ErinLaing.com

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to Stephen Gaghan talk about Syriana, a film which he wrote and directed back in 2006.

The best advice Gaghan got on writing was from reading a biography by Henri Troyat on Tolstoy. Tolstoy famously wrote in his journal that to write a great novel there are four techniques which one has to master. For Tolstoy, the most important thing to master was not story, but rather, transitions.

How and when to start and end a scene. In film, transitions are everything. They keep a film moving and the audience interested. Transitions don’t just come into play in the editing room though. As Michael Brandt points out in a recent interview for Wanted, mastering the technique of transitions is what elevated him from amateur to professional screenwriter.

Here are Tolstoy’s four techniques (which according to him must be mastered in this particular order).

1. Transitions
2. Context
3. Character
4. Story

As Gaghan points out, following these four steps strips away formula and allows you to stay in the inspired brain (vs. the editorial brain).

For those interested, you can listen to the full interview with Gaghan here.