Do you know where your characters are and where they need to go? How long does it take them to travel from location to location? Do they need to take a train? An elevator? The stairs? Knowing these details helps you keep their reality in tact for them, for you, and for an audience.
The other day as I watched a TV show that only lasted six episodes, I wondered if part of the problem for the short-lived series was its distorted sense of place. Two characters left a state prison, arguing as they walked to her car. The fellow was so upset that he decided to walk back to the city's law firm. Walk? From the state pen? Which seemed to be perched in the middle of nowhere....
Not only did it take me out of the story, but it distracted me throughout the rest of the episode. Every time anyone traveled anywhere, I questioned where they began from and how they arrived to their destination so quickly.
For one of my sci fi stories I began with a hand-scrawled wall mural of the planets and galaxies included in my characters' universe, including light and heating sources, and how far each was located from the other. It was a required step as I penned the script; well, required if I wanted to maintain a legitimacy to the rules of the universe I was creating and establishing.
Now, as I pen episodes and a show bible for a spec series I'm working on, I realize that not only is the sense of place important to keeping it real for my characters, but also to help other writers and creative artists on the series get a sense of what the characters face each time they step out on the town or shuffle through their own homes.
Which is why yesterday I sat down with an artist and gave him my quickly scrawled (and probably difficult to comprehend) sketches of some of the places in the story. Hopefully he can picture where my characters are...and help me convey that sense of place to my creative team.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Reading Aloud
Today my class of 15 awesome advanced scriptwriting students and I read two scripts from a project I'm working on. We were joined by the enthusiastic and gregarious director--my creative partner in the venture. It was awesome hearing the characters come to life.
It's not the first time I've pulled together readers for my scripts. I've hosted living room readings of my pirate script with other writers and attorneys from my husband's former law firm, even providing grog and Pirate Booty. I also invited a gaggle of moms over one morning after school drop off so we could read one of my family scripts as we sat and ate brunch.
I've been helped by, and later turned around and helped the NH Film Office pull together readings of both my own and others' screenplays by seasoned local actors before an audience. And I always require my classes to read aloud each script written by students in the class. It's a fantastic way for the writer to hear what works and what doesn't quite yet convey the story.
It doesn't have to be a formal setting, nor a reading by professional actors to help you get a sense of what's working in your screen (or stage) story. But I do highly recommend hosting a reading--or finding a good friend to host one on your behalf--as one necessary step in the creative writing and rewriting process.
Recipe for a Fabulous Home Reading of a Script:
- Thin, solid three-ring binders
- Script for each reader, preferably with their part highlighted within
- Comfy seats
- Bright enough lights to read by
- Snacks & drinks (genre appropriate makes it that much more fun; if it takes place around a baseball park, you might include franks & cold beer)
- Optional: party favors (again, genre or script specific is more fun; for my family script - THE MIRROR PROPHECY - I sent every reader home with a decorative compact mirror in the shape of a UFO, since the story took place on several planets)
- Pencils
- Time for your readers to discuss the script afterwards; this is your opportunity to LISTEN. Don't get defensive, just listen to what your readers have to say. Often there are several nuggets of invaluable ideas that work their way into your revisions.
- And finally: enough time to read the script in its entirety, to take a break part way through, to mingle, to eat, to visit, and to hear feedback.
It's not the first time I've pulled together readers for my scripts. I've hosted living room readings of my pirate script with other writers and attorneys from my husband's former law firm, even providing grog and Pirate Booty. I also invited a gaggle of moms over one morning after school drop off so we could read one of my family scripts as we sat and ate brunch.
I've been helped by, and later turned around and helped the NH Film Office pull together readings of both my own and others' screenplays by seasoned local actors before an audience. And I always require my classes to read aloud each script written by students in the class. It's a fantastic way for the writer to hear what works and what doesn't quite yet convey the story.
It doesn't have to be a formal setting, nor a reading by professional actors to help you get a sense of what's working in your screen (or stage) story. But I do highly recommend hosting a reading--or finding a good friend to host one on your behalf--as one necessary step in the creative writing and rewriting process.
Recipe for a Fabulous Home Reading of a Script:
- Thin, solid three-ring binders
- Script for each reader, preferably with their part highlighted within
- Comfy seats
- Bright enough lights to read by
- Snacks & drinks (genre appropriate makes it that much more fun; if it takes place around a baseball park, you might include franks & cold beer)
- Optional: party favors (again, genre or script specific is more fun; for my family script - THE MIRROR PROPHECY - I sent every reader home with a decorative compact mirror in the shape of a UFO, since the story took place on several planets)
- Pencils
- Time for your readers to discuss the script afterwards; this is your opportunity to LISTEN. Don't get defensive, just listen to what your readers have to say. Often there are several nuggets of invaluable ideas that work their way into your revisions.
- And finally: enough time to read the script in its entirety, to take a break part way through, to mingle, to eat, to visit, and to hear feedback.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
It's in the cards...
I'm working on a project that involves four or five different story lines woven into 55-60 pages of script. But how to keep track of all those plots?
Color index cards, baby!
My main storyline, or my A-story, appears on pink cards. My secondary story, or B-story, is on blue. My C-story on green, D-story on yellow, and E-story is on orange.
How did I assign each story a color? Well, that part's mostly random, though the E-story was relegated to my least favorite color in the pack, since the E-story will have the fewest cards.
Utilizing the color-coded cards makes each step of the outlining process easier. First, I can brainstorm in any order I choose, writing one scene per card.
Second, as I organize the 28-32 cards in five acts, including a teaser and an epilogue, laying them out on the sofa in my office, I can easily see where I may have bunched up too much A-story without a break, or forgotten to include a bit of the C-story in the second act. A quick shuffle of the cards, and my one-hour story is beginning to take on a nice look and feel.
Once I'm happy with the card arrangement, I number them in order, and sit down to write. I can quickly type up a beat-outline from the cards, especially if I need to share it with my creative partner. Or I can simply begin writing the script, using the cards to guide me.
Next time you're faced with the blank sheet of a new project, give the cards a try. Even if your story merely consists of one major story, with perhaps an ancillary tale or two tossed in, the cards will help you brainstorm your way to a well-rounded narrative...and make order out of the chaos once you've exhausted your ideas.
Color index cards, baby!
My main storyline, or my A-story, appears on pink cards. My secondary story, or B-story, is on blue. My C-story on green, D-story on yellow, and E-story is on orange.
How did I assign each story a color? Well, that part's mostly random, though the E-story was relegated to my least favorite color in the pack, since the E-story will have the fewest cards.
Utilizing the color-coded cards makes each step of the outlining process easier. First, I can brainstorm in any order I choose, writing one scene per card.
Second, as I organize the 28-32 cards in five acts, including a teaser and an epilogue, laying them out on the sofa in my office, I can easily see where I may have bunched up too much A-story without a break, or forgotten to include a bit of the C-story in the second act. A quick shuffle of the cards, and my one-hour story is beginning to take on a nice look and feel.
Once I'm happy with the card arrangement, I number them in order, and sit down to write. I can quickly type up a beat-outline from the cards, especially if I need to share it with my creative partner. Or I can simply begin writing the script, using the cards to guide me.
Next time you're faced with the blank sheet of a new project, give the cards a try. Even if your story merely consists of one major story, with perhaps an ancillary tale or two tossed in, the cards will help you brainstorm your way to a well-rounded narrative...and make order out of the chaos once you've exhausted your ideas.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Though Shalt Write
Sounds basic enough, doesn't it? If you're a writer, you write.
We all have our own habits and schedules. Some of us write our best stuff before breakfast, while others peck away at the keyboard late into the night. During grad school I wrote my most promising prose between the wee hours of 4 a.m. and 6 a.m., before the rest of the occupants in my house awoke.
But life doesn't always make it easy for us to find our writing time and space. And procrastination is too often our own worst enemy. So with all the real (and fake) demands on your time, it's important to push all else aside and just write.
In fact, rather than reading this post admonishing you to do it, go write now. And so shall I. Maybe we can meet up soon and exchange drafts and critique notes over coffee or some other plausible procrastination beverage of choice.
We all have our own habits and schedules. Some of us write our best stuff before breakfast, while others peck away at the keyboard late into the night. During grad school I wrote my most promising prose between the wee hours of 4 a.m. and 6 a.m., before the rest of the occupants in my house awoke.
But life doesn't always make it easy for us to find our writing time and space. And procrastination is too often our own worst enemy. So with all the real (and fake) demands on your time, it's important to push all else aside and just write.
In fact, rather than reading this post admonishing you to do it, go write now. And so shall I. Maybe we can meet up soon and exchange drafts and critique notes over coffee or some other plausible procrastination beverage of choice.
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