When I was young, I read every Doc Savage book I could get, and reread the ones I had several times. I learned later that the writer, Lester Dent, had turned out one 50,000-word Doc Savage book a month for over 14 years. Not only that, but Doc Savage accounted for about a quarter of his output.
Just the other day I stumbled across an article he wrote about the “formula” he used to write so much material. http://www.paper-dragon.com/1939/dent.html
Since I aspire to be a writer, I cogitated on what he wrote. I wanted to avoid formula writing and I know many writers are critical of formulas. But, as I read more on writing, I start to see the value of a formula. Ultimately, I don’t want to be a formula writer, but I realized that it takes time to develop your writing skills, and a formula can help you develop those skills.
I also have a new view of what a formula is. Since my background is in the sciences, I tended to think of a formula as something very mechanical in nature. The writing formulas I’ve heard about are not really like that. I would describe them as structures. When people talk about formula writing, I think they have in mind the few standard structures that get used. Many other structures exist, but most writers rarely use them.
I found out that all the Doc Savage books are available for download: http://www.stealthskater.com/DocSavage_01.htm
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Script Preparation for Amazon Studios
Over the last week, I prepared my script The Anger Trap to submit to Amazon Studios. I’m not quite done yet, but I’m close. It was much more work than I thought it would be.
To start, I converted the script from MS Word to Celtx. In MS Word, my script ran to 93 pages, but in Celtx it came out at 80 pages. Amazon Studios won’t accept a script under 85 pages, so I had to expand the script.
I had planned to do just a minor reformat, but in the end, I made quite a few changes.
The revised script came in at 86 pages.
When I checked out the submission requirements in more detail, it turned out that they want the script as a Rich Text Format file. Celtx doesn’t output an rtf file. I didn’t want to go back to MS Word again, because I thought the template I used didn’t reproduce the standard script format. I tried a couple of other script writing programs, Page2Stage and Scriptmaker. They both output rtf files, but I couldn’t import files from Celtx.
I downloaded a script from Amazon Studios and studied the format they used. That convinced me that MS Word was the way to go, but I wanted to develop my own template. I found several “Official” script format descriptions on the Internet, none of which agreed with any of the others. I picked one that gave me a 93-page script.
Steve Hanon told me I use too many “ing” verbs in my writing, so I replaced most of them. I noticed I use “anything” and “something” a lot. Maybe I should change some of those too. I reformatted some “hidden” shots, into the proper shot format. When I went through the script, I fixed a few other minor problems I spotted. The script is 94 pages now.
Amazon Studios wants a synopsis and a log line that I still need to prepare, but I think I should have the whole package ready to post in a few days. Of course, that is what I thought last Sunday.
To start, I converted the script from MS Word to Celtx. In MS Word, my script ran to 93 pages, but in Celtx it came out at 80 pages. Amazon Studios won’t accept a script under 85 pages, so I had to expand the script.
I had planned to do just a minor reformat, but in the end, I made quite a few changes.
- Changed the title back to The Doorman’s Sacrifice.
- Changed the names of nine of the seventeen characters and added three new characters.
- Restructured the first half of the script. One nice thing about Celtx is that it is very easy to move scenes around.
- Added three new scenes,
- Expanded a few scenes,
- Split one scene into two scenes and
- Split another scene into three scenes
The revised script came in at 86 pages.
When I checked out the submission requirements in more detail, it turned out that they want the script as a Rich Text Format file. Celtx doesn’t output an rtf file. I didn’t want to go back to MS Word again, because I thought the template I used didn’t reproduce the standard script format. I tried a couple of other script writing programs, Page2Stage and Scriptmaker. They both output rtf files, but I couldn’t import files from Celtx.
I downloaded a script from Amazon Studios and studied the format they used. That convinced me that MS Word was the way to go, but I wanted to develop my own template. I found several “Official” script format descriptions on the Internet, none of which agreed with any of the others. I picked one that gave me a 93-page script.
Steve Hanon told me I use too many “ing” verbs in my writing, so I replaced most of them. I noticed I use “anything” and “something” a lot. Maybe I should change some of those too. I reformatted some “hidden” shots, into the proper shot format. When I went through the script, I fixed a few other minor problems I spotted. The script is 94 pages now.
Amazon Studios wants a synopsis and a log line that I still need to prepare, but I think I should have the whole package ready to post in a few days. Of course, that is what I thought last Sunday.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Should I Submit “The Anger Trap” to Amazon Studios?
Amazon has started a movie studio called Amazon Studios http://studios.amazon.com/ . Their idea is to crowd source scripts. People post their scripts on-line and then other people try to rewrite them to win prizes. They expect that eventually they’ll get a script they can make into a blockbuster.
I read a good discussion of the issues with the plan at http://johnaugust.com/archives/2010/on-the-amazon-film-thing . Many professional writers think it is a dumb idea that won’t work. Over all, it doesn’t sound too promising.
On the other hand, that doesn’t mean it won’t be worth my while to try it out. For example, I don’t think I’ll go back to The Anger Trap script and I certainly don’t plan to make it. If I submit it, there is the possibility that I’ll win a prize. I may also generate some visits to my website, which could help me gain some followers.
I haven’t decided to go ahead with a submission yet because I do have some ideas for the script. I could turn it into a short novel/novelette. I also have notes for changes to the script.
If I do submit it, I’ll need to decide if I submit it as it is, or if I do some revisions before I do. At the least, I want to switch the title back to the original The Doorman’s Sacrifice. I want to move at least one scene, and I want to split up another. Some of the dialog would embarrass me now, so I want to fix that.
I don’t want to make too many changes, and I don’t want to cut out too much. The script runs 97 pages now, and the minimum to submit is 85 pages. That does give me the opportunity to cut out some material.
Earlier I created a Celtx file of the script, but I see now that I only have the first four scenes formatted. That is out of 69 scenes. It may take quite sometime to get it ready to submit. Maybe I’d be better off if I worked on other projects.
I read a good discussion of the issues with the plan at http://johnaugust.com/archives/2010/on-the-amazon-film-thing . Many professional writers think it is a dumb idea that won’t work. Over all, it doesn’t sound too promising.
On the other hand, that doesn’t mean it won’t be worth my while to try it out. For example, I don’t think I’ll go back to The Anger Trap script and I certainly don’t plan to make it. If I submit it, there is the possibility that I’ll win a prize. I may also generate some visits to my website, which could help me gain some followers.
I haven’t decided to go ahead with a submission yet because I do have some ideas for the script. I could turn it into a short novel/novelette. I also have notes for changes to the script.
If I do submit it, I’ll need to decide if I submit it as it is, or if I do some revisions before I do. At the least, I want to switch the title back to the original The Doorman’s Sacrifice. I want to move at least one scene, and I want to split up another. Some of the dialog would embarrass me now, so I want to fix that.
I don’t want to make too many changes, and I don’t want to cut out too much. The script runs 97 pages now, and the minimum to submit is 85 pages. That does give me the opportunity to cut out some material.
Earlier I created a Celtx file of the script, but I see now that I only have the first four scenes formatted. That is out of 69 scenes. It may take quite sometime to get it ready to submit. Maybe I’d be better off if I worked on other projects.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
More Scenes or Longer Scenes?
I finished the outline for Bright Freedom last week, and wrote 14 of the 42 scenes I identified. I expected that I would have a 90-page script by the end, but the scenes are shorter than I thought they would be. I may only get a 50-page script. I’ve had similar problems with my earlier scripts, but this seems even worse.
I’ve asked myself should I try to make my scenes longer, or add more scenes? Do I add more events to the film, or to make the events bigger?
I’ve read that the average scene should be about 3 pages and a page typically translates into about one minute of screen time. My average scene is 1.4 pages, so I would need 65 scenes to get a 90-minute film.
I think that I should develop my scenes more. I tend to write scenes very focussed on plot and don’t make much effort to portray the characters. If I did that more often, my scenes would be longer. I hope it would make the characters more interesting to the audience.
When I did the rewrites for The Anger Trap, only about 20 per cent of the increased length of later drafts was due to adding scenes. The rest came from longer scenes.
I’ve asked myself should I try to make my scenes longer, or add more scenes? Do I add more events to the film, or to make the events bigger?
I’ve read that the average scene should be about 3 pages and a page typically translates into about one minute of screen time. My average scene is 1.4 pages, so I would need 65 scenes to get a 90-minute film.
I think that I should develop my scenes more. I tend to write scenes very focussed on plot and don’t make much effort to portray the characters. If I did that more often, my scenes would be longer. I hope it would make the characters more interesting to the audience.
When I did the rewrites for The Anger Trap, only about 20 per cent of the increased length of later drafts was due to adding scenes. The rest came from longer scenes.
Monday, November 15, 2010
In Defence of "Blink" and "Outliers"
I enjoyed reading Malcolm Gladwell's books Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking and Outliers: The Story of Success. I was disappointed when I read some criticism of these books. I wrote a short article to counter the criticism.
In Defence of Blink and Outliers
http://bookstove.com/book-talk/in-defence-of-blink-and-outliers/
Sunday, November 14, 2010
How Long is “Then the Phone Rang”?
Someone who read my script Then the Phone Rang, told me they thought the script was too short to be a feature. I planned to get some actors to do a read through sometime to get a better idea.
This week I decided to try Natural Reader, a text to audio program (http://www.naturalreaders.com/ to time it. The paid version allows you to create an mp3 file, but not the free version I have. After a little trial and error, I found I could record the audio with Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ .
The audio file came in at 83 minutes. I didn’t clean up the script to remove things like the names of which characters were talking, so an actual film based on the script would be somewhat shorter. Still, I think it still comes to about a minute a page. At 71 pages, it is still on the short side for a feature.
One thing that caught my attention was that it was much easier to catch typos while listening. I had a character named Brian, and everyone else in the script kept calling him Brain. I didn’t try to make any corrections this time, but I want to go back to do that.
I would still like to make a trial version of the film with Xtranormal’s text-to-movie software http://www.xtranormal.com . I think that would give me a better idea how my script will translate to the screen. It might also help me come up with a more visual approach to the script.
I feel I should buy the paid versions of Xtranormal and Natural Reader, but I am not quite ready to do that.
This week I decided to try Natural Reader, a text to audio program (http://www.naturalreaders.com/ to time it. The paid version allows you to create an mp3 file, but not the free version I have. After a little trial and error, I found I could record the audio with Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ .
The audio file came in at 83 minutes. I didn’t clean up the script to remove things like the names of which characters were talking, so an actual film based on the script would be somewhat shorter. Still, I think it still comes to about a minute a page. At 71 pages, it is still on the short side for a feature.
One thing that caught my attention was that it was much easier to catch typos while listening. I had a character named Brian, and everyone else in the script kept calling him Brain. I didn’t try to make any corrections this time, but I want to go back to do that.
I would still like to make a trial version of the film with Xtranormal’s text-to-movie software http://www.xtranormal.com . I think that would give me a better idea how my script will translate to the screen. It might also help me come up with a more visual approach to the script.
I feel I should buy the paid versions of Xtranormal and Natural Reader, but I am not quite ready to do that.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Bright Freedom
I started on a new movie script this week. My other projects: My Most Difficult Case and Then the Phone Rang are hanging fire while I get some other people involved. I wanted to get to work on something, so I went back to a project, called Bright Freedom, which I’ve been playing with off and on for a long time.
I’ve been stalled on the story because I really need to do a lot of background research to do a proper job of it. I kept finding excuses to put off the research. I did manage to determine that the basic premise of the story is plausible. I decided that was good enough to start writing. I will still need to do more research before I can do a final version of the script. I think it may be easier to do the research once I have a draft of the script. I hope that doesn’t sound like famous last words.
I am not sure if I want to make Bright Freedom into film in the end. Right now, I see it as a development exercise. The more scripts you write, the easier it is to write. I also believe that the quality of my writing will improve. It will be a challenge because the protagonist is not only a woman, but is a woman from a very different culture than I’m familiar with. That is the reason why I expect that I will need to do more research to finish it. Either that, or find someone to collaborate with.
Someone told me I made my female characters more self confident, strong and independent than they should be. I’m not sure if that is true. The protagonist in this story isn’t someone to wait around for a big strong man to come save her. I’ve meet people like her, so I think that is realistic.
I got about halfway through the outline this week. I am doing a more detailed outline than I did for Then the Phone Rang, but less detailed than what I did for The Anger Trap or my detective story. I expect it to take longer to write. I am also confident that the first draft of the script will come in longer. Certainly closer to feature length than the other projects I’ve done.
I’ve been stalled on the story because I really need to do a lot of background research to do a proper job of it. I kept finding excuses to put off the research. I did manage to determine that the basic premise of the story is plausible. I decided that was good enough to start writing. I will still need to do more research before I can do a final version of the script. I think it may be easier to do the research once I have a draft of the script. I hope that doesn’t sound like famous last words.
I am not sure if I want to make Bright Freedom into film in the end. Right now, I see it as a development exercise. The more scripts you write, the easier it is to write. I also believe that the quality of my writing will improve. It will be a challenge because the protagonist is not only a woman, but is a woman from a very different culture than I’m familiar with. That is the reason why I expect that I will need to do more research to finish it. Either that, or find someone to collaborate with.
Someone told me I made my female characters more self confident, strong and independent than they should be. I’m not sure if that is true. The protagonist in this story isn’t someone to wait around for a big strong man to come save her. I’ve meet people like her, so I think that is realistic.
I got about halfway through the outline this week. I am doing a more detailed outline than I did for Then the Phone Rang, but less detailed than what I did for The Anger Trap or my detective story. I expect it to take longer to write. I am also confident that the first draft of the script will come in longer. Certainly closer to feature length than the other projects I’ve done.
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