Right now, seeing how NaNo is over, I’m putting most of my energy into planning for Screnzy. I’m very into my plot for Screnzy, to the point that I’l probably have it written in a few weeks and have to come up with another one for April! LOL!
I’m posting over there on the forums, so, you can ask questions over there, and hopefully I’ll find them.
Unfortunately, though I’ve signed up every year of Script Frenzy, I have yet to actually participate in it. The first year of the contest, a funeral took up every free minute of my entire summer. The second year, a flood swept through leaving us without a place to live and my dad in a coma. The third year, nothing got in the way, but than come June, me and some several hundred other Screnzy members got a shock when we arrived at the Screnzy site to find that Script Frenzy had changed their date from June to April and not one of us had received an email telling us of the date change, apparently some sort of an error had caused about half of the emails to not get delivered. 
*sigh* It’s always something. Oh well. I never let that stop me from writing scripts. I write scripts any ways, and have for, I don’t know 20 or so years now. I think I wrote my first script in 1981, or there abouts, so yeah, it’s not too big a deal for me to miss Screnzy, writing wise, but socially wise, I like the whole community comrade feel you get when doing something like NaNo or Screnzy, so I was disappointed to miss it the first few years.
My life has changed a lot since than however. Since than I have lost my job and become a full time writer instead of a part time writer, which means, come hell or high water (again) I’ll be able to join in any ways, seeing how I’m now free to write any one of the 24 hours of the day or night and don’t have to stick to a work schedule any more.
Another change resulted from my 2008 NaNoWriMo book. I wrote and published my autobiography last year, which, has caused my bishop to threaten to excommunicate me, and resulted in my being disown by more than 200 of my 264 relatives, and has resulted in an end of all my personal friendships, except for one. So, I have A LOT more free time on my hands seeing how I no longer have any friends or family to hang out with and am no longer allowed to go to church meeting s and activities.
In other words, when I started doing NaNo and Screnzy, I had a lot on my plate and not much time to write. But today? No job. No friends. No church. No family. Yep, I has plenty of time to be a full time writer now.
I’m signing up to be the local ML, just as soon as the sign up page goes live once again (am impatiently waiting for that to happen), because Maine only has one ML and she’s like 100 miles north of me! Southern Maine (Greater Portland) is the theater capital of New England, people come from all over the world to train for stage acting here and there are like 4 dozen theaters with in 20 minutes of me. Every body and his uncle has written at least one play and thinks himself a playwright, and yet, we have no ML for Screnzy!!!! I couldn’t believe it when I found that out.
Of course, I also found out that last year was a record breaking year, when the ENTIRE state of Maine had 66 people signed up for Script Frenzy!!! Only 66??? Are you kidding me? 66 people was a record breaker?? WTH? OMG! We definitely need to get the word out about Screnzy, because we got enough locals writing plays to break the world wide membership record not just the local record. *sheesh* why don’t these people think to sign up? I mean, they are writing plays any ways right? I can only assume that they simply have no idea Screnzy exists, otherwise lots more folks would be signed up for it.
So, it is my goal to become the Greater Portland ML and than set out to getting flyers and posters out to all the theaters to get people joining in. Plus, leading the write-ins too. We’ve yet to have a single Screnzy write in here in Southern Maine! Not once in four years! OMG! That has so got to change.
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Okay, so there you have my personal story about me vs Script Frenzy. Let’s move on to the advice stuff.
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You don’t say specifically, what you need advice for, so I’ll just ramble on generally, about various bits of script writing advice and, heck, maybe some thing will be useful for you! =P I write for small stage (school/college/local) and for comic books (Disney) so, my own script writing style leans heavy in those areas.
First off, a lot depends on the type of script you are writing. Not all scripts are created equal. The basic types of scripts are:
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Movie Scripts
TV Scripts
Radio Scripts: DJ/Talk Show, News Broadcast, or Live Show/Play
News Report Scripts
Animation Scripts
Talk Show Scripts
Musical Scripts
Stage Play Scripts
Advertisement Scripts
Comic Book Scripts
Each of those is different and each is written in it’s own unique formate and style, and depending on the one you plan to write, you’ll will have to use a completely different style and format. So a person who writes movie scripts may be lost when it comes to attempting to write a comic book script or vise versa.
So, the first thing you need to figure out is: What type of script do you want to write?
To answer that, ask yourself, where do you see your script being published? Here are so things to think about before starting your script:
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Will it be a meteorologist’s report on the latest storm read on the nightly news or will it be the next episode of Pokemon?
Are you writing hoping to be accepted by BBC for the next season of Doctor Who or are you writing a play for your local collage drama troupe?
Do you want to write the words Oprah will say in her next show or would you rather write the next episode of Days of Our Lives?
Are you writing a script for The Price is Right or are you going to write the next big screen movie Johnny Depp will star in?
Is your script the next Broadway hit or a modern day remake of the Orson Wells War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast?
Are you writing the next local cable advertisement of Jolly John’s Used Cars or the national broadcast of McDonald’s new flavor milk shake?
Do you want to write a comic book? If so, will it be for Marvel or DC or Dark Horse or Disney? Did you know that each of the four comic book giants has their own specified script format, each extremely different from the other three and that none will look at an incorrectly formated script no matter how well written?
Before you can start asking for advice on how to write and format your script, you first have to determine, what exactly your script is going to be, and than you need to direct your questions to a script writer who writes the same type of scripts you plan to write.
For Script Frenzy, it is safe to assume that you are planing either a movie, tv show, comic book, or stage play script, as 99% of the scripts written during Screnzy are one of those.
The first thing you need to remember during Script Frenzy is this: Dialog.
Dialog. Dialog. Dialog. Dialog. Dialog. Dialog.
Dialog. Dialog. Dialog. Dialog. Dialog. Dialog.
Dialog. Dialog. Dialog. Dialog. Dialog. Dialog.
Dialog. Dialog. Dialog. Dialog. Dialog. Dialog.
and oh, look at that . . . more dialog!
If you are not good at writing dialog, than you will have a tough time at script writing, because script writing it straight up, no stop dialog.
There is no prose in script writing.
There is no narration in script writing.
There are no long descriptions of scenery in script writing.
There is no pretty and plentiful purple prose in script writing.
Script writing is dialog. Only dialog. Nothing but dialog. Dialog and nothing else. Period.
Script writing will do wonders at teaching you how to cut out adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and pretty much every thing else you would use when writing a novel, as you won’t be using those much if you use any at all.
The basic general format of a script is this:
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DAVE:
(walks into room)
MARSHA! What are you doing here?
MARSHA:
(slaps DAVE on face)
I know about you and that hussy.
(throws wedding ring on floor)
We are through! I want a divorce!
:CAMERA: Close up on DAVE’s face.
DAVE:
(stares speechlessly)
And that’s about it. A stage or radio script wouldn’t have the camera focus points, but TV, movie, and comic book scripts all do. I’m going to quote something I posted a while back on Script Frenzy:
How much stage direction is reasonable?
[quote=]
Hey guys!
How much stage direction do you think is reasonable? I’m just trying to figure out what would be too much…
Thanks![/quote]
I’d say it depends on the play write’s personal style as well as the style of the play in question. I think of stage direction in a play, like the choreography in a ballet. If every player knows where to be when and what to do at what moment, than you don’t have characters falling over each other and messing up the play.
For example a one person play may not need any directions at all, simply relying fully on the actor’s personal movements as he speaks. With only one or two actors on stage, the play would be more open to actor interpretation. Two actors could guess each others movements and act accordingly.
Whereas a full two hour production with intricate (setting, lighting, costume, etc) details, and 20 or 30 actors on stage at the same time, would need quite a bit of stage direction to prevent it from turning into utter chaos. I mean, if you have 20 actors on stage, each one “doing his own thing” when it comes to interpretation, you’d have nothing but a huge uncoordinated mess.
So, when I’m writing a play, my personal style is: the bigger the production, the more detailed the stage directions need to be, while the smaller production can go with little or even no stage directions.
Also, scripts are very fast moving and high paced. There is no stopping to look at the flowers and talk about sunsets. It’s Action, action, actions, constantly moving forward, never pausing for a moment.
And I’m going to quote something I posted a few weeks ago here on NaNoWriMo, because while it aplies to novel writing, it really, really, REALLY hits home big time with Script writing:
Tips for Writing Fast-Paced Scenes
[quote=Banespawn]Short sentences/paragraphs will read faster than longer ones. [/quote]
That’s what I always tell folks.
- If you look at a lot of the bestsellers out there, and start counting words, you will find most have seven words or less per sentence!
OR
Take a look at the bestsellers. Count the words per sentence. Most have seven words or less.
Notice how one long sentence became three? But both gave the same advice. The first sentence was confusing to read. It slows the reader down. The second set was easier to digest. The reader could read it faster.
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You want fast pace? Try this: Dialog, Dialog, Dialog, BAM, Narrative, Dialog, Dialog, Dialog
Uh-huh, yep, that’s right. The fastest way to pick up the pace and speed up the action is to let your characters talk and talk and talk and talk. Not one character monologing his fool head off. Get four or five characters in the scene and have them speaking one sentence at a time, back and forth.
[quote=Genuine]I swear I could write straight dialogue for hours, but here’s what my writing looks like. I have lots of dialogue, and giant paragraphs here or there. It’s the talking head syndrome. And it is not good when my characters feel like they’re talking inside a Giant White Room of Nothingness! Here’s an example
The sun swept radiant rays of burblebobble across the quaint scene of XYZ, and the clouds burst into fleecing. The sun swept radiant rays of burblebobble across the quaint scene of XYZ, and the clouds burst into fleecing. The sun swept radiant rays of burblebobble across the quaint scene of XYZ, and the clouds burst into fleecing. The sun swept radiant rays of burblebobble across the quaint scene of XYZ, and the clouds burst into fleecing. The sun swept radiant rays of burblebobble across the quaint scene of XYZ, and the clouds burst into fleecing. The sun swept radiant rays of burblebobble across the quaint scene of XYZ, and the clouds burst into fleecing.
Person1: Blah, blah, bler, fleeble
Person2: BLAH? Dooble!
Person1: Dooble, dooble, dooble.
Person2: Tubbyblubby flur
Person1: Fla, fla, flah
Person1: Blah, blah, bler, fleeble
Person2: BLAH? Dooble!
Person1: Dooble, dooble, dooble.
Person2: Tubbyblubby flur
Person1: Fla, fla, flah
The sun swept radiant rays of burblebobble across the quaint scene of XYZ, and the clouds burst into fleecing. The sun swept radiant rays of burblebobble across the quaint scene of XYZ, and the clouds burst into fleecing. The sun swept radiant rays of burblebobble across the quaint scene of XYZ, and the clouds burst into fleecing. The sun swept radiant rays of burblebobble across the quaint scene of XYZ, and the clouds burst into fleecing. The sun swept radiant rays of burblebobble across the quaint scene of XYZ, and the clouds burst into fleecing. The sun swept radiant rays of burblebobble across the quaint scene of XYZ, and the clouds burst into fleecing.
———-
[/quote]
LOL! What a great post! It was like reading Keith Laumer’s Retief series!
Though I write short stories and novels as well, my main writing base is comics. I’m used to reading and writing comics. In other words I am used to write straight dialog, and nothing but dialog. I can write dialog for hours on end. Have characters chatting away, verbalizing everything that they are seeing, hearing, doing, and thinking.
It’s all that straight up dialog that causes comic books to be such fast paced stories.
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[quote=Banespawn]Don’t stop to descibe things. Make the descriptions part of the action.[/quote]
Yep. I say this all the time too.
You could say:
- He walked past the tree.
I’d say:
- He walked past the willow tree.
I only added one little word. That’s it. But it changed the whole picture in the readers head. Nothing big. Just little things. Of course I could also say:
- He walked past the giant, green, weeping willow tree were Billy carved his name way back in 2056.
But that is just too long and wordy, and adds details that do not move the story forward.
Keep it short, keep it simple, keep it familiar, let the reader interpret the minor details themselves, and you’ll write a book that’s easy to read and seems familar to your readers, even if it’s a fictional world lightyears from the earth.
I sit here thinking about the beautiful purple sunsets sending rays of light across the green grassy hills and listening to the sound of pretty blue feathered song birds as they sing their songs of . . . YAWN . . . .
So when is the story going to start? Or when are we going to get back to the characters? Or, you know, when are we going to do something, ANYTHING? A few phrases of flowery descriptions scattered in here and there between dialog is fine, but when you start writing page after page after page of descriptions, I start falling asleep.
There should be dialog on every page. More than 50% (maybe even 75%) of your book should be dialog.(Ask any editor or publisher what makes a bestseller a best seller and they’ll tell you it’s all about the dialog). The remaining should be largely action.
You can tell me that on your planet the trees are blue, but don’t tell me the entire biology lesson on the hows and why of the tree being blue. So it’s blue. That great! Now get on with the action. What else is the character doing besides noticing that the trees are blue? Is there someone hiding behind the blue tree? Why did the character tell me the tree was blue? Why purpose does the blue tree have in your plot? I’m not a botanist, I don’t need to know what every plant on your planet looks like and why it looks that way – all I care about is what your MC is doing.
Less prose – more action.
Less prose – more dialog.
Give me a fast read, don’t slow me down with flowery purple prose.
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But than: What about fight scenes? you ask. Well, what about them? Have you ever seen a REAL fight? A real fight only lasts a few seconds. You’d be hard pressed to find a real fight that lasted longer than 30 seconds. What you see in the movies? That’s just for effect. A real fight is never anything like what you see in the movies.
- A punch. A whack. A quick shuffle in the mud. And than it’s over.
I figure it should take the reader no more than 5 seconds to read the fight. Thus my fight scenes tend to be quick and short. Heck, you just read one of them!
What about epic battles for fantasy or military fiction? Regardless of how many people are fighting, (even if it’s a big battle) I pick out only two fighters, and focus on them. I describe the actual action between the two fighters, focusing more on the inner emotional responce of the one that is loseing, (even if they are not a MC) thus makeing the winning fighter seem much more feirce. Usually I focus more on the pain from the blow, than the actual blow itself.
Generally my fight scenes are less than three paragraphs long. I use short sentences (most less than seven words each, often only 2 words each). I use simple small words. I let it flow past the reader quickly, giving them the illusion that they are being pulled through the action at the same break neck speed in which the action takes place.
[quote=Esteleth]
They could hear the evidence of a struggle downstairs: shuffling then running footfalls, a chase, a muffled scream, the pushing around of furniture, the breaking of a vase, thuds, curses, their mother’s voice rising up in a shrill teary scream…[/quote]
Actually, this would read faster if you had done this:
- They could hear the struggle downstairs. The shuffling. The footfalls. The chase. A muffled scream. The furniture pushed aside. A vase breaking. THUD! CRASH! Some one cursed. Their mother’s voice rose up. A shrill scream . . .
Long run on sentences always slow the readers down. Every time you put a comma some where, go back and see if you can change in into a period.
Also, you are using way to many prepositions. In an action scene the fewer prepositions, the better. None is best. Prepositions slow the pace. Cut them out whenever possible.
Take this writer’s advice to heart:
[quote=havocfett]Write short. Write Choppy. Write dynamic. Don’t stay on one thing. Move quickly through the scene.[/quote]
Short and choppy wins the race when it comes to action and fast pace. Don’t be afraid of fragments. Forget your English teacher. Fragments are your friend. Slice and dice every run on sentence. Turn as many comas as possible into periods.
But remember – only do this for you fast paced action scenes. You don’t want a book of nothing but short and choppy! Your descriptions scenes should have longer sentences, that tire your reader out and make them want to stop and take a deep breath. (But not so many that you put them to sleep!)
You want to mix it up and keep things interesting. Like a roller coaster, your plot should have slow moving ups, and fast moving downs, back and forth through out the entire book.
[quote=wynnie.the.poooh]
3. If it’s a killing spree, kill people. Mention them, their side in the battle and then BLAM!
4. Use a lot of action sounds. BLAM! makes you think of a firing gun. SPLAT! makes you think of something hitting the ground. With a splat. This is actually a phenomenon (the use of words as nouns that sound like the sound they are naming).[/quote]
- BLAM! SPLAT! SOCK! PUNCH!
Holy Rusted Drain Pipes, Batman, it’s the Penguin!
BAM! THUD! SQUISH! BOOM!
Great Scott, Batman! You got him!
Yep, take a cue from Batman – Single word action sentences will move your story along much faster than 10 pages of description ever could!
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And here’s something that I don’t see any one mentioning yet, but when you start preaching and lecturing and pushing a cause, it really slows down your pace a lot. The last thing any author wants to hear from their readers is: I’m Not Stupid – Don’t Talk Down To Me and Preach at Me!
In other words:
Don’t waste an entire chapter telling me why lions live in Africa and Tigers live in China. If I wanted to know that, I’d have looked for it on Wikipedia.
Don’t spend 3 pages telling me the symptoms of cancer. Tell me your MC has cancer and move on to how she deals with it. If I want to know the symptoms and details of treatment, I’ll read a medical journal.
Okay, so maybe I don’t know where Yorkshireville Town is. If I want to know, I’ll look it up on Google Earth, I don’t need you to give detailed directions. I’m not planning on a trip there, I just want to read your novel.
Remember that you are writing a story not a dictionary. You are writing a story not a medical journal. You are writing a story not a travel guide. You are writing a story. Stop explaining every thing to me and just tell the story! Don’t act like I’m a retard and stop the story to explain everything. I’m smarter than you think. I know what you mean, and if I don’t know, I know how to look it up and find out for myself. Just stick with the story and nothing but the story. Stop talking down to me like I’m a little kid who don’t know nothing!
You got a chip on your shoulder? You got a cause to promote? You got an issue to protest? You want to save my soul from hell by getting me to join your church? Write a pamphlet and hand it out on the streets – build a web site – start a blog – do something to tell people about it, but don’t take it out on me your reader! Sure, maybe I will agree with you, maybe I’ll want to support your cause too, but there is a right way and a wrong way to get supporters, and strategically lacing your novel with preaching and lectures is the WRONG way to do it! Just stick with the story and nothing but the story. Stop preaching to me like I’m the enemy!
By removing every thing from your writing that makes it sound like a dictionary, encyclopedia, or church manual, you will do wonders to speed up the pace.
Well, that should give you enough pointers to get you started in the planning stages at least. I hope some of what I said helped you out. Good luck!
Incubus: Fear the Night!
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