Tag Archives: Novelist

Writers Beware!

It is imperative that writers take appropriate steps to protect their creative writing. We all  know about the cold cruel world out there,  but this weariness needs to extend to cyberspace. Writers protect your work. If you upload it to the internet, make sure you upload it to reputable sites.

It has recently come to my attention that a fellow screenwriter had a “short script” stolen. This is what happened: the screenwriter uploaded the script to several sites. An unscrupulous person read the script “online”, downloaded it, and offered it ”for production” as his creation. He found someone to make his screenplay into a movie but, when the project was advertised online, the caper and theft was uncovered.

One of the places this screenplay was uploaded was at MoviePoet.com. Now this isn’t where the theft took place but, by being part of the MoviePoet.com community, this “theft” was thwarted. A fellow MPer saw the advertised project and brought it to everyone’s attention.

The writer contacted the director and was furnished a copy of the script. There was no doubt the script was stolen and the writer was able to prove he had written it. This short script will still be filmed BUT THE REAL WRITER will get all credit. I have read this script. It is excellent and I am glad it was resolved to the writer’s satisfaction.

I’m told investigation has resulted in discovering at least eight other scripts that were “stolen” by this no-good thief. The name of the thief is Oz Rudd but no one knows for sure if this is his real name. Apparently he is from Serbia but we can’t be sure about that either.

This time someone tried to steal a short screenplay. But it could have been a short story or a feature length script or a novel.  In any case, WRITERS, TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF.   Make sure you have dated records of your work. Some of the things you can do include: (1)  registering it with the WGA, (2) copyrighting it with the federal government, (3) posting it on a (reputable) website.

Do something to protect yourself. Never forget that it’s a cold cruel world out there…

“Library Books at Police Headquarters”

Update to this post on 2/16/12

Stefan Simonovic is aka Oz Rudd

If you would like further information about this, please check  with SimplyScripts.com, Stake Productions (http://www.facebook.com/pianotheshort), MoviePoet.com, and Stage32.com.

Constructive Criticism

I wish Amazon would require people who “review” books to back up negative statements with facts, including examples and/or suggestions.

This past week, I received my first “negative” review about WINDFALL. The reviewer gave the novel two stars out of five. Basically, there were two complaints.

First, the reviewer thought Windfall wasn’t a thriller. My question is, if it’s not a thriller then what is it? There was no opinion offered. The reviewer merely stated the book wasn’t thrilling. This particular comment doesn’t bother me too much because choosing a genre is rather subjective. Many books can be classified in several genres. But, I wish I’d been given an opinion as to what genre the reader thought Windfall should be in.

Secondly, the review stated Windfall had frequent grammatical errors. I had numerous people read the novel before I published it and none of them said a thing about grammar. They had a lot to say about characters or story line but nothing about grammar.

Now, I’m not saying Windfall has no errors. I am, after all, human, and I don’t have a professional editor watching my back. But when a reviewer states a novel has frequent grammatical errors, I truly think they should back up their statement with facts. Did the reviewer find one error or several hundred errors. By using the word frequent the reviewer states the writer constantly made mistakes. And, in this case, I think the reviewer is wrong.

Liking or disliking a book can be a very subjective thing.

But, when a reviewer is negative about something specific, it would be helpful if they backed up their comment with facts and/or suggestions.

It’s called CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM.

Charles Dickens

Blocking or Beating a STORY…

This week my writing has focused on two stories. I’m blocking out the sequel to Windfall (Windfall is currently for sale on Amazon.). And I’m in the middle of writing a new novel, Finding Verity.

Another word for “blocking” a story is “beating” out a story. In essence, I’m working on a type of outline. I block out a story by writing a paragraph about each scene. Writer’s choice! The paragraph can be  detailed or general. I  think of blocking as a kind of map. I have a starting point and an ending, but I need to list the steps that get me from Chapter One to “The End.”

Blocking Windfall’s sequel has been interesting. Because I know many of the characters I’ve been able to focus more on the plot. While I plot the story, I let the new characters “bake a little in my brain.” Like I did with Windfall, I will write the screenplay first and follow that screenplay with the novel.

As I write a paragraph about each BLOCK or BEAT of the story, I ask myself several questions. The first two questions are: WHO will be in the scene and WHAT will happen in the scene. The next question is: what is the scene’s PURPOSE. Why is the scene necessary?  If the story can be told without the scene, then maybe it’s not needed

The scene might introduce a new character or locale. It might create conflict, provide a transition, or do any number of other things. But, in all cases, each scene should (1) reveal something about a character or (2) move the story forward.

The way I write will not work for everyone. Many writers “write by the seat of their pants.” They start with a vague idea or a colorful character and then begin.  If this works for you, then HOORAH you don’t have to do as much work as I do. I’ve tried to write this way but find, without some kind of an outline, I get confused, my writing becomes unfocused, and I eventually get frustrated and lose interest in the project.

My progress on Finding Verity is steady because I know the story and it’s just a matter of getting it into my laptop. And, I know the story because, before I began writing, I blocked it out, and now I’m using that work as a guide. Every day I try to work on Finding Verity for two solid hours. I begin each day of writing by editing the previous days work so, in some ways, I’m working on the first and second draft at the same time. Right now the word count on Finding Verity is 29,347.

I’d love to hear how other writer’s approach their projects. Do you do a lot of prep work? Or do you write by the seat of your pants?

1910 – Reading in a Fire Station