thoughtfullyinstantwastelan-blog - Tumblr blog

[thoughtfullyinstantwastelan-blog]

Writing Advice, Or: How to Use a Screenplay to Write Your Novel

If you are, like me, someone who:

- gets bogged down in details

- writes fanfiction

- loves characters but struggles with plot

- wants to write a novel but gets easily distracted by TV

Here’s the best piece of writing advice I can give you:

Write a screenplay.

For real. I spent months agonizing over characters, plot, sentences, details… and got nowhere. Okay, maybe not “nowhere,” because I had 100,000 words and the characters told me about who they were, what they wanted, and their relationships with one another. And yet, I was stuck.

So, unfortunately, you have to do the work, presumably first, but still. You have to write in order to figure these things out. You can sit and think about it all you want, but at some point, the characters are going to change things on you, and you just have to roll with it.

I use Celtx, which is a free screenplay writing software that has more features than I could ever use, and which allows its user to simply write, without worrying over formatting. It’s amazing. 

A screenplay allows you to do several things, which is why I’m recommending it:

- gets bogged down in details? No problem. The world you’re creating consists of three things: slugline (where/when), action (who is in the scene and, in very broad strokes, what are they doing - what’s the situation), and dialogue (what they are saying, ONLY. No gestures, movements, walking from this side of the room to that unless it is specifically relevant to the plot). When you break down a scene into these three things, you have the flow of your novel, from one scene to the next, without needing to slam your head into the table every day worrying about details. Because when you do sit down to write it in novel format, you are focusing only on one scene, which you already have set-up.

- writes fanfiction? Awesome. Because you are already able to take a world that is provided and focus exclusively on the characters. When writing a screenplay, the world you’re providing is already there, albeit in scaffolding only. You have the where and some small descriptions… which you can flesh out later, in as much detail as you want, in a novel. One at a time. You already do this, you wonderful fanfic writer. This is what you do.

- loves characters but struggles with plot? Screenwriting is AMAZING for plot because you have to be able to see what is happening, and we are so good at watching television/movies. We already have so much practice with viewing plot in our daily lives that it can seem insurmountable to sit down and come up with one yourself. But when you allow yourself to play, to flow, to write one scene and trust yourself and ask, What happens next? What would I like or expect to see next, if I were watching this right now? You’d be amazed at what you can come up with in a very short amount of time. 

- wants to write a novel but is easily distracted by TV? Boom. Self-loathing problem solved. You’re not watching television, like a passive viewer. You are actively creating television. Actively creating art. You have to delve deep into all those things that make movies or series great… and find out what doesn’t work. Soon enough, you’ll be able to see these issues for yourself, both good and bad, whenever you watch something. It brings your viewership to a higher standard. It actively impacts your critical thinking skills. 

And, in the end, if you come up with an amazing screenplay, you can always try and sell that or get it made first. If that doesn’t work out, retrieve it from the market, and write the novel. 

Or, just write the novel, with your scaffolding - especially if it’s an emotion-heavy plot. Take it with a heavy grain of salt, but the YouTube series “Film Courage” can be very helpful in getting down to business in the screenwriting world. (It can also be very discouraging, if you’re sensitive like me, but knowledge has its price.)

Happy Writing.

Love,

theleafpile

[thoughtfullyinstantwastelan-blog]

recommended listening things

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIt2aeZX4WU The Black Angel’s Death Song - The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground & Nico. 1967 Fun fact: one of my friends complained that this song didn’t have a good enough beat. That was her only complaint. Ugly music can be interesting in small doses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNSY694C7k0 Disappearer - Sonic Youth, Goo. 1990 One of the weaker songs on Goo, in my opinion. But I’ve grown a soft spot for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p84XQC9GPik The Lovely Universe - Circulatory System, Circulatory System. 2001 I heard somewhere that the big three of the Elephant 6 collective are Neutral Milk Hotel, The Apples in Stereo and The Olivia Tremor Control. If so, Will Cullen Hart (Olivia Tremor) would probably be Zeus, Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk) would be Poseidon. Robert Schneider would be Hades in this scenario, and I don’t know enough about him to know if that works. But compared to the Olivia Tremor Control, Circulatory System paints an odd companion piece of a seemingly deflated, exhausted, faintly smiling Will Cullen Hart. Considering the energy that went into Olivia Tremor, it’s a very stark image. I don’t know what those god things were about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8eZQ7iFVFo Song for Soon to be Sailor - The Music Tapes, 1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad. 1999 O’, Julian Koster, you young beautiful soul.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR09ggNWgEU Alphabet Town - Elliott Smith, Elliott Smith. 1995 To me, there’s a big difference between Smith’s debut, Roman Candle, and his follow up, Elliott Smith. Roman Candle paints the picture of a leering, bitter Elliott at his four-track. Elliott Smith seems to be lead by a more settled, patient Elliott. This is exemplified in Alphabet Town. The song doesn’t demand anything from the viewer, but if they want to hold its hand, hey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw_UcCwUjMI Jumping Fences - The Olivia Tremor Control, Music from the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle. 1996 Here’s Will Cullen Hart with a big grin and energy, by the way. Rest in Peace Bill Doss.

bleh. may do more in future.

[thoughtfullyinstantwastelan-blog]

New York, 1993 

[thoughtfullyinstantwastelan-blog]

obligatory title and obligatory hello

sorry. didnt meant to put “obligatory title”. it’s really dumb.

ive started a tumblr and i dont want to do the obligatory “hi” said by a nervous smiling white girl to a webcam, nor do i want to do the obligatory “hello world” that i cant bear to put an exclamation mark at the end at, in fear of subscribing to it. so i do this instead, which i somehow thing is a better alternative. at least im honest, i suppose, though i dont imagine thats any excuse. hitler was honest.

one paragraph,and ive already gotten to hitler.

my old english teacher said she hated the word “gotten”. maybe i shouldnt say it.

my biggest fear right now, is that this will be an embarrassing stain on my adolescence, and my late adolescence at that. there could be worse, i suppose. wish i could thing of it though. some big unmitigated disaster, like the ceiling turning into spiders or something.

what else bothers me (though the spiders dont bother me terribly)?

i dont know which guitar paul mccartney played the day he met john lennon, whether it was his or a friends. i have no clue what ill be doing one year from now, not even a faint glimmer. i dont seem to care about having anything. i cant watch a movie recently without it making me want to change my life for about fifteen minutes, a high i imagine drugs would do better and less exhaustingly.

i have a media assignment ive probably left too late.

i dont know what i’ll change the blog name to. this was default.

i dont know why im writing this, but i like to imagine i should write more anyway. hey.

ive gone back and edited some stuff that probably went too far, with varying uses of that phrase. dont worry, you didnt miss out on anything too juicy.

The Lovely Universe - Circulatory System, Circulatory System. 2001