The Complete Book of Scriptwriting

With that said, some weeks ago I came across Paperback Writer’s Novel Outlining 101 post that kind of uses a bit of what Straszynski does and a bit of what was presented to me by a professor at BYU in building up a story from an idea. This also includes some of what Sol Stein’s method’s as illustrated through How to Grow a Novel and Stein On Writing where Stein talks about developing the story from conception through final product. Sol Stein was an editor who made it is his business to make sure that author’s had the best possible success in creating stories that not only worked but were well written and formulated and functioned like a story should. (For the morbidly curious, more information about the professor and his methods can be found here.)

In my case it is taking the basic outline (that wasn’t exactly basic) of my one-act play and expanding it with more plot oriented details and some cues for dialogue that will need to be written. Since it is a play, the majority of the story is told through dialogue and acting. The audience shouldn’t see most of what is happening. On top of that, because of the project, I am also having to work on an afterward that talks about the influences of the play and how it connects with Western Literature and western lore. This needs to include a historical basis for what I am writing about that, in turn, includes research. Interestingly enough, I’ve found a museum that has a library in Colorado that I might be able to contact and see if they can provide some of the historical connections that need to be made. On top of which, speaking with my mother, I found out that spur lines (for the railroad) connected lots of southwestern Colorado communities together combined with my understanding of the people who built the railroads (I need to know who was actually hired for these areas) combined with some more simple understanding of various world mythologies (as analogy) and the outcome is that I have a complex piece that is slowly building itself together.

My hope, though, is that I find a way to combine it all before the end of the semester because one of two things will happen: either I will finish a draft of the play and then present the project as mostly complete; or I will not finish the project and the present on why I didn’t finish the project.

In either case, things are moving forward.

Real Heroes Fly ]]> http://www.johnhattaway.com/2008/11/outlines/feed/ 0 http://www.johnhattaway.com/2008/01/fortunately-and-unfortunately/ http://www.johnhattaway.com/2008/01/fortunately-and-unfortunately/#comments Thu, 03 Jan 2008 04:11:09 +0000 smokingpen http://www.inordertowrite.com/2008/01/03/fortunately-and-unfortunately/ Plotting a story is (possibly) one of the harder elements to coming up with the bones behind the idea of the story. Sure, coming up with the plot statement: a statement of less than twenty-five words that defines where the story is going.

However, one method used in teaching children how to write fiction is a game (that can actually be played between people) called: Fortunately/Unfortunately.

The basis of the game is to start with a fortunately or a positive statement:

Fortunately, John and Erin had time to watch their niece.

This statement is followed by an unfortunately or a negative statement:

Unfortunately, before they could watch their niece they needed to find a motel to drop Erin’s parents off at… a motel that seemed to be invisible and impossible to find.

Then, to plot the story, you go back and forth between fortunately and unfortunately. The reason for this is a simple statement I came across in a book on writing short fiction. Essentially, if you are not abusing your characters you are not writing.

Writing out a series of fortunately and unfortunately will give you a plot outline to follow which will allow you to make it from the beginning of your story to the end.

Makes for fun decision-making when you have 30k-plus words written.

However, for the sake of the story, and the sake of my sanity, I needed to stop and re-think my approach.

So, holiday’s hit, in-laws in town, lots of excuses to not work on writing or Alicia Grey, and in the end, I discovered what I think will (ultimately) move me forward in this writing process.

The catch, though, is that I have been working (in spare time) on Cassandra West stories and I outlined (early one morning) a story that will go, total, about 30,000 to 40,000 words (no working title)… so, there are some contenders as to what I can be working on. I should be working on Alicia Grey and as I develop the outline for book one I will probably work through the other ideas; however, my main goal and priority for the year is Alicia.

With all that said, this should prove to be an interesting year and I hope to be back with some updates on what I am working on and (expected) progress.

Rather, an outline is a document that is written describing, scene-by-scene, what you intend to have happen. The outline is a tell document. It is designed specifically for the writer; it’s not meant for readers, editors, studio heads, agents, or, really, anyone else. Instead, it gives the writer a clear direction to go when writing the piece of fiction – movie or otherwise.

What is the outline?

The outline is description of what you think you want to happen. What you think needs to happen when. The “how” for characters moving from one scene or situation to the next. It is, basically, the bones of your story.

Sure, we call plot the bones of the story; but plot is less about the bones and more about the joints that hold those bones together. They are the connecting points that take you, the reader/writer from one scene and one bit of action to the next.

Whereas, the outline is where the writer starts to flesh out the ideas that he/she is working through. This is, frequently, the first pass. It is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a complete story. You are intentionally dropping elements, like dialogue, from what you are writing. You are not sharing a great deal of description. Instead, you will put together reminders of what you were thinking so you can refer back to it; but you will not totally flesh out the idea until you actually sit down to write the piece.

Moreover, the outline is where you can (ultimately) determine whether or not the project you think you want to work on has the staying power to produce a finished product. Effectively, you are brainstorming your ideas, putting them down on paper, and then deciding whether or not the finished product is something worth doing or something that needs to be shelved, combined with another idea, and reworked later on.

The outline will be between 20 and 30 pages long for a long work or movie. You will not sit down and write four or five pages and have a good idea of where you are going. Yes, this is how the elementary school outline is created, but for you, the serious writer, you will write and write for pages. Formatting doesn’t matter. Proper grammatical use is not a bother. Good description shouldn’t be bothered with. What you are doing is, essentially, a brain spew of information onto the page.