Character and Conflict : The Cornerstones of Screenwriting
http://www.writersstore.com/product.php?products_id=2480This book looks interesting too.
Description
Character without conflict makes Jack Nicholson a dull boy. These two screenwriting essentials are inextricably linked, and in Character and Conflict, Mark Axelrod reveals how to integrate them in a new and refreshing way.
Starting with general principles, Character and Conflict takes you step by step through every aspect of generating compelling characters and gripping conflicts. Alluding to the work of Joseph Campbell and others, Axelrod offers extensive insight into how a characterÂ’s arc must progress, and how conflict shapes and is shaped by character.
YouÂ’ll also learn how archetypes facilitate character creation and growth, and how rites of passage and other plot devices help conflict arise.
Axelrod bores deeply into the scripts of such feature films as Amelie, Good Will Hunting, and Driven, revealing how to craft – and how not to craft – rounded characters as well as the crises that bring them together or set them at odds.
With exercises that sharpen the skills of both beginning and advanced writer, examples that pull back the curtains on the writing process, plus AxelrodÂ’s theories and experience-honed advice, reading Character and Conflict is like taking an advanced seminar in screenwriting, without ever having to leave your writerÂ’s desk.