The story of Wanderer

Once upon a time, there was a man named Wanderer, who was standing on the edge of a deep chasm. He longed to get to the other side, so he, being a clever sort, decided to build a bridge.

His bridge needed raw material, so Wanderer climbed down into the chasm and gathered some chaos and carried it back up with him. Using the chaos, Wanderer began to construct words, sentences, and paragraphs, and soon his bridge began to take shape.

Sometimes Wanderer would get stuck and have to go back and fix some things in the structure of the bridge that weren’t hooking together quite right.  

But eventually, Wanderer finished his bridge.

“Not only have I built a bridge for myself,” realized Wanderer, “but I have built a bridge that others can follow, simply by crossing over the span of words that extend from one end to the other.

 
He hoped, too, that in the future other people would build bridges across other chasms. “And perhaps someday,” thought Wanderer, “all the world will be connected.”

Too Busy

If you’re too busy to write,

 

you’re too busy.

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

When a character's motivation is LOVE,

the possibilities are endless. 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

VOICE OVER

VOICE OVER (V.O.) is used in a situation when the character is heard, but is not physically in the scene.

 

The most common use of VOICE OVER is in a telephone conversation, where the character speaking on the other end of the phone is not seen, only heard.

 

Example:

 

EXT. STREET – DAY

 

Ted’s walking along the sidewalk. His cell phone chimes. He looks at it, then answers.

 

                                                        TED

                                           What’s up, Ralph?

 

                                                        RALPH (V.O.)

                                           Four-to-one on Lappy in the fifth. Guaranteed.

 

                                                        TED

                                           You sure about this?

 

                                                        RALPH (V.O.)

                                           Have I ever let you down?

 

                                                        TED

                                           No comment.

 

Another use of VOICE OVER is in VOICE OVER narration. This is where the character is speaking to us from the future and reflecting back on what we’re seeing. Sometimes we see the character in the scene talking to someone, which can be in the middle of two VOICE OVER sections.

 

Example:

 

EXT. BEACH – DAY

 

It’s bright and sunny. Tom’s strolling along. He sees Cindy in a bikini walking toward him.

 

                                                      TOM (V.O.)

                                           I could almost taste the sunshine in the air as I

                                           saw her approach.

 

Cindy comes nearer to Tom.

 

                                                     CINDY

                                          Hello, Tom. Beautiful day, isn’t it?

 

                                                     TOM

                                         Yeah, beautiful. That’s for sure.

 

Cindy walks past him. Tom continues on.

 

                                                    TOM (V.O.)

                                         I should have told her then. But it was like trying

                                         to grasp sparkles in a tide pool. So bright, so

                                         fleeting. That was her life. And me, I’m left with

                                         twenty years of grief.

 

When using VOICE OVER, abbreviate it “V.O.,” put it in parentheses, and place it to the right of the character’s name.

 

Final note: VOICE OVER is also used when someone’s talking on the radio, for loudspeaker announcements, telepathic communication, invisible ghosts, etc.