[TexasGirl Posts: 659 Status: Offline Loving the writing life! WWW]

I'll be adapting my last NaNoWriMo novel, as usual. I'm actually the ML for Austin this year--I can't wait! I've gotten very involved in the local screenwritin' scene here in town the last couple of months.

Who else?

Adapting my novels for the screen has been the best exercise ever in improving my dialogue and streamlining my story. I highly recommend it!

[elissacruz Posts: 753 Status: Offline]

This sounds very intriguing, but I've had no experience in writing scripts.  Haven't really even read any except Shakespeare.

Do you have any recommendations for learning more?  I have noticed in my own writing that I'm excellent at dialogue and wondered if it might be natural for me to write scripts, but I have no idea if that is really what makes a good script or if it's something else entirely.

You can PM me unless you think it might be useful to others as well.

Thanks!

[TexasGirl Posts: 659 Status: Offline Loving the writing life! WWW]

My very best advice for writers who have been doing novels and want to try a screenplay is to find a book you love and are quite familiar with that has been made into a movie. Then dig around and find the screenplay for it. There are several sources for finding screenplays, two good ones are

www.dailyscript.com
www.simplyscripts.com


Here, for example, is the script for Twilight

http://www.raindance.co.uk/site/picture/upload/image/books/Twilight.pdf

Then read the two side by side, seeing how internal is handled, how the story moves visually and action-oriented, how an external goal is added if only an internal goal moves the book.

Then watch the movie itself and see how the script translated to film.

Then go backwards, watching a good movie for a book you've never read. Go back and read the book and the screenplay. After you've done this for three or four movies, you'll have learned a lot.

This is how I prepared for ScriptFrenzy last year.

[ktlc1113 Posts: 180 Status: Offline WWW]

I'd never heard of script frenzy myself, so here's a link for anyone else who is interested in learning more about the process! My brother and I have been talking about writing an original screenplay for some time now. Maybe I can coax him into participating with me. Or maybe I'll just do it myself (he's a slacker college student!). Well, at least I have three weeks to prep myself up for it!

[TexasGirl Posts: 659 Status: Offline Loving the writing life! WWW]

Oh, good catch, KT! I should have included a link to the main site! Bad ML I am!

For those who are new, it's the little sister to National Novel Writing Month (where you write 50,000 words during November), and we commit to writing 100 pages of a script. You can do a screenplay, a stage play, short films, a graphic novel, or TV show.

I did it last year, and wow! What a help it was in streamlining my novel and improving the dialogue. Tonight we saw Watchmen and I found myself thinking the script to myself: "Shadowed figure walks in the rain. Close up on newspaper headline: War!"

So fun.

[DarylB]

i am hoping to adapt my nano. this will be my first script frenzy but 4th screenplay.

good luck to everyone who enters

daryl

[sunnyleo]

I'm in. I'm the ML for my region also.

[TexasGirl Posts: 659 Status: Offline Loving the writing life! WWW]

I'm really excited about turnout here, far more than I expected! We have a midnight write tonight and then it gets going in earnest.

I'm not worried about the challenge, as I've written 100 pages of script in 6 days before, but it will be fun to organize the events.

[sunnyleo]

Hitting 100 pages now. The learning process has been incredible as I'm dabbling in genres and areas I would not normally (graphic novels, short plays, musicals).

[TexasGirl Posts: 659 Status: Offline Loving the writing life! WWW]

Good work, Sunnyleo! I'm a little behind as life has been seriously in the way, but I'll easily finish by month's end. Writing the screenplay really helps me get the story solid and improve the dialog in my novels.