Divine intervention

[imustbecrazy]

I was not a writer before this happened. I don't claim to be a writer now really. I feel like the tool being used to get this story here.

Anyone else have a story "given" to them?

I've written blog posts before and just started doing that a few months ago, but I've never written any more than a few lines of anything of my own.

Now, I have a story to tell. It came to me all at once. Pretty much complete. I see it as a movie, more like a series I suppose.

I see it though the eyes of the characters and as the narrative voice at the same time. I think this would freak me out if I hadn't already experienced some of the things I have in my life.

So I have this story pouring out of me. I have a few friends who've written books and they're trying to help. But they're written books, not necessarily meant for the screen.

I've followed a lot of what Scott talks about here without even realizing it. My desktop is covered with sticky notes and I have a journal of notes on everything and anything that comes to mind.

I feel I'm writing a book meant for the screen for sure. Any suggestions or thoughts to keep in mind while I'm putting this together from a conversion standpoint?

I love what you are doing here. I still haven't figured out why me, but I'm getting there with help.

Love and blessings to All,
TJ

[brianhaas]

I don't know if this helps and I am by no means a pro, a semi-pro, an almost-pro or anything like that. I am (so far at least) a failed fiction writer AND a failed screenwriter.

But the way I look at it is this: prose - as in, short stories, novellas, novels, etc. - is like taking a trip by picking a direction and driving. No plan, no roadmap, just drive. The story unfolds itself before you one mile marker at a time, but often you can't see much further down the road. Sometimes you have a vague idea of the direction, but in general, it's an open road ahead of you.

A screenplay is also a journey. Except, it's a planned one. You know your starting location and (more importantly) your final destination. You also know the major waypoints along the way. These may change along the way to suit the story, but you need to know where you've been, where you are and where you're going if you're going to create a satisfying story arc.

Both involve a journey of discovery and can be equally fulfilling. But, from what I've seen, read and experienced myself, a screenplay cannot just "unfold as you write it all." You have to have plans, a destination.

You need to know where you're going.

Maybe that's why movies made into novels I've read have been generally crummy while novels made into movies are much better.

But my experience has been that you cannot write them the same way. Screenplays seem to demand far too much story structure to be effectively produced by "just writing".

The other consideration is that selling a screenplay is harder than selling a novel. Both are hard and an equally impressive accomplishment in my mind. But screenplays, in general (aside from some indie films, self-produced films and foreign films) demand much more commercial appeal if you want the damn thing to be made. There are only so many movies actually made every year.

Sorry for being long-winded. My advice, and take it with a mountain of salt, would be this: If you have a book in you, write the book first. End of story. Then write the screenplay once you know how it ends.

Good luck either way.

[echomusic]

I experience things like these often.

When I’m working on a song, I can be fiddling around for hours with different guitar sounds or trying to capture a tune in my head. But sometimes, you just pick up the guitar and you strum a chord and that leads to the next and the then a melody forms in your head and it is jut there.

U2’s The Edge has referred to this by saying ‘Sometimes the song just arrives.’

There have been times with screenwriting where I may have my notes or my plans of what I’m going to do but you get in to this headspace and you’re completely on autopilot. The words are doing what you want them to, the characters are alive and the thing just forms in front of you.

You eventually stop and sit back. You don’t know how you got there, but now you’re in a much more interesting place than you had intended. Is it the subconscious kicking in? Is it Divine intervention? Is it a muse?

Don’t know.
But I do know, that if you have a story to tell, then you tell that story.
Any way you can, you tell that damn story and get it out in to the world.

[kurtismae]

Just get the story down on paper in whatever form (or combination of forms) is easiest for you.

THEN begin worrying about converting that into a screenplay.

Sounds like you've been given a real gift. I'll be interested to see what comes of it.

[attatt]

See the post on GITS a couple weeks ago about a young(at the time) screenwriter working with Hitchcock for the first time. Hitchcock explained the movie scene by scene and basically said I want "this much" dialog here, and "this much" there.

If you have to, write your whole movie as you see it, then go back and fill in the rest later.

When you have a complete draft, go back and make sure you have a script, not a shooting draft.

[imustbecrazy]

Wow! You guys are great!!! Thank you so much for your thoughts.

Just write. That's what a writer friend of mine said, too, but it just sounded too simple. I thought I had to find a writing style or go to a coffee shop everyday or a cabin or something but no....just write. What a concept!

I can see the whole story, the hard part for me is interpreting what I see to paper. Its a beautiful story. But I've decided I can't worry about the beauty yet, it will come and is coming little by little. I don't worry about typos anymore either or that what I wrote yesterday works with what I wrote 10 minutes ago. For a perfectionist, this is a huge step.

I wrote what turns out to be the narrative throughline over the past several weeks. The discovery of sticky notes on my new computer made this job much easier. But something happened along the way. I discovered the real story wasn't what I thought it was, it was much more subtle.

I understand what you're saying about letting the story take you where it wants to go. Letting it write itself. A dear friend and writer said he thinks it was given to me because I'm discovering the story in much the same way my main character is discovering hers. I had trouble coming up with the right words for what she was going through and as it turns out that was right for her character, she didn't have the right words either.

Its a very complex story with lots of short stories along the way. I was reading here about finding the narrative voice - style and genre, then tone, look and pace. This makes sense to me. I guess there is one narrative voice for the overall story and then each short story will have characteristics of the main voice to tie them in.

Its a great story. I can say that without a feeling of bragging because its something of me but not mine. I can't wait to see how it comes out. Just today I was "given" a new twist and wrote several pages of notes on it. As I was writing, I realized it was the ending I needed.

Each of you gave me something I needed and I thank you for that. I enjoy reading the other posts and am learning from them. Your experiments and challenges are thought provoking, fun and very helpful especially to those of us who are just starting to find our writing voice.

I hope we'll have many conversations along the way to bringing this wonderful story to life.

Thank you!

[mscherer]

brianhaas,

Please, please, please don't EVER refer to yourself as a failed anything. If you are writing -- sold, unsold, crappy, a master -- you are not a failure. Never.

imustbecrazy,

We should all be as lucky to have a complete story delivered to our little pea-pickin' brains in one fell swoop. I have to agree with the others: WRITE IT!

Get it down on paper/in the computer. Right a crappy first draft. Just let it pour out of you. Don't self-edit. Don't worry the story is not in the right sequence. Just get it down because...

Writing is rewriting. Once it is on the page/in your computer then you can take a deep breath and take your time to mold it; massage it; get it right.

Just get'er done and

Keep Writing!

[imustbecrazy]

Thank you so much, mscherer, for telling brianhaas never to say the f word!!

I almost didn't write here because I feel like this should have been given to someone, like you guys, who know what you're doing.

I read a post where a bunch of you are trying to write via internet without ever meeting/talking with the person you're sharing the story. I tried doing it with this one but quickly found he couldn't see in my head. Who knew?!?

He's turning out to be a great editor.

[brianhaas]

Haha, don't get me wrong, I use the word "failed" as a badge of honor. Probably should have used quote marks in my first post.

I don't look at "failure" as a negative thing, but as a learning experience. In fact, I find any time I complete a story, whether it be a short story or screenplay, it's inherently a success, regardless of whether it goes anywhere. It may not be good, but it's an important milestone. Every rejection letter or ignored pitch email is an important trophy.

This is a great discussion, because it gets to the issue of "just write." So many people have the "next great movie" or novel and they like to talk. A lot. About writing.

And yet, they never produce a damn thing. The only way to become a good writer is to freaking write. I know of people who read books, post on message boards, attend lectures, take classes, and never end up putting pen to paper or finishing anything.

I'm not sure if it's out of fear or ego that they never do anything. But you must allow yourself to fail -- A LOT -- before you can expect any kind of success.

[imustbecrazy]

Thank you brianhaas for straightening us out.

The same person who told to to Just write! also said that each word is a step that needs to be taken on the journey of this story.

I like that and try to remember that if I'm going to get anywhere with it, I need to start walking

I must tell you though what a huge relief it is to know that I need to write anything and everything that comes to mind. When I first started, I thought I needed to start at the beginning and keep working on it till I wrote The End. That should prove to anyone in doubt that I've never written anything before.

I was definitely self editing. I only wrote what I thought sounded right and was having a terrible time. When I told a friend (not a writer) that I wasn't sure what to do, she said to write it all down as notes. That way I wouldn't feel like it had to go into the story. The pressure would be off to expect it to go with anything else I'd written.

She said you can always have too much, but if I didn't write it down when it came to me, I might not get it back and then what? That made sense to me, so I write everything now. I have a miscellaneous category for odd things, background stuff of the characters and such.

But hearing from serious writers that I need to just get it down on paper - All of it - really truly helps.

THANK YOU!!!