Writing Tips from Tall Girl

Tall Girl is one of Netflix's latest teen movies, and since its release, it's received a lot of controversy. I watched it and my opinion is that it had its good and bad parts. There were some cute characters, a fairly decent plot, and a good moral. But it also had its issues, which is what we'll be focusing on more today.

(As a side note, Griffin Gluck is an adorable human being and so is his character. He carried around a milk crate the whole movie so that when the day came he could kiss Jodi he would have something to stand on to kiss her. *all the heart eye emojis*)

Just look at this adorableness

And another one for your enjoyment. I totally based a character on his looks

That's why I thought it would be perfect fodder for a new writing lessons. Let's see what we should not do in order to make a good story.

Chose Your Protagonist Wisely

The story of Tall Girl revolves around Jodi, a 6' 1” girl, and her struggles with her height. But honestly, she's not that interesting beyond being tall. (And I'm not saying that being a girl with her height isn't an issue some people face.)

Pretty much every other character in the movie had more potential than her. There's her best friend, a black girl who wants to be a fashion designer. The boy that's been crushing on her for forever, but the feeling is unrequited. The Swed who is trying to fit in a new school and a new country. Even her sister, who does beauty pageants. Any of those are more interesting to me than a girl who is tall and struggles with it. (Even if changing the protagonist means it wouldn't be the same movie at all.)

Chose who your story is about carefully. You don't want to end up writing about someone that no one wanted to hear about. You may discover while writing that this isn't the person you want to write about, and switch to another character. And that's fine because you want to tell the right story, not the wrong one, even if it mean rethinking everything.

Pick One Storyline

There are two major plot lines going on in Tall Girl. First is Jodie's search for the perfect guy (someone who is taller than her) and discovery that maybe he isn't the perfect guy after all. Then there's also a lot of screen time devoted to her learning to accept herself. I think the story would have worked so much better if they had greatly diminished the self-acceptance part and just made it a cute romance. The theme felt a bit forced and didn't mesh well with the rest of the story.

Decide what is the heart of your story and work from there, making sure all your elements work well together. Your theme, character arc, and plot should all join to make one cohesive story, and if there are elements that don't fit, then they need to eliminated or changed. You'll end up with a stronger story that way.

Keep the Suspense Under Control

Another large problem with this movie was the love triangle. We all know from the beginning that Jodie is going to end up with the short boy who's always been there for her. But they make a huge drama and “will they, won't they” about whether it will be him or the Swedish exchange student who is her “perfect guy”. By the end you're completely exhausted trying to keep up.

Suspense is a great story telling tactic, but it only works as long as the audience doesn't already know what's going to happen. If they do, then they only get annoyed at you for drawing out the inevitable. If they already know what's going to happen, then there are other ways you can keep the plot interesting.

Make it Relatable

A lot of view's biggest problems with the movie is that it isn't relatable to a large audience. How many of us can say we have issues with being taller than most boys in our class? (Also, why is her whole school's male population under six feet?) I know there are those people out there that would be able to understand, but it's a small percentage. It may have been a good idea in development, but didn't pan out so well on screen. (On top of that, while she complains about being tall, she has a practically perfect life in every other respect, from her great parents to her fancy house.)

When you pick your story, there has to be a degree of relatability to it and your characters. Even if it's a work of fantasy or sci-fi, there are things we all understand. Tall Girl may have included some of those, but not in a way that most of us can understand. Think of ways you can make your protagonist relatable to a larger audience, even if their circumstances aren't the same as everyone.

Have you watched this movie? What's a story you've read or watched that should have had a different protagonist? Tell me in the comments.

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