I've always wrestled with the difference between plot and structure, and after re-reading a lot of writing books I realized I wasn't alone.
My life has a superb cast, but I cannot figure out the plot.
Here [in Wonder Boys] I had this group of characters where you didn't know which were the important ones or what direction they were heading.
Confession: When I went to see The Empire Strikes Back I found myself glancing at my watch. The Force is with us, indeed, and a lot of it is hot air. It's a measure of my mixed feelings about The Empire Strikes Back that I'm not at all sure that I understand the plot. The Empire Strikes Back is about as personal as a Christmas card from a bank.
I did turn down 'The Virgin Suicides.' I talked to the producers about it, and I just honestly told them that I didn't get it. Is it supposed to be funny, is it a thriller, what is it?
The danger in writing about a world you don't know very well is that you can get lost in it, and sometimes I'll end up with a hundred pages I don't know what to do with.
In a novel, it's hard to keep track of everybody.
If a movie has more characters than an audience can keep track of, the audience will get confused and lose interest in the story.
I did green screen for the first time! I wouldn't like to do a whole movie of green screen, though. You kind of forget the plot a little - like being in a Broadway play and doing it over and over and forgetting your line halfway through.
I've gotten over that by now. But I remember the first time reading the book, I was like, 'Wait, Jacob's been trying to get Bella this entire time, and he strikes out, so he goes for her child?' I was so confused. It took me a second.
The two mistakes that come to mind are people who introduce a flood of characters in the first few pages. Where the reader has to stop and get out a flow chart and has to figure out who is who. And you just can't do that - introduce the first four generations of a character's family in the first chapter. You can introduce four or five characters at the most in the first chapter. Another mistake is to use big words that are not normally used in conversation to try to impress folks with your vocabulary.
