➕➕➕ #299 - Scope Creep

SavePointSofa looks at the growing wait time between games in the Final Fantasy series and questions how the franchise is supposed to capture the interest of new fans when games previously came out every one to two years.

Part of the reason for this changed is the increased size and scope expected from AAA games. For example: Remaking Final Fantasy VII as three separate games released over 15 years.

But this isn't unique to video game design. Writers can feel pressure to increase the scale of what they're doing based on current expectations. Is your action film as big as a Marvel film? Is there a chance to turn this into a franchise? Do all 8 episodes of your show have an underlying lore that can be the basis of hours of online content made to decipher it (and act as unpaid advertising)?

How do you know when your story has grown larger than its best version, and what can you do to bring it back down to size?

For starters, a writer needs to get in touch with their core values. Are you making choices based on what you assume other people want? Rachel Aroesti asks how we can be certain of the authenticity of our own taste when there are so many algorithms and ways to game algorithms in play trying to influence our choices.

Chris Sparling shares how using specific goals to limit his scope when writing Buried took him from the desire to write something small enough that he could produce it himself to creating a terrifyingly claustrophobic film. Margery Bayne approaches our topic as a journalist, considering how identifying your intended audience and your personal expertise on the subject can help you determine the scope of what you’re writing.

Bethany Cadman suggests tactics on recognizing when your story has gotten unwieldy and how to determine where to pare things back.

Scott Myers takes a deep dive into addressing the opposite side of the equation: Are you telling a story that feels big in the right ways? What about your premise, your characters, and the scenes you choose feel heightened in a way that an audience will want to pay attention?

All of these are ways of considering what is the correct size for your storytelling so that the audience can invest their emotions (and see a return on that investment). Are you trying to give your story the scale it deserves, or are you trying to splice what you feel is expected onto a story that's not built for it?

👋 Are you new here?

Inneresting is a weekly newsletter about writing and things that are interesting to writers. Subscribe now to get more Inneresting things sent to your inbox.

And if you can't wait until next week for more Inneresting, check out the Quote-Unquote Apps Blog where we keep previous issues and other posts about screenwriting and things interesting to screenwriters.

In case you missed it...

In the most clicked link from our last issue, Jay Acunzo uses a framework for introducing himself that can also serve as part of an explanation to yourself, or a pitch to others about why this is your story. It ties together a mission, your background, and an anecdote about yourself as a cohesive package.

What else is Inneresting?

• Mike Montero on lessons learned from the Knicks’ comeback and how they help him get out of bed in the morning.
• Sharanya Deepak on how bad relationships hinder your ability to develop your own taste. Literally. She's talking about food and it all sounds delicious.
• Matt Locke looks at how sports are used as a testing ground for new video techniques, even though the angles used to cover football games haven't changed for decades.

And that’s what’s inneresting this week!

Inneresting is edited by Chris Csont, with contributions from readers like you and the entire Quote-Unquote team. 

Are you enjoying this newsletter?

📧 Forward it to a friend and suggest they check it out.

🔗 Share a link to this post on social media.

🗣 Have ideas for future topics (or just want to say hello)? Reach out to Chris via email at inneresting@johnaugust.com, Bluesky @ccsont.bsky.social, or Mastodon @ccsont@mastodon.art