From Book to Screenplay?

This is my Edgar Allen Poe action figure. He sits on my desk to inspire me.
He's not doing so good this week. Inspiration is flagging. Even the WIP that I'm lovin' isn't moving along. :(

Now, someone close to me has asked me to turn a 400 page manuscript I wrote a few years ago into a screenplay for an up and coming film company and I'm at a loss. 400 pages are nice and fluffy and all encompassing but a screenplay is more stripped down to the bones. Leaving things out won't give the full effect of the story, putting too much in won't leave time for the whole story.

Help! Edgar isn't too inspiring right now....

More good sites for Writers

This is Elvis. He's an African Grey. He's very talkative, playful and has the mentality of a 4 year old. My evil children taught him to cluck like a chicken. I tell him he's an eagle and should make eagle sounds but I don't know any eagle sounds to teach him. I'm going to have to look that up.

Isn't that what writers do best? Look things up? Here is a great site for looking things up: http://www.howstuffworks.com/

You can find out how everything works from the witness protection program to witchcraft. I could spend hours there!

Want to use some real Brittish words in your work? Go here: http://www.effingpot.com/

I have a story about a jury and the repercussions of serving. So I went here: Courts and jury selection- http://www.abanet.org/publiced/courts/juryselect.html

So, what else you got?

NAMING YOUR BABIES

Sometimes a character's name comes to me easily. The name just falls out of my head and poof! The character is born. Other times I have to search for the name that will fit the people in my head. They start as a person with all the quirks and habits a good character needs. They have everything but a name...so I have to send them to the fitting room and let them try on the names until I find the perfect fit.

These are a few fitting rooms that point me in the right direction:

1. This one will match the person's likes to the name-

http://www.babynamesetc.com/generate.htm

2. Got a bad guy? Someone a little out there? Go to the Seventh Sanctum: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php

My fav from the Seventh Sanctum is here: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/gens/heroicname.html

3. Do it by the alphabet: http://www.thinkbabynames.com/ or here: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/chyams/Names/boys.html

4. I once knew a woman who named her children after state capitals. If that rings your bell go here: http://www.townsoftheusa.com/states.htm

5. And when you want to finish up with a last name, you can used the great big last name catolog (otherwise known as the phone book) or go here: http://www.last-names.net/letter.asp?s=K

That's where I get some ideas. How about you?

God bless them all...

Not a bad pass time this guys got. I'm not an advocate of the war or of Bush either, but I do support the troops. They are way braver then me. I'm not sure I'd ever have the guts to go into a country like Iraq and walk around even if they did give me a gun. (I'm afraid of guns anyway.) I think the guys who go off to create peace in all parts of the world are heros. Maybe more of us should go to the airports and give these guys a hug?

I love my country even if I don't like my president.

Book Review- More Than Fiends by Maureen Child

If you are looking for a fun read pick up this book. It a light hearted story with some dark and dangerous demons.

Cassidy Burke is a single mom with her own cleaning business. When she finds out the women in her family are destine to be Demon Dusters and save the world she really has her hands full. Add a sexy new client who has more than business on his mind with a hunk of an ex lover who happens to be the father she never told her daughter about and all hell is about to break loose in the sleepy little town of La Sombra.

Loved this book but even better I just checked out Maureen Child's site and found out there's a sequel. Whooo Hoooo!

If you are looking for a good laugh pick up this book and read how Cassidy maintains her cleaning biz, reels in the sexy new client (in more ways then one) and handles her hunky ex lover while she dusts demons on the side.

Research: what would you do?

Reading over my WIP I have a scene where someone hands the heroine a glass that she thinks has water in it. It's really vodka. She takes a gulp and....

What? I've never gulped vodka? (I only mix it with coke) So, what do I say besides she gagged? Does it get hot? Burn? What does vodka taste like besides..um..vodka? And what does it taste like without coke mixed it?

When I broached this subject with my college kid (age 21) she had just the thing: tiny, airplane sized, bottles of vodka left over from her vacation last week. (I chose not to ask) My other daughter (age 24)grabbed some shotglasses and we started our research.

Since the first shocking gulp was what I needed we lined up the shot glasses and ....

"Rubbing alcohol." Everyone nodded. Yeah, flat and broad when it hits your tongue then hot and burning as it makes its way down before an explosion of heat across your chest.

Just in case you ever need to know.

So, what would you do/or have you done for research?

WIP

The man trembled. He was in a car, lots of black leather and dark wood. Expensive, he thought bringing one shaky hand up to his head to try and clear it. A woman was driving, but he had no knowledge of who she was or how he got there. He couldn’t even remember where he was before he was here, in this car.
“W-Where am I?” he asked, his deep voice trembling almost as bad as his hands.
The woman stared straight ahead, one hand on the wheel, the other elbow resting on the console with her hand wrapped around a latte. She seemed bored. Her dark hair was pulled back at the base of her neck and she wore no makeup. Attractive in a raw kind of way with large brown eyes, pale skin, flat, lean cheeks and full lips that formed a perfect pink bow. Her eyes were tired and she blinked several times as if trying to stay awake. Shifting in the seat, she sat up a little straighter and took a sip from her cup. She didn’t even look at him.
“Please,” the man asked again, louder this time, a quiver of panic in his voice. “Where am I?”
The woman kept driving.
“I don’t know what happened. How did I get in this car? Where are we going?”
Her eyes drifted to the driver’s side mirror and then to the passenger side. She lifted the lever for the turn signal, then switched lanes.
“Who are you?” The man turned in his seat and leaned toward the woman, trying to move into her line of vision. “Ma’am? Who are you and where are we going? You have to tell me.”
Again, no answer.
“STOP IGNORING ME AND STOP THIS CAR!”

Not getting a reaction the man brought his hand up and tried to grab the woman’s arm. His hand passed right through her as if it were moving through a pea soup fog.

Howling and Dancing

When my kids were younger I'd yell "FULL MOON" and we'd race out to the back deck and Howl at the moon. Full out, yeooowlly howls at the top of our lungs.

When it rained we kicked off our shoes and danced on the front lawn.

When we wanted a snow day we danced on the lawn too. The crazy, mystic dance of the snowflake.

When bored we'd paint the windows per the season (Tazmanian Devil with a Santa hat) or, when dh wasn't home, we'd do something on the walls. Diamond Head lives on my office wall now. With parrots sitting on the painted ledge and a wild palm tree hanging half in a painted window.

Okay, so the neighbors were never too friendly--can't imagine why??? But we had fun and I think this helped make them optimistic and creative.

I hope it showed them that the different drummer can be exciting and fun. That beauty should be celebrated with howls and dancing, art is something everyone can do and no matter what you do--have fun. Rainy days are never bad when you dance your way through.

Major vent-fest going on over at Pub Rants. Amazingly, all this agent did was say she could no longer accept snail mail and was going to email submission. Responsible, no? Less paper, fewer dead trees laying around the office, easier over all for her and us. I applaud her.

However there were a lot of comments on the blog that objected her decision because it might be inconvenient to some writers. It was almost a brawl with people sniping at each other. (Usually the "anonymous" ones that snipe the worst! And they were sniping about that, too.)

Wait! I wasn't aware the agents owed us convenience. We need them, the gatekeepers to this world we're trying to break into, for their connections, networking skills and (I think) for protection. They do all the business/contract stuff so we can keep writing. So if we want to stand in the crowd screaming "Pick me! Pick me!" wouldn't it make sense to do it in a way that was easiest for them? Going against their guidelines might get us noticed but it wouldn't be in a good way.

Bottom line; READ THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES.

Sheesh!

Okay, that's my vent for the day.

Lions and Tigers and DEADLINES!

"Empower your dreams with deadlines."--H. Jackson Brown

Why is it when given an assignment to get something done by a certain time most of us are able to accomplish something. Get that to me by Tuesday-no problem. We need the newsletter to the printer by Friday- okey dokey! Mother in law's gonna be her Saturday, gotta clean!-Whew! Got it done.

First deadline-Finish first draft by June- um, well...I was injured, Hey! I get a free pass! (car accident/surgery) Okay, it was done by Christmas.

Second draft- Chinese New Year- hmmmm, that goal wasn't realistic, was it?

Synopsis-(Cause I need a break from drafting)-Easter? YIKES! Here comes Easter!

Note to self: Need new deadlines. Did we say Christmas?

Help!

PS-I don't know who H. Jackson Brown is but I'd like to know what his deadlines are. (or were?)

Life as a challenge.

What do you want from life? Do you see this "want" as a dream? A wish? or a challenge?
I have one daughter who loves a challenge. No matter what she sets her sights on she never looks at it as a wish.
She wanted to be a lifeguard. After rigorous testing and pushing herself to her limit. Poof! She was a lifeguard.
She wanted to be drum major in the band. Work, work, work...poof! She became drum major.
Learn piano? guitar? Poof!
Although she makes it look easy I know how much work she puts into these things. I see the agony and energy she goes through for her goals. Some are harder then others, sure, but she pushed herself just as hard every single time. She seems to live for the challenge.
Everything is a challenge to be met, overcome and accomplished. She amazes me. She has also taught me a lot about challenges:
Stay focused.
Believe in yourself.
Work hard.
Never give up.
Do I want to be a published writer? Is this my dream? Or is it a challenge to be overcome, overtaken and accomplished?
J.A. Konrath once asked, "What do you call a writer who never gives up?"
---PUBLISHED!
He should know. It took him years to become an overnight sensation. His story is one of hard work and determination. (You can read his story in a book called, "HOW I GOT PUBLISHED".)
Was it his dream? Or his challenge?
What's yours?

Back to the trenches...

The book is done and some fixin' and some rewriting and I'm beginning to think of agents. Visiting their websites, looking on agent query.com, blogging...

So, I take a few pages on a part I really didn't feel that great about to my wonderful critique group.

Now I'm back into the rewrite phase. >sigh<

They gave very good comments on the five pages I brought with me and it'd be an easy fix. But the biggest thing they did was make me think of other parts of the story that could use the same kind of help.

So, later agents! I'm not quite ready for you yet.

But I'm coming.

When Writers Dream...

Over at Bookends author Kimberly Dean has written a great post on writers and their wandering minds. Her new book, What She Wants at Midnight, is written on a the concept that there is someone who bestows dreams on us when we sleep. Interesting concept. (Also one of those-why didn't I think of that-moments.)

But she goes on to ask what we think about when our mind wanders. Is it grocery lists? How we're going to get the laundry done or about an upcoming trip?

I think most writers are a different breed. Do we ever think of mundane things when there's a chunk of time that can be used for creating?

Last night on the way home from a fundraiser I was stopped behind a car whose bumper sticker said "Aquittal". First I thought: lawyer? Then: what if it's a criminal who got away with something? Which led to: what if there's a body in the trunk and the criminal is on his way to dump it? And on to: How about if he's a wacko who kills people and leaves them in the trunks of other people's cars? He could pull into not so busy parking lots, jimmy the lock on a trunk, slip in the body and watch the fun.

What would the average person do if they go to the store, bring their groceries out to their car and then pop the trunk and....

What would you do? Now, if you call the police wouldn't they suspect you? And if you had anything shady in your past-could you risk calling the police? So? What would you do?

My family often tells me my mind is a scary place.

How's yours?

Your Agent list?

You want a super hero. An agent who will pitch your book to the perfect house at the perfect time and get you a great contract. Or at least sell your book fairly quick, help you build a career and keep you informed on a regular basis. Someone who won't sign you and ignore you.
So, the book is done, polished and repolished and its time to start thinking where to send it. A little tempted to try a publishing house directly, but an agent would probably be a better idea.
As I check out websites and blogs of agents I can see submission guidelines, genres they like, and client lists, but is this enough? How can you tell if you're going to be a good fit with an agent? Everyone looks good on paper. The websites are all techie and shiny. Client list looks great but how do you know they will take care of you? Is it better to go with a small agency where the client list is smaller? Or a big agency and maybe get lost in the crowd?
How did you choose? Is it working for you?
What questions did you ask or what made you decide this was the agent for you?

WRITING NON-FICTION?

I've heard the thing about "writing what you know". That's not what I usually write. I write about crime and murder. Sometimes the supernatural or religion+ end of the world type things. Things I think about. Why do people do this? What could possibly be going through their mind when they do it? Is the perfect crime possible? What if God or angels (or better yet-Satan) could actually step in and help out?

But thinking back to "write what you know" I start thinking about things I do know.

Creative parenting- Okay, so when my kids were little and used to fight-instead of yelling I used to make them hold hands and say nice things about each other. They thought it was weird but today they are best friends. -I think I could write this but not now.

Small town politics? Nooooo. Just....no.

Woman's self defense? Eh, I'll leave this to law enforcement.

Domestic anything? Hahahahahahhaha....not in this lifetime.

Ok, I do have one thing. I've been working in one type of business for the past nine years. I could write a book about that. However this business affects about 30,000 people in the USA-give or take a couple thou- but is that enough for a publisher?

Have you ever written a non-fic book? Any advice???

The Memoir Challenge- Enter at your own risk

Challenge, create, embracing uniqueness, happiness, love.

I found this six six word memoir challenge on Erica Orloff's Blog and thought I'd play. (It was harder then I thought.) Now I just have to figure out who to tag.

These are the rules:
1. Write your own six word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
3. Link to the person who tagged you in your post .
4. Tag five more blogs with links.
5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

Send us a Synopsis...

Thats what agent's say. Send us a query, synopsis and a couple of chapters. I can find lots on writing queries (the best on that was over at Bookends ), and I have my chapters ready to send...now I have to write a synopsis...

Is there a good site on how to do this? I've written these before, but was never sure if I'm doing it right. Turn a three hundred and some odd page book into three pages? Oh yeah, easy.

Do I condense every chapter into two sentences? What do I leave out? Are they judging my writing on this chop job?

What I really want is to read the synopsis on Stephen King's The Stand or even Misery. Ok, I'll take Cujo--do you think he'd share that with me???

Is there a formula to this process? How do you approach your synopsis?

Help!

Wife Swap & Writers

There's a show called "Wife Swap" on ABC. They take two wives from different kinds of lives and make the change places for two weeks. First week they have to live by the orginal family's rules, second week the family has to live by their's. Free thinkers to devote religious types, uptight type A personalities who rule with an iron fist to wild hippy types. Most are shocked by the way the others live their lives and think their own way is better. They cause trouble, protest and in some instances throw up their hands and walk out. One had a vegan go live with a country type family who just went out and hunted their own food. When the Vegan stand in wife said, "Sorry, we don't have any meat for tonight." The husband picked up his gun and went out and shot them some dinner.

You can see all types on this show except writers.

I doubt they can ever put a writer on a show like this because writers observe life and love to experience new point of views. You never know when you can use that in a book! Put a writer on a farm? Koool, we could learn about planting and cows. Put a writer in the home of a hard core, animal rights activist? Yes, lets see what thats all about. Would there be any place a writer wouldn't want to go for two weeks?

As a writer, what kind of lifestyle would you like to try? Where wouldn't you want to go?

Pig Fly in NJ-Mr. Corzine, Can you hear us now?

Friday over 700 people gathered at the State House in Trenton to protest the governor's 800% toll hike. They released hundreds of pig baloons to prove a point to a Governor who is just not listening to New Jersey.
He spoke at schools around the state and was met with loud catcalls, Boo's and Oinks. And still he wasn't listening.
The flying pigs were something the Govenor brought on himself by making the statement, "Pigs will fly over the state house before there's a realistic level of new taxes or spending cuts that can fix this mess." He also denied hearing any oposition from the residents he will be extorting money from. Exactly what does "Booooo" mean, anyway?
My own husband travels over two hours on these toll roads everday. I hear Corzine saying the state had debt to pay but does he realize the people who have to travel the farthest to get to good paying jobs aren't the richest people in the state? That these people work hard for their money and some are going paycheck to paycheck just to get by? So Mr. Corzine, where are these hard working New Jersey residents going to get the money to pay your toll increase? Do we need to get a second job? Start working nights? Are you trying to increase the mass exodus that NJ has been experiencing over the last few years?
Well, the pigs have flown. Govenor Corzine, can you hear us now?

Favorite Quotes

"Anyone who thinks Sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain."

I don't know who said that, but it inspires.

I found it on my daughter's away message. It made me hope I taught her to dance in the rain. (I know we've howled at the moon a few times!)

Redline and Deadlines did quotes in their Thursday Thirteen yesterday. They were all book/reading quotes and they were great too.

So, what's your favorite quote?

The Amazing Mark Terry

The past few days Mark Terry has been giving Freelancing lessons on his blog. Jump on over and check it out. I think the man's a genius.

I'll be facing unemployment in a few months so I'm trying to come up with a stategy to stay out of the 9 to 5 world. I want to go to work in my PJ's, sip a decent cup of coffee while pounding the keyboard and staying home with the puppies to play the let dog in, let dog out, let dog in game all day long. Ahhh, heaven!

Since I don't have a bevy of agents and editors knocking my door down with six figure deals I have to come up with something else.

So, let me know how you stay away from that 9 to 5 world and stop over and see what Mark's been blogging about. Its like information heaven!

THE DREADED REWRITE...

First draft finished and (if I have to say so myself) I'm pretty pleased with it. Some parts tugged at my heart, other's scared me to death. AAAhhhhh, feels like a winner.
However, I've been here before. Finish off a novel. Hundreds of pages of writing that felt sooooo good when I sped through the first time, now I reread it and wonder--what the heck was I thinking?
All chapters aren't that bad, some are coming across damn good. (okay, just my humble opinion) Other's need work. Lots of work!
The rewrite and polishing are even harder then writing the story the first time. Right now I'm ready to move on to my next story-which I kinda started when I was about 100 pages into this one, sometimes things just jump into your head, I can't help it-but if this one is ever going to move from shelf to agent the dreaded rewrite has to be done. I just don't feel like it. I want to move ahead into the next story which is currently mapping itself out in my brain. And then there's the many solitare games that keep me sidetracked. (see photo)
Question: How do you keep up the motivation to get from first draft to finished product?

Critiques-Not always your Friend, Not always an Enemy

Art is subjective. Always remember that. No matter what form your art takes there is always a critic out there waiting to voice an opinion. The scary part is, not all critics should be critiquing.
I once sat in a group and where no one could get past one writer's use of the word "fuck". I sat there thinking the problem wasn't with the writer, but since I was new I kept my mouth shut. However, my mind was churning. I kept thinking, "These people are too closed minded to critique anything not written on two (or was it three?) stone tablets and brought down from a mountain. Who can discuss "fuck" for an hour?" Eventually, my thoughts turned to, "Here's an hour of my life I'll never get back. " and I couldn't wait to leave. I never went back to that group, but often thought of the woman who dared to let her character use that awful word. If she stayed in that group was she ultimately beaten down? I guess I worry about her from time to time and feel guilty I didn't speak up. I'm sure she could have used just one positive word among the anti-fuck peeps.
I think writing is one of those strange art forms where we seek out the critics. Hold our art up to the masses and say; RIP ME APART! (Painter's don't ask our opinion-they are simply expressing themselves.) But no, we writers just bare our souls and beg to be torn asunder.
RIP ME APART we say.
I think that's what we should be saying...but only to the right people. Critique groups should be tried on like new shoes. Maybe walk a while in them, see how they stretch out and then either keep them under your pillow or toss them out.
A good critique group will give you the good with the bad. Lift you up, sing your strengths while advising you about the weaknesses in your work.
A critique is only an opinion. Take it in, consider it for a bit, maybe try it on to see how it fits and then make up your own mind. (an open mind)
A wise woman once told me; Put your ego in the backseat.
I think this is especially good advice for a writer. No matter what the fuck they say.
:)

Are you PC???

I was wandering around over at Redlines and Deadlines: http://redlinesanddeadlines.blogspot.com/ and found a great post about what is and isn't PC when writing fiction. This is something I agnonize over many times when I'm trying to give a "feel" for a specific type of character. Does my description make sense? Did I give my reader a good picture of of the character? Did I offend anyone?
I have a character. I've actually made this guy from a blend of two people I've worked with. One was a very tall, intellegent man (a chef) with a great sense of humor (always playing practical jokes) who happened to be black. The other was an obnoxious slob who I could not stand and he happened to be white. So, for the story I needed a chef but the character was a sleeze...I blended the practical joker with the slob. So, now...tell me how to be PC and give a good description of this man???

HAPPY 2008!

Ahhhh, the time of new beginnings, resolutions and hope. As the year begins I always think of what I need to accomplish. In the last few months I'm ashamed to say my writing habits have floundered. Real life gets in the way and I've played Spider Solitare more then I've written. So, my resolution is to get back on schedule and get organized. I get up up at 6 every morning supposedly to write for at least an hour before work, but since I've finished that first draft I find it hard to go back and rework. I'd rather work on my next project. Or go back and play with the one I think I can fix if I shore up the crime and maybe slow it down a bit. (One rejection letter said the premise was good, but it moved to fast) So, with a new year I'm ready to buckle down and finish polishing this baby up. My goal is to have it agent-ready by Feburary when the Chinese New Year begins. It's the year of the Rat which stands for new beginnings and I want to be ready!

(With the first sign of the Chinese zodiac being the Rat, this Year of the Earth Rat is predicted to be an exciting year full of new beginnings. This is also a year for major accomplishments and excellent relationships, as the elements of Earth and Water come together.)

I have one problem....Spyscibbler gave me this new unword link and I've been having too much fun over there. Its like chocolate for writers. When you just can't find the word you can go there and make one up! http://www.unwords.com/

:)

. nastola (năs'tŏ'lă)
a. (adj.) Describing something that is nasty. Usually used as a response to witnessing something hideous