Fame, Fortune and Chapter One

By Pat Browning

Writing. What’s it all about? Dozens of books will tell you how to do it, but nobody can do it for you. Sure, you can hire a ghostwriter, but then it’s not really your book, is it?

Advice? I have some advice for anyone starting to write a first book.

1.Don't take rejection personally, just keep working on it. Quoting Sue Grafton, who spoke at a conference in Boise a few years ago: "The free world does not hang in the balance. You are only writing a book."

2.Talent, like murder, will out, but be prepared to wait. What I heard repeatedly when I started was, "Don't give up your day job." If you’re addicted to food and shelter, that’s good advice.

3.Write for the thrill of it, and what you learn from it. Quoting Holly Lisle in HOW TO FINISH A NOVEL: "Write what you love, not 'what sells.' ... What you will not do for love, you should not do for money."

Plan and plot? I swear, one of these days I'm going to try that. Maybe then I'll write a best seller. In the meantime ... Settings usually present themselves, because I love places. Characters seem to arrive, probably from my lifelong love of people watching. That’s it. I can't plot my way out of a paper bag. After I've done pages and pages of drafts I start thinking, what will I do with this mess?

Recently, I enrolled in "Discovering Story Magic," an online workshop presented by Robin Perini and Laura Baker through www.writersonlineclasses.com. A story board I made for my work-in-progress is marked off like a calendar, with yellow sticky notes for First Turning Point, Second Turning Point, Third Turning Point, and Fourth Turning Point ( Black Moment, and Realization). It keeps me on track.

Nothing, but nothing, inspires me like reading a good book. Some of my favorite authors may or may not struggle to get those words on paper, but for reading enjoyment it’s best not to look for sweat and tears between the lines. Better to accept it as magic.

I have too many favorite books to list but here are four.

NICE TRY by Shane Maloney (2001 Arcade Publishing, First published in Australia in 1998)
Maloney wraps social commentary around a mystery featuring Murray Whelan, a political dogsbody in Melbourne, Australia. Recruited to help with the government's bid to host the Summer Olympics, he ends up trying to outwit an Aboriginal activist while investigating the death of a promising young triathlete.

SUMMER OF THE BIG BACHI by Naomi Hirahara (Bantam 2004)
Mas Arai is an aging California gardener who harbors a secret going all the way back to Hiroshima before the A-bomb dropped. There is a murder, but the story belongs to Mas and the way he puts his long-held secret to rest.

THE SIXTEENTH MAN by Thomas B. Sawyer (iUniverse 2001)
Sawyer weaves together parallel lines of history and present time, with an intriguing JFK assassination angle and the best "what if" ending ever. Sawyer was head writer and co-producer of the TV show MURDER SHE WROTE so he knows how to keep a story moving.

PLAY MELANCHOLY BABY by John Daniel (Perseverance Press 1986)
In 1977, lounge pianist Casey Jones tickles the ivories for customers who love the songs of The Great Depression and World War II. Then a mystery woman yanks him back into a past he wanted to forget. It's a mystery in a time capsule, beautifully written.


Note: I found this blog while trying to clean up My Documents. I posted it six months ago, but it seems worth repeating. Hope you agree.

Talent, guts, luck, and fame

Cole Hauser, Casey Affleck, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in “Good Will Hunting.” Photo from Yahoo! Movies.
======================

By Pat Browning

TUESDAY: I read that actor Ben Affleck and his actress wife Jennifer Garner just bought the old Gregory Peck estate in Pacific Palisades. They paid $17.55 million for an 8,800 square foot home on a 3-acre cliffside location. According to the news article, the place had been listed at $27.5 million, so the Afflecks got a real bargain when $10 million was lopped off the price.

Affleck is only 36. How does someone make that much money in so short a time? It has been only 11 years since he and his buddy, Matt Damon, burst onto the scene with their movie “Good Will Hunting.” One movie, but it opened the door.

WEDNESDAY: I’ve never seen the movie. I spotted a VHS tape of “Good Will Hunting” in the Goodwill store, and bought it for 99 cents

THURSDAY: I got out my loose leaf notebook with notes and handouts from a workshop, Discovering Story Magic, led by Robin L. Perini and Laura Baker of Writers Online. I enrolled in the class in 2007 and the only requirement was that we prep for it by watching the movie, “Good Will Hunting.”

My local library didn’t have the movie on CD or VHS tape, but it had the screenplay, which was even better for study purposes. The screenplay was a revelation. With only dialogue and a few stage instructions, the structure was laid bare.

An introduction by Gus Van Zant, who directed the movie, included conversations with Affleck and Damon about the writing of the screenplay. It was … so … darn … easy …

*****
Quote:
Two best friends driving across deserts, faxing each other between remote locations, and hanging out in hotels trying to make each other laugh and cry over a three-year period is how they managed to put this amazing screenplay together ...

“When we say that we drove across the country, we mean that I drive and Matt rides along,” Ben informs me.

“Fifty-five hours is fast, too,” I say.

“Fifty-seven …

“Not a lot of sightseeing,” Matt says.

But Matt still doesn’t take a turn at the wheel; he just makes up stories with Ben to keep him from falling asleep.

“A lot of Good Will was written on such cross-country road trips. We tell each other stories while in a particular character, usually to make each other laugh or to make sure that Ben doesn’t fall asleep at the wheel.”

“The stories have to be good or I start to nod off.”

“So it sort of ups the ante as far as story quality goes. When we get into an improve that we both like, that we both think is going well and dialogue that we are relatively excited by, I will open up the glove compartment where I keep my notebook and write down a few notes that we will use later to recall the entire improvisation,” Matt says.

“When we do finally stop the car I’ll unpack a laptop computer and we’ll write down the new pages by reinventing it,” Ben says. …

“And let it be said,” Ben adds, “that when we are doing this, most of the time we are trying to make ourselves laugh. We are going for a shared reaction. We are going for a good time.”

“Or cry. We might make ourselves cry, too,” Matt says.

“Yes, and also a lot of the time we’ll have a few beers while we are writing. We’re just hanging out with each other trying to entertain ourselves.”
End Quote.
*****
Van Zant says that it took about 10 rewrites to get the screenplay ready for filming. Perhaps the most telling comment of all comes as Van Zant describes news of the original sale:

(Quote) Not only did the press announcement cheerfully praise the prestigious and lucrative sale but also pointed out that it was very clever of Ben and Matt to have cast themselves in the lead parts – this was a secret plan of theirs, to be cast in parts that interested each of them, by writing the parts themselves. (End Quote)

Lessons to be drawn:
1) Write something that keeps the reader awake.
2) Write something that pleases you.
3) Rewrite as often as it takes.
4) Have fun doing it. (Have a few beers. Or chocolate bars.)
And the most thought-provoking idea of all:
5) Put yourself in the book as a character that interests you. It gives you a stake in the book.

A screenplay and a novel are two different things. The screenplay is dialogue and bare bones. The novel brings in scenery, weather, colors, physical attributes of the characters, body language, the senses. It puts flesh on the bones, making it a complete experience.

Two different things, screenplay and novel, but both depend on a solid structure. One other thing they have in common is dialogue to move the story along. When I get bogged down in a scene or chapter, I dash it off in dialogue. Once the characters start talking to each other, the story takes off again.

Fame, Fortune And Chapter 1

By Pat Browning

Writing. What’s it all about? Dozens of books will tell you how to do it, but nobody can do it for you. Sure, you can hire a ghostwriter, but then it’s not really your book, is it?

Advice? I have some advice for anyone starting to write a first book.

1.Don't take rejection personally, just keep working on it. Quoting Sue Grafton, who spoke at a conference in Boise a few years ago: "The free world does not hang in the balance. You are only writing a book."

2.Talent, like murder, will out, but be prepared to wait. What I heard repeatedly when I started was, "Don't give up your day job." If you’re addicted to food and shelter, that’s good advice.

3.Write for the thrill of it, and what you learn from it. Quoting Holly Lisle in HOW TO FINISH A NOVEL: "Write what you love, not 'what sells.' ... What you will not do for love, you should not do for money."

Plan and plot? I swear, one of these days I'm going to try that. Maybe then I'll write a best seller. In the meantime ... Settings usually present themselves, because I love places. Characters seem to arrive, probably from my lifelong love of people watching. That’s it. I can't plot my way out of a paper bag. After I've done pages and pages of drafts I start thinking, what will I do with this mess?

Recently, I enrolled in "Discovering Story Magic," an online workshop presented by Robin Perini and Laura Baker through www.writersonlineclasses.com. A story board I made for my work-in-progress is marked off like a calendar, with yellow sticky notes for First Turning Point, Second Turning Point, Third Turning Point, and Fourth Turning Point ( Black Moment, and Realization). It keeps me on track.

Nothing, but nothing, inspires me like reading a good book. Some of my favorite authors may or may not struggle to get those words on paper, but for reading enjoyment it’s best not to look for sweat and tears between the lines. Better to accept it as magic.

I have too many favorite books to list but here are four.

NICE TRY by Shane Maloney (2001 Arcade Publishing, First published in Australia in 1998)
Maloney wraps social commentary around a mystery featuring Murray Whelan, a political dogsbody in Melbourne, Australia. Recruited to help with the government's bid to host the Summer Olympics, he ends up trying to outwit an Aboriginal activist while investigating the death of a promising young triathlete.

SUMMER OF THE BIG BACHI by Naomi Hirahara (Bantam 2004)
Mas Arai is an aging California gardener who harbors a secret going all the way back to Hiroshima before the A-bomb dropped. There is a murder, but the story belongs to Mas and the way he puts his long-held secret to rest.

THE SIXTEENTH MAN by Thomas B. Sawyer (iUniverse 2001)
Sawyer weaves together parallel lines of history and present time, with an intriguing JFK assassination angle and the best "what if" ending ever. Sawyer was head writer and co-producer of the TV show MURDER SHE WROTE so he knows how to keep a story moving.

PLAY MELANCHOLY BABY by John Daniel (Perseverance Press 1986)
In 1977, lounge pianist Casey Jones tickles the ivories for customers who love the songs of The Great Depression and World War II. Then a mystery woman yanks him back into a past he wanted to forget. It's a mystery in a time capsule, beautifully written.