Ignoring financial concerns, I believe there are two main goals an author should have, when trying to tell a story. First, it's your job as a writer to create characters, settings and situations that are believable. Second, it's important to keep the audience's attention. In other words, be entertaining. After watching this film I've been reminded that sometimes, in pursuing the second goal, writers forget the first one.
Classic Movie Trailers: “Dirty Harry” (1971)
Stories are a window to another world. Whether you're looking at a comic strip, or a novel, or a movie screen, a great story will make you forget about the medium and focus on the characters and the plot. Whenever a character does something that a normal person wouldn't do, it breaks the illusion and you become painfully aware, that the scene you're looking in on is not real. One good way to separate people from the experience, is to force your character to say certain things.
Whenever character dialogue is written, the author should ask themselves whether or not the speech fits the character and the situation. Would this character say these lines, to the other character or to themselves, in the absence of an audience to view and hear them? Do the words have a meaningful purpose, other than creating sound bytes or catchphrases, that you think will become popular?
I think that, in order to be entertaining, the writer's focus should be on the plot. Action movies can have millions of dollars worth of explosions, and novels can have pages and pages of flashy dialogue, but these things can fall flat if there isn't a situation to justify them. I think of action and gore and jokes and amusing speeches as frosting on the cake; they can be sweet but they aren't substantial enough, to provide a filling experience. However, plot twists and turns if interesting, can keep the viewer's attention, as they see how the character's react to them.
It is possible to write a script, that relies on gunshots and explosions and fancy martial arts. There is nothing to prohibit the creation of a story, that favors one-liners and come backs and speeches designed to generate mass appeal. There's a lot of money to be made, by writing in that style.
There's just one question...
Do you feel lucky, punk?
@ChannelSeals
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