Being successful as either a novelist or a screenwriter depends on you. In your venture, beware of scammers who will gladly take your money. Therefore, my purpose is to help smarten you up in your journey to become that successful writer at NO COST. Yes, NO COST. And why am I doing this? Because I hope that you will pass it on. That's a GOOD thing, right?
Just write. You are in command. If you don't like the outcome, start over. If you kinda like the outcome, revise.
You will need guidance from the experts. You will need the mechanics of storytelling. Act 1-Act 2-Act 3 (beginning-middle-end); without these elements,
you have no story.
The book which helped me the most in my journey is: "The Writers Journey - Mythic Structure for Writers" by Christopher Vogler.
I can give you a few other titles later. E-MAIL me.
LOGLINE - a logline is a short description of a book, screenplay, movie, or television program.
EXAMPLES:
BAD - A farmer is taken away to a mental institution and then plans to get out.
GOOD - A stubborn dairy farmer gets unlawfully carted off to a mental institution where he is forced into helping the land prosper as he
plans to bring down his oppressive captor.
SYNOPSIS - a synopsis is a brief summary of the main points of the story, be it a book, screenplay, or movie.
EXAMPLES: Click on the links below to read my own award-winning screenplay synopses.
Synopsis for "Scattered Harvest"
Synopsis for "Cry Uncle, Sumbody"
TREATMENT (SCREENPLAYS) - a treatment is a prose summary of the film's story. Treatments read like a short story, but are told in present
tense and describe events as they happen, without the dialogue. Say you went to a movie and now you're telling your friend all about it,
beginning to end. That's a treatment.
EXAMPLES: Click on the link below to read my own award-winning screenplay treatment
Treatment for "Cry Uncle, Sumbody"
Questions: E-MAIL me.
There are a number of people involved in the book writing process besides the author. There are editors, designers, printers, to name a few.
You will also need publicity, though YOU are your best salesperson. No matter what, you will need to network and put yourself out there.
You will need specific screenplay formatting software - e.g., Final Draft. Enter your finished screenplay in some of the contests that are
out there. They are fun as well as helpful.
I can help direct you to a variety of individuals I have worked with over the years. E-MAIL me.
WILL is a dairy farmer in Indiana in 1914. His wife, REBECCA, is sick and they are struggling to make her better. Rebecca suggests that HATTIE come live with them, an old college friend of theirs whom Will used to fool around with.
The local Doctor, DOC, is seeing the town's new veterinarian, KATHERINE, and Hattie. The two of them go up to Will's farm, Doc to see Rebecca, and Katherine to check on Will's bull.
Whilst checking her heart with a stethoscope, Doc gropes Rebecca's breast. Rebecca screams out and Will throws him to the ground and punches him. Doc and Katherine scramble out of there.
Will is then arrested. In his court hearing it is concluded that Will is having a mental breakdown, is certified insane and ordered to Long Pointe, a state mental hospital.
Will overpowers a hospital guard, steals his uniform and escapes Long Pointe. He jumps on a train back to Hampton.
OHIO VALLEY (1863)
DAVID LONGACHER enlists in the Union Army, entering a war which took the life of his Pa. He leaves his MA, sisters HANNA and BETH, and fiancee, NEL, to work the family farm with the help of his cousin, CHARLES ALLEN, a Confederate sympathizer and moonshiner from Southern Indiana.
With a degree in Veterinary Medicine, the ol' TOWN DOCTOR encourages David to enlist as a Union Officer. David rejects the notion, instead wanting to fight beside the Army regulars.
David is taken to enlistment camp by Charles Allen. Upon Charles Allen's return, he finds the family's farm destroyed. Charles Allen then leaves to join the Confederacy.
David's friend, JERRY DIXON, is nearly killed when a Reb sniper opens fire on the two while on picket duty.
Hanna runs away from home.
EVE LONGACHER (MA)(42) stands on the front porch of the family's two-story frame farmhouse overlooking their farmland and the green Ohio Valley beyond. Her eyes fix on the covered bridge that crosses over a winding brook at the edge of the Longacher farm - the bridge through which everybody and everything comes and goes. A placard on the bridge reads: EST. 1842.
Ma turns and sits on the porch swing. She looks up when she hears a wagon's wheels hitting the planks on the floor of the bridge. And, as usual, the family dog, BUCK, hightails it toward the bridge to mooch a ride back with his master, Ma's only son, DAVID (22).
David climbs the porch steps and glances over at his ma as he goes to open the front door. Ma pats the porch swing, beckoning her son to sit. He sees that she's been crying - an emotion that David almost never sees in his ma.
8244 Kennedy Avenue
P.O. Box 1996
Highland, IN 46322
Voice: 219.923.9011
Toll-free: 877.999.THOMAS
E-mail: thomas@simpleselling.net
