In so many words

In So Many Words

Nicki Ehrlich

Ah, winter…for those of us working from home, going from jeans and t-shirts to sweatpants and sweatshirts marks the change of seasons.

My love of writing never cools, no matter what the weather. Though novel writing is my favorite thing right now, I’m curious about other writing disciplines. Recently, I’ve been taking a screenwriting course through Literary Cleveland (https://www.litcleveland.org). Knowing how improbable it is to get a script seen, let alone optioned or produced, I signed up for the writing experience. I believe it’s true that one form of writing —poetry, short stories, memoirs, etc. can inform other modes of writing.

One of the first things I learned was that a page of screenwriting equates to approximately one minute of screen time. Movies are normally an hour and a half to two hours long, so no matter how long that novel is, if you’re adapting it to a screenplay, you’re  looking at 90 to 120 pages. My first reaction? That’s not just “killing your darlings” but annihilating the story. Must a novel writer become a serial killer?

But wait. This is a great exercise for a novelist. It’s almost as difficult as writing a synopsis, but you get to use dialogue.

During the first weeks of this course, I’ve learned a few reasons why writing a screenplay (or at least parts of a screenplay) would be good for a novelist.

1. It makes you scrutinize your dialogue and hear if it’s working. Does the dialogue fit the character? Does the dialogue help move the story forward? If you haven’t been reading your pages aloud along the way (and you really should), that first table read will probably expose some places that could be improved.

2. It forces you to get to the heart of the story. A screenplay has to be “active.” Any descriptions or emotions need to be “shown,” not told. And you, as the writer, have only a few lines to guide that. The director and/or cinematographer does the rest.

3. It forces you to clarify your settings: time, place, day/night, weather, interior/exterior, etc. These are called out for each scene change. It might make you reconsider how important the time of day is to your character, how the weather might change their perspective and reactions, how the character might act differently if inside their home or outside in the wilderness.

No matter what kind of writing you do, ask yourself the following basic story questions:

 What is your “logline” or “elevator pitch”? You need a clear story idea and the ability to “pitch” it in just a few lines/minutes.

 Who is your protagonist?

 Who (or what) is your antagonist?

 Who or what are the other major characters in the story?

 What are your characters’ arcs? How do they change?

 What is stopping your protagonist from reaching their goal?

 What are the stakes? What happens if the protagonist doesn’t reach their goal?

 When your story starts, why are we meeting the protagonist at this moment? What is the inciting incident that kicks the story into motion?

 At the mid-point of your story (the “all-is-lost” moment), what takes the story in another direction?

 What is the climax (the point of highest tension)?

 What is the resolution/final image?

I love being a part of this story-telling community. If it’s a rainy day, put on that favorite sweatshirt and curl up with a good read. Or better yet, write one. May you experience carefree, joyful holidays!