But I'm Not Making A Movie...

When I first started writing fiction, I studied craft books that focused on writing novels. What more could I want? They taught me everything I needed to know, or so I thought.

It wasn’t until I read Save the Cat by Blake Synder that I realized how much I can learn from books geared toward screenwriters, actors, and directors. I also discovered that authors with a background in cinema have an insight that could also benefit my stories.

Most of us are familiar with Writer’s Digest books. I can almost guarantee you’ve read at least one of their craft books. Michael Wise Productions is the cinema version of Writer’s Digest, and has an impressive list of books that will appeal to novelists, too. Topics range from story structure, subtext, symbolism, characterization, story lines. The best part is they use examples from well known movies and TV shows. You don’t have to suffer through an excerpt taken out of context or spend hours reading the novel. You can easily watch the show or movie in a fraction of the time.

As writers, we need to read. A lot. We read both in and out of our genre. We analyze stories, and figure out what we liked and didn’t like about them. You can do the same with movies and TV shows, and apply what you learned to your story. For example, you can study different techniques used in a movie, in a similar vein to your story, to see how the director conveyed mood (beyond the music). Then find a way to incorporate them into your writing. Analyze the symbols used to reveal characterization and plot. Study how the actors portray the characters. What kinds of physical details relating to the character or setting does the director zoom in on that adds power to the scene? Can you use some of those techniques in your story? I recommend reading Shoot Your Novel by C.S Larkin. She explains cinematography in a way that will change the way you write a scene. Some of the techniques we naturally use, but knowing them will help you gain maximum benefit from them.

In movies, the story is revealed through action and dialogue. There are no inner thoughts—most of the time. So how does the viewer get inside the actor’s head? Subtext. What do readers love? Subtext. Want to know how to do subtext well, then study movies. Analyze the difference between the great actors and the B-grade ones, then apply it your story to make it and your characters come to life.

Don’t just watch a movie for its entertainment value. Watch it. Study it. Dissect it. Just like screenwriters do.

Have you read any screenwriting books you recommend?

Stina Lindenblatt @StinaLL writes New Adult novels. In her spare time, she’s a photographer and can be found at her blog/website.  She is represented by Marisa Corvisiero, and finds it weird talking about herself in third person. Her debut New Adult contemporary romance TELL ME WHEN and LET ME KNOW (Carina Press, HQN) are now available.

Book We Can’t Live Without: The Writer Version

Hi, I’m Stina and I have a confession to make. I am a writing-craft-book junkie. It started out quite innocently. I knew it wasn’t enough to write a story and hope for the best. I needed to know HOW to construct a compelling story and characters. So, I purchased a few general books on the topic of writing fiction, but quickly realized they weren’t enough. We each have our own strengths and weaknesses, and these books are too limited in scope to help us. Books that focused on our specific needs are a much better investment of time, money, and space.

As I’ve mentioned before, I became a craft-book junkie. If a book looked good, I just had to have it. I ended up buying some books that were golden, and others that were no better than the sludge at the bottom of a lake. To spare you the frustration I went through, I decided to share some of my all-time favorite books for those of you who want to challenge your craft further. Some of the books are also excellent reference material. 

Plotting Your Novel

Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass: This workbook is filled with useful exercises to help you during the planning process. Or, if you’re a panster, it will help you during revisions. I have several books like this, but Donald’s book is by far the best.

Save The Cat by Blake Snyder: This is a favorite for a lot of fiction writers and screenwriters. Even if you’re not a fan of outlining, the book will help you plan the basic structure to keep your story from meandering all over the place. This will save you time during edits.

Writing 21st Century Fiction by Donald Maass: Of all of Donald’s books, this one is my favorite. There are a lot of questions in it to help you shape your characters and plot, and to help you create an emotional read. It can be used during outlining or during edits.

Characterization

Getting Into Character—Seven Secrets A Novelist Can Learn From Actors by Brandilyn Collins: Not only does this book help with getting into character, it has chapters on writing emotion and subtext.

The Negative Trait Thesaurus and the Positive Trait Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi: These two guides will help you write multi-dimensional characters.

The Writer’s Guide to Psychology by Carolyn Kaufman: Fiction writers and screenwriters are notorious for making things up when it comes to psychological disorders. Instead of doing the proper research, they rely on their imagination and movies. The result is a loss of credibility when a reader does know better. Or worse yet, your inaccurate portrayal of a psychological disorder might have a negative impact on individuals who deal with it in real life.

Miscellaneous Topics

Hooked by Les Edgerton: If your first pages don’t grab your reader, the individual will toss the book aside and move onto something else. It doesn’t matter how brilliant the rest of the book might be, if the reader gives up before then, they won’t get to appreciate it. Hooked will help ensure your beginning is just as compelling as the remainder of the book.

The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi: This brilliant resource will ensure that you’re showing your characters emotions instead of telling the reader how the characters feel.

Rivet Your Readers With Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson: This skinny book is fill with exercises to help you take your writing from shallow to deep. It’s the different between showing and telling, and is a great companion to The Emotion Thesaurus. These two books will help your readers connect with your characters.

Writing Subtext by Linda Seger: The short book covers all kinds of topics dealing with subtext, and will help you create a more enriched read.

Conflict & Suspense by James Scott Bell: This book is one of those you’ll want to refer to every time you write a story. It doesn’t matter what genre you write, this book will help you ensure that your story is a page turner.

Strengthen Your Writing

It was the best of sentences, it was the worse of sentences by June Casagrande: Your writing can’t help but come out stronger after you read this book.

Roget’s International Thesaurus: This is not a standard thesaurus. It’s organized according categories and the concept behind it is brilliant. You’ll never want to use a regular thesaurus after checking out this one.

Editor-Proof Your Writing by Don McNair: I can guarantee this book will tighten your writing and gave agents and editors the clear prose they crave (which is the other part of the title: 21 Steps to the Clear Prose Publishers and Agents Crave).

Do you have any favorite writing-craft books that you can’t live without?

Stina Lindenblatt @StinaLL writes New Adult novels. In her spare time, she’s a photographer and can be found at her blog/website.   She is represented by Marisa Corvisiero, and finds it weird talking about herself in third person. Her debut New Adult contemporary romance TELL ME WHEN (Carina Press, HQN) is now available. LET ME KNOW (Carina Press) will be available Sept 1st, 2014.

What Hollywood Will Tell You

by Stina Lindenblatt @StinaLL

@Stina Lindenblatt

Last month, I attended the Romance Writers of America (RWA) national conference in Anaheim. What were the most popular sessions? Those conducted by screenwriters. No, writers weren’t attending the sessions because they hoped to write an academy winning screenplay or because they want to turn their novels into movies. They knew these individuals had the knowledge that could take the writers’ stories to a new level, when they applied the successful techniques employed by Hollywood. 

Most novelists study their craft by reading books on writing fiction. But don’t ignore books written for screenwriters. A popular one for both screenwriters and novelists is Save the Cat by Blake Synder. Not only does it provide a solid framework for structuring your story, the publisher (Michael Wise Productions) has an impressive list of books that will appeal to novelists, too. Topics range from story structure, subtext, symbolism, characterization, story lines. The best part is, they use examples from well known movies and TV shows. You don’t have to suffer through an excerpt taken out of context or spend hours reading the novel. You can easily watch the show or movie in a fraction of the time. Warning: after reading these screenwriting books, you’ll never watch a movie or TV show the same way again. And for that, I apologize. 

I’ve attended a number of workshops for fiction writers. Some are by novelists, others by screenwriters. The ones that had the most impact on me were those conducted by screenwriters, or those involved in making movies. Why? Because I’m a visual person. Novelists tend to read examples from their novels, and being the ADHD person that I am, my brain tends to wander. The author’s point is then lost on me. But with the screenwriters, they show clips from movies to prove their point. At the RWA nationals, I attended a session on The Six Layers of Characterization. The instructor explained the character-trait diamond for Helen Hunt’s character in As Good As It Gets. He then played a clip from the movie, while pointing out how she demonstrated those traits through dialogue, action, body language. It was a powerful example of characterization. 

As writers, we need to read. A lot. We read both in and out of our genre. We analyze stories, and figure out what we liked and didn’t like about them. You can do the same with movies and TV shows, and apply what you learned to your story. Fiction writers don’t have the benefit of music to create mood. Study other techniques used in a movie, in a similar vein to your story, which conveyed mood. Find a way to incorporate them into your writing. What kinds of symbols were used to reveal characterization and plot? Study how the actors portrays the characters. What kinds of physical details relating to the character or setting does the director zoom in on that adds power to the scene? Can you use some of those techniques in your story? 

In movies, the story is revealed through action and dialogue. There are no inner thoughts—most of the time. So how does the viewer get inside the actor’s head? Subtext. What do readers love? Subtext. Want to know how to do subtext well, then study movies. Analyze the difference between the great actors and the B-grade ones, then apply it your story to make it and your characters come to life. 

Don’t just watch a movie for its entertainment value. Watch it. Study it. Dissect it. Just like screenwriters do. 

Have you read any screenwriting books you recommend? Have you attended any screenwriting workshops even though you don’t plan to write a screenplay?

Stina Lindenblatt @StinaLL writes young adult novels. In her spare time, she’s a photographer and blogging addict, and can be found hanging out on her blog, Seeing Creative.