Alexandra Sokoloff's Blog, page 26

Nanowrimo Prep: Story Elements Checklist

As any of you who are brainstorming Index Cards
right now have found, this is not an orderly process. You will be
coming up with scenes in no order whatsoever, all over the structure
grid. Some that you will have no idea where to put. And so while this week I
will be working ahead through story structure in a relative order, I
want to re-post the whole general Story Elements Checklist, so you have a
whole overview of scenes and story elements you will be needing beyond
whatever act we happen to be talking about at the time.


When
you start out brainstorming index cards, you can make cards for all of
the elements below, even if you have no idea what those scenes might
look like, because with only one or two exceptions (which I've noted
below), these are scenes and elements that are going to appear in your
story no matter what genre you're writing in.  



Even
better - they're almost certainly going to appear in the Act in which
I've listed them below.  There are exceptions, of course, but those are
rare.  When you start looking at
stories for where these elements turn up, and noticing how prevalent
the patterns are, it will make plotting out any story so much easier you
won't even believe it.   And I'm a big believer that just asking the
question will get your subconscious working on the perfect answer. 
Write out the card in the most general sense today, and you may well
wake up with the perfect scene tomorrow morning.





STORY ELEMENTS CHECKLIST FOR GENERATING INDEX CARDS





ACT ONE



* Opening image




* Meet the hero or heroine in the ordinary world



* Hero/ine’s inner and outer desire.




* Hero/ine's ghost or wound



* Hero/ine’s arc
-



* Inciting Incident/Call to Adventure



*
Meet the antagonist (and/or introduce a mystery, which is what you do
when you’re going to keep your antagonist hidden to reveal at the end)




* State the theme/what’s the story about?




* Allies




* Mentor
 (possibly. You may not have one or s/he may be revealed later in the story).



* Love interest 
(probably)



* Plant/Reveal (or: Set ups and Payoffs)




* Hope/Fear (and Stakes)




* Time Clock (possibly. May not have one or may be revealed later in the story)




* Sequence One climax




* Plan, Central Question, Central Story Action



* Act One climax



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ACT TWO, PART ONE



* Crossing the Threshold/ Into the Special World (may occur in Act One)



* Threshold Guardian/Guardian at the Gate (possibly)



* Hero/ine’s Plan



* Antagonist’s Plan



* Training Sequence (possibly)



* Series of Tests

-

* Picking up new Allies



* Assembling the Team (possibly)



* Attacks by the Antagonist (whether or not the Hero/ine recognizes these as coming from the antagonist)



* In a detective story, Questioning Witnesses, Lining Up and Eliminating Suspects, Following Clues.



*Bonding with Allies

 



THE MIDPOINT



* Completely changes the game



* Locks the hero/ine into a situation or action



* Can be a huge revelation



* Can be a huge defeat



* Can be a “now it’s personal” loss



* Can be sex at 60 – the lovers finally get together, only to open up a whole new world of problems





----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ACT TWO, PART TWO



*
Recalibrating – after the shock or defeat of the game-changer in the
midpoint, the hero/ine must Revamp The Plan and try a New Mode of
Attack.



* Escalating Actions/ Obsessive Drive



* Hard Choices and Crossing The Line (immoral actions by the main character to get what s/he wants)



* Loss of Key Allies (possibly because of the hero/ine’s obsessive actions, possibly through death or injury by the antagonist).



* A Ticking Clock (can happen anywhere in the story)



* Reversals and Revelations/Twists.



* The Long Dark Night of the Soul and/or Visit to Death (also known as: All Is Lost)



* In a romance or romantic comedy, the All Is Lost moment is often a The Lover Makes A Stand scene



THE SECOND ACT CLIMAX



* Often can be a final revelation before the end game: the knowledge of who the opponent really is



* Answers the Central Question



------------------------------------------------------------------------





ACT THREE



The
third act is basically the Final Battle and Resolution. It can often
be one continuous sequence – the chase and confrontation, or
confrontation and chase. There may be a final preparation for battle,
or it might be done on the fly. Either here or in the last part of
the second act the hero will make a new, FINAL PLAN, based on the new
information and revelations of the second act.



The essence of a third act is the final showdown between protagonist and antagonist. It is often divided into two sequences:



1. Getting there (Storming the Castle)



2. The final battle itself





* Thematic Location - often a visual and literal representation of the Hero/ine’s Greatest Nightmare



* The protagonist’s character change



* The antagonist’s character change (if any)



* Possibly ally/allies’ character changes and/or gaining of desire



*
Possibly a huge final reversal or reveal (twist), or even a whole
series of payoffs that you’ve been saving (as in Back to the Future and
It’s A Wonderful Life)



* RESOLUTION: A glimpse into
the New Way of Life that the hero/ine will be living after this whole
ordeal and all s/he’s learned from it.



* Closing Image





Now,
I'd also like to remind everyone that this is a basic, GENERAL list.
There are story elements specific to whatever kind of story you're
writing, and the best way to get familiar with what those are is to do
the story breakdowns on three (at least) movies or books that are
similar to the KIND of story you're writing.



I
strongly recommend that you watch at least one, or much better, three of
the films I break down in the workbooks, following along with my notes.



I do full breakdowns of Chinatown, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Romancing the Stone, and The Mist, and act breakdowns of You've Got Mail, Jaws, Silence of the Lambs, Raiders of the Lost Ark in Screenwriting Tricks For Authors.



I do full breakdowns of The
Proposal, Groundhog Day, Sense and Sensibility, Romancing the Stone,
Leap Year, Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Sea of Love, While
You Were Sleeping and New in Town in Writing Love.



Screenwriting Tricks for Authors and Writing Love, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, II, are now available in all e formats and as pdf files. Either book, any format, just $2.99.



- Alex









- Kindle



- Amazon UK



- Amaxon DE (Eur. 2.40)









- Smashwords (includes online viewing and pdf file)



- Amazon/Kindle



- Barnes & Noble/Nook



- Amazon UK



- Amazon DE







=====================================================



HALLOWEEN GIVEAWAY



It's
October, my favorite month, and you-know-what is coming, so I'm giving
away 15 signed hardcover copies of my spooky thriller Book of Shadows .  To enter, just sign up for my mailing list at http://alexandrasokoloff.com  (the box on the left of the screen.)







Book of Shadows .

 

An
ambitious Boston homicide detective must join forces with a beautiful,
mysterious witch from Salem in a race to solve a series of satanic
killings.



Amazon Bestseller in Horror and Police Procedurals



"A wonderfully dark thriller with amazing 'Is-it-isn't-it?' suspense all the way to the end.  Highly recommended."

   - Lee Child

Nanowrimo Prep: The Index Card Method and Story Structure Grid

So hopefully you've had enough time to watch at least one movie and note the sequences. Do you start to see how that works?


By
all means, keep watching movies to get familiar with sequence breakdown, but at the same time, let's
move on. But this is the point in the brainstorming process that I feel I need to cover several different stages at once.




First, I want to link to a blog on premise.  More experienced writers will probably already have done this step, but if you have no idea what I'm talking about, go here and read.




For those of you who do have premises, and are comfortable with them, let's talk about

 



THE INDEX CARD METHOD



This is the number one structuring tool of most screenwriters I know. I have no idea how I would write without it.



Get
yourself a pack of index cards. You can also use Post-Its, and the
truly OCD among us use colored Post-Its to identify various subplots by
color, but I find having to make those kinds of decisions just fritzes
my brain. I like cards because they’re more durable and I can spread
them out on the floor for me to crawl around and for the cats to walk
over; it somehow feels less like work that way. Everyone has their own
method - experiment and find what works best for you.



Now,

get a corkboard or a sheet of cardboard - or even butcher paper - big
enough to lay out your index cards in either four vertical columns of
10-15 cards, or eight vertical columns of 5-8 cards, depending on
whether you want to see your story laid out in four acts or eight
sequences. You can draw lines on the corkboard to make a grid of spaces
the size of index cards if you’re very neat (I’m not) – or just pin a
few marker cards up to structure your space.  I find the tri-fold boards
that kids use for science projects just perfect in size and they come
pre-folded in exactly three acts of the right size!  Just a few dollars
at any Office Max or Staples.



Write Act One at the top of
the first column, Act Two: 1 at the top of the second (or third if
you’re doing eight columns), Act Two: 2 at the top of the third (or
fifth), Act Three at the top of the fourth (or seventh).



Then
write a card saying Act One Climax and pin it at the bottom of column
one, Midpoint Climax at the bottom of column two, Act Two Climax at the
bottom of column three, and Climax at the very end. If you already know
what those scenes are, then write a short description of them on the
appropriate cards. These are scenes that you know you MUST have in your
story, in those places - whether or not you know what they are right
now.



And now also label the beginning and end of where
eight sequences will go. (In other words, you’re dividing your corkboard
into eight sections – either four long columns with two sections each,
or eight shorter columns).



Here is a photo of the grid on a white board - with sticky Post Its as index cards:





























And
an example of index cards on a tri-fold board from my friend, the
wonderful author Diane Chamberlain.  (Far neater than any grid I've ever
done for myself!)















So you have your structure grid in front of you.



What you will start to do now is brainstorm scenes, and that you do with the index cards.



A
movie has about 40 to 60 scenes (a drama more like 40, an action movie
more like 60),  every scene goes on one card. Now, if
you’re structuring a novel this way, you may be doubling or tripling the
scene count, but for me, the chapter count remains exactly the same:
forty to sixty chapters to a book.



This is the fun
part,
like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. All you do at first is write down
all the scenes you know about your story, one scene per card (just one
or two lines describing each scene - it can be as simple as - "Hero and
heroine meet"  or - "Meet the antagonist".)  You don’t
have to put them in order yet, but if you know where they go, or
approximately where they go, you can just pin them on your board in
approximately the right place. You can always move them around. And just
like with a puzzle, once you have some scenes in place, you will
naturally start to build other scenes around them.



I
love the cards because they are such an overview. You can stick a bunch
of vaguely related scenes together in a clump, rearrange one or two, and
suddenly see a perfect progression of an entire sequence. You can throw
away cards that aren’t working, or make several cards with the same
scene and try them in different parts of your story board.



You will find it is often shockingly fast and simple to structure a whole story this way.



And
this eight-sequence structure translates easily to novels. And you might have an extra sequence
or two per act, but I think that in most cases you’ll find that the
number of sequences is not out of proportion to this formula. With a
book you can have anything from 250 pages to 1000 (well, you can go that
long only if you’re a mega-bestseller!), so the length of a sequence
and the number of sequences is more variable. But an average book these
days is between 300 and 400 pages, and since the recession, publishers
are actually asking their authors to keep their books on the short side,
to save production costs, so why not shoot for that to begin with?



I
write books of about 350-400 pages (print pages), and I find my
sequences are about 50 pages, getting shorter as I near the end. But I
might also have three sequences of around 30 pages in an act that is 100
pages long. You have more leeway in a novel, but the structure remains
pretty much the same.



In the next few posts we’ll talk
about how to plug various obligatory scenes into this formula to make
the structuring go even more quickly – key scenes that you’ll find in nearly
all stories, like opening image, closing image, introduction of hero,
inner and outer desire, stating the theme,  call to adventure/inciting incident, introduction of allies,
love interest, mentor, opponent, hero’s and opponent’s plans, plants and
reveals, setpieces, training sequence, dark night of the soul, sex at
sixty, hero’s arc, moral decision, etc.



And for those
of you who are reeling in horror at the idea of a formula… it’s just a
way of analyzing dramatic structure. No matter how you create a story
yourself, chances are it will organically follow this flow. Think of the
human body: human beings (with very few exceptions) have the exact same
skeleton underneath all the complicated flesh and muscles and nerves
and coloring and neurons and emotions and essences that make up a human
being. No two alike… and yet a skeleton is a skeleton; it’s the
foundation of a human being.



And structure is the foundation of a story.



ASSIGNMENTS:

Make
two blank structure grids, one for the movie you have chosen from your
master list to analyze, and one for your WIP (Work In Progress). You
can just do a structure grid on a piece of paper for the movie you’ve
chosen to analyze, but also do a large corkboard or cardboard structure
grid for your WIP. You can fill out one structure grid while you watch
the movie you’ve chosen.

Get a pack of index cards or Post Its
and write down all the scenes you know about your story, and where
possible, pin them onto your WIP structure grid in approximately the
place they will occur.



If you are already well
into your first draft, then by all means, keep writing forward, too – I
don’t want you to stop your momentum. Use whatever is useful about what
I’m talking about here, but also keep moving.



And if
you have a completed draft and are starting a revision, a structure grid
is a perfect tool to help you identify weak spots and build on what you
have for a rewrite. Put your story on cards and watch how quickly you
start to rearrange things that aren’t working!



Now, let
me be clear. When you’re brainstorming with your index cards and you
suddenly have a full-blown idea for a scene, or your characters start
talking to you, then of course you should drop everything and write out
the scene, see where it goes. Always write when you have a hot flash. I
mean – you know what I mean. Write when you’re hot.



Ideally I will always be working on four piles of material, or tracks, at once:



1. The index cards I'm brainstorming and arranging on my structure grid.



2.
A notebook of random scenes, dialogue, character descriptions that are
coming to me as I'm outlining, and that I can start to put in
chronological order as this notebook gets bigger.



3. An expanded on-paper (or in Word) story outline that I'm compiling as I order my index cards on the structure grid.



4.
A collage book of visual images that I'm pulling from magazines that
give me the characters, the locations, the colors and moods of my story
(we will talk about Visual Storytelling soon.)



In the
beginning of a project you will probably be going back and forth between
all of those tracks as you build your story. Really this is my favorite
part of the writing process – building the world – which is probably
part of why I stay so long on it myself. But by the time I start my
first draft I have so much of the story already that it’s not anywhere
near the intimidating experience it would be if I hadn’t done all that
prep work.



At some point (and a deadline has a lot to
do with exactly when this point comes!) I feel I know the shape of the
story well enough to start that first draft. Because I come from
theater, I think of my first draft as a blocking draft. When you direct a
play, the first rehearsals are for blocking – which means simply
getting the actors up on their feet and moving them through the play on
the stage so everyone can see and feel and understand the whole shape of
it. That’s what a first draft is to me, and when I start to write a
first draft I just bash through it from beginning to end. It’s the most
grueling part of writing, and takes the longest, but writing the whole
thing out, even in the most sketchy way, from start to finish, is the
best way I know to actually guarantee that you will finish a book or a
script.



Everything after that initial draft is frosting
– it’s seven million times easier to rewrite than to get something onto
a blank page.



Then I do layer after layer after layer –
different drafts for suspense, for character, sensory drafts, emotional
drafts – each concentrating on a different aspect that I want to hone
in the story – until the clock runs out and I have to turn the whole
thing in.



But that’s my process. You have to find your
own. If outlining is cramping your style, then you’re probably a
“pantser” – not my favorite word, but common book jargon for a person
who writes best by the seat of her pants. And if you’re a pantser, the
methods I’ve been talking about have probably already made you so
uncomfortable that I can’t believe you’re still here!



Still,
I don’t think it hurts to read about these things. I maintain that
pantsers have an intuitive knowledge of story structure – we all do,
really, from having read so many books and having seen so many movies. I
feel more comfortable with this rather left-brained and concrete
process because I write intricate plots with twists and subplots I have
to work out in advance, and also because I simply wouldn’t ever work as a
screenwriter if I wasn’t able to walk into a conference room and tell
the executives and producers and director the entire story, beginning to
end. It’s part of the job.



But I can’t say this enough: WHATEVER WORKS. Literally. Whatever. If it’s getting the job done, you’re golden.



Next up - a list of essential story elements that will help you brainstorm your index cards.



- Alex





=====================================================



Screenwriting Tricks for Authors and Writing Love, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, II, are now available in all e formats and as pdf files. Either book, any format, just $2.99.







- Kindle



- Amazon UK



- Amaxon DE (Eur. 2.40)













- Smashwords (includes online viewing and pdf file)



- Amazon/Kindle



- Barnes & Noble/Nook



- Amazon UK



- Amazon DE







=====================================================



HALLOWEEN GIVEAWAY



It's
October, my favorite month, and you-know-what is coming, so I'm giving
away 15 signed hardcover copies of my spooky thriller Book of Shadows .  To enter, just sign up for my mailing list at http://alexandrasokoloff.com  (the box on the left of the screen.)







Book of Shadows .

 

An
ambitious Boston homicide detective must join forces with a beautiful,
mysterious witch from Salem in a race to solve a series of satanic
killings.



Amazon Bestseller in Horror and Police Procedurals



"A wonderfully dark thriller with amazing 'Is-it-isn't-it?' suspense all the way to the end.  Highly recommended."

   - Lee Child












 

Nanowrimo Prep: The Three-Act, Eight Sequence Structure

I'm going to be traveling for the next couple of days so I wanted to leave you with an assignment that is really key to understanding story structure. Brace yourself, but you're going to need to watch a movie.



I know, it's a rough life, but art it about sacrifice....



So hopefully you took the last exercise
seriously and are now armed with a Top Ten list and a hundred pages of
all your story ideas, and woke up this morning with THE book that you
want to write for NaNoWriMo.  If not, keep working!  It'll come.



What
I'm going to talk about in the next few posts is the key to the story
structuring technique I write about and that everyone's always asking me
to teach.  Those of you new to this blog are going to have to do a
little catch up and review the concept of the Three Act Structure (in fact, everyone should go back and review.)



But
the real secret of film writing and filmmaking, that we are going to
steal for our novel writing, is that most movies are written in a
Three-Act, Eight-Sequence structure. Yes, most movies can be broken up
into 8 discrete 12-15-minute sequences, each of which has a beginning,
middle and end.



I swear.



The
eight-sequence structure evolved from the early days of film when movies
were divided into reels (physical film reels), each holding about ten
minutes of film (movies were also shorter, proportionately). The
projectionist had to manually change each reel as it finished. Early
screenwriters (who by the way, were mostly playwrights, well-schooled in
the three-act structure) incorporated this rhythm into their writing,
developing individual sequences that lasted exactly the length of a
reel, and modern films still follow that same storytelling rhythm. (As
movies got longer, sequences got slightly longer proportionately). I'm
not sure exactly how to explain this adherence, honestly, except that,
as you will see IF you do your homework - it WORKS.



And
the eight-sequence structure actually translates beautifully to novel
structuring, although we have much more flexibility with a novel and you
might end up with a few more sequences in a book. So I want to get you
familiar with the eight-sequence structure in
film first, and we’ll go on to talk about the application to novels.



If
you’re new to story breakdowns and analysis, then you'll want to check
out my sample breakdowns (links at end of this post, and full breakdowns
are included in the workbook)
and watch several, or all, of those movies, following along with my
notes, before you try to analyze a movie on your own. But if you want
to jump right in with your own breakdowns and analyses, this is how it
works:



ASSIGNMENT:
Take a film from the master list, the Top Ten list you've made, preferably the one that is most
similar in structure to your own WIP, and screen it, watching the time
clock on your DVD player (or your watch, or phone.). At about 15 minutes into the film, there will
be some sort of climax – an action scene, a revelation, a twist, a big
SET PIECE. It won’t be as big as the climax that comes 30 minutes into
the film, which would be the Act One climax, but it will be an
identifiable climax that will spin the action into the next sequence.)



Proceed
through the movie, stopping to identify the beginning, middle, and end
of each sequence, approximately every 15 minutes. Also make note of the
bigger climaxes or turning points – Act One at 30 minutes, the Midpoint
at 60 minutes, Act Two at 90 minutes, and Act Three at whenever the
movie ends.



NOTE: You can also, and probably should,
say that a movie is really four acts, breaking the long Act Two into two
separate acts. Hollywood continues to use "Three Acts". Whichever
works best for you!



So how do you recognize a sequence?



It's
generally a series of related scenes, tied together by location and/or
time and/or action and/or the overall intent of the hero/ine.



In
many movies a sequence will take place all in the same location, then
move to another location at the climax of the sequence. The protagonist
will generally be following just one line of action in a sequence, and
then when s/he gets that vital bit of information in the climax of a
sequence, s/he’ll move on to a completely different line of action,
based on the new information. A good exercise is to title each sequence
as you watch and analyze a movie – that gives you a great overall
picture of the progression of action.



But the biggest
clue to an Act or Sequence climax is a SETPIECE SCENE: there’s a
dazzling, thematic location, an action or suspense sequence, an
intricate set, a crowd scene, even a musical number (as in The Wizard of Oz and, more surprisingly, Jaws. And Casablanca, too.).



Or,
let's not forget - it can be a sex scene. In fact for my money ANY sex
scene in a book or film should be approached as a setpiece.



The setpiece is a fabulous lesson to take from filmmaking, one of the most valuable for novelists, and possibly the most crucial for screenwriters.



There are multiple definitions of a setpiece. It can be a huge action scene like, well, anything in The Dark Knight,
that takes weeks to shoot and costs millions, requiring multiple sets,
special effects and car crashes… or a meticulously planned suspense
scene with multiple cuts that takes place all in - a shower, for
instance, in Psycho.



If
you start watching movies specifically to pick out the setpiece scenes,
you’ll notice an interesting thing. They’re almost always used as act
or sequence climaxes. They are tentpoles holding the structure of the
movie up… or jewels in the necklace of the plotline. The scenes
featured in the trailers to entice people to see the movie. The scenes
everyone talks about after the credits roll.



That elaborate, booby-trapped cave in the first scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The crop-dusting plane chasing Cary Grant through the cornfield in North By Northwest. The goofy galactic bar in Star Wars. Munchkinland, the Scarecrow’s cornfield, the dark forest, the poppy field, the Emerald City, the witch’s castle in The Wizard of Oz. The dungeon – I mean prison – in Silence of the Lambs.
In fact you can look Raiders and Silence and see that every single
sequence contains a wonderful setpiece (The Nepalese bar, the
suspension bridge, the temple in Raiders…)



Those are
actually two great movies to use to compare setpieces, because one is so
big and action-oriented (Raiders) and one is so small, confined and
psychological (Silence), yet both are stunning examples of visual
storytelling.



A really great setpiece scene is a lot
more than just dazzling. It’s thematic, too, such as the prison
(dungeon for the criminally insane) in Silence of the Lambs.
That is much more than your garden variety prison. It’s a labyrinth
of twisty staircases and creepy corridors. And it’s hell: Clarice goes
through – count ‘em – seven gates, down, down, down under the ground to
get to Lecter. Because after all, she’s going to be dealing with the
devil, isn’t she? And the labyrinth is a classic symbol of an inner
psychological journey, just exactly what Clarice is about to go through.
And Lecter is a monster, like the Minotaur, so putting him smack in
the center of a labyrinth makes us unconsciously equate him with a
mythical beast, something both more and less than human. The visuals of
that setpiece express all of those themes perfectly (and others, too)
so the scene is working on all kinds of visceral, emotional,
subconscious levels.



Now, yes, that’s brilliant
filmmaking by director Jonathan Demme, and screenwriter Ted Talley and
production designer Kristi Zea and DP Tak Fujimoto… but it was all there
on Harris’s page, first, all that and more; the filmmakers had the good
sense to translate it to the screen. In fact, both Silence of the Lambs and Thomas Harris's Red Dragon
are so crammed full of thematic visual imagery you can catch something
new every time you reread those books, which made them slam dunks as
movies.



So here's another ASSIGNMENT for you: Bring me setpieces. What are some great ones? Check your watch. Are they act or sequence climaxes?



Another note about sequences: be advised that in big, sprawling movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,
sequences may be longer or there may be a few extras. It’s a formula
and it doesn’t always precisely fit, but as you work through your master
list of films, unless you are a surrealist at heart, you will be
shocked and amazed at how many movies precisely fit this eight-sequence
format. When you’re working with as rigid a form as a two-hour movie, on
the insane schedule that is film production, this kind of mathematical
precision is kind of a lifesaver.



Now, I could talk
about this for just about ever, but me talking is not going to get you
anywhere. You need to DO this. Watch the movies yourself. Do the
breakdowns yourself. Identify setpieces yourself. Ask as many
questions as you want here, but DO it - it's the only way you're really
going to learn this.



My advice is that you watch and
analyze all ten of your master list movies (and books). But not all at
once - screening one will get you far, three will lock it in, the rest
will open new worlds in your writing.



And every time
you see a movie now, for the rest of your life, look for the sequence
breaks and act climaxes, and setpieces. At first you will embarrass
yourself in theaters, shouting out things like "Hot damn!" Or "Holy
!@#$!!!"as you experience a climax. An Act Climax. But
eventually, it will be as natural to you as breathing, and you will find
yourself incorporating this rhythm into your storytelling without even
having to think about it. You may even be doing it already.



So go, go, watch some movies. It's WORK. And please, report your findings back here.



- Alex



===================================================



And
if you'd like to to see more of these story elements in action, I
strongly recommend that you watch at least one and much better, three of
the films I break down in the workbooks, following along with my notes.



I do full breakdowns of Chinatown, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Romancing the Stone, and The Mist, and act breakdowns of You've Got Mail, Jaws, Silence of the Lambs, Raiders of the Lost Ark in Screenwriting Tricks For Authors.



I do full breakdowns of The
Proposal, Groundhog Day, Sense and Sensibility, Romancing the Stone,
Leap Year, Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Sea of Love, While
You Were Sleeping and New in Town in Writing Love.





=====================================================



Screenwriting Tricks for Authors and Writing Love, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, II, are now available in all e formats and as pdf files. Either book, any format, just $2.99.







- Kindle



- Amazon UK



- Amaxon DE (Eur. 2.40)











- Smashwords (includes online viewing and pdf file)



- Amazon/Kindle



- Barnes & Noble/Nook



- Amazon UK



- Amazon DE

Nanowrimo Prep: First, You Need an Idea

When people ask, “Where do you get your ideas?”,
authors tend to clam up or worse, get sarcastic - because the only real
answer to that is, “Where DON’T I get ideas?” or even more to the point,
“How do I turn these ideas OFF?”



The thing is, “Where do you get your ideas?” is not the real question
these people are asking.   The real question is “How do you go from an
idea to a coherent story line that holds up – and holds a reader’s
interest - for 400 pages of a book?”



Or more concisely:  “How do you come up with your PREMISES?”



Look, we all have story ideas all the time. Even non-writers, and
non-aspiring writers – I truly mean, EVERYONE, has story ideas all the
time.  Those story ideas are called daydreams, or fantasies, or often
“Porn starring me and Edward Cullen, or me and Stringer Bell,” (or maybe
both. Wrap your mind around that one for a second…)

 

But you see what I mean.



We all create stories in our own heads all the time, minimal as some of our plot lines may be.



So I bet you have dozens of ideas, hundreds. A better question is “What’s a good story idea?”



I see two essential ingredients:



A) What idea gets you excited enough to spend a year (or most likely more) of your life completely immersed in it –



    and



B) Gets other people excited enough about it to buy it and read it
and even maybe possibly make it into a movie or TV series with an
amusement park ride spinoff and a Guess clothing line based on the
story?



A) is good if you just want to write for yourself.



But B) is essential if you want to be a professional writer.



As many of you know, I’m all about learning by making lists.  Because let’s face it – we have to trick ourselves into writing, every
single day, and what could be simpler and more non-threatening than
making a list?    Anything to avoid the actual rest of it!



So here are two lists to do to get those ideas flowing, and then we can start to narrow it all down to the best one.



List # 1: Make a list of all your story ideas.



Yes, you read that right.   ALL of them.



This is a great exercise because it gets your subconscious churning
and invites it to choose what it truly wants to be working on.  Your
subconscious knows WAY more than you do about writing.  None of us can
do the kind of deep work that writing is all on our own.  And with a
little help from the Universe you could find yourself writing the next
Harry Potter or Twilight.



Also this exercise gives you an overall idea of what your THEMES are
as a writer (and very likely the themes you have as a person).   I
absolutely believe that writers only have about six or seven themes that
they’re dealing with over and over and over again.  It’s my experience
that your writing improves exponentially when you become more aware of
the themes that you’re working with.



You may be amazed, looking over this list that you’ve generated, how
much overlap there is in theme (and in central characters, hero/ines and
villains, and dynamics between characters, and tone of endings).



You may even find that two of your story ideas, or a premise line
plus a character from a totally different premise line, might combine to
form a bigger, more exciting idea. That certainly happened to me with my Huntress series. Characters I'd always meant to write about suddenly fit perfectly into the new series. It was magic.



But in any case, you should have a much better idea at the end of the
exercise of what turns you on as a writer, and what would sustain you
emotionally over the long process of writing a novel.



Then just let that percolate for a while.   Give yourself a little
time for the right idea to take hold of you.   You’ll know what that
feels like – it’s a little like falling in love.   (We’ll go more into
this in the next few days.)



List # 2:  The Master List



The other list I always encourage my students to do is a list of your
ten favorite movies and books in the genre that you’re writing, or if
you don’t have a premise yet, ten movies and books that you WISH you had
written.



It’s good to compare and contrast your idea list with this IDEAL list.



This list of ten (or more, if you want – ten is just a minimum!) – is
going to be enormously helpful to you in structuring and outlining your
own novel.



Now, the novelists who have just found this blog recently may be
wondering why I’m asking you to list movies as well as books.  Good
question.



The thing is, for the purposes of structural analysis, film is such a
compressed and concise medium that it’s like seeing an X-ray of a
story. In film you have two hours, really a little less, to tell the
story. It’s a very stripped-down form that even so, often has enormous
emotional power. Plus we’ve usually seen more of these movies than we’ve
read specific books, so they’re a more universal form of reference for
discussion.



It’s often easier to see the mechanics of structure in a film than in
a novel, which makes looking at films that are similar to your own
novel story a great way to jump start your novel outline.



And just practically, film has had an enormous influence on
contemporary novels, and on publishing. Editors love books with the high
concept premises, pacing, and visual and emotional impact of movies, so
being aware of classic and blockbuster films and the film techniques
that got them that status can help you write novels that will actually
sell in today’s market.



And even beyond that – studying movies is fun, and fun is something
writers just don’t let themselves have enough of.  If you train yourself
to view movies looking for for some of these structural

elements I’m
going to be talking about, then every time you go to the movies or watch
something on television, you’re actually honing your craft (even on a
date or while spending quality time with your loved ones!), and after a
while you won’t even notice you’re doing it.



When the work is play, you’ve got the best of all possible worlds..



So of course I'd love to hear what personal themes you discover as you do this brainstorming!



- Alex 





=====================================================

If you'd like some in-depth help with your prep, the writing workbooks based on this blog, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors and Writing Love, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, II, are available for just $2.99.





- Kindle



- Amazon UK



- Amaxon DE (Eur. 2.40)













- Smashwords (includes online viewing and pdf file)



- Amazon/Kindle



- Barnes & Noble/Nook



- Amazon UK



- Amazon DE

October is Nanowrimo PREP month

Oh my God, October. How did that happen?



Yes, I've been very missing this summer. All kinds of life changes, all wonderful, but life is so time-consuming, isn't it?



And of course, I've been working on Book 3 of the Huntress series. Which WILL be out in December. Even if it kills me. Which it might.



But I'm not so distracted that I don't remember what October is. Yes, right, Halloween.  But it's also
the month before Nanowrimo, which means it's Nanowrimo PREP Month.



Because
it’s sort of ingrained in us (whether we like it or not), that fall is
the beginning of a new school year, I think fall is a good time for
making resolutions. Like, if you're an author, about that new book you’re going to be
writing for the next year or so.



I’m
sure practically everyone here is aware that November is Nanowrimo –
National Novel Writing Month. As explained at the official site here, and here and here, the goal of Nanowrimo is to bash through 50,000 words of a novel in a single month.



I
could not be more supportive of this idea – it gives focus and a nice
juicy competitive edge to an endeavor that can seem completely
overwhelming when you’re facing it all on your own. Through peer
pressure and the truly national focus on the event, Nanowrimo forces
people to commit. It’s easy to get caught up in and carried along by
the writing frenzy of tens of thousands – or maybe by now hundreds of
thousands - of “Wrimos”. And I’ve met and heard of lots of novelists,
like Carrie Ryan (The Forest of Hands and Teeth) Sara Gruen (Water For
Elephants), and Lisa Daily (The Dreamgirl Academy) who started novels
during Nanowrimo that went on to sell, sometimes sell big.



Nanowrimo works.



But
as everyone who reads this blog knows, I’m not a big fan of sitting
down and typing Chapter One at the top of a blank screen and seeing what
comes out from there. It may be fine – but it may be a disaster, or
something even worse than a disaster – an unfinished book. And it
doesn’t have to be.



I’m always asked to do Nanowrimo “pep talks”. These are always in the month of November.



That makes no sense to me.



I
mean, I’m happy to do it, but mid-November is way too late for that
kind of thing. What people should be asking me, and other authors that
they ask to do Nano support, is Nano PREP talks.



If
you’re going to put a month aside to write 50,000 words, doesn’t it make
a little more sense to have worked out the outline, or at least an
overall roadmap, before November 1? I am pretty positive that in most
cases far more writing, and far more professional writing, would get
done in November if Wrimos took the month of October – at LEAST - to
really think out some things about their story and characters, and where
the whole book is going. It wouldn’t have to be the
full-tilt-every-day frenzy that November will be, but even a half hour
per day in October, even fifteen minutes a day, thinking about what you
really want to be writing would do your potential novel worlds of good.



Because even if you never look at that prep work again, your
brilliant subconscious mind will have been working on it for you for a
whole month. Let’s face it – we don’t do this mystical thing
called writing all by ourselves, now, do we?



So once
again, I'm going to do a Nano prep series and hopefully get some people not just to commit to
Nano this year, but to give them a chance to really make something of
the month.



Here's the first thing to consider:



How do you choose the next book you write? (Or the first, if it's your first?)



I
know, I know, it chooses you. That’s a good answer, and sometimes it
IS the answer, but it’s not the only answer. And let’s face it – just
like with, well, men, sometimes the one who chooses you is NOT the one
YOU should be choosing. What makes anyone think it’s any different with
books?



It’s a huge commitment, to decide on a book to
write. That’s a minimum of six months of your life just getting it
written, not even factoring in revisions and promotion. You live in that
world for a long, long time. Not only that, but if you're a
professional writer, you're pretty much always going to be having to
work on more than one book at a time. You're writing a minimum of one
book while you're editing another and always doing promotion for a
third.



So the book you choose to write is not just
going to have to hold your attention for six to twelve months or longer with its
world and characters, but it's going to have to hold your attention
while you're working just as hard on another or two or three other
completely different projects at the same time. You're going to have
to want to come back to that book after being on the road touring a
completely different book and doing something that is both exhausting
and almost antithetical to writing (promotion).



That's a lot to ask of a story.



So how does that decision process happen?



When
on panels or at events, I have been asked, “How do you decide what book
you should write?” I have not so facetiously answered: “I write the
book that someone writes me a check for.”



That’s maybe a screenwriter thing to say, and I don’t mean that in a good way, but it’s true, isn’t it?



Anything
that you aren’t getting a check for, you’re going to have to scramble to
write, steal time for – it’s just harder. That doesn’t mean it’s not
worth doing, or that it doesn’t produce great work, but it’s harder.



As

a professional writer, you’re also constricted to a certain degree by
your genre, and even more so by your brand. I’m not allowed to turn in a
chick lit story, or a flat-out gruesome horrorfest, or probably a spy
story, either. Once you’ve published you are a certain commodity. Even
now that I'm e publishing, too, and am not so constrained by my
publishers' expectations, I have to take my readers into account.



If
you are writing a series, you're even more restricted. You have a
certain amount of freedom about your situation and plot but – you’re
going to have to write the same characters, and if your characters live
in a certain place, you’re also constricted by place. Now that I’m
doing my Huntress series, I am learning that every decision I make about the books
is easier in a way, because so many elements are already defined, but
it’s also way more limiting than my standalones and I could see how it
would get frustrating.



If you have an agent, then input from her or him is key, of
course - you are a team and you are shaping your career together. Your
agent will steer you away from projects that are in a genre that is
glutted, saving you years of work over the years, and s/he will help you
make all kinds of big-pitcure decisions.



But what I’m
really interested in right now is not the restrictions but the limitless
possibilities. I'll get more specific next post.



For now let's just think about it, and discuss if you feel like it:



- How DO you decide what to write? Do commercial concerns factor into it?



- And, do you know what you're working on for Nano?



Happy Fall, everyone...



- Alex



=====================================================



And if you'd like some in-depth help with your prep, the writing workbooks based on this blog, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors and Writing Love, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, II, are available for just $2.99.







- Kindle



- Amazon UK



- Amaxon DE (Eur. 2.40)











- Smashwords (includes online viewing and pdf file)



- Amazon/Kindle



- Barnes & Noble/Nook



- Amazon UK



- Amazon DE

Indie Publishing: Are You Willing to Do What It Takes?

I’ve promised to do more posts on indie publishing, so here’s
another! Let’s call this one a reality check.




These days I can’t go a day without someone e mailing me or
stopping me at whatever event I’m at, wanting me to tell them everything I know
about indie publishing. This is on the surface good news for me, because it
means I’ve made enough of a success at it that people want to know what I know.





But it’s also starting to piss me off.




Because what most of these people are asking for is a magic
formula. They want a silver bullet, an easy answer to a vastly complicated
question.




The fact is, I studied indie publishing methods for over a YEAR
before I put out my indie bestseller, Thriller Award-nominated Huntress Moon.






Last week I did an indie publishing seminar at the West Texas Writers Academy. I spoke for an hour and a half. I think I communicated some of the pros and cons, made some new authors aware of some different choices writers have these days, and pointed people to some good resources to start with.






But did I sum up everything I learned in my year plus of research?




Not even close. Not even a scratch.




You don’t get that kind of knowledge by listening to a speaker for an hour and a half, or reading a couple of blog posts on the subject. You have to get your hands dirty.















Have most of the people who ask me how to indie publish even
read Huntress Moon ? Even to the extent of downloading a free sample of it? (although
if you can’t pay $3.99 for a book by an author whose methods you’re studying,
do you really expect anyone to pay for YOUR books when the time comes? Think about
it. )






Have they even looked at the book’s Amazon page to see how I
put together the book description, the reviews, the categories I’ve chosen to
place the book in? Have they read the Amazon reviews to see how readers respond
to the book? Have they looked at the pricing? Or the rank the book is in different
genres and subgenres, and overall in the Amazon store?  




Have they gone further and looked at the same information
for the sequel, Blood Moon?













Those are all things that I did myself in that year of self-teaching, that I trained myself
to do by studying authors and books whose success I wanted to emulate. I did that kind of research
extensively. That was just to start with. I then followed those authors and
read what they had read, used the resources they had used. I never asked an
author for advice unless I’d done all of that with their books first.






Indie publishing is a business, and you have to learn the
business. There’s no magic formula. You have to have a basis of knowledge to
work from so you can make informed decisions as they come up. It’s a huge
investment of time and energy. But so is anything worth doing.




So ask yourself today - Am I willing to do what it takes? Or am I just looking for a silver bullet?




Be honest, because that's the first step. And if you are willing, then commit. Start the real research now.




- Alex




For further research, here is more on my indie publishing decision:




Here are some interesting recent blog posts by others in the field:




- To Be (Indie) or Not to Be 




- The New World of Publishing: Stop Submitting Manuscripts toTraditional Publishers   




























- An ITW Thriller Award Nominee for Best Original E Book Novel

- A Suspense Magazine Pick for Best Thriller of 2012




"This interstate manhunt has plenty of thrills... Sokoloff's choice to present both Roarke's and the killer's perspectives helps keep the drama taut and the pages flying."   -- Kirkus Reviews




$3.99 on Amazon



Amazon US 

Amazon UK   
Amazon DE






FBI Special Agent Matthew Roarke is closing in on a bust of a major criminal organization in San Francisco when he witnesses an undercover member of his team killed right in front of him on a busy street, an accident Roarke can't believe is coincidental. His suspicions put him on the trail of a mysterious young woman who appears to have been present at each scene of a years-long string of "accidents" and murders, and who may well be that most rare of killers: a female serial.




Roarke's hunt for her takes him across three states...while in a small coastal town, a young father and his five-year old son, both wounded from a recent divorce, encounter a lost and compelling young woman on the beach and strike up an unlikely friendship without realizing how deadly she may be.




As Roarke uncovers the shocking truth of her background, he realizes she is on a mission of her own, and must race to capture her before more blood is shed.







(I know, I'm sorry, exclusive to Amazon for the first three months.  It's the financial reality of it.  But you  know me - if it's a Nook or Kobo version you need, just e mail me at alex at alexandrasokoloff DOT com and I will get either or both books to you!).









For a limited time, Book II in the Huntress/FBI series, Blood Moon, is just 99 cents.


Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon DE





Twenty-five years have passed since a savage killer terrorized California, massacring three ordinary families before disappearing without a trace.


The haunted child who was the only surviving victim of his rampage is now wanted by the FBI  for brutal crimes of her own, and Special Agent Matthew Roarke is on an interstate manhunt for her, despite his conflicted sympathies for her history and motives.


But when his search for her unearths evidence of new family slayings, the dangerous woman Roarke seeks - and wants - may be his only hope of preventing another bloodbath.

Setpiece scenes: the unlimited production budget

I’m headed off to teach a Screenwriting Tricks workshop in Texas next week, and I'm going to be posting some prep work for my class, so you guys get the benefit of it, if you want to play along!



One of the things I always hope people get out of my workshops and writing workbooks is the concept of setpiece scenes. I try to hit that hard up front in a workshop, and keep going back to examples during the day.



There’s a saying in Hollywood that “If you have six great scenes, you have a movie.” And I’ve said before that these six great scenes are usually from that list I’ve given you of the Key Story Elements.

It makes sense, doesn’t it? Scenes like The Call To Adventure and Crossing the Threshold (and on the darker side, the Visit to Death or All is Lost scene) are magical moments: they change the world of the main character for all time, and as storytellers we want our readers or audiences to experience that profound, soul-shattering change right along with the character.



Filmmakers take that “six great scenes” concept very literally.  These scenes are often called the “trailer scenes” or the “money scenes”  (as opposed to “money shots”, which is a different post, with a different rating!).  As incensed as I am personally about how trailers these days give every single bit of the movie away (I won’t even watch them before a movie I’m interested in seeing), I understand that this is essential movie advertising: those trailer scenes have to seduce the potential audience by giving a good sense of the EXPERIENCE the movie is promising to deliver.  The scenes that everyone goes into the theater to see, and that everyone comes out of the theater talking about, which creates first the anticipation for a movie and then that essential “work of mouth” that will make or break a film.



And do not for a second think that directors aren’t putting excruciating thought and time and detail into designing and staging those scenes.  There’s not a director out there who is not in the back of his (or her, but statistically mostly his) mind hoping to make cinematic history (or at least the Top 100 AFI Scenes of All Time list in whatever genre) with those scenes. These are scenes that often cost so much money that producers will not under any circumstances allow them to be cut, even if in editing they are clearly non-essential to the plot.



The attention paid to these critical scenes is not all an ego thing, either. We are not doing our JOB as storytellers if we are not delivering the core experiences of our genre. Genre is a PROMISE to the audience or readers; it’s a pact.



And a setpiece doesn’t have to cost millions or tens of millions of dollars, either, although as authors, we have the incredible advantage of an unlimited production budget. Did you authors all get that?  We have an UNLIMITED PRODUCTION BUDGET. Whatever settings, crowds, mechanical devices, alien attacks or natural disasters we choose to depict, our only budget constraint is in our imaginations.  The most powerful directors in Hollywood would KILL for a fraction of our power. Theoretically, they can’t even begin to compete.



However, directors can and do compete and top most authors on a regular basis because they know how to manipulate visuals, sound, symbolism, theme and emotion to create the profound and layered impact that a setpiece scene is.



So how do we take back that power? By constantly identifying the setpiece scenes in film and on the page that have the greatest impact on us personally and really looking at what the storytellers are doing to create that effect and emotion, so we can create the same depth on the page.



I’ve compiled some examples (and categorized them by story elements they depict) here and in my second Screenwriting Tricks workbook.



But just in the last week I’ve come across some great examples that have really stayed with me.



I’m on an Edith Wharton tear at the moment, and it’s striking how beautifully she sets her love scenes, on every visual and sensual level, like this setup from THE HOUSE OF MIRTH:



Selden had given her his arm without speaking. She took it in silence, and they moved away, not toward the supper-room, but against the tide which was setting thither. The faces about her flowed by like the streaming images of sleep: she hardly noticed where Selden was leading her, till they passed through a glass doorway at the end of the long suite of rooms and stood suddenly in the fragrant hush of a garden. Gravel grated beneath their feet, and about them was the transparent dimness of a midsummer night. Hanging lights made emerald caverns in the depths of foliage, and whitened the spray of a fountain falling among lilies. The magic place was deserted: there was no sound but the splash of the water on the lily-pads, and a distant drift of music that might have been blown across a sleeping lake. 



Selden and Lily stood still, accepting the unreality of the scene as a part of their own dream-like sensations. It would not have surprised them to feel a summer breeze on their faces, or to see the lights among the boughs reduplicated in the arch of a starry sky. The strange solitude about them was no stranger than the sweetness of being alone in it together. At length Lily withdrew her hand, and moved away a step, so that her white-robed slimness was outlined against the dusk of the branches. Selden followed her, and still without speaking they seated themselves on a bench beside the fountain.



On a different note, in the romantic comedy FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL (a younger audience would call it a “lude comedy”, and I don’t disagree!), the hapless hero has his first kiss with the love interest at the Midpoint, of course, a classic “sex at sixty” scene (sixty minutes, that is, halfway through the film.).  Every kiss in a romance or romantic comedy is, or should be, a setpiece and the filmmakers give the lovers a typically gorgeous romance setting, in this case a cliff overlooking the ocean in Hawaii. But being as this is a comedy, the reckless heroine tells the hero, quite rightly, that they’re both in ruts and need to take a leap of faith, which she promptly does, off the cliff.  The hero doesn’t land quite so well, but after narrowly escaping death and possible castration on his slide down, he ends up in the water with her, for a beautiful backdrop to a sensual first kiss that is also a baptism that the hero has been sorely needing.



On the nose? Yes, but well-played and effective, and it does what the Midpoint is supposed to do – it kicks the second half of act two up to another level.



In the film of MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA, over and over the filmmakers use images of bridges and interesting corridors, or stepping stones in a creek, to underscore significant moments. The heroine first meets her love interest, The Chairman, on a bridge over a stream, with cherry blossoms in the background. Now, those of you with jaded eyes might look at that and think, ‘Oh, right, another “lovers meet on a Japanese bridge in an explosion of cherry blossoms’ scene, but the setting is utterly gorgeous, and I would be very surprised if most of the moviegoing audience even notices the bridge or the cherry blossoms – except subliminally, which is how these things are supposed to register.



And in a subsequent scene, the nine-year-old heroine has just realized what the desire of her life is to be, and runs through a long, curving passageway, another classic symbol of transition and birth, but the scene is filmed as an endless following shot in the psychedelically orange gateways of the Fushimi Inari shrine (just click through and look!), and truly delivers on the sensation of transformation that the moment is.



Now, filmmakers have location scouts to find these perfect physical settings for them, but I think it’s one of the great joys of my job as an author (as it was when I was a screenwriter) to be constantly on the lookout for perfect locations to use in current and yet-to-be-conceived storylines.  And they're all ours for the taking.



So you know the question.  What are some of your favorite setpieces and locations in films or books?  Come across any good ones lately?  Or – what is a location you’ve always thought would make a great setpiece scene in a film or book?



- Alex



=====================================================



Screenwriting Tricks for Authors and Writing Love, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, II, are now available in all e formats and as pdf files. Either book, any format, just $2.99.







- Kindle



- Amazon UK



- Amaxon DE (Eur. 2.40)













- Smashwords (includes online viewing and pdf file)



- Amazon/Kindle



- Barnes & Noble/Nook



- Amazon UK



- Amazon DE



-------------------------------------------------------------------

E Publishing: Where Do I Start?

I’m gearing up for possibly my favorite teaching
gig, a week-long workshop at the West Texas A&M Writers Academy. It’s the
only actual writing workshop I do all year, because it’s so well-run and the
conditions are so perfect for real work to get done. There are only fifteen
students allowed in the class, for one thing, and I can do anything I want,
always a plus. The first day I do my regular Screenwriting Tricks for Authors
workshop on story structure, and then each day we work through ALL the
students’ stories, all the elements of each act, one act per day. It works like
a charm, no matter where the students are in their writing process.  I’m very excited about launching into it
again. I may even get some work done myself, on Book 3 of the Huntress Moon series.




This year the organizers have also asked me to
teach an e publishing workshop, which means I can cover a lot of bases at once
by doing some writing about it here, since I promised to do that for you all
anyway.  (I love it when work lines up
like that!)




And the question I get most often about e publishing is - 




“Where do I START?”




Selling a book in the e publishing world has just as
many steps and pitfalls as going the traditional route. Even though in the
early days of e pub a few people got lucky by just throwing
a book up on KDP simply because there was so little competition out there, that was a whole maybe two years ago, and those days are over. The competition is fierce. There’s no question that
launching into e publishing without having a clue what you’re doing is not
going to get you very far.




On the other hand, there is no way to learn this
stuff without being hands-on about it.




There are other resources I'll be posting for you, but it’s tempting to just say: Go read Joe
Konrath’s  Newbie’s Guide to Publishing blog, in reverse
order, from 2006 on. And maybe that is the best advice I could possibly give.
Then you’d get it all as it actually unfolded from the actual leader of the
revolution. I should actually take that advice myself, but, you know, the time
thing.






It is a lot to sort through (and for God’s
sake, if you do it, don’t get lost in the Comments!).




But there’s something even more basic that you need
to do if you are thinking of e publishing.




Get an e reader. And USE it.




I have to say that because it is astonishing to me
when I hear authors talking about e publishing who don’t even read on an e
reader.  Reading an e book on your laptop or phone is not going to do it.
You will fool yourself that you get it when actually you don’t have a clue.
There is NO WAY you are going to understand the incredible sea change that has
occurred if you are not using the technology and understanding why and how
readers are buying. You can’t. And I think once you’ve experienced the thrill
of having an entire library in the palm of your hand, the delicious indulgence
of being able to download ANY BOOK YOU WANT, INSTANTLY, you’ll understand why
this is the greatest invention since the wheel, and why as an author OF COURSE
you want to make your books available this way.




Which e reader? No contest. If you’re an author
looking to make a living, you must get and understand a Kindle. I'm sorry if
there are people who don't like that answer but that IS the answer. I do not
know of one author who is making a living at self-publishing who is not doing
it primarily through the Amazon platform. And all the authors I know who are
making good money on Nook and Kobo sales launched themselves with Amazon.  I’m being
basic here and that is as basic as it gets.




An e reader is easy to operate, you’ll see. So once
you have one, what you want to do is start buying books. Or sampling them, it
doesn’t matter, and sampling is totally free (Sampling: in the Amazon store,
you can download several chapters of any book to your Kindle for free. If you
do not have an Amazon
Store account, you need to set one up. It's easy.).  Sampling
is an important thing to learn – among other things it will teach you volumes
about your own writing, and what has to go in your FIRST CHAPTERS).  But it’s also a no-cost
way to learn the device and experience e reading.




You want to sample books that are in your own
genre, and you want to sample a lot of self-published books as well as
traditionally published books . The 99 cent ones (brace yourself...) the $2.99
ones, the $3.99 ones, and the $9.99 and yike, $12.99 traditionally published
ones.  Try authors you haven’t heard of whose books sound interesting.
(Don’t forget Huntress Moon , Blood Moon, or any of the fine titles you can simply click through to sample if you just
look to the right of this blog...).




Take an hour or two and download and read twenty samples
in a row, and take notes. Did you want to keep reading at the end of the
sample, or could you not get through it at all?  Is there a difference
between 99 cent books, $2.99 ones, $3.99 ones, and the $9.99 or $12.99 ones put
out by traditional publishers?  If there is a difference, what IS the
difference?  Would you pay $12.99 for an e book? If so, which authors
would you pay it for, and which wouldn't you?




Wade into the market and see what’s out there. Get
the lay of the land, and ask questions here. 




So there, I’ve given you a couple of practical
tasks that will get your feet wet.




You didn’t think you were going to learn this
overnight, did you?




I hope not. Get a grip.  E publishing is a
full-time job, just like traditional publishing is. But if you don’t start now,
a year from now you’ll still be asking, “Where do I start?”




- Alex







Huntress Moon,  $3.99












Amazon

Amazon UK

Amazon DE

Amazon FR

Amazon ES

Amazon IT







A driven FBI agent is on the hunt for that most
rare of all killers:

a female serial.


















Blood Moon, on sale now:  99 cents





Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon DE

Huntress Moon, FREE today! Blood Moon 99 cents!

I know, lots of giveaways this month, but IF you don't already have it you can pick up Huntress Moon today for free.  And if you do have it, feel free to share!   









Amazon US 

Amazon UK   
Amazon DE
















FBI Special Agent Matthew Roarke is closing in on a bust of
a major criminal organization in San Francisco when he witnesses an undercover
member of his team killed right in front of him on a busy street, an accident
Roarke can't believe is coincidental. His suspicions put him on the trail of a
mysterious young woman who appears to have been present at each scene of a
years-long string of "accidents" and murders, and who may well be
that most rare of killers: a female serial.




Roarke's hunt for her takes him across three states...while
in a small coastal town, a young father and his five-year old son, both wounded
from a recent divorce, encounter a lost and compelling young woman on the beach
and strike up an unlikely friendship without realizing how deadly she may be.




As Roarke uncovers the shocking truth of her background, he
realizes she is on a mission of her own, and must race to capture her before
more blood is shed.























- An ITW Thriller Award
Nominee for Best Original E Book Novel

- A Suspense Magazine
Pick for Best Thriller of 2012




"This interstate manhunt has plenty of thrills...
Sokoloff's choice to present both Roarke's and the killer's perspectives helps
keep the drama taut and the pages flying."   -- Kirkus
Reviews








(I know, I'm sorry, exclusive to Amazon for the first three months.  It's the financial reality of it.  But you  know me - if it's a Nook or Kobo version you need, just e mail me at AXSokoloff  AT  aol  DOT  com and I will get either or both books to you!).












Also today, Book II in the Huntress/FBI series, Blood Moon, is just 99 cents.


Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon DE





Twenty-five years have passed since a savage killer terrorized California, massacring three ordinary families before disappearing without a trace.


The haunted child who was the only surviving victim of his rampage is now wanted by the FBI  for brutal crimes of her own, and Special Agent Matthew Roarke is on an interstate manhunt for her, despite his conflicted sympathies for her history and motives.


But when his search for her unearths evidence of new family slayings, the dangerous woman Roarke seeks - and wants - may be his only hope of preventing another bloodbath.





I've been absent from this blog because I've been doing so many interviews and guest posts about the book. I think one of the most interesting ones is this:



- Ten Things You Didn't Know About Being a Published Author



- I also encourage anyone interested in e publishing to check out my guest post on Joe Konrath's 



Newbie's Guide to Publishing (and everything else on the blog). I'll be doing my own posts about it here, as well.



- Another very thorough interview on The Book Nympho, talking about the Huntress series and all kinds of other stuff.... Jonetta always has the BEST questions!



- I thought there were some interesting questions in this She Writes interview. The last one kind of threw me!



- And another general interview on process.



- Alex

Sense and Sensibility breakdown, continued (Act 1, Act II:1)

Whew, hectic few days! I haven't had even a second to pull together a marketing blog so I'm continuing  my Sense and Sensibility breakdown instead.



Just a couple of things first -



- I did a guest post on Joe Konrath's Newbie's Guide to Publishing that is worth checking out, I think!



- I am on The Book Nympho today talking about the Huntress series and all kinds of other stuff.... Jonetta always has the BEST questions!



- I am on Authors on the Air today at 4 pm PST, 7 pm EST, talking with Pam Stack about probably just about everything!  You can call in in you want to chat:




- Huntress Moon is still on sale for 99 cents, today and tomorrow.  (Again, if you need a different e format, let me know.)














Amazon US 

Amazon UK   
Amazon DE
















































And now, here's the movie - I put Act I and Act II, Part 1  together in this post so you have the whole first half of the movie in one place.
























Sense And Sensibility







Screenplay by Emma Thompson

From the novel by Jane Austen

Directed by Ang Lee




Starring Emma
Thompson, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman and Kate Winslet

1995

Running time 136
minutes














































Ah, now this is a love story: a classic book and a perfect adaptation.
There’s real emotion, real chemistry, fun comedy, real hope and fear all the
way through; the story puts us through the emotional wringer, plunging us to
the depths and lifting us back up to the heights. Get out the Kleenex and let’s
see what we can learn from this gem.




I am going to start with some
general notes first — some things I suggest you look for as you’re watching
this film — particularly in terms of THEME, HOPE, FEAR and STAKES.





Some writers who take my workshops
and read my blog complain about the films I use for examples of story elements
and structure. I’m particularly apt to use Thomas Harris’s Red Dragon and The Silence of
the Lambs — to the horror of some romance writers who wouldn’t be caught
dead (sorry, I’ll stop now) reading those books. But I always try to get
writers to understand that they can learn just as much from stories outside
their own genre, because the elements of story — and suspense — are the same no
matter how many bodies are or are not falling or how many creatures are or are
not lurking in the basement.



            Personally,
I find serious horror in Sense and
Sensibility  (and any Austen book),
and it’s not a horror of romance, either. I am, however, horrified at the
Netflix description of the film as “Austen’s classic tale of 19th century
etiquette.” This story is more about monsters in the basement than it is about
etiquette.



            Actually,
it is about an evil much bigger than a monster in the basement, and if you ask
me, the fact that that monster is lurking under the romance and comedy is what
makes this story a masterpiece.



ACT ONE



            Just
wanted to note for the filmmakers among you that the credits sequence is just
titles on black, with period music underneath. This is a technique often used
with period films, I think used deliberately to slow the audience down and put
them squarely in another time. Music is a pure time machine from — or to — the
period it was written; it works on us in a way that no visual or dialogue ever
could.



PROLOGUE



            I
would say that the first short sequence (4 min.) is a prologue — and a hugely
important one.



            The
film opens at the deathbed of Mr. Dashwood, the father of our not-yet-seen
heroines. Mr. Dashwood has called in John Dashwood, his son from a previous
marriage, to whom Mr. Dashwood’s entire fortune and houses will pass under the
law of primogeniture, which bars women from inheriting property and keeps both
the patriarchy and the aristocracy intact by mandating that family fortunes
pass undivided to the eldest son of a family, with only minimal livings carved
out for any remaining male children.



            Before
he dies, Dashwood extracts a promise from John that he will take care of the
present Mrs. Dashwood and her three daughters, Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret,
who by this law of primogeniture are only allowed to inherit 500 pounds. (THE
DEATHBED PROMISE, in this case, promptly broken.)



            John’s
original intention is to give the Dashwood women, his stepmother and
stepsisters, an additional 3000 pounds so they can live comfortably on the
interest, but in the course of a carriage ride up to Norland Park, where John
and his wife will take over the Dashwood house, John’s harridan of a wife,
Fanny, whittles weak-willed John’s gift down to nothing at all: “Twenty pounds
here and there should be ample. What would four women need with more than 500
pounds?”



            (Also
in this carriage ride, John also voices the FEAR that Marianne will lose her
bloom and end up a spinster like Elinor.)



            This
series of scenes is a beautiful — and outwardly funny — dramatization of greed
in action, and Fanny makes a detestable villain. But more importantly, the
scenes introduce the real villain of the story, and every Austen story:
primogeniture, which kept the rich superrich, the poor practically or literally
indentured as servants to the rich, and women enslaved to men, for centuries.



            Stylistically,
Jane Austen was writing comedies, but the stories are built on social outrage,
and I believe it’s that canny blend that made and keeps these books classics.




            So the death of Mr. Dashwood, and the
Dashwood women’s subsequent disinheritance, is the INCITING INCIDENT. (4:30)



            One
more note as you’re watching this film: pay special attention to how the
storytellers use weather to create mood and emotion, and also pay attention to
the set decoration: the paintings on the walls behind the characters constantly
comment — often hilariously — on the story and themes.



SEQUENCE ONE:



            The
whole next sequence is very filmic, played at first almost as a montage, with
fast cuts between extremely short scenes. We are introduced to the extremely
sympathetic Dashwood women: Mrs. Dashwood, Elinor, Marianne and 11-year old
Margaret, as they are reduced to guests in their own house in the midst of
their deep grief over the loss of their husband and father. While Fanny
steamrolls through the house claiming everything in it as her own, the Dashwood
women scramble to find other living arrangements on their tiny inheritance.



These are great character introductions to Elinor and Marianne, Emma Thompson
and Kate Winslet. The filmmakers deftly find comedy even in this tragic
situation, eg. Elinor’s first line to Marianne as Marianne plays the world’s
most doleful dirge on the pianoforte: “Would you play something else, dearest?
Maman has been weeping all morning.”



            I
see this movie as having a dual protagonist, even though Elinor is clearly the
more dominant one and the point of view character. But Austen, and Thompson in
the adaptation, are using the sisters to demonstrate a theme: literally, sense
and sensibility. At the beginning of the story the sisters are out of balance:
Elinor is all sense and Marianne all sensibility (passion). By the end of the
story (and partly through the crucible of love), they have each gained some of
what the other has, to make both of them more fully realized women.



            This
is what you could call a “character cluster,” like the three-brother or
three-sister structure you often see, especially in stories with a fairy tale
structure like the Harry Potter books/films. If you’re thinking about writing a
dual protagonist, this is an excellent example to study.



            Note
also the restatement of THEME when Margaret asks Elinor why John and Fanny are
coming to take over Norwood when they already have a house of their own. Elinor
tells Margaret, “Houses go from father to son. It's the law.” That extra
emphasis on how this is the law makes it very clear what the problem is, and
keeps this societal FORCE OF ANTAGONISM very present in the story.



            Now,
enter Edward Ferrars, Fanny’s intelligent but very reserved brother, Hugh Grant
at his diffidently charming best. (The scenes become longer here.) Edward’s
formal bow, and the Dashwood women’s polite curtseys in return, become a
RUNNING GAG in the film (a running gag is a staple of comedy). Each time the
action stops as Edward does his best at this bow, but there’s something always
just a little off about the timing.



            Marianne
wants to hate him, especially because Fanny has kicked Margaret out of her own
room to give her brother the best view in the house, but Edward has already
noticed the offense and quietly moved himself to a guest room.



            Edward
instantly understands the pain of the Dashwoods’ circumstances, bonds with and
draws out youngest daughter Margaret, and falls hard — albeit reservedly — for
kindred soul Elinor. In a beautiful scene in the library, Edward and Elinor
coax Margaret out from where she has been hiding under a table by pretending
ignorance of the source of the Nile, and we see that Edward and Elinor are
perfectly, beautifully matched: intelligent, witty, sensitive, kind, and
off-the-wall. They are at their most charming when they’re together. This is a
common and I think crucial scene in any romance or romantic subplot —THE DANCE —
where we see that two people are perfect for each other. So much more
meaningful than “meet cute”!



            And
this scene gives us our great HOPE for Elinor: that she has found the great
love of her life and they will make a true, encompassing marriage. It’s also, I
would say, her CALL TO ADVENTURE (separate from the INCITING INCIDENT) —
meeting her true love.



            But
there’s more to this than love. In her circumstances, Elinor’s life and her
family’s lives depend on her making a good marriage, because women are prohibited
from earning an income. A happy marriage to a well-off man is the dream, the
best possible outcome — but the stakes couldn’t be higher, and Elinor’s
situation is more than tenuous; she has not the slightest power over her future
except to marry. So this is the unstated but clear PLAN: to marry for love and
secure the family’s future. (15 min.)



            We
see the couple’s feelings deepen when Edward catches Elinor crying as she
listens to Marianne play their father’s favorite song on the piano. He gives
her his handkerchief (which becomes what Joseph Campbell calls a TALISMAN: a
significant object for a character, like Luke Skywalker’s light saber and Harry
Potter’s — well, lots of things, but the cloak of invisibility, the Nimbus
2000, etc.).



            The
ANTAGONISTS, Fanny and Mrs. Ferrars (Fanny and Edward’s mother), immediately go
about preventing this match. (Mrs. Ferrars is never physically present, only
offstage, but very present in the form of the threat of disinheriting Edward if
he makes an “unworthy marriage.”) (18 min.)



            The
Dashwood women receive an offer of a cottage in Devonshire for minimal rent
from Mrs. Dashwood’s wealthy cousin, Sir John, but Mrs. Dashwood has seen the
“attachment” forming between Elinor and Edward and tells Marianne that they
will put off the move. (Look at the painting of a man on the wall right behind
Mrs. Dashwood as we see her thinking this over: it’s almost like a comic book
bubble showing her thoughts. This is the PLAN — to give Elinor opportunity to
engage with Edward, to make a happy marriage but also secure the family
fortune.)




            You could say that there is one long
sequence here at Norwood (from 4:30 to 26 minutes), but you could also say it’s
two sequences. This is where I would say it breaks, at 19 minutes.




SEQUENCE TWO



            Edward
and Elinor spend more time together and continue to fall in love; this is
accomplished in an amazingly short amount of film time.



            The
horseback riding scene is especially interesting thematically: Elinor states
plainly "We (women) have no choice of any occupation whatsoever. You will
inherit your fortune, we cannot even earn ours." But we also see that
Edward is constrained by the threat of complete disinheritance if he does not
make a career and a marriage that his mother approves of. The scene also shows
that these two can talk honestly of deep issues.



            We
also see another antagonist to the match: Marianne, who thinks that Edward is
not passionate enough for Elinor, and that Elinor’s feelings are too tepid to
be real love.



            When
Marianne asks Elinor how she feels about Edward, Elinor says that she greatly
esteems him. Marianne chides her for being so dispassionate. (Settting up
ELINOR’S CHARACTER ARC: Elinor is not completely honest about her feelings,
which will get her into trouble down the road.)



            In
another scene, Marianne asks their mother: "Can he love her? To love is to
burn, to be on fire." Marianne just comes right out and says what she
believes, and this sets up Marianne’s CHARACTER ARC. There’s also some
FORESHADOWING and FEAR for Marianne here when her mother replies that
Marianne’s passionate role models Juliet and Heloise made “rather bad ends.”



            But
despite her objections, Marianne says she will support her sister’s wishes with
her whole heart.



            Meanwhile
evil Fanny actively works to thwart the relationship by telling Mrs. Dashwood
that their mother has made it clear she will disinherit Edward should he marry
beneath his station. (22 min)



            It’s
a devastating move because we are already so invested in Elinor and Edward’s
love — and oh, do we hate Fanny. There are also two PLANTS here: that Edward
will in fact be disinherited, and that he is too much of a gentleman ever to go
back on a promise, which will become very significant later.



            At
dinner, Mrs. Dashwood announces they will leave immediately for her cousin's
estate. (NEW PLAN.)



            The
next day Edward finds Elinor in the stable, saying goodbye to her horse, which
the family cannot afford to keep. (Horses are a classic symbol of perverse sexuality,
so this is a sly hint of Edward’s youthful romantic liaison that we will learn
about — not here, but eventually.) Edward says that he must speak to Elinor,
which we and Elinor think will be a marriage proposal. Instead Edward tells a
rambling story of his early education under the tutelage of Mr. Pratt (PLANT),
and before he can get to the point, Fanny races in telling him their mother
needs him immediately back at the family home. Edward obeys Fanny (JUST SAY
SOMETHING, STUPID!), and the Dashwoods move from their home to a cottage on the
estate of Mrs. Dashwood’s wealthy cousin, without a marriage proposal from
Edward to Elinor.  (26 min.)



CLIMAX SEQUENCE TWO



(As I said, you could call that all one long sequence.)



SEQUENCE THREE: (27 min. to 45 min.)



            This
sequence sets up Marianne’s story, as the first sequence, or two sequences, set
up Elinor’s.



            The
Dashwoods arrive at Barton Cottage, their new, much smaller home (but I’d still
take it any day!) with gorgeous shots of the Devonshire countryside. (CROSSING
THE THRESHOLD and INTO THE SPECIAL WORLD.)



            They
are heartily welcomed by the crass, noisy, but warm-hearted Sir John and his
mother-in-law, wealthy Mrs. Jennings, surrounded by their pack of dogs (dogs
are a classic symbol of the id and instincts, here run rampant). These are
ALLIES, and Mrs. Jennings is also the MENTOR/FAIRY GODMOTHER. There’s a great
moment when Margaret says later that she likes Mrs. Jennings because “She talks
about things. We never talk about things.”



            They
settle into their new life: Elinor struggles to make ends meet for the family
and secretly pines for Edward (though she tells her mother that it’s more
sensible to be practical about the barriers to Edward marrying a woman without
a dowry. Again, Elinor’s character WEAKNESS — she’s practical against the
wishes of her own heart.)



            Fiery
Marianne catches the eye of Sir John’s good friend, the county’s most eligible
bachelor, wealthy and cultured Colonel Brandon (a completely dreamy Alan
Rickman). (Just a quick aside — look at the paintings of dogs behind Sir John
and Mrs. Jennings in this scene as they tease Elinor.) Marianne scorns
Brandon’s attentions, dismissing him as too old (he’s 35 in the book). Brandon
is a perfect gentleman (and like Edward, very charming and attentive to young
Margaret, a CLUE). Elinor likes him, but is not immediately won over. And Alan
Rickman is great casting, here; he so often plays villains that there’s an
ambiguity about his performance which keeps us in suspense about whether or not
he’s a good man, and right for Marianne — after all, marrying for money often
leads to tragedy.




            Elinor asks Mrs. Jennings about
Brandon and Mrs. Jennings tells Elinor that Brandon has a tragic past: as a
youth he fell in love with his father's young ward, and the family broke up the
lovers by sending Brandon away to the military and turning the girl out of the
house. She was “passed from man to man” and when Brandon returned from the West
Indies he searched for her and found her dying in a poorhouse.



            This
is our FEAR for Marianne, and it’s a big one. In Austen’s time “ruin” for women
meant prostitution and the attendant poverty and syphilis – the worst possible
life.



            Mrs.
Jennings’ unsubtle matchmaking turns Marianne away from Brandon. Instead she
falls hard for the young, handsome and dashing Willoughby, whom she meets in a
stormy romantic scene on a moor right out of Wuthering Heights (SETPIECE).
Willoughby also seems very well-fixed financially (set to inherit an older
relative’s nearby estate) and outspokenly shares Marianne’s passion for poetry
and music. Mrs. Dashwood and Margaret are instantly charmed; Marianne is openly
adoring. Elinor, though, has doubts …




CLIMAX OF ACT ONE - (45 minutes
into a 2-hour, 15-minute film)



            There’s
HOPE but also FEAR, here — I felt Willoughby was a bit over the top in a way
that might backfire badly — might even lead to her “ruin.” Plus — this guy over
Alan Rickman? I think not. Still, what I love about this casting and
characterization is that he seems a good match for Marianne; it’s a legitimate
romantic dilemma, and keeps us in SUSPENSE about which is the right man for
her.





ACT II, PART 1




SEQUENCE FOUR



            Willoughby and Marianne begin a very
unrestrained courtship, including going on reckless carriage rides with no
chaperone, which worries Elinor, but Marianne says if she had more shallow
feelings, she could conceal them as Elinor does.  (Working the THEME of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY)

           

            Brandon comes to invite the Dashwoods to a
picnic; Marianne will not say yes until Brandon invites Willoughby as well,
when he comes to pick up Marianne for another carriage ride. After she leaves,
Brandon tells Elinor that Marianne is completely unspoiled. Elinor confesses
that she’d prefer that her sister become acquainted with the ways of the world.
Brandon becomes quite agitated and counters that he once knew someone like
Marianne and when she become acquainted with the ways of the world, she was
ruined. (Our FEAR for Marianne.)





            THEME:
We see that Brandon’s life has also been devastated by this romance which his
parents would not allow —
because of, of course, money.




            At
the picnic, a messenger comes with a letter for Brandon and he takes off
immediately for London, clearly very troubled (PLANT). Willoughby entertains
the Dashwood women by making fun of Brandon’s stiffness; even Elinor has to
laugh. (A great scene to keep up the suspense about which man is right for
Marianne.)



            Willoughby asks to speak to Marianne alone
the next day, and the entire Dashwood family assumes he is going to propose.
But when the family returns from church, expecting to find Marianne engaged,
Marianne is weeping and refuses to tell the family what happened. Willoughby
leaves abruptly, saying that he doesn't know when he'll return. Mrs. Dashwood
tries to think the best of Willoughby, but Elinor knows something is wrong,
Willoughby is acting guilty. At the end of the scene,
all the Dashwood women go to their rooms in tears except for Elinor, who sits
on the stairs drinking tea as sobbing comes from every door around her. (A nice
comic moment; Lee is always so aware of his genre.)




SEQUENCE FIVE




            Mrs.
Jennings' daughter Charlotte arrives from London with a young friend named Lucy
Steele. This is also the beginning of an excellent comic subplot with Mrs.
Jennings’ twit of a daughter and her bitter husband, Hugh Laurie in a wonderful
performance — and a great
character arc, as his true colors come out later. It’s not just comedic; it’s
another variation on the theme of how marrying for money destroys lives, men’s
as well as women’s.




            Lucy
tells Elinor that she's been eager to meet her, she’s heard so much about her. While the ladies are playing cards, Lucy pulls Elinor aside
and swears her to secrecy as she confides that she's been secretly engaged to
Edward Ferrars for five years. (PAYOFF of Edward’s interrupted story in
the stable.) Lucy makes Elinor promise not to tell a soul, but she wanted Elinor to know because Edward thinks of Elinor as a
sister. Lucy is obviously (to the audience) trying to get rid of Elinor, her
competition, but Elinor is shattered (remember the SETUP that Edward is too
honorable to ever go back on a promise of engagement). This is a huge REVELATION
which completes this DOUBLE MIDPOINT – devastation for both sisters, but
particularly for Elinor.




            As
Elinor reels from this blow, Mrs. Jennings invites Marianne, Elinor and Lucy to
London with her to London for “the season” with the intent to marry them off.
(This is RECALIBRATION: a NEW PLAN.) Marianne is thrilled because she'll be
able to contact Willoughby. (PLAN and HOPE.)




(1 HR. 11
MINUTES  - eleven extra minutes in the
first half, but that’s proportionate for a 2 hr. 15-minute movie.)













=====================================================
















Many more story breakdowns available in my writing workbooks, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors and Writing Love, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, II.
























$2.99.










- Kindle  
















- Amazon UK
















- Amaxon DE (Eur. 2.40)



























































$3.99



- Smashwords (includes online viewing and pdf file)
















- Amazon/Kindle
















- Barnes & Noble/Nook
















- Amazon UK
















- Amazon DE