BYOB Writing Challenge
Exactly How I Used a Screenwriting Book to Plot My Novel
I went from premise to chapter list in two days
What I’m doing probably sounds like using a book written in French to help me write a book written in Italian (especially when you consider that I neither speak Italian fluently nor have ever written a short novel.) But bear with me and my craziness.
Screenwriting is a very precise form of writing. The document itself is formatted in a rigid, industry-specific jumble of stage directions and dialogue, all appropriately tabbed, spaced and capitalized. The good news is that the book I am using is not about how the words appear on the page. It’s about the creation of the story.
In most cases, someone writing a movie script has a mere 120 pages of script to weave even the most complicated stories. Think for a moment about your favorite movie. Let the movie play out in super fast speed for a second in your mind. How the heck did the writer or writers put all of that into 120 pages?
Those guys have got storytelling superpowers!
And that, my friends, is why I am turning to the best damn screenwriting book ever written to help me get through this project I am embarking upon.
