In most forms of storytelling, character is everything.  Even narratives we'd describe as plot-driven only work - are memorable, compelling, etc - when we emotionally engage with the characters.  Screenwriters are more sensitive to this reality because they are largely collaborative storytellers working in an industry which has a commercial imperative - everything has to work.  That doesn't limit us in the stories we tell, as Anthony Mullins, Australian screenwriter and novelist, points out in his new book, Beyond the Hero's Journey - A Screenwriting Guide For When You Have A Different Story To Tell

There are many books that guide storytellers in this era, for screen and off, including those who reference the standard 'hero's journey' and 'three-act' structure.  Including those approaches, Mullins' book is particularly useful, not least because I'd recommend it for writers in any genre or format.  It's not a how-to, nor is it painfully academic or require wall-covering plot analysis for your WIP. 

Screenwriters focus on character and their arcs.  Mullins points to how that process plays out in a diverse sampling of feature films, and does so simply, succinctly and engagingly.  I recommend it.  So, if you're a writer, with a WIP, and interested in reading a short review about Beyond Hero's, hit the link to the review at Tasmanian Times.

Pro tip: after having your business card printed, check the contact details are correct or else, as in my case, somewhere in the world, someone else with your name, whom you've never met, is being contacted about writing a book they have probably never heard of. 

If anyone contacts [email protected] because they have one of THESE business cards...

...they will not be contacting me.  They will be contacting another b.p.marshall whose life and existence I can only imagine.  Perhaps this other b.p.marshall has also written a novel.  Perhaps we'd have much in common.  Perhaps, even, they too had a business card made up in the vague belief that, when attending a writers' festival, a writer should have cards to hand out - to whom and for what purpose they can only dimly imagine.  Perhaps, even more incredibly, my b.p.marshall doppelganger also had the wrong email address printed on their business card.   We'd laugh and become the best of friends...

Or, as has actually happened, I've emailed a complete stranger explaining the whole thing...

...making it clear that I'm the idiot and that any multi-million dollar feature film offers should instead go to THIS carefully curated correct email address... 

To my doppelganger b.p.marshall, I apologise unconditionally...  Unless, tempted by the multi-million dollar offer from a major film studio, you are, at this very moment, writing a script using my novel as template.  In which case your evil genius impresses the hell out of me.  Well played b.p., well played.