StorytimeWednesday

  You’ve always wanted to write a book but don’t know how to start. Well, it’s quite simple to start a book, it’s another thing to come up with a concept that hasn’t been heard of before.   You’ve got 7 different concepts to consider when writing a book. Will your book be one of the following plots: Rags to Riches story – your character manages to fulfill his potential because he dreamed big and got there. Think Maid in Manhatten A quest or journey? – Your hero goes on a journey to find him or herself or even a lost item and must overcome obstacles along the way. Think Indiana Jones Overcoming a monster - that is destroying the landscape or city? Your character must venture into the monster’s hidden lair which is both frightening and dangerous, but he does it to regain what is stolen by the monster and the city needs to want it back. Again, think of Indiana Jones movies. Comedy - Think of Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire. The dialogue in a comedy must be funny with...

Fiction  is any type of creative work that is based on imaginary characters, places, and narratives that are made up from your imagination. However, you can use actual historical facts that you can twist such as making it a sci-fi story, or a Twilight Zone-style story. So, let’s delve into the research you might need to conduct. As always start with a plan of action: A plan of action will help save you time and repeated trips to your research location. So let’s begin, What type of story do you want to write? What type of historical research would you like to conduct? If you don’t have a plan of action in mind then you will potentially miss out on some cool facts that you could twist up and add to your story. When you put together a research activity, I find making a list of topics to research is the first key, maybe a specific timeline or event that I can manipulate into my story, what about creating a new political genre, or daily life (mixture of medieval, ancient lifes...

    Historical Non-Fiction Research tips Non-fiction is based on factual situations, places, people, and historical happenings. So when you write a Historical Non-fiction book, you better make sure you have your facts correct and your timeline accurate. I personally like to incorporate historical details in all my work to give it much more color and intrigue. So let's get to it.  Planning is everything. Before you do any research, begin with a plan of action. In other words, your list of research topics should be prioritized in such a way that you know what you’re doing without wasting time and energy. Here’s a good list to think about, what is your primary focus going to be, what’s your secondary focus? What about the political backgrounds of your character, daily life, economic status, location status, etc.? Think about all these things before you begin researching this way you won’t overlook something or fail to see it when it appears in your research. Taking p...

  Action Scenes in a Screenplay When we think of an action scene, we think of a hard-fighting scene between characters. However, action scenes are much more technical and diverse in nature, think of a car chase, a battle scene in a war movie, or a high-powered chasing scene through a city or on the highway. An action scene is any scene that contains a rapid movement that accomplishes a specific goal that moves the story forward. In any action scene, there are the typical beginning, middle, and end. First, you introduce the characters that will be in the scene, then you escalate the scene to raise the stakes higher such as making one of them the evil one and another the hero. Will the hero win or lose the scene is the question. Tensions build higher and it’s unclear how the scene will end, but you still have another segment to clarify I they will be victorious or not. In the end scene of this conflict, it is revealed that the true character of the hero is revealed and something that...

  How to Structure a Screenplay/Script Many years ago, I was encouraged to take an online course offered by Syd Field, one of the most talented screenplay/scriptwriters in Hollywood. It was through that course that I learned the best way to structure a script. Allow me to teach you what I learned. Mr. Fields started off the course by explaining that a screenplay or script has a beginning, middle, and end to the storyline, but there were a few other things to know and understand in how to tell the story. You have to have what is known as the catalyst, your first plot point, after your middle or midpoint you have despair, then your redemption, and ultimately the end of the story. Allow me to explain each in greater detail. The beginning of the story is also known as your setup! This is where you give a visual and emotional introduction to your story and characters along with the reason for the story. This should happen in the first 10-15 pages of your script. The audience doesn...

  How to Write Dialogue If you don’t know how to write dialogue before you attempt to write a novel or even a movie script, you’ll not be successful. No matter what you come up with as a plot or storyline, if your writing is effective you’ll fall flat on your face. That’s why my mentor always told me that a book without good dialogue isn’t a good book. But first, let’s discuss the ground rules for dialogue. Each voice or character gets a new paragraph. Doesn’t matter if they say one or two words in the conversation, those words get a new paragraph. The dialogue also gets quotes surrounding the dialogue. For example,             “Mary had a little lamb,” Paul said. The only time you don’t indent is if you are starting a new chapter or it’s after a scene break in a script. This is why you never start a new chapter or after a scene break with dialogue. Always start off with describing a scene or what a character is doing or thinki...

  A Storyboard, what and how do you make one? As a writer, I never start a book without first writing the movie script. Why do I start this way, well that’s because I can get the story out of my head faster, and at the same time, I’m creating the storyboard of scenes. Once I get the script and storyboard finished I can begin to fill in the fluff and descriptions of characters, thoughts, emotions surroundings, etc., to flesh out the book to make it 125,000 words. But the storyboard is the most important thing of all. Allow me to explain why. The storyboard is my outline for a book. It is my blueprint with roughly drawn sketches that help me remember what direction I want to take the story. It’s easier to change a storyboard, then it is to rewrite 30 pages of written material, but also to ensure that if it’s ever made into a movie, it doesn’t cost the production company, my company, a million dollars to make serious changes to the storyline. So if you’re new to creating a story...