Co-writing or Editing Another's Work

So, how does one go about Co-writing without killing the other writer? Well, its not easy. Believe me, I taught writing for many moons and 99.9% of people are very possessive of their words. How dare you change that word, thought, idea? You suck. You don't understand me. I hate you. Drop dead. Yep, I heard it all. In trying to help students become better writers, I had students fight with me, cry on me, and roll their eyes too many times to count. And these were the college students!

You have to be very careful when sharing ideas and even more careful when giving and accepting constructive criticism. Egos bruise easily. Here are things that I found, through trial and error, that really help the co-writing or editing process.

First, get to know the person before you read their work. Writing is very personal and people don't want strangers reading their work and telling them what's wrong with it. I finally became a good writing teacher when I got to know my students' individual interests and they got to know some extracurricular stuff about me. It made it easier for us to have a dialogue about their writing without crying or cursing. It was just productive re-visioning. 

Second, read through without a red pen (its a subconscious memory of glaring "F's" in grade school)- I like green pens- and while editing, make comments on all the things you LIKE as you read as well. That way, people can see exactly what phrases, passages, chapters, etc. are working. When I taught, my students would freak out when I passed back their first essays of the school year because they saw writing all over it. "What is this?" they'd ask, all up in arms.

"Did you read the comments?" I'd ask.

Reluctantly, they'd begin to read the comments, but then smiles would slowly creep across their faces when they realized that 3/4 of the writing were compliments. Later on in the year, they couldn't wait to get back their essays to see what I had enjoyed in their papers. Some of them would even stay after class to talk to me excitedly about the things I had pointed out that they had taken a risk on!

Third: it is usually not your job to change the other writer's words. You can offer a suggestion in the margin, but do not try to make them sound like yourself as a writer. Let them have their own voice. You can only change words if words are misused, misspelled, or if they change the tone of the piece. In graduate school I went from one professor to another who wanted each class to write just like him or her. And none of them wrote like the other. It was ridiculous. I thought I was losing my mind and I almost lost my writing voice in the process. After graduation, I decided I did not want my writing to sound "scholarly" and not be understood by 60% or more of the population, so I broke free of everything I learned in college and grad school and learned to write like me again.

Nobel prize authors win awards because they don't sound like everybody else.

Well, that's a good start for any joint writing projects you may wish to endeavor in. I'll add some more tips as I think of them. For now, I want to get back to my work. If you don't work, you don't have any writing, and if there isn't any writing, you have nothing to sell . . .

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

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

Pick Up That Pen!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

I've been reflecting on what makes a good writer and I've been reading on writing. What seems to keep coming up is so elementary, but I think it bears repeating: Write.

I have met so many people through the years who told me that they had these great ideas for a story or a screenplay. Some of them told me that ONE DAY they would write it (they never did) or that if I wanted to, I could write it down.

Let me address both these issues: if you are someone with a "great story" that you've been throwing around your cranium for years, than write the freaking thing already! Stop being lazy. Stop blaming Father Time and your family and Global Warming.

Do you watch an hour of television a day? Spend an hour surfing the internet or posting ridiculous garbage on Facebook/Myspace/Twitter each day? Do you spend an hour on a bus or train to and/or fro work? Do your children take a nap? If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions, then you can reprioritize your time and write ONE page a day. In six months you'll have a screenplay. In twelve months you'll have a novel. Don't backtalk me. Shut up and do it.

Item number two: if I want the story, I can write it down. Honestly, my gut reaction to this one is always, If you don't want it, why would I want it? But, that's just fresh. And, you may have an awesome idea and just may be lazy (If that's the case, see the paragraph above). But, in reality, I have my own ideas. Too many of them, in fact. YOU should cultivate your babies. If God gave you an idea, you should bring that inspiration to life. Only you can do justice to your idea as YOU see it. I will only write it as I see it. You may not like my vision at all.

So, just write. Remember, if you have a novel or screenplay already written, you are way ahead of HALF of the "writers" out there right now. So, get moving and join the ranks of creativity with the rest of us.
Please check out my novel Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Amazon:

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

The Fun of Research

I began some background research today into Criminal Profiling. I haven't read anything criminology based since I took Criminology many moons ago. Although I didn't find a lot that I could utilize directly in my spec script, I did learn a lot of very interesting information on the fathers of criminal profiling in America and Great Britain.

That's the fun of research. Learning something new and going off in a new direction. I did learn the basics of what profilers look for and what the four subtypes of serial killers are. Those items may be helpful at some point in my writing. Of course, there are also the four profiling phase questions that were interesting as well. . .

So, it wasn't a wasted research period. And, of course, I now have a long list of names and books to turn to of the real big boys of profiling. If you are ever interested in writing about Criminal Profiling, here are the top gentlemen I found to be the most interesting for my personal writing purposes: James A. Brussel who developed what we now know as Criminal profiling, Howard Teten, who helped form the famous BAU in Quantico while building off of Brussel's approach, and Richard Walter and Bob Keppel who interviewed 2,000 murderers, etc. in order to create the subtypes of serial killers. There are many more, but these stood out for me.

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

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

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

Following Syd

Today I was pretty focused and got a lot done that I didn't think I would. I decided to keep myself on track I would follow Syd Field's Writer's Workbook. I've read it before and used some ideas, but I haven't followed it before step by step. But, as I said the other day, I had too many ideas meandering in my mind to find a point to begin.

So, I started with Syd's first two lessons and found my focus (and inspiration) surprisingly fast. I even cranked out a pitch which is usually the most difficult thing for me to do, but for some reason this time I am so clear on what my story is going to be about that the pitch just wrote itself.

As for my query project, that is with my peeps who are reading the two drafts I have and giving me feedback on which one they think is more effective.

Unfortunately, these past couple of blog entries are pretty short, but that's because I'm on a creative streak. I've been pouring my creative juices into this new screenplay. I will try to write more over the next few days.

*******

I do want to recommend one computer program that I started using that may be helpful to writers wanting to learn a foreign language. I recently purchased Rosetta Stone, Spanish: Latin America and I love it. It really does immerse you in the language. It cuts out the entire "Here is the word in English, now translate." It teaches you the language by throwing you right into the language, no English translation. You really do walk away from the first lesson speaking full phrases. I think learning a foreign language is good for writers for five reasons: first learning another language adds to your characterizations. It's so much better when you can actually write a phrase in French into your espionage screenplay, rather than writing it in English and putting in parenthesis "in French". It just looks more professional.

Second, it makes you more marketable as a writer. You can now speak at conferences in foreign countries, travel abroad to write, or work with foreign actors and directors.

Third, learning a new language makes you smarter. Leonardo DaVinci knew that. It makes you use pathways that are dormant in your brain. It's no surprise that geniuses and highly creative people speak two and three languages. It makes you more creative.

Four, it opens you up to new ideas that are not available in English. I love Umberto Eco, Fellini films, and Italian music, but a lot is lost when it is translated into English. I'm glad I can read and understand the Italian.

Five, foreign languages are soooo sexy. Need I say more?

So there you have it. Go and learn some Swahili. You'll be glad you did!
Please check out my novel Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Amazon:

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

Getting Started . . .

I'm back! I had to take a little hiatus there for various reasons, which I'll get into at another time. But, for now, it's time to blog. . .

I've been focusing on three things the past few days: finishing my query brochure, getting inspiration for a new writing project, and researching new writing techniques.

My brochure is pretty complete. I have two versions on which I am getting opinions. Once a final choice is made, I will be off to the copy center. All I need to do now is to get together a mailing list so I know how many copies I'll need to make.

I have a lot of ideas for writing, but I'm having trouble picking an idea to start on. It's not Writer's Block, it's just too many ideas and no starting point. I'll probably have to do some journaling or in depth outlining of some of my ideas to figure out where I want to start now.

I dragged all my screenwriting books out of my library to get ideas on queries, synopses, and starting new screenplays all together. I finally came to the conclusion that with Malice, I'm done. There isn't anymore I need to do at this point other than query, query, query. I just need to trust myself and jump in feet first.

So, that's where I am right now. I'm going start working on some outlining. I'm going to use Syd Field's Screenwriter's Workbook and Bob McKee's Story as a guide in getting started. I'm sure they'll give me tons of ideas. Logging off now; need to create. .

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

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