Five Finger Pitch

Five Finger Pitch

When I was studying screenwriting I learn about "The Five Finger Pitch".

Basically, you use your hand to summarise a story. In one finger you decidethe genre (and if it is na adaptation you put the info there); then the character context; the goal; the obstacles; and in the last one what's important: reasons why you love the story and why it's different.

Of course this is very helpful on screenwriting, but for writers like me - that find difficult do summarise our own story and stick with it -,it's a great tool to be used.

In my case, the most important finger is the goal one. Sometimes I struggle with the goals of the characters, and that is important when you are creating a character (or just a sketch).

I will give the example with Alex's story - "The Mansion" (see #2):

- Drama

- 16 years-old girl in a disfunctional family

- Save her siblings from her same destiny

- Her siblings are trying to save her and they will contradict Alex plans

- It's about a teen trying to fight the destiny of being exactly like her parents and she is a girl that wants the control of her own life; trying to be a good human being and save who she loves while she is trying to descover who she is.

Of course it's not amazing, but it's a start, and you have to start somewhere (including professional writers).

So, just start, even though it will be hard at first.

Ursa