First vs. third person narrative


I recommend that writers stick to writing in third person during the early part of their careers. In general, only experienced novelists can write effectively in first person, because with a prodigious amount of writing under their belts, they understand the clear distinction that must be made between a fictional narrator and the author himself.

For example, in Cervantes’ Don Quixote, which I consider to be the first modern novel, the narrator is introduced to us from the beginning as someone who has a point of view distinct from the author’s. He debates the spelling of Quixote’s name, but remarks that it is ultimately unimportant to his story, “…providing that in the telling of it we do not depart one iota from the truth.”

First person storytelling only works if the storyteller is himself clearly fictional. The storyteller must be a character in the book, explicitly or implicitly, with his own clearly defined point of view. It must be obvious to the reader that this is not the author doing the talking. This is trickier than it may sound. New writers often struggle with the nuances of “voice” in their novels. This is one technique that’s better left for a later phase of your career.







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"Just as we all like love tales because there is an instinct of sex, we all like astonishing tales because they touch the nerve of the ancient instinct of astonishment."

G.K. Chesterton

[via John Robert Marlow]


Something Ehren Kruger (Transformers, etc.) told me in an interview, which I thought I'd pass along...


I try my best to have a thick skin. Everyone at every opportunity will have a reason to not
make your script, to not believe in your story. They'll gladly tell you why it's not quite
good enough, or it feels a little familiar, or they're just not making that genre right now.
It's easy to beat yourself up and go crazy about that, which a lot of writers do. I just try to
shrug it off.

I've sold six scripts that I've written on spec, and not once did I have multiple financiers
wanting to buy the script. It was always one place making an offer, and fourteen other
places saying, "No, it's not good enough," or "It's not right for us," "Not interested," or
what-have-you.

"You can look at that and say, "Wow, one out of fifteen places thought my script was
worth investing in; that's pretty bad." Or you can be realistic about the business and say,
"One is all I need."

I think most working writers who are not terribly embittered share the philosophy that "I
believe these stories are worth telling, and I believe I'll find people who agree with me.
I'm going to hear "No" most of the time, but that's okay—because every now and then,
I'm going to hear "Yes.""

More Tales From The Script


For all who are considering the screenwriting career, I highly recommend “Tales from the Script,” featuring interviews with favorite screenwriters Dennis Palumbo, Paul Schrader, Ron Shelton, Shane Black, Ron Shusett, Frank Darabont, William Goldman, Larry Cohen, Stephen Susco, John Carpenter, Guinevere Turner…. “Amadeus” took 46 drafts! There’s no end to better. Respect for the process. John Carpenter: “Stop bitching—stop whining—and move on.” “A career is broken only if the artist allows it to be broken.” All agree that, “Right now it’s the strangest it’s ever been”—and it’s even stranger now in the “Post-content era.” I would call this well done doc a “reality pill” for sure.

Definition of a Producer


I was watching “Tales from the Script” (highly recommended for anyone who even dares to think of being a screenwriter) and heard from a writer whose name escapes me: “A producer is someone who lies long enough and well enough that the lie becomes the truth.”

I’ve always said the difference between a con man and a visionary in Hollywood is success. Using the word “lie,” of course, puts it in a negative framework. Belief and vision and faith are the positive terms for practical visualization, where you not only see the picture but you do and say everything you can to make others see the picture until, one day, the picture is.

The producer is the one who dares to walk the tightrope between dream and reality, like the rope between the Two Towers. What makes a great producer is that he never gives up, even when the writer does, even when the studio does, even when everyone else does.

Story Merchant Client Lisa Cerasoli Is A 2011 NexTV Web Series & Indie Film Competition Semi-Finalist










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Most Common Weaknesses of Screenplays Submitted for Representation

1) The format is NOT professional (which is a sign of rank amateurism, since professional format is easily ascertainable from any available script—and the Internet is full of sites that offer them free).

2) The writer hasn’t bothered to proofread his work. It’s filled with spelling errors, typos, and repetitions.

3) The protagonist isn’t clear after the first five pages. You still don’t know whose story you’re reading.

4) Even if you know the protagonist, by page 10 you still don’t know what his dramatic problem is—or you aren’t “involved” with him. You don’t know why you’re reading his or her story.

5) By the end of the script you neither know what the dramatic problem was nor how it’s solved by the story.

6) The obstacles to the hero’s mission aren’t strong enough, clear enough, or interesting enough.

7) The Point of View is unclear throughout the screenplay, or is “all over the place.”

8) The protagonist and antagonist aren’t written with stars in mind. Once we love the story, Hollywood wants to know: What great actor or actress will desperately want to play this role?

9) The story lacks credibility—characters don’t behave the way people like they’re supposed to be would behave in the situation you’ve created.

10) The script is filled with clichés, or with on the nose expository dialogue and narrative.

11) The script isn’t 100% visual, filled with stage directions that aren’t “visual.”

12) The protagonist doesn’t grow from the beginning of the story to the end.

13) His or her antagonist isn’t clearly defined or singular enough to make a castable and saleable drama.

14) The climax and conclusion of the script aren’t strong enough, positive enough, and/or satisfying enough to warrant the investment of the reader/audience’s time.

Inspiration


Jonathan Livingston Seagull
will never make it as a paperback.—James Galton, refusing to bid on paperback rights (Avon books sold nearly 10 million copies).

Tips For Writers

KNOW YOUR MARKET: what we're looking for, right now, and what we're not looking for.

Tips For Screenwriters

The Query Letter: Don't try to sell us. Try to give us what we're looking for.