Rules for writing fiction

Today I found this great page on the website of The Guardian. It's a collection of writers' 10 tips for writing fiction. Some are serious, some less so, but it's interesting for sure. It's not always relevant for screenwriters, but first of all, many screenwriters write other things too. And besides, screenwriting is still not too far from fiction writing, in some senses. Neil Gaiman had one great tip, I think it's the one I liked most:

Write.

Where the wild things are - the movie

I want to begin with the conclusion here. WTWTA is a good movie.

Many doubted the possibility of adapting a 100-words-book into a full length feature film, and the (earlier?) draft of the script received a hard criticism from its reader, but the end result is stunning.

I think the problem of most people with the movie was the lack of action, or, perhaps, the lack of conflict. Also in the book, the kid just closes his eyes and solves his anger in his dream. And in the dream when he misses home he simply returns. But, and this is a very important issue here, this film isn't about big conflicts in the outer world. Like the book, Max has some problems at home, but the main conflict of him is how does he make sense of it, how does he deal with his problems, and not how he solves them. To deal with it means to understand it, and all Max needs to do is to better understand his life, perhaps to get some more control over it.

So we go with Max to where the wild things are, and it's a fantastic hypnotic story, that works on the mind the same ways the book does. Little words, loads of feel.

Way to go, brave brave Spike Jonze.

All Oscar 2010 guesses

Oscars are coming, and the best part of the ceremony is the speculations on the winners of this year's golden man. Myself I have my hopes and fears, but here are the biggest name on the business making theirs:

Oscar 2010 speculation list
Roger Ebert will be probably right in most Oscar categories. Pretty much the sane version of the Oscar Bingo. He even admits it by saying:

I can't remember a year when it seemed easier to predict the Oscars.

My guess is that he means Avatar. Money remains the key to Hollywood Hysteria.
Other lists that look pretty much like Ebert's is this and this.
A slightly different approach is apperent on that list of The Daily Tar Heel. Only the main categories are included here, and no word about Avatar.
Another surprising list is the one of OscarFrenzy.
The voice of the people: the forum of Rotten Tomatoes shows that the crowd is not very single-minded on the 2010 Oscar wins.
But the really interesting fight this year is the one on the Best Animated Feature. It has been a year full of superb animation movies, some will include Avatar as well in that list. The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Up, Coraline. the Village voice talks about one film that should not be left out, in an article entitled: The Illuminating Power of Oscar Nominee.

And when you just can't have any more of the Oscars, The Envelop brings you even more.

Another scriptwriter with something to say

I read an interview with a screenwriter, jack Sekowski, and he said:

It's frustrating since I go to the movies and see that most of the stories told are fairly simple. So why am I driven to make things more complex...thereby giving myself more work? I don't know the answer to that.

I sometimes feel exactly the same, but the truth is that even what seems very simple and straight forward on screen is the result of complex thinking, of narrowing too many ideas to one crystal-clear story. A simple movie was once a complex script in someone's mind. How to make the complex into simple, that's the craft of screenwriting.

Enneagram of Personality: 9 types of characters

Lately I found this page on wikipedia, about the Enneagram of Personality. It's a very comfortable way to look at your script's characters and understand their personality pattern. There are nine patterns: The Reformer, The Helper, The Achiever, The Individualist, The Investigator, The Loyalist, The Enthusiast, The Challenger, The Peacemaker.

The Enneagram describes those personality patterns, including character's motivation, healthy- and unhealthy state of being, fears etc.

I find it extremly helpful for screenwriters to use such tools, as George Clooney says in Up In The Sky: "I stereotype. It's faster".

A scriptwriting tip from ScriptShadow

What I learned: Once you have your gimmick down, once you have your hook, forget about it. Forget about how you’re going to sell the thing. Switch your focus over to the story and the characters. Make them the best they can possibly be. I think that’s the problem with a lot of today’s writers. Is they rely too much on their premise. They think that that’s going to do all the work for them. It’s a casualty of movies like “The 40 Year Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” doing well. Because so much of the joke is implied in the title and the marketing, that writers assume if they get that part squared away, their job is over. But Executive Search goes back to a time where writers still cared about their characters. You need to do the same thing in your rom com.

hot topic: should ScriptShadow stop?

The community is on fire: a script analyst who owns a website called ScriptShadow publishes unproduced scripts online and writes an analysis. Wired Magazine and John August already posted articles against this habit of our secret guy.

I myself only discovered him after reading those articles. I find this website a real treasure, but I also understand the problems it creates. No writer would want an unfinished script of his to be published. And criticized!

But since the ones who are enjoying the site are not often the ones who are getting hurt by it - lets just have fun without thinking of the politics of it all.

The Scriptwriter's Guide

As a struggling scriptwriter myself, it is sometimes funny to meet other scriptwriters on the street and find that they are looking to get some ideas from me for how to make it into the industry. It is funny but totally understandable. In this business it seems like anybody who got one script produced is a very successful writer. Perhaps it is so, but it is not the kind of success you feel every day, not that kind that makes you feel like you can talk about it with others. Most chances this thing of yours that got produced was written long time ago, and you feel like Tina Turner that 30 years after still performs with "private dancer".

But, anyways, I won't play the role of the suffering scriptwriter. I actually DO have some tips for the novice screenwriter, and I include myself in that group as well.

Tips for the novice scriptwriter

Breaking in the industry

• With every script you write and send, also those small copy-tests of a scene or so, attach a cover page that has your phone and email on it.
• Don't underestimate the power of old contacts. With today's social networks on the internet, you can feel not-too-weird contacting old acquaintances or colleagues.
• Call production companies, broadcasters etc. for a copy-test (a writing sample made for their needs).
• Try to write an episode for a TV series you know well. Better one that is not to long on TV already, maybe had a season or two. Call the channel and ask to whom you should send it. In case he says you shouldn't, send it to the script editor and the producer.

Screenwriting Tip: Sentence Crafting

As a screenwriter you maybe have the movie running in your head, but what you should aim for is your audience, meaning the readers of your script (and not the viewers of the produced piece). The scriptwriter's weapons are sentences, and words.

We deal with art in time, and we want to reflect the time feeling in our script. You should be able to control your reader's reading tempo: when does he takes a breath, when does he reads fast. there are several ways of manipulating your script to do so, and one of those ways is the descending sentence.

Descending sentence is used to slow down the tempo of the reading, to create almost a halt, a pause in the script. To create a 'moment' without writing that artificial word 'pause'. Because nobody just pauses. There is always something happening, even the smallest thing.

Let us see this descending sentence in action. I use a draft of Coen Brothers' script for A Serious Man. I found this draft on Script-O-rama. Their scripts are such a delight to read, so fluent, like a story. So they are great to learn from.

His point-of-view: very close on the face of a classroom clock. We hear its electrical hum. Its red sweep-second hand crawls around the dial very, very slowly.

The last sentence in this short paragraph is a descending sentence. Of course, there are a few techniques used here to slow down the tempo: the repeat (very, very), the actual choice of words (crawls, slowly), but we focus on the sentence crafting.

It splits into three parts:

1. Its red sweep-second hand (5)
2. crawls around the dial (4)
3. very, very slowly. (3)

By using less words for each part, our reading tempo declines. It's a matter of delicate sentence design, something you feel more as you read it, and as you master the language and the use of words more - so this technique will come naturally to you. Feeling is everything here.

Try it yourself on everyday sentences, get the feeling of this, get crafty!

The Return of the Screenwriter

so I've been away, finished my studies, decided there's nothing for me in the screenwriting business, built some websites, cut my hair, and now I'm ready to write again.

But enough about me. There's a new journal for screenwriting, published by Intellect. The first issue is free online, and you can find it here. I saw the TOC and it looks promising, now I'll take my time and delve into the essays.

Until I can write, I must read.