Developing Screenplay Ideas ... My well runneth --- in many directions!Written by Edward B. Toupin
Recently, I started a screenwriting and movie-making group here in Las Vegas. Our objective was to begin at, well, beginning of process and work all way through to an edited movie. Sounds easy? Yes! Is it really? Not at all.The one thing I ran into at very beginning was problem of demonstrating development of an idea into something that could be used as screenplay material. The big question is, "what's difference between regular material and screenplay material?" The only answer I could come up with was, "a beginning, a middle, and an end." They looked at me like I was kidding, but actually, I'm not. Put simply, a screenplay is a dramatic story told with visuals and dialogue. The screenplay describes actions, environment, dialogue, and situations that move story forward. Screenplays have a formula and a format that has been in place for many decades. Yet, beginning screenwriter sometimes misses this point. I ran into one fellow some months ago who was writing a screenplay that was "325 pages" long! After further discussion, he began to realize that, instead of writing a screenplay, he had a novel with a story that meandered without end. You can use any old idea for your story, but have a point. Don't just write for sake of writing as story will meander around into a traffic jam. If you have an idea, define a theme or objective for story. What's point? What is main character's purpose in "life"? Life? A character's life? Indeed, character does have a life in world you create, but a screenplay is not "real life". It's a metaphor of real life presented in such a way as to represent a particular theme. To write about a real life situation, you have to dissect situation and find underlying theme. Then, using that theme as a guideline, you must reassemble original idea to best represent theme. Indeed, some aspects of true-story might be fictionalized to drive story toward point. For example, my wife is working on a screenplay about medical debauchery in Nevada. After a few passes, she began to realize that story roamed around in circles because of many facets of topic. After much coaching, she began to realize that she had to define one particular point and aim story at it. As a side-effect, physical issues of story would be driving force that leads plot around to reach "the point". After writing and reading screenplays over years, I've given some pointers to folks that usually help them redefine and direct their stories to a solid point. One of main problems, which I reiterate here, is that you have to "define a point". For example, we might come up with an idea that has a bunch of "cool" actions and situations. We then try to write a story to include these ideas because we want them to be in story. But, this approach will usually fail because --- what is point? Define a point, a theme, an objective that encompasses feeling and direction of these "cool" actions and situations and aim your story in that direction.
| | Making The Time To Write That NovelWritten by Patty Apostolides
Finding time to write a novel is one of major issues confronting writers, particularly those who haven’t been published yet. How does one justify to themselves, or to their loved ones, that they need time to write if they have demands on their time, like a job, or a house to be cleaned, a family to be fed, or shopping to do? They make time.To make time, one would have to sit down and plan it. If this is not done, then writing will become a haphazard event, dictated by a whim, or a passing urge, rather than a scheduled time. This often results in book never really being finished. You do want to finish that book, don’t you? Below, I have my own suggestions as to how to make time. 1) Think about your daily schedule, just like when you do a budget, only instead of money, you’ll be budgeting time. 2) Then get a nice large desktop calendar, ones that cost about two dollars. Begin filling in mandatory slots for week. Do you have a work schedule, or a doctor’s appointment, a meeting to go to, etc.? Then write these times down. 3) Next, fill in times for meals, showers, shopping, socials, etc. 4) Now look at times that you are free. Please don’t say there isn’t any time left! There will probably be some time available somewhere. Maybe it’ll be at lunchtime, if you are working, or after dinner, or even during day if you’re a stay-at home parent (when junior is napping). 5) If you are a new writer, start slow. Maybe find one hour a day and reserve that for your writing. Go ahead and write date in calendar. You just made an appointment with yourself. Now do it for every day of week. You decide if you want to work weekend or not. 6) If you are a more seasoned writer, you will probably need more time. I find that I need a minimum of three hours a day to write. Sometimes I may also use this time doing research for my book. Once you make that appointment with yourself, that’s easy part. Next, you have to keep that appointment. There are so many instances when something else interferes with your designated time. I know, I’ve been there. Therefore, you need to have some flexibility. Always have a reserve time slot handy in case you don’t make your date. Although I was pretty regular and rarely strayed from my afternoon schedule, there were times that I just couldn’t stay on track. I learned to be flexible and wrote in evenings. The important thing to remember is to not stray too far from your schedule, because it defeats purpose.
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