TODAY BY NUMBERS:
Percent progress made on The Language of the Unheard: 0%
Rejections of Finding Innisburg: 0
Days until I go down to see my parents: 2
Awesome new book ideas: 1
Entries I have finished for a Kindle from the library: 4
So I won another book from GoodReads.com! I am super stoked about this one; it's Dennis LeHane's new book (he wrote Shutter Island, one of my all-time favorites, and Mystic River) called Live by Night and it is scheduled to be released October 2nd.
So inspired by this winnage (no, that's not a word), I decided to fill you guys in on the books I'm looking forward to reading; specifically, books that have yet to be released.
1. The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman. Scheduled release date: July 31, 2012. (historical fiction, something about a lighthouse)
2. The Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure by Martin W. Sandler Scheduled release date: September 11, 2012. (Historical fiction about a lost whaling expedition in the Arctic and the attempt to rescue them)
3. The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin. Scheduled release date: August 21, 2012 (Historical fiction set in the Cascade foothills here in Washington about an orchardist who finds a couple of feral children)
4. The Double Game by Dan Festerman. Scheduled release date: August 21, 2012 (Story of espionage during the Cold War)
5. Miss me When I'm Gone by Emily Arsenault. Scheduled release date: July 31, 2012 (looks like a women's lit murder mystery.)
So what books are you looking forward to reading?
Showing posts with label Kindle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kindle. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Organizing Ideas
TODAY BY NUMBERS:
Total number of words on The Language of the Unheard: 52,251 (yeah, I haven't worked on it at all)
Rejections of Finding Innisburg: 0
Books read in the last week: 9.25
Entries into the library's drawing for a Kindle: 3
Well, first off, for anyone who has been keeping track, I passed my state nursing assistant exam on Thursday, so I'm officially a CNA. Yay!
So today I want to talk about organizing. Yeah. I know. Writers are not really known for their organizational skills, but I have finally won the battle against the random scribblings on pieces of paper and it's all thanks to Microsoft OneNote. Here's what I do; feel free to share your own triumphs or struggles below.
I have a OneNote notebook entitled "Writing Info." Into this notebook I throw everything I think might ever possibly be useful in a book. I have tabs across the top that are labeled: Writing Tips, Novel Ideas, Short Story Ideas, Characters, Tidbits, Settings, Screenplay Ideas, and Contests.
Some of them are pretty self-explanatory, but I think my favorite one is Writing Tips. I love to read writing "how-to" books and articles, and often a sentence or an idea will catch my attention, so I just copy and paste it right into that section. The section is divided into various pages: characters, plotting, outlining, etc. and I just stick it where it belongs. Then, when I'm brainstorming ideas for a new book, I read through all the ideas, incorporating each into my book. I sincerely believe doing this has greatly increased my writing abilities and I would highly recommend it to anyone.
In the tab labeled "Tidbits" I just put interesting things that I run across that aren't going to turn into a stand-alone book or story (probably). Right now in there I have a link to the Wikipedia article on numbers stations (which, even though they've been used in Lost, are really interesting), a quote I once read in a tabloid article about Johnny Depp that I felt would be perfect for a character to say someday, a few ideas for titles that have no stories to go with them, and on and on. Someday I feel sure I'll find a home for them.
The rest of the tabs house pretty much what you'd expect, and I suspect, if I were to combine them all, that I have over a hundred separate ideas and thoughts in there, not counting the several hundred writing tips I have accumulated.
So tell me, how do you organize your ideas and thoughts for future books or stories?
Total number of words on The Language of the Unheard: 52,251 (yeah, I haven't worked on it at all)
Rejections of Finding Innisburg: 0
Books read in the last week: 9.25
Entries into the library's drawing for a Kindle: 3
Well, first off, for anyone who has been keeping track, I passed my state nursing assistant exam on Thursday, so I'm officially a CNA. Yay!
So today I want to talk about organizing. Yeah. I know. Writers are not really known for their organizational skills, but I have finally won the battle against the random scribblings on pieces of paper and it's all thanks to Microsoft OneNote. Here's what I do; feel free to share your own triumphs or struggles below.
I have a OneNote notebook entitled "Writing Info." Into this notebook I throw everything I think might ever possibly be useful in a book. I have tabs across the top that are labeled: Writing Tips, Novel Ideas, Short Story Ideas, Characters, Tidbits, Settings, Screenplay Ideas, and Contests.
Some of them are pretty self-explanatory, but I think my favorite one is Writing Tips. I love to read writing "how-to" books and articles, and often a sentence or an idea will catch my attention, so I just copy and paste it right into that section. The section is divided into various pages: characters, plotting, outlining, etc. and I just stick it where it belongs. Then, when I'm brainstorming ideas for a new book, I read through all the ideas, incorporating each into my book. I sincerely believe doing this has greatly increased my writing abilities and I would highly recommend it to anyone.
In the tab labeled "Tidbits" I just put interesting things that I run across that aren't going to turn into a stand-alone book or story (probably). Right now in there I have a link to the Wikipedia article on numbers stations (which, even though they've been used in Lost, are really interesting), a quote I once read in a tabloid article about Johnny Depp that I felt would be perfect for a character to say someday, a few ideas for titles that have no stories to go with them, and on and on. Someday I feel sure I'll find a home for them.
The rest of the tabs house pretty much what you'd expect, and I suspect, if I were to combine them all, that I have over a hundred separate ideas and thoughts in there, not counting the several hundred writing tips I have accumulated.
So tell me, how do you organize your ideas and thoughts for future books or stories?
Friday, July 13, 2012
Screenwriting for Novelists
TODAY BY NUMBERS:
Total word count of The Language of the Unheard: 52,008
Number of form rejections for Finding Innisburg: 0 (not sure if this is good or bad)
Number of books you have to read and review for the Seattle Public Library system to be entered to win a Kindle: 3
Number of free book giveaways entered on GoodReads.com: 15
So now for our main topic. Screenwriting. Last summer I decided to attempt to write a screenplay. Although I'm fairly convinced that I will never be a famous screenwriter (Hollywood has too many politics and rules and cliques. I prefer good old-fashioned publishing), writing a screenplay may have been the best thing I ever did for my writing abilities.
Screenwriting in much, much different than novel writing. I didn't even write an original screenplay, I just adapted one of my favorite novels, Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery. Screenplays are the epitome of SHOW don't TELL. In a screenplay you can't even write a phrase like "Tom, Joe's brother, enters the room." Unless Tom is going to be wearing a sign around his neck that says "Joe's brother" you can't put it in the screenplay. You have to find a way to work it into the dialogue. This is tricky, let me tell you.
Descriptions of locations have to be kept short and sweet also. In screenwriting, one page of properly formatted text = one minute of screen time (approximately). So if a scene is going to be shown for three seconds before the characters start talking, you have to sum up the scene in only a line or two. No long-winded pages of purple prose here. The trick is to choose one or two details that "sum up" the scene. Instead of saying "The farmhouse is old and blue. There is a flower bed in front but the flowers are dead and brown. The fence running behind the house is falling down and the barbed wire is rusty. The grass is long, clearly no animals have grazed here in a while," you cut it down to the essentials: "The paint on the farmhouse is peeling and the rusty barbed wire is sagging into the overgrown grass."
In screenwriting, the specific details (the color of the house, or exactly how many plants are in front) are pointless to put in, because the director is not going to follow your directions that closely. What you want is to make a point about WHAT KIND of farmhouse this is, and let the director follow through with the details.
In novel writing, the same principle can be applied, not because a director is going to come in and change it, but because leaving some details up to your readers imagination is crucial. Unless this is a classic Martian farmhouse, a reader will be able to fill in the scene without you spelling out every detail. Pick a few things that sum up the feel of the scene and leave the rest out. Over describing can pull a reader out of the scene, while the right choice of details can make them feel like they're right there with you. Of course, if they were to draw what they pictured the farmhouse looking like, it might not be how you pictured it at all, but that's okay. When a book is read, the reader brings his or her own experiences to the table and views the story against the backdrop of his or her life.
So if you've ever been curious about writing a screenplay, even if you have no intention of selling it, I would absolutely recommend it. Screenplays are short and sweet. At 90-120 sparsely-filled pages, they are much faster to write than a novel, and you just might learn a thing or two about writing in the process. I would highly recommend the book How Not to Write a Screenplay by Denny Martin Flinn for anyone thinking of undertaking this project. The book covers formatting, plotting and everything else you need to know. Also, every April the NaNoWriMo people have a screenwriting month called Script Frenzy, in which screenwriters attempt to write 100 pages of a screenplay in a month.
Happy Noveling!
P.S. If any of you noveling folks are on GoodReads.com, you should friend me! My user name is Annakaris
Total word count of The Language of the Unheard: 52,008
Number of form rejections for Finding Innisburg: 0 (not sure if this is good or bad)
Number of books you have to read and review for the Seattle Public Library system to be entered to win a Kindle: 3
Number of free book giveaways entered on GoodReads.com: 15
So now for our main topic. Screenwriting. Last summer I decided to attempt to write a screenplay. Although I'm fairly convinced that I will never be a famous screenwriter (Hollywood has too many politics and rules and cliques. I prefer good old-fashioned publishing), writing a screenplay may have been the best thing I ever did for my writing abilities.
Screenwriting in much, much different than novel writing. I didn't even write an original screenplay, I just adapted one of my favorite novels, Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery. Screenplays are the epitome of SHOW don't TELL. In a screenplay you can't even write a phrase like "Tom, Joe's brother, enters the room." Unless Tom is going to be wearing a sign around his neck that says "Joe's brother" you can't put it in the screenplay. You have to find a way to work it into the dialogue. This is tricky, let me tell you.
Descriptions of locations have to be kept short and sweet also. In screenwriting, one page of properly formatted text = one minute of screen time (approximately). So if a scene is going to be shown for three seconds before the characters start talking, you have to sum up the scene in only a line or two. No long-winded pages of purple prose here. The trick is to choose one or two details that "sum up" the scene. Instead of saying "The farmhouse is old and blue. There is a flower bed in front but the flowers are dead and brown. The fence running behind the house is falling down and the barbed wire is rusty. The grass is long, clearly no animals have grazed here in a while," you cut it down to the essentials: "The paint on the farmhouse is peeling and the rusty barbed wire is sagging into the overgrown grass."
In screenwriting, the specific details (the color of the house, or exactly how many plants are in front) are pointless to put in, because the director is not going to follow your directions that closely. What you want is to make a point about WHAT KIND of farmhouse this is, and let the director follow through with the details.
In novel writing, the same principle can be applied, not because a director is going to come in and change it, but because leaving some details up to your readers imagination is crucial. Unless this is a classic Martian farmhouse, a reader will be able to fill in the scene without you spelling out every detail. Pick a few things that sum up the feel of the scene and leave the rest out. Over describing can pull a reader out of the scene, while the right choice of details can make them feel like they're right there with you. Of course, if they were to draw what they pictured the farmhouse looking like, it might not be how you pictured it at all, but that's okay. When a book is read, the reader brings his or her own experiences to the table and views the story against the backdrop of his or her life.
So if you've ever been curious about writing a screenplay, even if you have no intention of selling it, I would absolutely recommend it. Screenplays are short and sweet. At 90-120 sparsely-filled pages, they are much faster to write than a novel, and you just might learn a thing or two about writing in the process. I would highly recommend the book How Not to Write a Screenplay by Denny Martin Flinn for anyone thinking of undertaking this project. The book covers formatting, plotting and everything else you need to know. Also, every April the NaNoWriMo people have a screenwriting month called Script Frenzy, in which screenwriters attempt to write 100 pages of a screenplay in a month.
Happy Noveling!
P.S. If any of you noveling folks are on GoodReads.com, you should friend me! My user name is Annakaris
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