Alex, here! Happy September, Britcrimers!
September means back to school, and as it happens, I’ll
be teaching my Screenwriting Tricks for
Authors workshop as one of the novel writing Masterclasses at the Bloody
Scotland Crime Festival this week.
I’ve
been teaching this workshop for writing groups and conventions all over the US
and internationally for several years now, to aspiring authors and bestselling
authors alike (as well as teaching these story structure techniques to film
students in Los Angeles). Because I have limited time to teach (I’m a full-time
crime novelist and screenwriter) I’ve also compiled all the information from my
workshops into three writing workbooks. The newest (and biggest!) is out this
month, and we’re giving a copy away here as well as on my website:
Buy the Print book
Buy the e book
Enter to win a copy of the book
Another chance to win
Get free Story Structure extras and movie breakdowns
I’ve
found that writers at all levels catch on to the concepts instantly (really,
within five or ten minutes!). Because
what I teach is something you already know. You just need someone to point it
out to you.
What
I teach is how to write novels by learning from your favourite movies.
The thing
is, film is such a compressed and concise medium that it’s like seeing an X-ray
of a story. In film you have two hours, usually a little less, to tell the
story. It’s a very stripped-down form that even so, often has enormous
emotional power. Plus we’ve usually seen more of these movies than we’ve read
specific books, so they’re a more universal frame of reference for discussion.
It’s often
easier to see the mechanics of structure in a film than in a novel.
Film and
television are based on a Three-Act, Eight-Sequence structure, a rhythm of
storytelling that began thousands of years ago with the great classic plays of
ancient Greece, and refined in the 20th century by the technical
requirements of film and then television.
And
there’s a really, really good reason to be aware of the rhythm of film and
television structure.
Because your
reader or audience knows this rhythm, too.
How can we
not, after all the thousands (yes, thousands!) of films and TV shows we’ve seen
over the course of our lifetimes? Your readers or audience have been absorbing
this structure all their lives, and unconsciously EXPECT it. Which means if
you’re not delivering this rhythm, your reader or audience is going to start
worrying that something’s not right, and you have a real chance of losing them.
You don’t want to do that!
I know, I
know. You’re writing a book, right? But successful authors use this rhythm,
too, whether they’re aware of it or not. Film has had an enormous influence on
contemporary novels, and on publishing. And not just structurally. Editors love
books with the high concept premises, pacing, and visual and emotional impact
of movies, so being aware of classic and blockbuster films and the film
techniques that got them that status can help you write novels that will
actually sell in today’s market. If you’re indie publishing, it’s even more
important to use every trick in the book to make sure that your novel stands
out from the crowd.
So authors can give themselves an edge by stealing— I mean using —some of
these film techniques to make their stories more immediately appealing and
easily marketable — and by the way, to create better, more engaging books. I’ve
seen this in action: any novelist, from aspiring to multiply published;
traditional, indie, or hybrid; and aspiring screenwriters as well, can benefit
from these screenwriting tricks of the trade.
Even
beyond that, studying movies is fun, and fun is something writers just don’t
let themselves have enough of. If you train yourself to watch for some of these
structural elements, then every time you go to the movies or watch something on
television, you’re actually honing your craft (even on a date or while spending
quality time with your loved ones!), and after a while you won’t even notice
you’re doing it.
When the
work is play, you’ve got the best of all possible worlds.
If you’d
like to follow along with the Masterclass, this is the first exercise I always
have my students do:
> List ten books and
films that are similar to your own story in structure and/or genre (at least
five books and three movies if you’re writing a book, at least five movies if
you’re writing a script.).
Or if you’re trying to
decide on the right project for you to work on, then make a list of ten books
and films that you wish you had written!
I have my students make these lists because I think it’s important that
when you start to study movies, you’re looking at examples that have had the
most emotional impact on you,
personally.
In my next blog here I’ll help you analyze what that list means about
the book that you’re writing!
And if you’d like to know more about the Three-Act, Eight-Sequence
structure, we’re giving away two copies of STEALING HOLLYWOOD this week: here
and on my website.
Buy the Print book
Buy the e book
Enter to win a copy of the book!
Another chance to win
Get free Story Structure extras and movie breakdowns
Alexandra Sokoloff is the bestselling, Thriller
Award-winning and Bram Stoker and Anthony Award-
nominated author of twelve
supernatural, paranormal and crime thrillers. The New York Times has
called her "a daughter of Mary Shelley" and her books "Some of
the most original and freshly unnerving work in the genre.
As a
screenwriter she has sold original suspense and horror scripts and written
novel adaptations for numerous Hollywood studios (Sony, Fox, Disney, Miramax),
for producers such as Michael Bay, David Heyman, Laura Ziskin and Neal Moritz.
She is also the
workshop leader of the internationally acclaimed Screenwriting Tricks
for Authors workshops, based on her Screenwriting Tricks for Authors
workbooks and blog.
Her Thriller
Award-nominated Huntress
Moon series, following a haunted FBI agent on the hunt for a female serial
killer, is out now from Thomas & Mercer, and has been optioned for
television (Huntress
Moon, Blood Moon,
Cold Moon)
http://AlexandraSokoloff.com
