Outlining

Today I spent most of the afternoon cleaning dirty turtle tanks. The filters were clogged, the rocks had accumulated filth, and the floating turtle docks were beginning to grow algae. It's not my favorite thing in the world to do, but in order to have healthy turtles, they have to have clean houses. It's just something that needs to be done.

Outlining is like that. For the first twenty years of my writing life, I wrote without an outline. When I felt inspired, I wrote until I got tired. Then the next day, I wrote some more. Things were often out of order. At the end of a piece of writing, I spent a lot of time piecing together my writing in order. In effect, I was working backwards. What always ended up happening was that I'd have a scene/chapter or two that didn't fit anywhere that ended up being omitted entirely that I had spent a lot of time on.

Then I went to graduate school. Before writing my thesis paper, I had to take this hellish class called History of Literary Research. Yes, it was as boring as it sounds. The idea behind this class was to look up every single piece of literary research written in English on your proposed thesis topic and write a research paper on it. My thesis was supposed to be on John Donne's Anniversary Poems, so I had to go back through 400 years of literary research in sixteen weeks.

Writing that paper forced me to outline. I had a 45 page paper with a 13 page bibliography. The most boring stuff ever written. If I didn't outline, I never would have gotten the paper done in sixteen weeks.

Oh, and then four days before the due date, my computer crashed from a virus, which had infected both my disc and backup discs.   I lost everything except my original draft dot matrix printout. I begged my professor to give me an extension and wonderful woman she was, she said, "The paper's due on Friday." So, three all nighters and I pulled it off. I nearly had a nervous breakdown.

What I did walk away with from that class was two things: 1. my teacher was a witch and 2. outlining made life easier. And, I'm proud to say, I came to the outlining part on my own.

Ever since then, I force myself to outline, even when I'm dying to write. I remember Robert McKee saying in his Story seminar that once you finish outlining and writing your synopsis, your screenplay will be jumping out of you.

Please check out my novel Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8BE

Peace!

Beginning a Television Spec Script

Television writing. It's a different beast than filmwriting, but one I like to undertake from time to time. It's always good to have a couple of television spec scripts on hand when you're looking for representation. As I wrote in a previous blog, the last spec script I worked on was for the X-Files, so it's time to do something new.

I did get an idea to write a script for Supernatural, but I outlined that and tabled it for now. Instead, I got a better idea for an episode of Criminal Minds.

I decided to do the Criminal Minds episode for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, its a challenge for me and it will stretch my writing skills. I really love the show and I tend to watch it thinking that writing for a show with that level of technical background is out of my comfort zone.

Yet, I have a background in Psychology where I studied Abnormal Psych and Criminology. I just need to do some research and study the written format of the show. A couple of books on Behavioral Analysis and Criminal Profiling should do the trick.

So, comfort zone be gone.

For the past two days I went through Jurgen Wolff & Kerry Cox's book Successful Scriptwriting, focusing on the chapter on hour-long episodes as a refresher. Then I sat down and wrote out the beginning and ending of the episode, as well as major plot points.

My next move will be to outline the 60-page script and just get started.

I'm also going to order a couple Criminal Minds scripts from Script City (1-800-676-2522 or scriptcity.net). I haven't ordered from them in a while due to the pile of screenplays I have from them that I haven't read yet, but I'm assuming they're still around. You can't write a television episode without knowing each show's format. That's why Final Draft has different formats for each of the major television shows built into their software (God, I love Final Draft!)

Get writing!
Please check out my novel Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8BE

Research, research, research . . .

Tonight I am logging on again after CSI: Miami. What can I say? I have an addiction. It's better than many other addictions, you have to admit. I enjoy the show for a multitude of reasons including: excellent stories, a phenomenal cast, and beautiful shots of Miami. (I never had a desire to go to Miami until I started watching!) As I was watching, it occurred to me that I should take some time to blog about the importance of research in writing.

How did I make this connection from watching late night television, one may ask? Well, two reasons. The first is obvious: the writers of CSI: Miami have to know what they are writing about. You cannot fake forensic medicine. There are enough people out there who have taken some college biology and/or chemistry to understand what's going on. The second is what goes on behind the scenes: the nefarious tabloids and paparazzi. Being a fan of the show, if I see an article about any of the starring characters, I will read it. Sadly, and I am embarrassed to admit this, this sometimes includes tabloid articles I "stumble" upon.

In one such tabloid article (which I never take as Bible due to the source), it said that Emily Proctor hated working with David Caruso and that they would no longer be filming scenes together because he made her sick. (Poor Red!) I thought that if that were true, that would be sad because they seemed to work off each other so well.

Today, I read another article which included an interview with Emily Proctor where she states how funny David Caruso is in real life. That certainly doesn't sound like hatred to me. And, in another television interview, she talked about his "brilliant" portrayal of Horatio Caine and how he made the show what it now is.

Research. You need to get your facts straight, whether its a column, story, screenplay, or book. It doesn't matter. If you have wrong information in there, someone will know and they will call you on it.

I learned this the hard way. Years ago I wrote a Letter to the Editor that ended up appearing in different papers nationwide commemorating my Great Uncle Steve Hamas, a former boxer. The letter received all kinds of attention from all over the United States and I was pleased to receive copies of articles, pictures, and even a film reel of Uncle Steve boxing from other boxing fans.

So, what was the problem? Well, Uncle Steve had passed away when I was little and I have bits and pieces of memories of him. When I wrote my article, I wrote that Uncle Steve spent the last years of his life in a wheelchair.

He did not.

I had confused him with another member of the family. I did not check my memories with my parents because I wanted to surprise them with the letter.

The boxing fans I spoke to afterward said, "I never knew Steve was in a wheelchair" and, luckily, when I explained the mistake, they didn't seem to care. They were just fascinated to be speaking to a surviving relative. My parents didn't bat an eye. They thought the letter was touching.

But then the responding Letter to the Editor from South Carolina came in the following week.

Apparently, I had a distant cousin out there who remembered Uncle Steve better than I did.

Boy, was he mad.

Let's just say he pointed out my error, called me anti-American, and I think he cut me out of his family tree.

I never forgot that mistake and since then, I've been overly anal about research.

I may not have first hand experience in everything I write, but I research, I interview, and I get people who do know the area I'm writing about to read for me.
Please check out my novel Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8BE