Today’s links appeal to writers looking for new approaches to videogame narration, but also for all those nanowriters in need of word-count detox for five minutes.
Category: Writing Workshop
Some people are talking against NaNoWriMo, and they’re even -partially- right, and reading them is worth the while. But there are others, like mi friend Cos, who speak in favour:
I don’t think I’ve ever -except perhaps when I was twelve or thirteen- written so much about a single story, not to mention with such regularity. Sometimes I can’t believe I’m really doing this, simply because I decided myself uncapable a long time ago. My pride beats fast within my chest and it seems strange that some people are not feeling it – that they are not creating a story right now and still live in peace, like they’re not missing a thing – or that they don’t feel so proud of me that they have the urge to talk about it and boast. This is so important for me, it’s always been so important for me, that it seems strange that people wouldn’t congratulate me like it’s my birthday or one of those events when it’s nice to cheer up and celebrate.
Beautiful, huh? Congratulations, Cos!
Sorry, this entry is only available in Español.
Sorry, this entry is only available in Español.
I’ve been quiet lately, busy fine-tuning a novel, writing the second season of Mrs. Carrington and wondering -as if I didn’t have enough- what to write for my friends at Teatro Por Dinero, a new cultural venue in Madrid that I heartily recommend.
My personal NaNoWriMo challenge this year has been, instead of the 50,000 words, to write the whole second season of Mrs. Carrington in these 30 days -perhaps not in a ready-to-shoot, finalised script, but at least with a draft for every one of the 12 episodes. So far I’m still battling the treatment, but at least it’s a long treatment with some fundamental dialogue and action sequences already rolled out to a level of detail that should make things very easy when the time comes to expand each of those pages onto a 5-6 page draft.
We’re approaching the end of the first half now, so tell me, how are things going? Which topic are you writing about? And how is your word count? Are those 25,000 getting any closer?
For all the busy nanowriters out there, here’s a best-of for October at Scriptwriting Tips. Whether you’re writing comedy or horror, there’s something here for you. Hope they help you push forward!
421: For god’s sake, don’t throw away/delete your original notes, no matter how much your idea may have changed. You’ll need them for when you get halfway through the script and realize you have no idea why you were ever interested in this concept.
422: If you can’t explain your screenplay idea to somebody in a casual conversation, you don’t actually have a screenplay idea. What you probably have is a setting, a character or a cool theme — now take it to the next level.
423: If you’re going to break the rules, do it in spectacular fashion. That way it’s obvious that you’re breaking the rules, not ignorant of them.
424: Better to outline too many scenes, characters and subplots than to run out of material in the middle of Act Two. Think of it as scouting out the terrain before taking the best route.
427: Your unique point of view is your most valuable asset as a writer… assuming your unique point of view is interesting.
428: Don’t open a story by having everything that could possibly go wrong happen to your protagonist (husband leaves her, fired from job, dog runs away, etc.). Pick one thing — the one that hurts the most.
432: Jokes can’t save a scene that’s not advancing the plot or affecting the protagonist. Comedy should never be the entire point of a scene.
433: Your screenplay is not about what happens. It’s about who it happens to.
434: You have to truly, deeply, unconditionally believe in your premise. That process starts with being able to sum it up in one or two sentences.
Guest 4: Nothing breaks immersion quite like a character saying, “This isn’t the movies, this is the real world” or “This always works in the movies”. As soon as you do, we remember we’re watching a movie.
Guest 6: Male writers, is getting into the mind of a woman really THAT much harder than getting into the mind of a psychopathic criminal with no qualms about killing? Women would like to be the hero once in a while, too.
Guest 7: Please actually hang out with or talk to minorities before you put them in your screenplay. We can tell when everything you know about us comes from glances and snippets of conversation you hear at the checkout line.
Guest 8: Audiences like thinking they’ve got it all figured out. So give them an “I knew it!” moment…. then pull the rug out from under them.
436: When you’re writing horror, dread is your friend. What’s dread? It’s the man in the mask. It’s the closed door at the end of the hallway. It’s what’s waiting for us when we turn on the lights. A sense of something horrible that can’t be avoided, only delayed.