiler Alert! Okay, I always have to do one of these spoiler alert warnings, because the last thing I want is to ruin a book or movie for someone else. So consider this your spoiler warning. If you haven’t watched Die Hard (for shame!) go stream it now.

Okay, let’s dive into our analysis. But first, here’s a quick diagram showing the key components of the three-act structure. For an in-depth look at the three-act structure and how it works, check out this article on our website.

ACT 1: On Christmas Eve, NYPD officer John McClane arrives in LA to see his estranged wife, Holly. They’re still married, but his wife has moved to the West Coast for a fancy job and has taken the kids with her. McClane gets picked up in a limo by a driver called Argyle who takes him to Nakatomi Plaza. When they get to Nakatomi Plaza, Argyle offers to stay and wait for McClane, in case the reunion with his wife doesn’t go well and he needs a ride elsewhere. Let’s run through the five promises.

CHARACTER: John McClane is your typical tough guy action hero character. He’s a great cop and the kind of person you want to have on your side in a crisis, but when it comes to matters of the heart, he’s a bit clueless.

VOICE: Since it’s a film, we don’t really have a voice per se, but we do have a mood. It starts out very Christmas-y with holiday music, decorations, and people having fun at the Christmas party… but we get the uneasy feeling that something evil is brewing. Even the music in some spots turns a bit dark. We also see snippets of the bad guys starting to put their plan into action.

WORLD: With the exception of a couple of short scenes, the bulk of the movie takes place in Nakatomi Plaza, a large, fancy office building in Century City. At the start of the movie, the employees of the Nakatomi Corporation are having their Christmas party.

PROBLEM: McClane’s wife has moved across the country, but he’s a New York cop through and through. How can they possibly make this relationship work? When McClane arrives at Nakatomi Plaza, he discovers his wife has been using her maiden name (Holly Gennaro), further cementing that their relationship is on the rocks.

EVENT: Upon arriving at Nakatomi Plaza, McClane goes up to his wife’s office. He meets his wife and one of her coworkers, Harry Ellis, who brags about the Rolex Holly got from the company as a holiday present. McClane washes up, takes off his shoes and squishes the carpet beneath his feet, making “fists with [his] toes.” (This is something a fellow passenger on his plane recommended to feel better after a long flight.)

PIVOT POINT 1:  Thieves—who behave like terrorists—enter the building and take all the Nakatomi employees hostage, including McClane’s wife. McClane is still in the bathroom and when he hears the commotion, he manages to stay hidden and escape to another floor. At first he’s unsure of what to do—after all, he’s a lone, unarmed cop while the bad guys all have machine guns pointed at the hostages—but then he has an idea. If he pulls the fire alarm, he’ll also summon the cavalry because the fire department will have to respond. He pulls the alarm, thereby alerting the bad guys to his presence.

ACT 2:  The bad guys manage to convince the emergency responders that there is nothing wrong and they turn back. Now criminal mastermind Hans Gruber and his goons know that someone is there in the building with them and the cat-and-mouse game begins. Throughout Act 2 McClane manages to hold his own against the bad guys. He sneaks into various places, trying to collect as much intel as he can about them.

One of the things that keeps the story moving throughout Act 2 is the supporting cast, which becomes increasingly more important as the story evolves. Let’s take a closer look at the supporting characters who come into play in Act 2.

HANS GRUBER & HIS CREW:  The most significant supporting character in the story is our villain, Hans Gruber. We don’t know much about Hans except that he’s a criminal mastermind and his focus is 100% on getting the job done. He doesn’t have any grand political purpose—all he wants is to steal the bearer bonds that are in the vault at Nakatomi Plaza, and he will do whatever it takes to make that happen.

Throughout Act 2, he continually sends one or more of his goons after McClane, but McClane thwarts them and starts to pick them off one by one. In addition to decimating the ranks of the bad guys, he also managed to take a radio (so he can now communicate with the outside world) as well as a machine gun and other supplies.

At one point (late in Act 2), Hans separates from his men and goes to the roof to check on some explosives. While he’s there, he comes across McClane and pretends he’s a hostage who also managed to escape. He and McClane talk for a bit and McClane gives him a gun, at which point he turns on McClane and tries to shoot him. But McClane has tricked him and the gun isn’t loaded. Hans manages to escape when his men arrive and go after McClane. They shoot through glass partitions leaving shattered fragments everywhere, forcing McClane to walk over them in his bare feet to get away.

HOLLY GENNARO: While she is captured by Hans Gruber and his men, Holly Gennaro (McClane’s wife) is not particularly active, but she does take on an important role. After Hans kills the office head, Mr. Takagi, she becomes a leader of sorts among the hostages, negotiating with Hans for certain necessities. She also keeps her identity as John McClane’s wife a secret because if Hans is aware of their relationship, he could use her to get to McClane.

AL POWELL: Perhaps the most important new character in Act 2 is Al, a sergeant who gets called in to Nakatomi Plaza to check things out. At first, when he gets there it seems like everything is fine, but then McClane gets his attention by dropping the corpse of a bad guy onto his car. McClane and Al form an alliance as they talk over the radio. Al becomes a liaison between McClane and the outside world. We later learn that Al refuses to pull his gun on anyone because he once shot someone by mistake. 

ARGYLE: We don’t see much of Argyle throughout the beginning of Act 2, but periodically we get snippets of him in his limo, listening to music and talking to his girlfriend on the phone. At first, he is completely oblivious to what is happening in the building above the garage. It is only when he sees a news report about Nakatomi Plaza on the limo TV that he realizes what is going on. Unfortunately, he can’t get out of the garage because all the gates are closed, so he quietly waits in the limo.

MIDPOINT: The police finally realize there’s something serious going on. The deputy chief arrives with the SWAT team and they prepare to attack the building. Both Al and McClane know that an attack would be a disaster because the criminals are too well-armed. The deputy chief refuses to listen and the SWAT team attacks anyway. They get completely destroyed by the criminals and in the middle of the fight, McClane asks Hans to let the SWAT team pull back but Hans orders his men to fire again.

McClane is furious. He takes some explosives he got off one of the criminals and builds a makeshift bomb, throwing it down an elevator shaft. It creates a massive explosion and kills two of the criminals. For a moment it seems like McClane has had a small victory, but when he calls on the radio, the Deputy Chief gets angry at him.

This midpoint is an example of a temporary triumph. The character has a moment of victory where it seems like they’ve gotten what they want, but that triumph is short-lived. In this case, because it’s an action movie, we don’t have much of a moment of self-reflection. The emphasis is on the temporary triumph and we get right back to the action afterwards. 

PIVOT POINT 2: This plot point occurs over the course of a series of tightly woven scenes. McClane is wounded and his feet are bleeding from the broken glass. He and Al talk over the radio and Al confesses to him why he had a desk job. This sequence of scenes is a moment of vulnerability for both Al and McClane. At this point, McClane is at his lowest and it looks like the thieves have won. In his darkest moment, McClane asks Al to give his wife a message:

“She was the best thing that ever happened to a bum like me.  She’s heard me say I love you a thousand times, but she never got to hear this…Honey…I’m sorry.”

This is just about as classic a Dark Night of the Soul monologue if there ever was one. After giving Al this message, in true action hero fashion, McClane rallies his strength and continues to go after Hans and his crew.

Interestingly enough, McClane and Al have opposite trajectories for their stories and they are almost mirror images of each other as characters. Al is a super-supportive husband, stopping at the convenience store on his way home to pick up snacks for his pregnant wife. At the same time, because of his accident on the job, he’s afraid to draw his gun on anyone and needs to regain his confidence as a cop. McClane, on the other hand, has the cop thing down and is taking on a building full of criminals all by himself. His problem is that he needs to be more supportive of his wife. It’s no surprise that both Al and McClane verbalize their weaknesses during this sequence of scenes at the second pivot point, or Dark Night of the Soul.

ACT 3: As the crisis for Act 3 builds, we get more and more quick cuts from one scene to another. This gives us the sense that multiple things are happening at the same time. Here’s a summary:

A few of Hans’ men take the hostages up to the roof but the roof has been rigged with explosives. McClane, thinking his wife is among the hostages, heads to the roof as well. Meanwhile, Hans now has Holly and he takes her away from the roof to the (now open) vault. At the same time, a couple of Hans’ goons have been loading the bearer bonds from the vault into a truck. 

Karl, whose brother was killed earlier in the film (and now has a particular vendetta against McClane), goes after him in the stairwell to the roof and tries to kill him. He and McClane fight and it seems like Karl is dead. McClane goes to the roof in search of his wife.

McClane gets the hostages off the roof, but he’s cornered by an FBI helicopter and he knows the roof is about to blow. Just in the nick of time, he jumps off the roof tied to a fire hose and manages to break in through one of the windows on a floor below.

Just before the climax, one of the criminals takes a truck (now loaded with bearer bonds from the vault) and gets ready to get away. Argyle, who has been hanging out in the garage all this time, crashes the limo into the truck and foils the escape.

CLIMAX: McClane comes after Hans to get his wife. He surrenders and it looks like everything is over when he pulls a concealed gun he has duct taped to his back and shoots Hans. The wounded Hans falls out a window, hanging onto Holly’s watch. He pulls a gun, trying to take Holly and McClane down with him, but McClane unlatches the watch clasp just in time and Hans falls to his death.

ENDING TYPE: This is a happy ending because McClane gets what he wants (to stop the thieves and save the hostages) and he still wants that at the end of the film.

DENOUEMENT: As McClane and his wife walk out of Nakatomi Plaza, Karl (who didn’t die previously) ambushes them and tries to kill them. Al shoots Karl and saves McClane and Holly, thus tying up the loose end of his story. Then Argyle comes tearing out of the garage and takes McClane and Holly off in the limo.

RULE OF 3: There is a Rule of 3 that spans the entire movie, starting at the beginning of Act 2 and going through to the very end. There are three instances where an individual hostage is in peril and McClane wants (or tries) to save them. The first is Mr. Takagi, who gets taken by Hans right at the start of Act 2 so that the criminals can get the code to the vault. When he doesn’t reveal the code, Hans kills him. At that point in the story, McClane has not yet pulled the fire alarm and revealed his presence to Hans and his crew. He’s furious at himself for not trying to stop Takagi’s murder but he also knows there’s nothing he could have done.

The second instance is with Harry Ellis, one of Holly’s co-workers, who tries to negotiate with Hans by saying he and McClane are old friends. In the process, Ellis gives up information to the criminals about McClane, including his name and the fact that he’s a police officer. Knowing that this is not going to end well for Ellis, McClane insists he doesn’t know him but Hans doesn’t believe it. Ellis tries to smooth-talk his way through the situation and ends up getting killed.

The third and final instance is when Holly gets taken by Hans at the end of the film. At that point, Hans has put together that Holly is McClane’s wife and he kidnaps her as added insurance so he and his crew can get away. Unlike the two previous instances where McClane was unable to save the hostage, in this case, he successfully saves his wife.

CONCLUSION: It’s indisputable that Die Hard is one of the tightest, most perfectly plotted films out there. The three acts are well-paced and the two pivot points include both external events and internal choices from the protagonist. The only thing it might be missing is that moment of introspection at the midpoint, which plays out purely as a Temporary Triumph without much self-reflection. That said, because this is a high-action film it makes sense that McClane does not have time to pause and reflect because he has to go after the bad guys and save his wife.

This film also adheres closely to Chekov’s gun, a principle in which every element must be significant to the story. Notice that not a single detail gets introduced that doesn’t have payoff later in the film. For example, the Rolex watch that we see mentioned briefly at the beginning becomes a key detail in the climax of the film. Also, Argyle, who all but disappears for most of the film, only to reappear at a key moment when one of the bad guys is about to get away and he thwarts the escape. Finally, when McClane makes “fists with [his] toes,” it means he’s barefoot when the criminals attack. This means he spends most of the film running around barefoot and later when they shoot the glass, it injures his feet. As you can see, not a single detail is added to the film that does not have follow-through later.

Until next time, keep writing and keep being awesome!

P.S. For more info on Gabriela Pereira, the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, check out her profile page.

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Here are five classic films featuring writers. (Spoilers Ahead.)

1. Girl Shy: 1924, Silent Comedy, story by Sam Taylor, Tim Whelan, and Ted Wilde, titles by Thomas J. Gray. 

Harold (Harold Lloyd) is a shy, small-town boy. As we learn in a title (the frames that supply context or dialogue), “He was so afraid of women that he made a secret study of them, and the more he studied them the more he feared them.” His prescriptive non-fiction book, The Secret of Making Love, is based entirely on his fantasies. On the train to the publishers, he meets Mary (Jobyna Ralston), who is interested in his book. “I’ve decided that the young men of the world do not know enough about women,” he explains. But when the publisher laughs off his book as a joke, Harold brushes off the rejection as understandable. Later, the publisher decides to sell it as a humorous book. Initially indignant, Harold realizes that with the advance check he can marry his girl. 

I love that Harold explores his superhero-self on the page. But his self-absorbed assumption leads to misidentifying his genre and experiencing imposter syndrome. Letting go of his fixed idea of the book allows it to find the perfect home, making his dream life real. 

2. Little Women: 1933, Period Drama, screenplay by Victor Heerman and Sarah Y. Mason, novel by Louisa May Alcott

Alcott’s classic has had seven big screen productions between 1917 and 2019. In the 1933 Oscar-winning adaptation, spirited Jo March (Katharine Hepburn) writes sensation fiction for the local newspaper, providing a creative outlet for herself and extra income for her family during the Civil War. She goes to New York to hone her craft, and meets Professor Bhaer (Paul Lukas), who criticizes her artificial characters and plots. Although hurt, Jo is not defeated. “If I can’t stand the truth, I’m not worth anything.” When tragedy strikes the family, Jo returns home and writes from a place of depth and honesty to create a meaningful work of love.

Jo embraces her love for genre fiction, finding her niche and treating it like a job. Her early stories could be called practice writing, where she learns to complete projects and finds her voice. She’s then free to dig deep for the story only she can write.

3. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir: 1947, Romantic Fantasy, screenplay by Phillip Dunne, novel by R. A. Dick (aka Josephine Leslie)

Widow Lucy Muir (Gene Tierney) defies 1900 convention and rents a home of her own. Her first night there, Lucy meets the ghost of salty sea captain Daniel Gregg (Rex Harrison). When Lucy loses her income and is faced with returning to her in-laws, Daniel tells her to write his memoirs and publish under the name Captain X, and from then on calls her Lucia. Lucy takes his dictation (which puts her in proximity of being a ghostwriter for a ghost), but stops at obscenities, frustrating Daniel. “Hang it all, Lucia, if you’re going to be prudish, we’ll never get the book written. Now put it down the way I give it to you.” And she does. With the book published and her home secure, Daniel tells a sleeping Lucy that she will remember him as a dream, and that the book was her own idea.

In calling her Lucia, Daniel names Lucy’s creative identity. Despite her personal morals, Lucy knows she must use authentic language to tell the captain’s story. She has the self-discipline to put posterior in chair and finish the book, and publishing under a pseudonym gives her another kind of freedom, privacy. (And Captain Gregg proves it’s never too late to write that book!)

4. Sunset Boulevard: 1950, Film Noir, screenplay by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, and D. M. Marshman, Jr.

Screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) is hard-up for work. Evading repo men, Joe pulls into the garage of an old mansion on Sunset Boulevard. Despite several red flags, Joe agrees to edit the screenplay of silent screen star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). He’s moved into the mansion by the austere butler, Max, and while the project is just a job, he’s seduced by the perks. Soon, Joe is reacquainted with studio reader Betty who convinces him that one of his old stories has potential. He collaborates with her secretly after hours, noting, “It’s fun writing again.” But Norma’s jealousy forces his two worlds to collide. Joe admits his kept-man status to Betty and tells Norma he’s through. Norma shoots Joe, then makes her dramatic staircase descent into madness.

This cautionary tale reminds us to keep why we write front and center, and also the importance of vetting. Joe’s need for money blinds him to Norma’s instability and his own ruin. By the time Betty reminds him why he became a writer, Joe’s written himself into a dark corner with only one ending. 

5. Hearts of the West: 1975, Western Comedy, screenplay by Rob Thompson

In 1933, naïve Iowan Lewis Tater (Jeff Bridges) leaves the family farm for Titan University, Nevada, from which he’s been taking a correspondence writing course, hoping to be the next Zane Grey. Upon arrival, he discovers that the university is a scam run by two crooks out of a hotel. But Lewis doesn’t let his anger best him. “Most of the good stuff I do comes out of times just like this. There’s no such thing as wasted time for a writer. He’s always thinking.” While he never tires of telling people he’s a writer, Lewis finds work as a stunt actor for B-westerns. He shows his manuscript to veteran stunt actor and former writer Howard Pike (Andy Griffith), who then tries to pass it off as his own work. Howard redeems himself in a tussle with the crooks. Lewis notes that it would make a great story. 

Lewis falls for a classic writing scam, but prevails because of his steadfast belief that everything is copy. And he supports his writing with work that matches the atmosphere of his genre, feeding the muse rather than draining it. 

Classic films show us that while tools of the trade and industry standards may change over time, writing will always offer the same challenges and rewards. They’re also wonderful when you just need a period of productive procrastination. (You’re welcome.) And if you need a laugh, watch Girl Shy here.

J. M. Kessler is the author of the children’s book, The Squirrelly Nut Gig, as well as short stories and plays. She has a BA in Theatre, and is a classic film fan, Whovian, knitter, and nature lover. Find J. M. at her website and on Instagram.

The post #5onFri: Five Classic Films Featuring Characters Who Write appeared first on DIY MFA.