Casualty, Cars and Crisis Points; a Three Day Storywriting Workshop with John Yorke

Free stationary, coffee, and John Yorke; Nope, I can't think of a better writing prize either!

I still remember how excited I was when I got the email. “You’ve won!” it said, “a three day story writing course in London with the former Controller of BBC Drama Production, John Yorke, who’s worked on Eastenders, Casualty, and Waterloo Road.” I went in with sweaty palms. Then John asked everyone what car they drove and laughed at how telling of my character a Peugot 106 was. I relaxed into my chair; this was going to be a fun few days.

It was all to promote John’s new book, Into the Woods; a Five Act Journey into Story. For a free course it wasn’t bad. We all met at the main office of Penguin Books, John’s publisher. I was a little worried when the receptionist had no clue who I was, but as the others slowly crept in, I was relieved to meet the wonderful people I’d be sharing my prize with, seven of us in total. We got our free journals (I claimed two…) and moved to an intimate office in a busy media building, which was kitted out with coffee, biscuits, and later a spread of wraps.

Once the computer technician had made his hundredth trip to hook up the power point, we were ready to begin…

John started with 25 tips on writing drama, which went over a lot of stuff I’ve covered before, such as hit the ground running, have a concrete goal, reveal character in action, but a few things stood out. I liked his definition of how not to write on the nose, that the more interesting emotion is the one your character is hiding. The best part was debating the inciting incident of Star Wars (and John, if you’re reading, it’s when the droids arrive, okay?).

The ten questions crib sheet was one of the best tools; a list of points needed for an interesting story that works. I could spend a whole post describing them, but effectively they pin-point a protagonist, give him a goal, set him against an opponent and a series of obstacles until they learn something and change. I’ve struggled to create believable change before, but John’s definition just made sense.

It was interesting to hear John’s thesis, one which sets his book apart from the many other screenwriting ‘how to manuals,’ about the way we as humans perceive the world, and how that process of perception has been translated into the way we tell stories. It was also helpful to talk about five act structure, which gives an extra two acts to three act structure to prevent the dreaded sagging middle section. It was also a great way to study TV drama.

John used to run the BBC Writer’s Academy, and we had a little sample of what that might be like when we had to break episodes of Eastenders, Casualty, and Holby City. In other words, we had to analyse the episode using the ten steps, and write a better version. It was intense, but made me realise the potential of continuing drama to produce an exciting story.

Our final task, on the final morning, was to use all our knowledge to break a documentary about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge into a feature film, cast it, and give it a title, all in two hours. We had to work fast to make it exciting and create believable change, but I think Mary and I had a winner, if only our appalling title, Mrs Robling’s Bridge, hadn’t let us down.

My journey into the woods introduced me to some wonderful people, and their business cards are now stored readily with my thought provoking notes. I can’t thank John enough, and a shout out also goes to Ingrid from Penguin for keeping everything afloat; thanks! I leave with respect for continuing drama, and a new found urge to continue my quest as a professional story geek.

You can read more about John Yorke on this page from the BBC Press Office  and on the Company Pictures website.

Check out the following link for his book, Into the Woods; a Five Act Journey into Story.