Archive for Writing methods
Before you start writing your screenplay
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Pete Hamill
Journalist and Pete Hamill, whose latest book is “Tabloid City,” described in The Writer magazine how he approaches writing a novel. I think the same method works for anyone getting ready to write a screenplay:
“I start by walking around a lot, letting the major characters rise in my mind. The way Dickens did, and others. Sometimes I make drawings of their faces, and then scribble more notes in the margins. I know vaguely what the story will be be, but I don’t make detailed outlines because they remove the joy of discovery in the actual writing.”
…If a fiction is set in the past, I read histories, letters, memoirs and even old newspapers. Then I let my notes marinate for a while, usually a few months, until they become a memory…the memory of one or more of the characters.”
Those kinds of historical documents are so much easier to find these days, via the internet. Newspapers, including the New York Times, allow you to access their past issues, and the British Museum and many others also have put massive amounts of documents online. Writers starting out now takes this kind of access for granted, I imagine, but we old-timers will remember having to throw ourselves on the mercy of librarians and spending days in the dusty stacks. Hamill goes on:
“If the places I am describing are still in existence, I go to look at them, to stand before them, listening to what they are saying to me.”
These days with Google maps and other sources of information, you can simulate going to most locations although of course it doesn’t match being there, breathing the air and hearing the sounds in person.
Another possibility is to contact someone who lives in that location, using social media to find them. I think most people would be flattered to be asked to help someone writing a screenplay. If you’re nervous about emailing strangers, put the “six degrees of separation” to work–ask your friends whether they know anybody who lives in the place you want to find out about. If not, ask them to ask just one or two of their friends the same question. In most cases it won’t take more than that to find someone.
Sometimes when we have a new idea we are tempted to go to the keyboard and start writing right away, but there’s a lot to be said for Hamill’s method of immersing yourself in the characters and locations before we start.
Should you write a controversial screenplay or play it safe?
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In the previous two posts I’ve shared two of Robert Ringer’s three rules of writing and added my comments on how they apply to screenwriting. Here is the third:
Don’t try to be all things to all people. Go after a specific market, and don’t make apologies to those who aren’t part of that market.
Ringer points out that it’s natural to want to be loved and therefore to try to appeal to everyone and offend no one. Unfortunately that results in bland writing that may not appeal to anyone. If you’re writing an indie film, a strong viewpoint may be exactly the element that gets it noticed.
If you have a strong viewpoint about anything you will annoy or anger some people. That may prevent you from writing a screenplay that has a strong angle on a controversial topic, or it may incline you to try to give the opposing view equal time. That’s fine for a documentary that’s trying to show all sides of an issue, but it doesn’t make for strong drama.
Will taking a strong stand offend some people? Sure.
I wrote on my other writing blog (http://www.TimeToWrite.blogs.com) not too long ago about how shocked I was at the vehement reaction from one reader to what I thought was a neutral statement. Obviously it pushed some buttons for her, and maybe she felt better after venting her anger. Her statements were mild compared to a lot of what I’ve read in the comments sections of other blogs. But maybe the old saying is true: If you’re not offending anybody, you’re not saying anything.
This is a good thing to keep in mind if you find yourself worrying, as you write, about how readers or reviewers or members of your family will react when they read it. You have to put that out of your mind and keep writing.
I have some experience with this. Not too long ago I finished writing a novel I call Vegas Bible Porn. It’s a comedy and its based, very loosely, on my time in Hollywood. It’s about a producer who tries to cash in on two money-making genres of film, soft porn and Bible pictures, by combining them.
The novel is not pornographic and it doesn’t make fun of the Bible; it’s just descriptive of what this producer is trying to do—the Vegas comes in because that’s where he raises the money to make his film. However, so far the title has scared off publishers.
Even so, I want to hang in there with it because I think it will attract people who have an irreverent attitude, and they’re the ones who will enjoy it.
Is it a risky strategy? Probably. But, as Ringer says, when you have a strong concept you will (eventually) attract an enthusiastic, loyal group of customers–or a producer with some guts and the desire to make a movie that has an impact.
(You can sign up for Robert Ringer’s e-letter, A Voice of Sanity in an Insane World, at www.robertringer.com. If you would like some support in writing what only you can write, join my online Writing Breakthrough Strategy program. It starts in mid-January but now is the time to join and get some great Early Bird bonuses. Find out more at http://www.WritingBreakthroughStrategy.com. )
Why simplicity is crucial in writing a screenplay
Posted by: | CommentsIn the previous post I shared Robert Ringer’s first (of three) rules of writing. Here’s his rule number two, which I think is even more important for screenwriters than for novelists.
Simplicity is crucial. Can the reader quickly understand what you are trying to say? Eliminate verbal furniture.
Ringer says he learned this from the classic book, The Elements of Style. I think it’s more important than ever because these days there are even more distractions for the reader and because overly ornate or long-winded descriptions can slow a screenplay down to a crawl.
That doesn’t mean your writing can’t have a style. Elmore Leonard has a great sparse style. So does Raymond Carver but I don’t think you’d ever mistake his writing for Leonard’s. In screenwriting, William Goldman is a good example–his scripts have personality but it doesn’t overwhelm the story.
In doing the research for my new book, Your Creative Writing Masterclass, which includes writing advice from classic authors, the notion of simplicity comes up again and again. Anton Chekhov and Mark Twain were among the proponents. (Plug: that book comes out in January—you can pre-order it now from Amazon.)
One way to simplify is to hunt for unnecessary adjectives. Newer writers sometimes go for the rule of three on this: three adjectives per noun. Too much.
Adverbs also are great candidates for pruning, especially when they apply to how dialogue is expressed: “Give me that right now!” he said angrily–or in screenplays, the parenthetical (angrily) between the character’s name and his dialogue. Given the words themselves and possibly your description of the person, it should be obvious that he’s angry.
Ringer quotes from Elements of Style: “the power of understatement is enormous.”
Next post: Ringer’s third rule of writing.
One of my rules of writing is, if you need support and guidance, get it! One way to do that is to join my online Writing Breakthrough Strategy program. You can find out more and sign up at http://www.WritingBreakthroughStrategy.com.
