Time to Write

How to Name Your Novel or Screenplay

The first thing that attracts people to your book is the title. Here are a few guidelines for coming up with a title that will grab readers of fiction (these also work for screenplays):

• Make it appropriate for the genre. Sure, it can be fun to give your book an ironic title, but the only people who will know that it's ironic are the people who have already read the book.
  
  
• Avoid generic titles. For instance, if your crime or thriller novel has the word "killing" in it, combine it with a more unusual word or phrase. This piques the potential reader's curiosity. 
  
  
• Look for it inside the novel. Often you'll find a line of dialogue or a phrase that fits perfectly
  
  
• Get inspiration from the automatic book title generator at the Reedsy site. Here are a few examples it came up with for different genres:
• Crime: Outrun the Shadow
• Fantasy: Warrior's Legacy
• Mystery: Case of the Winged Monkey
• Romance: Midnight Bride
• Sci-fi: Apex Colony
• General: The Ruins of Time
  
• Check to make sure the title isn't already taken. There's no copyright on titles, but if you give your book the same name as one that already exists, the author could sue you for trying to get people to buy your book thinking it was theirs. If the other book is out of print or not popular this is less of an issue.
  
  Side story: I wrote a marketing book called "Do Something Different" and got an outraged letter from someone who'd written a (very bad, very obscure) novel with that title. They wrote me nasty emails and gave my book a terrible Amazon review (which I had removed). I tried to explain that my book was non-fiction and therefore wasn't likely to be mistaken for theirs, but logic wasn't their strong point. 
  
  
• Try the title out on friends who are fans of your genre. Put it in a list with the titles of other books in that genre and ask your friends which of the titles they find intriguing (don't tell them which one is yours). To get more input, ask a blogger who covers your genre whether they'd be willing to ask their readers to do the same. You can also do this if you have a couple of titles you really like and don't know which one to choose.

How to Write Video Game Scripts

I had an email asking me for any tips I could offer for how to become a writer for video games. This is one arena in which I don't have any personal experience, but I found this excellent overview:

https://invisioncommunity.co.uk/how-to-become-a-video-game-script-writer/

I'm sure under the current stay home conditions video games are becoming even more popular and it's probably a great career opportunity for writers who are also gamers. 

How to surprise yourself

Writer and producer Andrew Yang told Fast Company, "You should be surprising yourself. You should be challenging yourself. Playing within the bounds of what everything you've seen before has done, you can get somewhere with that. But I feel like it's most exciting when you can show people something new and really surprise them."

What stands in the way usually is our inner critic, the voice that says, "Isn't that too different? If that would work, wouldn't somebody else have done it already?"

I think the best strategy for overcoming that is to tell yourself, "Let's play with this for a while and see what happens." Winning over your inner critic is challenging, but getting it to reserve judgment for a while is easier.

Years ago I decided I wanted to start a newsletter. It wasn't long before I found myself thinking, "Will people really be interested?"  and "Won't it take too much time?" and "How would I distribute it?"

I managed to fend off my inner critic enough to play around with the format and content and put together a rough version.

I found that I enjoyed the process and that the material could be useful to aspiring screenwriters like me.

That gave me the momentum and confidence to keep going. I went ahead and published the newsletter and a mention in the Los Angeles Times helped launch it. After a few years, when scriptwriting was keeping me busy, I sold the newsletter on to a friend who ran it for several years and then sold it on to someone else.

What ideas do you have that your inner critic has been blocking? Make a deal to play around with the idea for a while.

You may surprise yourself.

 

A time to rethink?

Most of us can identify one or more turning points when we redefined who we are or at least who we want to be.

I think we get one free shot at this in our early 20's.

After that, it usually happens when we are confronted with some kind of crisis. 

One of mine was when my house in LA burned to the ground and shortly thereafter I ended up in the hospital with a blood clot in my leg that could have traveled and killed me. I decided to leave behind a reasonably successful career in LA and move to London.

More recently, it was when I had open-heart surgery. That rethink wasn't as dramatic, it was more of a mindset switch to being less hard on myself. 

What these have in common is that the usual situation stopped and the future was uncertain. That pretty well describes where we all are right now. Maybe that makes it a good time to take another look at where we are and where we want to be, and what we can do to bring ourselves closer to the latter.

I'm not clear yet what that means for me.  Maybe for you it means you'll finally write that book or screenplay you've been intending to write or take a course to gain a new skill, or find another creative outlet. 

It does seem that this is another time when a crisis also is an opportunity.

As Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote in Love in the Time of Cholera, "He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.” 

 

How to find your creative voice, according to Ira Glass and Andy Warhol

Writers are advised to "find your own voice," meaning, express yourself in a way that is authentic and unique to you.

One who managed that is Ira Glass, the creator of the radio series, "This American Life." He started out wanting to tell the stories of ordinary people. This set him apart because usually the emphasis is on interviewing famous people.

There's the first lesson: find something you want to do that's different from what most people are doing.

He says he didn't even know what it would be to be a reporter, he just understood what it would be to talk to regular people. He says, "And it was really a puzzle, how do you do that in a way that would be compelling and exciting to listen to?"

Lesson two: You'll probably struggle for a while to find how to do what you intend to do.

He notes, "You really have to be a soldier, you really have to fight and get in there and just make stuff, just force yourself to make stuff. It's really hard to do."

Lesson three: The way to discover how to do it is to do it. Expect obstacles, and persist.

Although now "This American Life" is a hugely popular radio series, it took time to build an audience and not everybody got it at first. Getting backing can be a challenge. Glass says, "The more idealistic and idiosyncratic the project, the more cunning you have to be about the business side of it."

Lesson four: Be prepared to be as creative in marketing what you create as you are in creating it.

Finally, he points out that it took ages for him to get good at what he set out to do and adds, "I wish somebody had told me that's normal."

Lesson five: That's normal. 

You can watch a four-minute video of Glass discussing these points here.

Another person who went through that process with huge success was artist Andy Warhol.

ANDY WARHOL'S PERSPECTIVE

Andy Warhol also had good advice on this topic:

"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art."

He also said, "There is beauty in everything, just not everybody sees it."

Ira Glass found the beauty in the stories of ordinary people, and he helps us appreciate it, too.

Maybe that's what finding your creative voice is about: figuring out your way of helping people see the things you see but most people don't. 

It's clear that finding your creative voice isn't about a flash of inspiration. It's a trial-and-error process and it never ends...and it's what makes writing worth doing.

 

Want your document to be taken more seriously?

Although most communication these days is digital, there are still times when you give someone a document. It might be a business proposal, a brochure, a letter, even a business card. Here's a simple way to have it valued more by the recipient:

Print it on heavier paper.

Yes, that's one of those strange phenomena that sounds illogical. It's the content, not the paper that should matter. But of course when we're dealing with humans, logic is not always what determines perception.

I found this strange and potentially useful information at musestorytelling.com. This finding comes from a couple of studies of the effect of heaviness. When some people were handed somebody's resume on a light clipboard and others were given it on a heavy clipboard, the latter judged the applicant to be more serious about the position and more qualified.

Hmm, maybe you should take along your own heavy clipboard. Substitute it for the one they give you when they hand you a form to fill out. 

In another study, two groups were given the same book. One group was told it was an important book, the other wasn't. Both were asked to guess the book's weight. The group that was told it was important guessed it was heavier than the other group did.

I guess it goes back to the old saying, "Never mind the quality, feel the weight!"

By the way, I'm a big believer in the maxim "do something different" if you want to stand out. These days, sending a letter instead of an email is different. Now you know to print it out on heavy paper. 

 

 

A Unique Way to Collaborate

One person wrote a prose poem about the other side of the dark times we're in right now.

He wanted to turn it into a short film.

250 filmmakers from around the world contributed clips and photos.

Ten days later, the four-minute film was ready.

You can watch it here.

What could you accomplish by collaborating with others? 

Pitching your project: do you have an energy shortage?

Top 3 Mistakes You Make When Pitching is the title of a short video by independent producer Tom Malloy, featured on the FilmmakingStuff.com website of my friend, Jason Brubaker. 

The first one he mentions is delivering the pitch with low energy.

I can relate to that one. I'm a naturally shy person anyway, and when I first started pitching to TV and film executives I was nervous as well. I know this was a problem because one producer actually told my agent that he decided not to hire me for a writing project because he thought I had "low personal energy."

Maybe that shouldn't make a difference when what they're buying is your writing skill, but in the real world it does make a difference. People generally prefer to work with somebody who doesn't seem withdrawn.

If you suffer from this, what can you do? Here are the strategies I found useful:

• Be prepared. Know your pitch well going in.
  
  
• Find your own version of energy, don't try to imitate somebody else's. At first, I was discouraged because I thought I'd have to turn into a version of Robin Williams on any talk show. Actually, there's such a thing as quiet energy that is just as effective. Remember times that you've been genuinely excited and draw from that.
  
  
• Video yourself rehearsing the pitch and watch the video. Put the camera directly in front of yourself, so you're seeing the pitch the same way the person to whom you're pitching will see it. As you play it back, give yourself constructive criticism. Let me repeat that: constructive criticism. This is not a session for the benefit of your harsh inner critic. If you can't do that, find a trusted friend who knows something about making presentations and have them give you their constructive feedback.
  
  
• Take along an index card with the key points on it. You probably won't need to refer to it, but knowing you have it will help you relax.
  
  
• Unless it makes you too jittery, have a coffee or an energy drink about 20 minutes before the pitch meeting.
  
  
• Take a moment to center yourself while you're waiting. Most of the time the executive will keep you waiting for a few minutes, that's a good time to take a deep breath. If you've developed a quick way to get yourself into a relaxed state, use it then.
  
  
• If you still feel nervous, admit it with a smile at the start, something like, (deep breath) "I'm a little nervous--I haven't done much pitching, but I hope the story will be strong enough to compensate." Most people will be sympathetic and reassure you.
  
  
• Pretend you're telling the story to a five-year-old. That's not an insult to the intelligence of producers, but we have a natural tendency to be more expressive and animated when we're telling a child a bedtime story.
  
  
• Remember to make eye contact. Nothing makes a person seem more disconnected than when they're looking down at their shoes for most of the meeting.
  
  
• Don't think you're going overboard. To an introvert, delivering a pitch at an energy level of five out of ten will feel like an eleven. The tip about making a video of yourself will help with this, too.

That's it! If you put those into action, you'll be pitching with energy--I mean, pitching WITH ENERGY!

 

 

 

 

Two Screenplays Worth Studying

If you are interested in writing screenplays it's always worthwhile studying ones others have written.

Recently, Spike Lee released the screenplay for his unproduced film about Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play in the major leagues. You can read that script here.

In 2013, a film called "42," also about Jackie Robinson, was released. It was written and directed by Brian  Helgeland and starred Chadwick Boseman and Harrison Ford.

Rotten Tomatoes called "42" an "earnest, inspirational, and respectfully told biography." Critics rated it at 80%, the audience score was 85%.  You can read the script here.

I suggest you read both scripts.

I found "42" a little TOO earnest and didn't like the fact that the first page basically tells you the whole story. Lee's opening scene drew me in more, but both scripts have their strong and weak points. 

Which one do you think works better?

Why?

What can you learn from the strengths and weaknesses of each?

 

 

 

Good example of a short film made with minimal resources

"Shadowed" is a short (three-minute) horror film made with minimal elements: one actress, a couple of rooms, some shadows and a few special effects (visual and audio).

It's worth a look if you like horror films and especially if you are interested in making short films yourself.

It was made by David F. Sandberg, director of "Never Turn off the Light," and "Annabelle: Creation." He filmed it at home during the Coronavirus quarantine, with his wife, Lotta Losten, as the protagonist. Notice how much of the shock comes from simple sounds.

He used the software programs Blender, fSpy, and After Effects. Access to and experience with that kind of software may be beyond you, but even so I think this is a good example of how you can combine simple elements to good effect.

Is the ending strong enough? It's hard to comment in detail because I don't want to spoil it for you, but let's say that maybe he could have ended it with the penultimate scene--sometimes less is more (this will make sense when you've watched the film).

Also, a minor quibble: wouldn't she make more noise--whimpering, calling out, etc? My guess is he resisted that so that the film would contain only one word, but it bothered me a little while I was watching it.

Anyway, if you've been thinking about making a short film but thought it must be too complicated, let "Shadowed" inspire you to find a simple idea you can turn into an excellent short.

An easier way to write your autobiography

Do you want to write an autobiography but you're not sure your life has been eventful enough, or that you want to dedicate the time it would take?

Preparing a course on making short films gave me an idea for how you can tell your story in a different way. A short film typically is about one moment or incident in the life of the protagonist--a moment that changes something. What if you use that as the guiding idea of writing your memoirs?

For instance, last year I wrote a short film that was shot by my friend Kenny Luper about the moment a daughter realizes that her father is starting to suffer from dementia. 

We also shot a black comedy short film about the moment--at a memorial service--that a group of people realize that none of them actually liked the deceased.

And we shot one about the moment a man's relationship with his Alexa-type device changes.

To write your story, instead of the conventional format of starting with your birth and covering your entire life, you could pick out half a dozen or more of the most important turning points in your life.

These could include:

• a major event (for better or worse) in your relationship with your parents
  
  
• a moment or event that made you decide what you wanted to pursue as a career
  
  
• meeting your spouse or partner
  
  
• a key act of friendship
  
  
• what you were doing during a dramatic moment in history
   
• how a particular book or movie influenced your life
  
  
• an incident that made you proud of yourself
  
  
• a moment or action you regret

Taken as a whole, these will give a good idea of who you are and what your life has been like--a great legacy for your children or grandchildren--and they're easy to write one at a time. Much less daunting than thinking you have to cover every year and event of your life. 

You can save this collection on a computer, but be sure to have a couple of print-outs, too--technology changes so fast that there's no guarantee the formats we're using today will still be around in ten or twenty years. Of course, you can also opt to have copies printed. Unless you plan to print a large run, print on demand may be the best way to go.

You could augment these accounts with photos or memorabilia. You could also opt to record it instead of writing it. 

If you decide to do this, let me know how you get on: [email protected].

There's no shame in asking for help

We all need help at times, but sometimes we are reluctant to ask for it.

We don't want to be needy or annoying, or maybe we don't like admitting we're not totally self-sufficient.

The present circumstances are forcing a lot of people to overcome that reluctance. It seems like we've been spending the past few years focusing on what drives us apart rather than what brings us together, but when it comes down to it, we need each other.

These days it's about needs that are much bigger than trying to sell books, but it does apply to that, too. I was reminded of this by an email from Derek Doepker, who runs ebookbestsellersecrets.com. Here's part of what he wrote:

"As an author, some "value judgments" could keep you from success.

I still hear from authors who are hesitant to ask their readers to review or share their books.

I've talked about this before, and I want to highlight the deeper reason for that hesitancy comes from a value judgment.

Often that value judgment is asking = annoying.

Consider this though...

Do you ever enjoy helping people?

Do you ever enjoy sharing your opinion?

Do you ever enjoy recommending things you feel others would like?

When you're an author, you're giving your readers all of these 'opportunities for enjoyment' when you remind them they can review and share your book.

Just don't be entitled about it. (clearly my value judgment lol)

It's not... 'review my book or you're dead to me.'

It's... 'If you enjoyed this book, it would mean the world to me if you left a review and shared it with others who may benefit the way you have.'

I think that applies to the broader situation, too.

What do you need?

What is keeping you from asking for it?

If it's the fear that people will resent it or find it too much, make it clear that if they can't do it, you will understand. And that if there's any way you can help them, they should feel free to ask, too.

If it's the fear that they won't come through for you when the chips really are down (in cases when it's about more than a book review), well, maybe that's good (if not always pleasant) to know. It doesn't mean they're bad people, but there are better times coming and when they do, don't you want to spend them with the people who have your back?