It’s May, which means we’ve hit the beginning of the summer blockbuster season! Explosions, car chases, larger-than-life heroes—what could be more fun?
It's enough to inspire a writer to write one for herself (at least, this writer). But whether on the screen, or the page, every blockbuster story needs certain qualities to be a true hit–there’s no explosion big enough to cover up the lack of a good story.
Here are some of the most important ones:
1. A Hero You Can Root For
As with any story, the first step to a compelling blockbuster is a compelling hero. But for a blockbuster, the hero needs to be made of a metal that can stand the high action adventure in store for him or her.
Traditionally, that means someone who is mentally and physically tough, determined, curious (perhaps to a fault), and experienced in big adventures.
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, it’s Iron Man’s desire for a peaceful world (and hubris that he can create it himself) that lead to the creation of an AI system that turns against him.
2. High Stakes
If you want a blockbuster-level struggle, you need a blockbuster-worthy conflict for your hero to fight for or defend. That often means saving the world, or protecting a civilization at large. Don’t forget to make it personal, too. Love interests, and overcoming fears are some favorites.
Stakes couldn’t get higher than in The Hunger Games, where Katniss steps up to save her sister, and then must fight to save her life.
3. An Adversary Worth Overcoming
Blockbuster films bring us some of the very worst of villains—which makes them some of the most satisfying to see get taken down. Check out some tips on creating great, evil villains here.
Who doesn’t want to see Batman bring an end to the Joker’s mayhem and destruction?
4. An Explosive Climax
This does not have to be taken literally—a blockbuster thriller does not have the same type of combustible moments as an action flick, but they’re both going to
But I mean. it doesn’t hurt to be literally explosive, either—like when Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese blow up The Terminator.
Not every story needs to be a blockbuster—there’s plenty of other ways to success.
But in the summer, with all the fun, larger-than-life action on the big screen, it can put a writer in the spirit to write something epic.
If you’re one of them, go for it! these four elements should get you to a strong start.
What other elements do you think are critical to a blockbuster?
PRACTICE
Want to write a blockbuster? Let’s do it! It starts with a plot concept. Take fifteen minutes to do some brainstorming, and then share your story concept in the comments.
Great post. I always love summer blockbusters.
Here’s a story synopsis I came up with from the prompt:
A loving husband and father goes to bed after putting his children to sleep and wakes up to the sound of gunfire all around him. He’s in the middle of a battlefield, dressed in combat gear, and he catches a glimpse of a ghostly pale soldier dragging his wife and children away in the middle of the gunfight. He runs after them, but is shot and knocked unconscious to the ground. He wakes up in a regular hospital, and he begs the nurse to let him go to find his family. He tells her what happened, and she tells him he came in a week ago after almost drowning in a bathtub in a suicide attempt. The man doesn’t believe it, but he can’t find a bullet wound anywhere on his body. The doctor tending to him looks like the ghostly pale soldier, and the man demands to see his family. The doctor tells him he doesn’t have any family and that he’s concerned about the man’s mental health as a result of his near drowning. The man will have to fight to discover if his family is real and find out who the doctor really is and what he has in store for him.
Sounds like a juicy sci-fi/thriller, Tom… I’d be hooked! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Emily. That was a fun exercise.
What a great precept. Can’t wait to see the movie.
Thanks. Maybe someday.
Great concept! Some of the people in this group, you and Gary to name a couple, are so talented I know i have a ways to go to compete with you. Glad I am my own competition.
Thanks so much, Charlotte. That means a lot. Good luck to you.
Great story so far. Compelling, exciting, and enthralling. It’s also intriguing. This is the start of a great novel. If you ever develop this story into a novel and have it published into book form, let me know, and when it’s available for purchase.
Thanks. Really appreciate that. I have a similar story in development right now, though it’s going slow.
If you liked that, I do have a couple other things going on that you might enjoy.
“The Change” – https://thewritepractice.com/the-change/
Extraction – https://medium.com/extraction-a-serialized-story/the-graduation-4dd35d50e1f5
Thanks again.
I’ll be sure to check them out.
Yeah but, what’s wrong with a great story? Face it, “The Avengers” and nearly every action block buster requires the viewer allow warp drive. Suspend the normal laws of the universe so that Tony Stark does not turn into reddish gooey jelly overtime he bounces off the side of a building. Don’t get me wrong, I will go see “The Avengers”, or “Superman”, or most any other action packed blockbuster. But … really folks, the story in those are rather weak and unless you suspend those universal laws they’re just Ehh. Great stories are “To Kill a Mockingbird”. William Kent Krueger’s “Ordinary Grace”, “Unbroken”, “An American Sniper”. Those are better stories, great stories, superior to anything I will ever see in nearly any summer block buster. Summer block-busters, really, tend to be nothing but eye-candy.
Having said that … my eye candy story is a starship, with a rotating cylinder 40Km long and 20 Km in diameter. Imagine standing in the front door of your cottage near the north end facing the south end. The horizon to the left and right extends upward with fields of green and forrest rising above your head. Up there, directly over head and 20 Km away is the impossible. A blue sea showing the wakes of sailing vessels. Looking southward, in to the misty distance you see more farm fields, more forests, even towns and cities rising above your head but not falling, stuck there by the same centrifugal force holding you to the ground. Need a puke bucket yet? 😀
Gary, good points, and it’s certainly true that the blockbuster style isn’t for everyone. Nothing wrong with that!
That said, I’d argue that a blockbuster CAN be smart too, or even literary-level art. What about The Matrix? Jurassic Park? Inception? Maybe you’re just more sophisticated than I am, but I found these all to be thoughtful, smart stories in addition to being epic thrill rides.
Then there is The Dark Knight. The Lord of the Rings. Even Raiders of the Lost Ark, Dirty Harry, Jaws, Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments. All “blockbusters” that are quality films.
As for quality literary “blockbusters,” there’s The Lord of the Rings, The Road, the Narnia books, To Kill A Mockingbird, All the Light We Cannot See (which just won a well-deserved Pulitzer Prize in Fiction), and Gone Girl.
Me sophisticated? So I fooled ya, huh? 🙂
A good story will always stand on it’s own, even without the eye-candy. Throw in the eye-candy and suddenly you see dinosaurs walking and there is NOTHING wrong with that. Eye-candy by itself, and all you have is a 1930’s serial like Flash Gordon. I consider the latest “Godzilla” to have some excellent story elements to it. There were a couple of “oh wow, that is good” story telling moments for me. The very best scene from the first Avengers was the Hulk using Loki to play “Whack the Gopher”. That’s eye-candy, versus a husband having to seal a radiation door on his wife, which was great story telling and from “Godzilla”, even with the great beastie.
I love Inception and pretty much everything Chris Nolan has made. All great stories in my opinion that seem to fit the summer blockbuster style.
Emily,
Great points and great illustrations.
I love summer blockbusters (especially the Marvel Comics movies) because they do incorporate all the things you listed.
But I also love these movies because every time I watch them I see two things:
1: Tips and techniques the screenwriters used to write the script and that I can learn to use in my own writing;
2: Insight into human behavior in real-life and in the Marvel comics world. This, too, is something that can be written into my own novels.
A third take-away, if you care to call it that, is that by observing the ways the characters interact on the screen with these movies, I learn to observe more closely how the people around me interact in real life. All the keys, tips, tools, techniques, and secrets aside, there is no more valuable tool for creating great fiction.
Thanks again for this post. Maybe I will try writing a summer blockbuster…
…just for fun!
Best wishes,
Carrie
Good luck! Sounds like a great summer project.
Having seen Age of Ultron (which blew my mind and left me incoherent for a substantial amount of time) my idea of anticipated summer blockbuster right now is SEASON 2 OF CARMILLA. If you’ve never heard of it, go check it out on YouTube, it’s amazing. Carmilla has inspired me to experiment with the webseries format myself, and while it’s not at typical blockbuster proportions in terms of drama yet, I hope to get it there. So here’s Episode 1 of my new project, The Graveyard Shift. As always, reviews are much appreciated!
INT. – ERIN’S OFFICE
The office walls are painted in black and gray. Black wire racks line the walls holding books and cardboard boxes. There’s a strange looking calendar taking up a lot of space by the door. ERIN CAIRNHOLM is sitting at her desk, talking into a phone. She is in her early twenties, has an undercut, and from the waist up is dressed in a plaid shirt and tie.
ERIN: Yes, Mr. Phuong, I understand your situation, and I’m very sorry to hear about
it, but it is entirely possible that the difficulty you’re experiencing has nothing to do with – (angry chatter from the other end of the phone) yes but Ms. De – she’s a professional, Mr. Phuong, and she’s been doing this for a very long time, and in my experience the kind of accident you’re talking about its extremely rare (angry chatter) – How long have I worked for her? (chatter) Three months, sir. (irritated chatter) Yes, but I like to think I know her work habits pretty well by now, sir. (angry chatter) Yes, but – (angry chatter) Alright, but – (angry chatter. Erin sighs) Of course, sir. She’s out right now, but I’ll have her get back in touch as soon as she comes back. Have a nice day, Mr. Phuong! (louder angry chatter, and Erin winces. The phone goes dead with a harsh click and Erin puts it back in the cradle) Or not. (Erin looks up at the camera) Boss isn’t going to like that.
JUMP CUT
ERIN: So…hi! I’m Erin Cairnholm, PA extraordinaire, and this is my YouTube channel!
Well, sort of. A friend of mine managed to hook me up with Internet access – not easy to come by down here – but I’ve decided to keep my videos private for…security reasons. So to keep myself from going crazy with boredom when I’m alone in the office, I’m going to talk to a camera and make videos no one will ever watch! Yup. I guess a good place to start would be to tell you all (hesitates a little at those words) a little bit about me. I’m – (a harsh, grating screech fills the air. Erin grimaces and glances at the door) Um, hang on for just a moment, it’s Billy’s feeding time. (She opens a drawer in her desk and produces a large Ziploc filled with dead fish) I’ll be right back. (She gets up and leaves the room)
JUMP CUT
(Erin is back at her desk, hair disheveled, shirt ripped and half her tie gone)
ERIN: You know – I think Billy is finally starting to like me. Where was I…oh, right! About me. I’m 23. I’m from Saugerties, NY; my Saugerties people, leave comments – yes I know that’s pointless, just go with it. I majored in English, minored in psychology, and dabbled a bit in computer science and finances. I worked at Kellerman Publishing House after graduation. I was officially an assistant editor there, and in reality I was Shannon Cho’s PA. She’s their top senior editor and a total badass. Shannon’s worked with some of the top thriller writers of the 21st century, has input on every major decision Eloise
Kellerman makes about the company, and is the most well-known advocate for Wiccan
visibility on the east coast. She also rocks snakeskin boots like you wouldn’t believe. The woman is a goddess. (ruefully) And I am a total fanboi. Anyway, how I ended up here is – (a paper plane flies out of nowhere and bumps Erin the head) Ow! What the hell…? (She unfolds the paper airplane) “Water cooler needs refilling”. (Erin looks in the direction the airplane came from) I am not custodial staff! (a crumpled ball of paper drops from above. Erin opens it) “Trust us, we know.” Ugh! Fine! (grumbling) What is it with this royal we business, so pretentious… (as she opens the door and stalks out; she leaves the door ajar. She stomps by carrying a bucket)
JUMP CUT
Erin stomps back in the other direction, water now sloshing over the sides of the bucket. This repeats a couple more times with jump cuts in between. On the third time, a piece of algae drops from the rim of the bucket. Erin slips on it, falls backwards, and the bucket dumps out on her face)
JUMP CUT
Erin sits down at her desk again, drying herself off with a towel.
ERIN: Well. (drops towel on the floor) That was refreshing. So how I ended up working here is – (a ringtone beeps) Now what? (she picks up a cellphone and glances at the camera) It’s my boss. (reading text message) “Please have my notes on the Beaufort case ready, I need to grab them and go straight to the courthouse when I get back.” Well, thanks to my handy dandy filing system (she gets up and walks to the shelves) that
should be…no… (looks at the boxes in confusion) problem. The legal cases should be down here, and…and why are the J through L’s over here…? (she opens a box, pulls
out a sheaf of papers and rifles through them) Oh no. No, no, n- (throws the papers down and angrily punches numbers into the phone) I am going to kill that son-of-a-bitch, (puts phone up to her ear) I am going to tear out xir spleen and feed it to…hi, old buddy old pal! (phone chatter) What’s up? What’s up?! Did you mess with my filing system? (chatter) That means you did. (chatter) Yeah, I need something. And if I don’t find it soon, I will be a smoldering pile of PA ashes. So, what did you do here exactly, what did you move? (chatter) You don’t remember. Of course. Well, see if you can remember this: the next time you show your face here, I am going to pull your ears so hard they’ll be long enough to fishtail braid and feed up your – (chatter) Ok, maybe
for a caramel macchiato I’ll reconsider. (She hangs up. She then looks around at the shelving, closes her eyes and takes a deep breath)
MONTAGE
Erin takes down every box and removes all the papers. The office becomes more and more hectic as papers fly everywhere and Erin looks more and more crazed.
JUMP CUT
Erin hauls herself into her chair, clutching a slim packet in grim victory, completely exhausted.
ERIN: Fuck. My. Life.
The door swings open. There is a glimpse of a figure in black, but they are mostly obscured by Erin.
WOMAN’S VOICE: You’re still saying that, huh?
Erin jumps a little, startled, then sighs and extends an arm behind her.
ERIN: Ladies, gentlemen, and other respectable persons, may I present my boss: Death.
In a future when The Earth is not the only home in the space, the civilization is in jeopardy with the collision of three races: Humans, Kukenians and Dragons.
Lexi Ming, the greatest warrior form The Earth, is tired to see destruction, poverty and suffering in the past 20 years of war. To achieve peace, she must join forces with Sharé Uré, from Kukenan, and Bai, the only Dragon who can communicate with other races.
Together they can stop the war, but first, they must try to not kill each other.
Welcome to “Cosmo Conquers”, my transmedia project that I’m working by my own.
If you want to know more, take a look at my blog: http://conquerthecosmos.blogspot.com (in Spanish).
Any comment will be welcome!
Those four are certainly necessary. I would add depth of the major characters so that they come more to life for the reader. What makes each character unique? Are they flawless? Are they without any compassion at all?
(Summer Blockbuster Prompt) Dominica Vs. Her Father
By Kiki Stamatiou a. k. a. Joanna Maharis
Dominica got off the school bus, and walked up her driveway to enter her house. Once
inside, she went downstairs into the basement to change her clothes, because they were wet from the downpour of rain.
No sooner than she had come upstairs into the dining room, her father grabbed her by the hair and slapped her face. He also spit in her face. “Where have you been all this time? You think we have time to wait for you to get the housework done?” he said in a dangerous voice.
“I just came home from school. I was in school all day. Now I have homework to do for my lessons,” she responded in a shaky voice.
“Never mind. Forget school. That bull crap is no good. That’s no going to get you anywhere with that stupid mind of yours,” he yelled as he grabbed a hold of her duffle bag, emptied the contents onto the floor, picked up her books and things and threw
them against the wall.
Grabbing a hold of Dominica by the hair again, he dragged her into the bathroom, and put her face down into the sink, yelling, “Look at the mess. Who’s going to clean it up? It’s you job to clean up the house. Nobody else. You mother works. I work. You brothers have yardwork. Clean the damn house now,” he shouted as he yanked her head back and kicked her.
Dominica stepped back, with her foot landing on his. She turned around and pushed him into the bath tub. She ran into the kitchen, pulled out a butcher knife from the drawer and got herself ready to strike her father when he came into the kitchen. “You take one more step, I’ll chop off your hands with this butcher knife,” she said in a dangerous voice.
He lunged forward, attempted to slap her face, but got cut when Dominica struck him with the butcher knife.
“Want some more?” She asked sternly.
He took a skillet lying on top of the stove and threw it at her, hitting her in the shoulder. However, she still clung tightly to the butcher knife.
That’s all you got? A childish display of a temper tantrum full of throwing things at your own daughter. You’re crazy and should be locked up.”
“I’m calling the police,” he threatened.
“Good. Go right ahead. I want you to call the police. The I can show them the bruise on my shoulder, and the impressions you left on my face when you slapped me and put my face into the sink. Mom can’t protect you this time. First off, she’s at the
carwash working. You can’t lie, because the evidence on my face and shoulder speaks for itself,” I yelled in a controlled voice.
“I’ll show them the cuts you put on my arm,” he stammered on with his threats.
“And I’ll just tell them the truth. It was in self defense. The police aren’t stupid.” Dominica said sternly.
© Copyright, Kiki Stamatiou, 2015