The all new Chewer writers thread.

I’m currently working on three different projects. I find that bouncing between them helps get me out of particular ruts because they all require different skill sets. Two of the projects are non-fiction and the other is a novel which is absolutely fucking terrible, but serves as a way of focusing me on the non-fiction stuff. I find it far easier to write non-fiction than fiction. Oddly enough I also find that I do almost as much research for my fiction stuff than non-fiction.

With the non-fiction I had a pretty clear grasp of the subject, with the fiction I keep having to stop and look up how to temper steal, or the proper way of setting up traps, or medicine in medieval society. 

Working on a screenplay which might be too complex for a screenplay from a writer who hasn't sold anything. I would say its like A Scanner Darkly crossed with Inception multiplied by Who Framed Roger Rabbit so you get where I am going with this. Its also extremely personal and quite hard to write. I also have problems with the second act which I can't seem to crack, It will fall into place at some point though.

Also collaborating with a colleague on a comedy screenplay which is a seperate set of challenges. Remember that episode of The Simpsons when Homer made his perfect car? Yeah.....

I'm currently working on the third draft of a monster novel that I hope to eventually self publish on Kindle and other ereaders.  I just don't want to put up with the hassle of submitting a manuscript, waiting up to six months or longer, getting a rejection letter, and then repeating the process over and over.  

My gut tells me Ken and Spike's work is much better than they're letting on, but they're both much too gentlemanly to be blunt about it. I would suggest those unfamiliar with either to consult the blog section for evidence.

Not that I'm by any means an authority, but one thing I've really come to appreciate is just how much "rules" in instructional books and so on are to be questioned. Even more than said books/teachers, etc tell you they're to be questioned. That's why it's really cool to read Ken saying he's just letting it pour out of him. I'm not saying disregard "The Rules" entirely - I think there's a lot to be said for knowing 'em before you try breakin' em'. I just know how hard it can be to do that sometimes when you've been inundated with "do's" and "don't's" in classes at uni or what have you.

It's like that bit in Armageddon where Willis reasons that the guys need the night before they go into space off so they can remind themselves why they're about to risk their lives; if you let yourself get too bogged down in having that exhaustive character bio your teacher told you was so imperative written before you actually try to start drafting, you run the risk of letting it all get on top of you.

Nothing against the Bobby, whom I do enjoy, but of the multitudinous things I do not learn from Armageddon, how to write an effective story is possibly the thing I don't learn the hardest.

I'm writing an overplanned, over ambitious and probably unwriteable fantasy novel, too. The practice is useful, at least.

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Originally Posted by Ken Savage 

That's pretty much spot on Bobby, like I said before, when it stops becoming fun it's harder to write.  And as always its nice to know people read my blogs.

Thanks, bud!
 

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Originally Posted by Schwartz 

Nothing against the Bobby, whom I do enjoy, but of the multitudinous things I do not learn from Armageddon, how to write an effective story is possibly the thing I don't learn the hardest.

I wasn't holding up Armageddon as an example of effective storytelling, mate. I was just using it in my analogy because the point of that one scene - remember why you're doing what you're doing - is one that extends to writing as well as interstellar drilling heroism.
 

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Originally Posted by Ken Savage 

I think it's all about what works for you, what I have found is  is that I don't ge on with lots of planning. That is not to say that it wont work for someone, just not for me.

This is such a great perspective to have. It might seem simple, but it's amazing how quickly it can be forgotten.

As someone who has read scripts professionally, I would like to give all fledgling screenwriters this simple advice:

Do not, as your first foray into screenwriting, write that ambitious fantasy/sci-fi story with detailed world-building and characters with crazy names and complicated lineages. I'm sure it all works gangbusters in your mind, but to someone reading your script it is deadlier than poison. If you are serious about screenwriting, you should start with something simple and small first. If you are into genre, by all means do genre, but start small and character-driven. Set it in an easily identifiable world. What makes a good script is story and character, and I guarantee that if as a first time writer you are trying to build an elaborate mythology, you are not concentrating on what really matters. After you've written at least a half a dozen screenplays by all means write your Lord of the Rings, but do not try it straight out of the gate and do not send it to any professionals to read.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sebastian OB 

As someone who has read scripts professionally, I would like to give all fledgling screenwriters this simple advice:

 

Do not, as your first foray into screenwriting, write that ambitious fantasy/sci-fi story with detailed world-building and characters with crazy names and complicated lineages. I'm sure it all works gangbusters in your mind, but to someone reading your script it is deadlier than poison. If you are serious about screenwriting, you should start with something simple and small first. If you are into genre, by all means do genre, but start small and character-driven. Set it in an easily identifiable world. What makes a good script is story and character, and I guarantee that if as a first time writer you are trying to build an elaborate mythology, you are not concentrating on what really matters. After you've written at least a half a dozen screenplays by all means write your Lord of the Rings, but do not try it straight out of the gate and do not send it to any professionals to read.

I second this.  I reviewed a bunch of scripts in Chicago about ten years ago, and the amount of confused Matrix clones I read would make your head spin. 
 

General rule of thumb: If you are sitting down to write your first screenplay thinking "This will be the first part of an epic trilogy!" YOU ARE ON THE WRONG PATH.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sebastian OB 

As someone who has read scripts professionally, I would like to give all fledgling screenwriters this simple advice:

 

Do not, as your first foray into screenwriting, write that ambitious fantasy/sci-fi story with detailed world-building and characters with crazy names and complicated lineages. I'm sure it all works gangbusters in your mind, but to someone reading your script it is deadlier than poison. If you are serious about screenwriting, you should start with something simple and small first. If you are into genre, by all means do genre, but start small and character-driven. Set it in an easily identifiable world. What makes a good script is story and character, and I guarantee that if as a first time writer you are trying to build an elaborate mythology, you are not concentrating on what really matters. After you've written at least a half a dozen screenplays by all means write your Lord of the Rings, but do not try it straight out of the gate and do not send it to any professionals to read.

Well said, I am on my fifth written screenplay. My first got me an agent and I have kept things fairly simple until now where I feel like I need to challenge myself a bit more, hence the confusion...

 

I have three ideas for a feature film and I'm thinking of putting them all together in the one script, they're all the same genre but they're all completely different stories, I've been trying to think of ways to link them up, is it worth trying to link them or should I just keep them as separate stories all with a similar theme.

Right now I'm in the process of trying to find a publisher for my first novel, which is a dark urban fantasy about a small group of people who have to save the world (I know...so original).  I also finished a novel about a Justice League/Avengers-like group of superheroes, and a reporter's quest to uncover the truth behind the death of their leader.  I need to do a few more drafts on that one, but that's on the back burner for now.  At the moment, I'm focusing on book #3, a sort of sci-fi/techno-fantasy steampunk sort of thing.  So far, I'm pretty happy with how it's going, and am excited to keep it going.

All the these things sound great and I dig Sebastian's advice.  I don't have anything professional or "authoritative" to add to back it up, but it certainly sounds about right.  At the moment I'm taking a break from trying to write screenplays and am focusing almost completely on this children's book idea I had - well, I say "idea" - it's not the most original thing ever but I'm trying to inject it with the sort of stuff that makes US appreciates good books and movies but, ya know, for kids.  When it's done I'd love to get it published, I just have no idea how to go about doing that.  But we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

In the screenplay world, I have two - one is a horror/slasher short that sucks but I wrote it for practice, just to get the flow of actually writing something and the other is a simple little thriller about a prank that goes horrible wrong.  I've got about 45 pages of it done and I have the vaguest idea of how I want it to end and the things I want to end up saying with it, I just haven't nailed down how I'm gonna get to there from where I'm at now.  I did submit a 12-page sample of it into a writing contest not too long ago and it got selected as a finalist but ultimately didn't win.  Which KINDA sucks, but not really, as it's the first writing contest I'd ever entered and it was cool to make it that far into it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JGButler 

All the these things sound great and I dig Sebastian's advice.  I don't have anything professional or "authoritative" to add to back it up, but it certainly sounds about right.  At the moment I'm taking a break from trying to write screenplays and am focusing almost completely on this children's book idea I had - well, I say "idea" - it's not the most original thing ever but I'm trying to inject it with the sort of stuff that makes US appreciates good books and movies but, ya know, for kids.  When it's done I'd love to get it published, I just have no idea how to go about doing that.  But we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

My ladies mom is a published author (she's the only authorized Bonanza novelist in the world right now), and I plan on picking her brain for advice on how to get my stuff out there.  I'll forward the info on to you when I have it.