Hey fellow writers,
Yesterday I found myself writing a montage for a feature assignment I'm working on.
It occurred to me that montages are one of the most misunderstood tools in a writer's toolbox. So I wrote a newsletter article about it.
My own personal view is this:
A montage is something you use when you have a necessary story beat that contains no real conflict. By real conflict, I mean conflict that meaningfully impacts the trajectory of your character and their story.
For example, a training montage. We need to know that your character gets better, stronger, more competent. But they're progressing smoothly, with no major obstacles in their way.
The plot point is important, but the lack of conflict means it doesn't merit proper, full scenes. Hence, you use a montage.
I go into much greater detail in the article, which drops later today.
https://robshayeswriter.beehiiv.com/
I dive deeper into real conflict, including my Three Rings of Conflict, here:
https://robshayeswriter.beehiiv.com/p/the-three-rings-of-conflict
(It's all free. No upsells or premium tiers. Just trying to be useful...!)
Thanks for reading.
2 people like this
Thank you for this insightful piece
I agree that montages are often used to summarize events that don’t contain clear dramatic conflict, but I also believe they can be a tool to showcase the conflict itself especially a character’s internal or psychological struggle.
For example, in the film Malèna, the director skillfully used montage to depict the adolescent protagonist’s inner conflict between desire, guilt, and societal pressure, without relying on traditional dialogue scenes.
Therefore, I see montage not just as a means to skip over conflict-free moments, but sometimes as a dramatic arena in its own right.
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Good piece on a trope. I can just add that I've used a montage a quick recall of previous events, such as a when a character makes the connection between them, so the montage can help visualize this.
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Hey, Rob Hayes. I've written montages both ways. Without real conflict and with real conflict. It depends on the story.
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I used a montage of original paintings in "Haven of Dante" Rob Hayes to show the audience her family line.