Wednesday, February 27, 2013

How To Be A Successful Screenwriter


(Hello, readers. I found this article. It has information that I have told many of my clients. The article is good to read because it is written by an expert in the profession. So for those of you who have doubt my words, you would believe a professional.)
Michele Wallerstein currently works as a screenplay, novel, and career consultant, as well as is the author of Mind Your Business: A Hollywood Literary Agent’s Guide To Your Writing Career”. Former Literary Agent of 25 years, representing Writers, Directors, Producers for Motion Pictures and Television, Michele served as Executive Vice-President of Women In Film and teaches The Business of Your Writing Career at UCLA. Visit Michele's website for more information.

By  Michele Wallerstein
It surprises me that new writers believe that writing is all they have to do to have a great writing career.  Not so fast folks.
Writing a screenplay will NOT open all those magical doors for you.  Let me share with you the game plan that you must follow to get into the movie business and to stay in the movie business.
First of all you need a body of work to make it in the film business.  That means at least three to four really terrific scripts.  You will also need to have at least three in the same genre.  If you’ve written two comedies and a thriller you aren’t ready.  If you want to write comedies it will take about ten of them before you are good at it.  There’s an old saying in show biz that: “Dying is easy, comedy is hard”.  The point to a body of work in the same genre is that in Hollywood writers are more likely to get a writing job than to sell a script.  To get a writing assignment the producers want to see a few samples of your work in the genre that they need a writer for a rewrite or a punch up.
OK, now let’s say you have that wonderful group of fresh scripts to show.  Now you should hire a professional consultant who has history in the film business.  You must check out each consultant prior to making that first phone call.  Find out if they are working on feature film screenplays, but their only professional experience is in television.  Find out if they’ve ever worked on a level above “reader” for studios or producers.  Find out how long they worked at these jobs.  It’s very easy to hang a consultant sign on your door… anyone can do it.  Google these people and make an informed decision.
Now that you’ve had a pro review your script and have followed their notes you will want representation.  That’s a huge undertaking.  You must attend film festivalswriter’s conferences, seminars and anything else you can find that will be attended by film professionals. Follow up with a thank you note for their great advice, speech, etc.  This will open the door for you.  After that you should follow up with an email about your scripts.  Highlight the best one that you want to send to them.  Make sure you have a good query letter.
Let’s say that an agent agrees to read your work and loves it.  Now you must meet with them and have a successful meeting.  Don’t argue with them, don’t dismiss their advice, be polite, be on-time, be nice to their assistant.  Don’t drone on about yourself, but be sure to share something personal to let them know who you are.  Ask questions.  Listen to their answers.
If you sign with that agent you will think your work is done.  This is a crucial mistake.  Now your work really begins.  You must keep writing and keep coming up with new screenplay ideas.  Share those ideas with your agent and see what they want you to write next.  Make their life easy for them, they will absolutely appreciate it.  Try to make some “contacts” on your own.  Learn how to pitch a story in ten minutes.  Practice this pitch over and over again until it is complete, concise and interesting.  Don’t overcomplicate your story but pay attention to the characters that populate the piece.  Simply tell the who, what, where, when, why and how.
Remember not to call your agent just to ask “What’s happening”.  They hate these calls.  If you have new project ideas, or if you’ve met an industry insider that wants to read your work, then you call your agent and discuss this.  Believe me they will want to take these calls and they will tell you what they’ve been doing for you.
From now on your work will consist of self-promotion, planning, writing, meeting with people, coming up with new projects, writing more complete scripts and continuing to make people aware of you and your work.  You can think of yourself as a shark in the water, always moving forward and always searching for the next meal (goal).
You will have to continue reading books on screenwriting and the business of film.  You must see as many movies as possible, both old and new.  Learn a bit about psychology so that your characters will make sense in their dealings with dilemmas.
You will be entering a world where everyone has the attention span of a gnat.  Everyone is looking for the next gold ring, hot writer and great idea.  Your job is to be in their faces with the answers to their prayers.  Get socialwith development executives, have drinks or lunch with other writers, go to screenings and talk to strangers.  Forget your shyness and need for solitude.  You can’t afford to let up… ever.  After awhile you’ll find all of this has become a part of who you are.  If you do it long enough, you’ll get it right and it won’t be so very difficult.
Writers often have a short shelf life so your objective is to get in and stay in.  It takes a lot of persistence, but it is well worth the time and effort.  Wait until you see your films on that big screen.  There is nothing in the world to compare with that feeling.
For more information on all the above, Michele Wallerstein’s book:  “MIND YOUR BUSINESS: A Hollywood Literary Agent’s Guide to Your Writing Success” may be purchased via The Writers Store and Amazon.com, in paperback and on Kindle.





I have been getting a lot of request for loglines. I give different prices . Since I have so many requests for this service, I decided to set a single fix price.

Logline: $5.00 Flat Fee

A synopsis or summery is required. It well be used to form the logline. The logline is just one line.



Screenplays

Critique: $55.00 Flat Fee, 

 Includes evaluating the basis elements of a script

  •  Introduction
  •  Development
  •  Climax
  •  Conclusion
  • Character development 
  •  Mid point development

Critiques also provide suggestions for improvements and enhancement. 



Payments are made by Paypal or cashier check by mail.


Other services are at regular price.



Query Letters: $27.00 Flat Fee  


Editing: $47.00 Flat Fee
  •  Evaluating formatting to industry standards
  •  Spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc.

Turnaround time:

Editing: 2 weeks

Critique: 2 weeks
Query Letters: 2 weeks


Feel free to contact me at ahicks4298@q.com or  ahicks4298@msn.com.
Feel to call me at (360) 696-4298. Ask for Frances.

I also critique and edit books. I am currently organizing the service prices for working on books. If you are interested in me critiquing or editing a novel you have written, feel free contact me.
*
*
Film script format, writing film scripts, screenwriting services, coverage service, screenplay formatting margins, screenplay writing, screenplay format example, Search terms: screenplays, screenwriting service, edit and critique service, writing screenplays, screenplay format, loglines, query letter, film scripts, movie scripts, screenplay format, screenplay synopsis, script synopsis, treatment, proofreading service for writers, novels, writing services, fiction writing, film script format, writing film scripts, screenwriting service, coverage service, screenplay critique service, screenplay format margins, screenplay writing, screenplay format example, free writing tutorials,   script consultant, screenwriting jobs, film production companies


Monday, February 25, 2013

Grammar Grab-bag: 4 Common Grammar Rules You Need to Know

It’s important to soak up all the advice on grammar, punctuation rules and spelling tips you can when you are a writer. The last thing you want is to submit a manuscript or a freelance assignment or a query letter to an editor and have it turned down because it was laced with grammar and punctuation errors. Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be to get your work rejected because you didn’t know how to spell a word (and spell check didn’t catch it)? Or your novel gets thrown in the slush pile because you don’t know when to use an adverb versus when to use an adjective?
In this free online download, you’ll get the grammar help you need (or, at least, a refresher of rules you already know) to keep you from looking amateurish. Whether you’re debating splitting your infinitives or trying to decide if it’s OK to end your sentences in prepositions, this grammar grab-bag offers up the inside scoop on some of the basic rules of grammar while also giving you a nuts-and-bolts breakdown of what you can and can’t do when writing your stories. That’s why we’re giving away the answers to several of the most popular grammar questions, and we’re giving them away for free! Just download it and keep it on hand for your reference.

Get your FREE download! The Essential Guide to Common Grammar Rules

Grammar Rules: Punctuation & Sentence Structure


Friday, February 22, 2013

7 WAYS TO ADD GREAT SUBPLOTS TO YOUR NOVEL


Hello, everyone. 
Here's an interesting article sent to me that I want to share with you. It's about subplot. I like subplots. They can make a story more compelling. The principles described in this article can be used by both novel writers and script writers.

My sister is a weaver. While inspecting a particularly striking piece still on her loom, I thought about the intricate, subtle pattern she’d devised and the hundreds of threads she was using. “What do you do,” I wondered aloud, “if you realize you’ve made a mistake after you’re halfway through?”
“Well, you’ve got three choices,” she answered. “You can throw the whole thing out and start over, you can undo everything back to the point your mistake started, or you can incorporate the mistake into your pattern and go from there.”
Is it any wonder that book reviewers often compliment a novel by noting its “tightly woven plot”? How apt! “Seamless” is another fitting descriptor: Nobody wants to read a story that seems like it’s been stitched together with dental floss and an awl.
Fortunately, it’s never too late to add complexity to the story you’re weaving—or to fix problems that find their way in. As my sister went on to explain, “There are so many ways to make good fabric. You just have to plan it out, then pay attention while you’re working. And don’t be afraid.”
The best authors know that much of a novel’s success depends on the interplay of plot and subplot. If your plot seems to be falling flat, or if your story starts to resonate as too one-note, it could be that a well-woven subplot is just what you need to add the kind of complexity and tension that readers crave.
Think of subplots as simply strands of stories that support or drive the main plot. With subplots—and the secondary characters who populate them—you can:
  • Advance your story in satisfying increments.
  • Unleash transformative forces on your main characters: growth or corruption, gain or loss.
  • Reveal information to your main characters or to the reader.
  • Pivot your action, provide twists.
  • Speed up or slow down your story’s pace.
  • Induce mood: menace, comedy, pathos, triumph.
  • Patch holes in (or solve other problems with) your main plot.
  • Insert—or, even better, challenge!—a moral lesson.
Subplots bring realism to your main plot simply by existing—by interrupting the flow. Why is this? Because lifedoesn’t move forward all at once. Interruptions happen, change rushes in, we juggle three or 10 balls at once. Readers don’t expect continuous narratives. They don’t expect monofilament, so to speak.
When we begin to view subplots as material to weave into our main action, it becomes easier to see the strands individually—and to feel confident handling them. Here’s how to do it.
—by Elizabeth Sims

Spinning Subplots

Although you can begin the weaving itself at any stage of writing, it’s helpful to work out your subplots as fully as you can before starting to integrate them into your main plot. In other words, before we weave, we must spin our threads.
Begin by asking yourself: What do I want to accomplish with this subplot? What do I need? What do I want? What would be fun to work with? For most of us, subplots serve to make life difficult for our characters. And since most fiction starts with characters, so will your subplots. For example, in my novel Damn Straight, I wanted to beset my heroine, Lillian Byrd, with so much trouble she can’t evade all of it. So, aside from the main plot—a mystery she sets out to solve involving a professional golfer—I wove in a friend who urgently needs Lillian’s help; a rival on the golf course who will stop at nothing to win; a coach who wants Lillian to stop playing detective; a rural bumpkin with terrorist tendencies; and a neighborhood cur who threatens Lillian’s pet rabbit. And it all happens during tournament week.
It’s no coincidence that each of these characters essentially represents a subplot. In fact, the best way to start brainstorming subplots is to brainstorm characters who could populate and propel your plot. Once you’ve done this, you can simply write out your subplots more or less sequentially. When your threads are at the ready, how to begin the weaving itself? Try these seven techniques that reveal themselves in the fabric of the most memorably woven stories.

1. The Isolated Chunk

Too many aspiring authors feel they shouldn’t use this technique because it seems stupidly easy, more like cheating than actually weaving. Be assured—terrific authors have effectively used this technique for certain kinds of subplots from the time Sumerian carvers set down the pictographic exploits of their kings.
One of the best examples of this can be found in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain purposely wrote the novel as a picaresque, which is essentially a journey story in which every distinct episode has an effect on the hero, usually resulting in the hero’s maturation from boy to man (or from girl to woman, as exemplified in Rita Mae Brown’s Rubyfruit Jungle). Concurrently, the episodes often serve to satirize hypocrisies of the times.
In Finn, Twain plunks two church-going yet blood-feuding families (the Grangerfords, who take Huck in, and their rivals, the Shepherdsons) into Huck’s life, then out again, but not before their feud explodes into cataclysm. Huck, having grown fond of the Grangerfords, serves as a witness—and in the end, turns away sickened by the violence done in the name of “honor.”
If you’ve got a subplot that can similarly work as a side trip for your main character, there’s no reason you can’t employ a similar technique.
How to Do It: Forget transitions and just start a new section or chapter. Tell your story-within-a-story, and then return to your main narrative.
If your narrative is solely first person, you’ll find this technique especially useful, as your main character can experience only one thing at a time.

2. The Parallel Line

You can also write a subplot that never touches the main plot, or that begins separately before they converge.
A prime example of parallel plotting is Frederick Forsyth’s cat-and-mouse classic, The Day of the Jackal. Early in the novel we meet a nameless professional—later known as Jackal—negotiating an assassination. Soon we’re shown the police becoming aware of a conspiracy. From then on, Forsyth cuts back and forth between the Jackal doing his work and the police inspector Lebel doing his, and the result is electrifying. The two plots converge only at the very end, when Lebel and the Jackal meet.
How to Do It: Start your story with your main plot and get going with your chief cast of characters, especially your hero. Then insert the beginning of your second plot. Switch back and forth between the stories as evenly as you can; this will emphasize their symmetrical/diametric natures.
You can make your parallel plot any size and significance that suits you. In the above example, the two plots are very nearly equal—though we know the score by the title, which is not The Day of the Police Inspector. This is especially useful for a protagonist-antagonist story, like many thrillers, mysteries and young adult tales. If your parallel plot is a minor subplot, simply give it less real estate relative to your main plot.

3. The Swallowtail

When you want to create suspense that pays off big, try launching two parallel plots, then weaving them together firmly at a certain point.
The difference between parallel construction and swallowtail is that the two paths of the swallowtail always converge and interact with each other for a fairly lengthy part of the story. Parallel plots may never converge; if they do, it is usually briefly, at the story’s end.
Swallowtail stories start with one main plot and then, after it’s off and running, launch into a completely different tale. The reader naturally wonders what, if anything, this guy and his situation will have to do with that guy and his. Which introduces suspense, just like that. For a while, it seems as if the two lines of action are completely separate, but eventually they move closer to each other, which heightens the reader’s anticipation. Then they mesh, producing extra reader satisfaction, and both plots gain complexity going forward.
Here, in stripped-down form, is an example of a swallowtail plot:
Plot 1: It’s the big day of the nursery school picnic. The kids arrive at the park, and the teacher and moms unpack the coolers.
Plot 2: A man angrily drives to a bar for a drink.
Plot 1: The kids play tag while the hot dogs cook.
Plot 2: The man downs five whiskeys in a row.
Plot 1: The moms run after a kid who’s strayed into the street.
Plot 2: The man gets into his pickup truck.
Plot 1: The kids start in on the potato chips and hot dogs.
Plot 2: The man decides to take a shortcut on the park’s service road.
Is your pulse quickening just a little? Going forward, we know that the drunk driver and the picnic will soon converge. When it happens, that man and one of the children, let’s say (or parent or teacher or all three), will be bonded in some way forever, and a more fully integrated Plot 3 begins as the story becomes the story of their relationships.
How to Do It: Alternating between two or more parallel plots (though more than three risks confusing the reader) makes your separate characters and their stories converge on a joint point, that is, a piece of business they have in common.
In the previous example, the joint point is literally a place. But you could also choose a person as a joint point, or a family, or an event, such as a political rally or a natural disaster—you get the idea.

4. The In-and-Out

In the first-person narrative of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the narrator, Scout Finch, interacts with separate sets of characters, all of whom have their own agendas. While the main plot focuses on her father and his revolutionary courtroom journey, Scout’s life is informed by subplots involving: her brother Jem and their friend Dill; the neighborhood gorgon Mrs. Dubose; the living ghost Boo Radley; the family busybody Aunt Alexandra; and Scout’s troubles at school.
The characters who populate those subplots dip in and out of Scout’s life in a satisfying progression, each incident a complete little story in itself: Scout and Jem’s discovery of the trinkets in the tree, for instance, or the creepy event of Scout finding herself wrapped in an unknown blanket while sleepily watching Miss Maudie’s house burn down. Both of those moments, separated by others, are parts of the Boo Radley subplot and serve to humanize Boo before we (with Scout) meet him.
How to Do It: Let your subplots shuttle in and out as needed. For example, you can bring a mentor into the first or second chapter, have him dispense some advice, then send him off on a journey that may have nothing to do with your story. He comes back in the seventh chapter and is once again available for consultation with your hero. He might have encountered trouble while away, even trouble he brings back with him (in the form, say, of a sketchy sidekick).
I might add that if you’re using a first-person narrator and want to show a subplot out of his range, so to speak, you can drop in chapters written in third person, then return to your first-person narrator. Many contemporary writers do this.

5. The Bookend

Readers love recursion. If you introduce a subplot early, then leave it more or less alone until you resolve it near the end, readers will be delighted. They’ve almost forgotten about that rich drama queen who beat her maid with her tennis racket, but now here she is, set upon by the maid’s two aunts from Colombia, both lawyers, who engineer a hostile takeover of the queen’s retail cosmetics empire.
Ahh, sweet payback!
I usually save a subplot to wrap up last (after the main plot), because it gives readers a place to collect themselves after the emotional high of the climax and savor the fact that order has been restored. Then they get an extra, unexpected treat.
How to Do It: This one’s easy, really a variation of the Isolated Chunk (No. 1): Simply write and insert two chunks, separated by most of the book.
It’s nice if you give a bit of foreshadowing somewhere in the middle. In the above example, I might insert a scene where there’s a welcome party for the maid who’s gone home to Colombia, and she and her aunts sit apart for a few minutes, discussing—oh, mergers and acquisitions.

6. The Bridge Character

Bridge characters are extremely useful for weaving any kind of subplot into your fiction. Example: You have a respected doctor who’s in debt to her bookie, and you have a hydrocodone addict who doctor-shops for his drugs. This character becomes a bridge between the tidy world of the troubled doctor, and the dangerous world of the streets.
How to Do It: Invent a character who is as different from your current crop as possible—someone who occupies a separate world. Or start with the two worlds you want to bridge, and think up a character who can do it.
Doctors, lawyers, counselors and clergy in particular all have great potential as bridge characters. Why? Because people end up telling them their secrets.

7. The Clue

For writers of mystery, suspense or thrillers, weaving in clues is a major—and particularly strategic—subplot challenge. Clues propel the unraveling of a puzzle, and they serve to entertain your audience. They’re optional inclusions in most genres, but if you’re writing crime, you’ve gotta have ’em.
How to Do It: Plant clues early and often, noting an important distinction: A clue for your fictional sleuth is a different thing than a clue for your reader. Some of the most intriguing clues have sprung from the minds of authors who had a great idea for a clue but not the slightest notion how it would work out—but put it in anyway, hoping for the best. I happen to know a prominent author who’s gotten away with this more than once. So I say, go ahead and let your imagination loose.
On the other hand, if you want to plant a clue for your readers to sink their suspicious little teeth into, start by considering your ending. Let’s say you’ve got a dead body in the beginning and Percy Perpetrator begging for mercy at the end. If he did it with the lead pipe in the library, you might permit a minor character, early on, to remark that Percy is writing his dissertation on cellulose-destroying organisms. And an astute reader might realize that most paper is made of wood fibers, which are composed of cellulose. Hmm. Where’s a lot of paper? The library!
You might later insert the lord of the manor apologizing for a bit of remodeling affecting the plumbing in the old north wing. And a perceptive reader might remember what plumbing in old houses was made of. This is what makes mystery writing fun.

Finishing the Fabric

Give yourself permission to expand your fictional world. An unwieldy subplot that interrupts your narrative for too long? Break it into pieces and disperse them more broadly. Or invent two characters instead of one to carry it out. Do a jump cut between plot and subplot, and let it sit for a day. Then read it and see how it looks. You’ll be weaving like a master in no time!
This article on novel writing, by Elizabeth Sims, first appeared in Writer’s DigestClick here to order the issue.




I have been getting a lot of request for loglines. I give different prices . Since I have so many requests for this service, I decided to set a single fix price.

Logline: $5.00 Flat Fee

A synopsis or summery is required. It well be used to form the logline. The logline is just one line.



Screenplays

Critique: $55.00 Flat Fee, 

 Includes evaluating the basis elements of a script

  •  Introduction
  •  Development
  •  Climax
  •  Conclusion
  • Character development 
  •  Mid point development

Critiques also provide suggestions for improvements and enhancement. 



Payments are made by Paypal or cashier check by mail.


Other services are at regular price.



Query Letters: $27.00 Flat Fee  


Editing: $47.00 Flat Fee
  •  Evaluating formatting to industry standards
  •  Spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc.

Turnaround time:

Editing: 2 weeks

Critique: 2 weeks
Query Letters: 2 weeks


Feel free to contact me at ahicks4298@q.com or  ahicks4298@msn.com.
Feel to call me at (360) 696-4298. Ask for Frances.

I also critique and edit books. I am currently organizing the service prices for working on books. If you are interested in me critiquing or editing a novel you have written, feel free contact me.
*
*
Film script format, writing film scripts, screenwriting services, coverage service, screenplay formatting margins, screenplay writing, screenplay format example, Search terms: screenplays, screenwriting service, edit and critique service, writing screenplays, screenplay format, loglines, query letter, film scripts, movie scripts, screenplay format, screenplay synopsis, script synopsis, treatment, proofreading service for writers, novels, writing services, fiction writing, film script format, writing film scripts, screenwriting service, coverage service, screenplay critique service, screenplay format margins, screenplay writing, screenplay format example, free writing tutorials,   script consultant, screenwriting jobs, film production companies