If you can’t answer these 6 questions you don’t have a story - Glenn Gers.

Glenn Gers has been a full time, professional screenwriter for over 25 years, writing for various productions from theatrical releases to no-budget indies. In this short news post, I'll go over his six questions, without which, he believes you 'don't have a story'. These are:

1. Who is it about?
2. What do they want?
3. Why can't they get it?
4. What do they do about it?
5. Why doesn't that work?
6. How does it end?

These six questions will help you write anything. I know that not everyone plans their stories in the same way, and not everyone is even a planner to begin with. But I came across this in a youtube video while researching writing tips and thought they were worth sharing.

I decided to play, so I answered these questions myself using my latest bit of writing for the DB.

1. Who is it about? Rohla Trugaim, a Duros pilot in the Imperial Scholae Navy's TIE Corps.
2. What do they want? To have friends and allies that respect her for her obvious skill behind a TIE fighter.
3. Why can’t they get it? Childhood horrors have led to deep-seated post-traumatic stress disorder.
4. What do they do about it? She turns to alcoholism to numb the pain. Even drunk, she's still one of the best pilots around.
5. Why doesn't that work? After repeated reprimands, she is court-martialled for flying drunk in battle.
6. How does it end? She is broken out of prison by General Zentru'la, who has an off-the-records assignment and doesn't care about her record.

If you're interested, the story can be found here.

Give it a go next time you sit down to write a story. You might find that in taking the time to answer these questions, the main sources of drama and tension become more clear in your head. It's not an essential to write every story in the DB. But I found this interesting, and thought you might too.

Professor Zentru'la