13

Genres of Voice

Voice, the editorial opinion of the writer about the story he is writing, can be deeply embedded, masked within the genre, or it can be foregrounded, superseding all the narrative elements of the script. In this chapter, we focus upon those genres that, in effect, aid the foregrounding process, thereby highlighting voice above all other narrative intentions. Before proceeding to those genres, it’s important to establish that all genres exhibit voice but that most storytellers exercise voice within the boundaries of genre expectations. For example, if we look at film noir, the genre is all about betrayal. A main character makes a poor relational choice, and instead of being saved by the relationship, he is destroyed by it. The ...

Get Alternative Scriptwriting, 5th Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.