What is the best way to avoid over using flashbacks and still gaining important character development and plot points? Seriously trying to avoid using a narrator, inner dialog, flash backs, or flash forwards, and still have character development that's easy to follow.

My outline on this story starts with confusion, my character is unaware of his surroundings and needs to investigate the situation, losing memory of specific events will lead to many many flash backs.. I know it's cliche to have the second to last scene as the first scene and the beginning at the end. Regardless, I want to write this story down because I feel it's important.

Id say just start writing without thinking too much, then come back here and post so people can understand better what you want to do.

i personally like works that start @ the beginning first. Trying to interest audience with future should be plan B. If ur looking to go grade B

A great beginning story can still be that, even with omissions to make the story more to the point. Or dimished plot areas

So to have a reverse timeline, there needs to be very good reasons.

with all these fowards and reverses, people still only crowd 1 movie per 2 weeks

it's not like it is working @ all

After some thought, a basic timeline seems to work the best, reversed timelines are cliched and confusing if done wrong. Regardless, I still need to have one point in the story where the main character loses a large portion of time to heavy drinking. I was thinking of having most of the important parts blanked out by gradually increasing unconscious drunk behavior. I would still need to address the lost time in the best way possible and I don't like the idea of one long flashback.

Writing character development into a screenplay as opposed to a novel is incredibly difficult because your audience is seeing an actor portray a character in real time. So without any narration or flashbacks all we have as a viewer is our own opinion of what that character is seeing or thinking. Writing a novel on the other hand is far easier as back story's and such can be explained parallel to the main story arc. For example "Lindsey knew the layout of this alleyway very well, her very first customer chose this spot" - fuck knows what I'm getting at there but you can catch my drift.

Your 2nd to last scene idea is probably an easier way to do this, it's tarrintino-esk sure and "cliche"
But not as cliche as a beginning-end script

I'd suggest just getting all your random ideas for the character/ story into a real time event timeline. Start - end
Then peace together from there your ideas of how this timeline is portrayed
How things get remembered or forgotten

I read your synopsis, now I want to watch memento

You are right, Novels are easier and that's why I need to avoid narration. Narration beyond introduction is cheap in the style of play I'm writing (Psychological Drama). I had idea's of using "A little voice" slight kind of unpredictable thought process while you follow the character, either adding insight to his delusion or relationship based on character likeness. It needs to seem (at least when imagined on film) that the voice isn't apart of the film, it's not supposed to be there and you aren't supposed to hear it.

The end of the screenplay is the most important part largely because the main character is detestable, there are many unnatural aspects of his character that can only be expressed by a complete lack of social understanding, it needs a powerful expression. I needed the end to have Impact, I needed the audience to see a specific clue even though they won't notice it as a clue, which will give the ultimate end of this characters story the most emotion.

I'm horrible with grammar and sentence structure, I haven't written anything since creative writing in high school and the depth of this story is starting to become daunting..

This post was edited by TrouNce on Apr 16 2012 04:57pm

I like your profile picture.

Daunting - But interesting - sounds like you have a pretty good idea of what/where your character/story end up. Seems like your issue is solely communicating certain aspects and knowledge of your character with the audience as seen on film!

Cast a good actor!
Have an alter ego (fight club) hehe

Nah I know this is literature here, but maybe some of the guys in the movie SF could help with this try posting up there too. I’ve little or no experience in this sort of thing either other than what I did in college...id love to give it a go myself but my bright ideas usually get diminished by my lazy short ass attention span.