Alexandra Sokoloff's Blog, page 3

What KIND of Story is it? (A Star is Born: Daisy Jones & the Six, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Babylon)

We’re working with Act II: Part 1, so it’s time to do another post on STORY PATTERNS – which you really start to see at work in this second quarter of a book or script. The KIND of story, or STORY PATTERN, is different from genre or subgenre.

There are hundreds of story patterns in books, movies, TV and plays – and when you start consciously spotting them, it can seriously up your story structure game.

Here are just a very, very few examples,

The Big Lie

MacGuffin

Road Trip

...

What’s the EXPERIENCE of your book or script?

One of the key elements of Act II, especially Act II: Part 1, is the PROMISE OF THE GENRE.

Your GENRE (and subgenre) is a promise to your readers or audience about the EXPERIENCE they are going to get by reading your book or watching your movie.

It’s a contract with your readers. So let’s get you thinking about the experience you want to create for them!

 

Photo by Jr Korpaon Unsplash

You can get an immediate grasp of what EXPERIENCE a book or movie promises from the book cover ...

Is AI the end of writers—or the end of humanity?

By now you’re all completely familiar with Chat GPT (Bing, Bard, etc.) and why writers are anxious about it all—

Just kidding. I know enough writers (thousands) to know: learning about the explosion of AI and its implications to their livelihood is one of those things writers are really good at shoving in a mental closet to look at later. But there is no joke about AI.

Writers who are paying attention are worried —

That AI programs (Bing, Bard, GPT-4, and whatever programs are out next we...

The PLAN – the road map of your book or script!

 




If there’s just one bottom line piece of advice I can give you about how to write a novel or script, it’s this— You need to know the PLAN.

Your protagonist’s Plan is the road map, the Holy Grail, the spine, the sine qua nonof your story— book or script. The Plan is going to drive every single thing about your plot.

I’ve worked with a lot of writers, directors, producers, executives, over a lot of years (make that decades…). And if there’s ONE thing I know, it’s that if...

First Chapters

First Chapters are a very fraught subject. Writers agonize over them. I don’t have to tell you! The pressure is enormous, isn’t it? The first chapter sells your submission and it sells your book once it’s published. It carries the whole weight of the book with it. It has to convey mood, tone, genre, foreshadowing, stakes, urgency, main character need and desire, setting, theme (especially, especially, especially theme) and the absolute sense that this is a journey that we want to take. And a dozen other things beyond that. (Note that I didn't mention "a great first line." I am not one of the cult of the first line.)

So how do we approach writing—or rewriting one?

(And if you’re writing a script, same advice goes, throughout this post.)

The best advice I can give you here is: Don’t sweat this one on a first draft. Or even maybe on the second.

Seriously.

Despite that scene we’ve all seen in practically any Hollywood movie with a writer character in it, there is no law that says you have to start your book by sitting down at your keyboard, cracking your knuckles, and typing “Chapter One.”

Your opening chapter might be the last thing you end up writing. You may be reading a first of second or third draft and find a chapter halfway through the book that you realize needs to go first.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be thinking about it, keeping it cooking on the back burner. And maybe you’re down to the wire and need some inspiration.

So here’s an exercise to help.

I’m sure you all have TBR (“to be read”) piles. Around our house these are worse than average, because we’re a two-author household. We both have hundreds of books on our Kindles for our own research and pleasure, but we also get sent tons of physical books to blurb by publishers and friends, and to add to the chaos Craig programs two book festivals and consults on others—so you can only imagine the submissions by panel hopefuls! When I was a full-time screenwriter, I had similar stacks of scripts.

So make use of these treasures!

1.    Take 10 books from your TBR pile or shelf that you might feel like reading. Read just the opening chapter of each. Separate them into piles, kind of like with Marie Kondo:

-- Not grabbing me. 

-- Interesting, I could go further. 

-- Never mind the homework, I’m reading THIS one. Now go away.

2.    Make a list of the books in that third pile, and then add first chapters by your own favorite authors that just turn you inside out. Keep listing until you have a Master List of ten books.

There is no question that reading a bunch of — well, anything — in a row gives you a good idea of what to do and not to do in executing that particular thing. But it’s doing the next work that will really get you far.

Read more here

From Screenwriting Tricks for Authors:



Stealing Hollywood: Story Structure Secrets for Writing Your Best Book

Nanowrimo Now What?

So you did Nanowrimo! Huzzah!! Or maybe you didn’t, but whether you did it through Nanowrimo or not, you now have a rough draft—maybe a very, very, very rough draft— of your book or script. Huzzah!!

So now what?

First of all, I hope you’ve had a good long break. If at all possible, when you’ve finished a first draft  - Take a break. As long a break as possible.

You should keep to a writing schedule, start brainstorming the next project, maybe do some random collaging to see what images come up that might lead to something fantastic - but if you have a completed draft, then what you need most of all is SPACE from it. You are going to need fresh eyes to do the read-through that is going to take you to the next level, and the only way for you to get those fresh eyes is to leave the story alone for a while.

And if you’re here in this New Year and you still haven’t gotten through to “The End” then my advice is always - Keep going. You must get through to The End, no matter how rough it is (rough meaning the process AND the pages…). You can slow down your schedule, set a lower per-day word or page count, but do not stop. Write every day, or every other day if that’s your schedule, but get the sucker done.

You may end up throwing away most of what you write, but it is a really, really, really bad idea not to get all the way through a story. That is how most books, scripts and probably most all other things in life worth doing are abandoned.

But once you have bashed through to the end of your opus, and have that dreaded first draft done…

Ah, now comes the fun part. At least, I think so! No matter how hard the subsequent drafts may be, nothing is ever as hard as that sucky first draft.

But whoever said “Writing is rewriting” was oh-so-right.



While I almost never print out anything anymore, I still recommend printing out your book or script to do your read through.

Don’t get hung up on trying to rewrite. In your first read you are reading all the way through to get a sense of the book overall. You might want to do it in 50-100 page sessions at a time— it’s useful to read through one Act at a time so you can absorb each Act before you move on to the next reading session and the next Act.

Have a pencil or pen to scribble a quick note or slash out something that very obviously isn’t working, but then put the pencil down and keep reading. Again, you’re not rewriting yet, you’re getting a sense of your book.



And this is key: What you wrote is NOT what you thought you were going to write. It never is! So you need to see what you actually did write. And then approach the story that you have, as your own editor.

Once you’ve done your read through, I suggest you sit in a quiet and comfortable place for several hours and make all the notes you can without looking at your pages at all. Just download all your impressions of the book. Make sure you’re making notes on all the good stuff as well as bad! This step might take several sessions, and it’s worth it.

To help you launch into the rewriting process, here are some next steps that can be taken in whatever order is useful to you.

Top Ten Things I Know About Editing

1. Cut, cut, cut.

When you first start writing, you are reluctant to cut anything. Believe me, I remember. But the truth is, beginning writers very, very, VERY often duplicate scenes, and characters, too. And dialogue, oh man, do inexperienced writers duplicate dialogue! The same things happen over and over again, are said over and over again. It will be less painful for you to cut if you learn to look for and start to recognize when you’re duplicating scenes, actions, characters and dialogue. Those are the obvious places to cut and combine.

Some very wise writer (unfortunately I have no idea who) said, “If it occurs to you to cut, do so.” This seems harsh and scary, I know. Often I’ll flag something in a manuscript as “Could cut” and leave it in my draft for several passes until I finally bite the bullet and get rid of it. So, you know, that’s fine. Allow yourself to CONSIDER cutting something, first. No commitment! But once you’ve considered cutting, you almost always will. It's okay if you bitch about it all the way to the trash file, too - I always do.

2. Figure out your SETPIECES, and start to shape those.

This is such a hugely important part of rewriting that I’m going to do a dedicated post about it this week. But as you’re looking to cut and combine, you’re also looking for those genre-specific, thematic, climactic scenes that will sell your book or film and make it come alive and live on in every reader/audience’s imagination. Stay tuned for more!

3. Find a great critique group.

This is easier said than done, but you NEED a group, or a series of beta readers, who will commit themselves to making your work the best it can be, just as you commit the same to their work. They may not admit it, but most editors and publishing houses expect their authors to find trusted readers and colleagues to give them that initial intensive feedback. Really.

4. Do several passes.

Finish your first draft, no matter how rough it is, and give yourself a break. Then read, cut, polish, put in notes. Repeat. And repeat again. Always give yourself time off between reads if you can. The closer your book is to done, the more uncomfortable the unwieldy sections will seem to you, and you will be more and more okay with getting rid of them. Read on for the specific kinds of passes I recommend doing.

5. Whatever your genre is, do a dedicated pass focusing on Genre.

For a thriller: thrills and suspense. For a mystery: clues and misdirection and suspense. For a comedy: a comedic pass. For a romance: a sex pass. Or “emotional” pass, if you must call it that. For horror… well, you get it.

I write suspense. So after I’ve written that first agonizing bash-through draft of a book or script, and probably a second or third draft just to make it readable, I will at some point do a dedicated pass just to amp up the suspense, and I highly recommend trying it, because it’s amazing how many great ideas you will come up with for suspense scenes (or comic scenes, or romantic scenes) if you are going through your story just focused on how to inject and layer in suspense, or horror, or comedy, or romance. It’s your JOB to deliver the genre you’re writing in. It’s worth a dedicated pass to make sure you’re giving your readers what they’re buying the book for.

6. Know your Three Act Structure.

If something in your story is sagging, it is amazing how quickly you can pull your narrative into line by looking at the scene or sequence you have around page 100 (or whatever page is ¼ way through the book), page 200, (or whatever page is ½ way through the book), page 300 (or whatever page is ¾ through the book) and your Final Battle at the end. Each of those scenes are SETPIECES: they should be huge, pivotal, devastating, game-changing scenes or sequences (even if it’s just emotional devastation). Those four points are the tentpoles of your story.

7. Do a dedicated DESIRE LINE pass in which you ask yourself for every scene: “What does this character WANT? Who is opposing them in this scene? Who WINS in the scene? What will they do now?”

8. Do a dedicated EMOTIONAL pass, in which you ask yourself in every chapter, every scene: What do I want my readers to FEEL in this moment?

9. Do a dedicated SENSORY pass, in which you make sure you’re covering what you want the reader to see, hear, feel, taste, smell, and sense.

10. Read your book aloud. All of it. Cover to cover.

I wouldn’t recommend doing this with a first draft unless you feel it’s very close to the final product, but when you’re further along, the best thing I know to do to edit a book or script is to read it aloud. The whole thing. I know, this takes several days, and you will lose your voice. Get some good cough drops. But there is no better way to find errors — spelling, grammar, continuity, and rhythmic errors. Try it, you’ll be amazed.

And all the way along - 

Use the essential elements of story structure to pull your story into dramatic line.

In the Stealing Hollywood workbooks I’ve compiled a extensive checklist of essential story elements, Act by Act (with plenty of examples of each element) that I use both when I’m brainstorming a story with index cards and a story structure grid, and I use the index cards, structure grid, and story elements checklist again when I’m starting to revise, to make sure I’m hitting all of these points. In the online workshop I help writers work through those elements Act by Act.  https://screenwriting-tricks-for-auth...

So this is a big, big topic, that will take a lot more posts. Or you can get the books and get started.

https://screenwriting-tricks-for-auth...

Writing Love: Screenwriting Tricks for Authors II

More Screenwriting Tricks for Authors: https://alexandrasokoloff.substack.com

It's June! Is your book written yet?

Happy first official day of summer! (I say this so often, but I'm saying it again. How did it get to be June?)

June 1, 2021—and I just finished another, nearly final! draft of Book 1 of my new Golden Gate series. 

 

Always a bit of a miracle, finishing a book. And this one is pretty epic. I should definitely be out celebrating. But it's a miracle I've come to expect, because I've made it happen often enough that there's no reason NOT to believe I'll do it again, and again, and again.

That's lucky, I know. A lot of people would love to write books, but never get there.

As an author, I tend to think, Well, not everyone's cut out to be a writer. Sometimes I even think, Why would you be a writer if you could do anything else? 

It's such a weird thing to do! It's not that easy to sit in a chair (or in bed!) for eight or ten hours a day and give your whole consciousness over to a story. It's both numbingly static and a constant, relentless expenditure of energy. And it takes such a long, long time.

But there is nothing more satisfying as finishing. Bringing your characters and their world to life not only for yourself, but for anyone who picks up the book. It's just magical.

And as a writing teacher, it always gnaws at me. What keeps people who have perfectly great ideas from getting to a finished, published book? And the lifelong career that hopefully comes after that?

I meet so many people who I would have thought were a slam dunk for publication, and year after year I hear from them or about them one way or another and—still no book.

So I'm asking. Is your book written yet?

Why not?

Seriously. Why not? 

Most spiritual teachers I know would say— You know why.  You always know.

So name it.

    -    Is time? The kids? Your spouse? Your job? Your health? Are you not even writing 15 minutes a day, or even 5?

    -    Is it fear? Do you not want to find out that you can't do this thing that you so want to do?

    -    Are you stuck? Do you have half a book, a quarter, or even a full draft—but have no idea where to go next?

    -    Or have you already written a book, or several, that you know are not good enough? Are you worried you'll spend six long months pouring your heart into another book, only to find once again that you can't sell it?

    -    Are you thinking that you'll have to learn this whole scary self-publishing thing on top of having to write the book to begin with and it's just too exhausting for words?

I really am asking, because I really think you should ask yourself. If your book isn't written, why not?

Asking the question is always the first step to fixing it.

- Alex

 

 

Need help? Online workshop now open!

 

Turn your screenplay into a novel

Ten easy steps for screenwriters to turn that unproduced script into a novel  

 

This topic has come up in several places lately so I thought I’d re-post this article I wrote, previously published in Written By, the journal of the WGAW, as How To Become A Novelist In Your Spare Time.)

1. I bet you have that unproduced script that you’ve always secretly thought would make a great novel. Pull that out and let yourself remember everything you loved about it. If it’s been sold or optioned in the past, consult with your lawyer and the guild Contracts Department to make sure you have the unencumbered right to write a novel.

2. Now, take that script, and format it as a Word Document, double-spaced. Look at that! You have 80 (rough) pages of a novel already!  

3. Now, start at page one and start adding words, images, descriptions – all that stuff that we have to compress and combine and edit and shorthand when we’re writing a script. When I was writing my scripts The Harrowing and The Priceinto books I really did think of the process as directing onto the page (Cast it, production design it, light it, score it, edit it…). You will be shocked at how quickly in this process you will find the point of view and the voice of your narrator or point-of-view character – which is truly the most fun part of writing a novel. You’ve read a million books, haven’t you? The fact is you actually know how to do this already.

4. Work on the novel every day. Even if it’s only five stolen minutes at a time. Commit to it and your creative mind will realize you’re serious and work overtime to make it happen.

5. Start to familiarize yourself with the publishing industry through the vast number of internet resources available to you. Join an author's organization in your genre: International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, Horror Writers Association, Mystery Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, or at least look at their websites for resource links.

 
6. Find a great critique group or a critique buddy. It’s a sad fact that overworked and underpaid editors don’t edit much any more, and many expect authors to get intensive editing notes from critique groups or beta readers.  

7. Read your work aloud. Your entire book. To yourself or others. There is no better way to catch errors and awkwardnesses, and polish the flow and pacing of a novel, than reading aloud.

8. When the book is wonderful and amazing, the best you can make it, use your film agent to help you get a literary agent. That’s your fastest route in. But also, literary agents are far more accessible than film agents; they actually go to writing conferences specifically to meet aspiring authors and hear pitches.  

9. Network in the genre community/ies that suit your book. Authors are mindblowingly supportive of up-and-coming authors, and there are Facebook and other groups where you can meet authors who can do worlds to help you, from passing your book on to their agent (really!) to providing you with those all-important blurbs for the cover.

10. Know that you can do this! There is nothing different about it but the medium – it’s all writing. At the very least, you owe it to yourself to try.

- Alexandra Sokoloff

 

Want more? There's more:

 

STEALING HOLLYWOOD  ebook, $3.99    
STEALING HOLLYWOOD  print, $14.99
How to write a book or script using the Three-Act, Eight-Sequence structure of filmmaking, with ten full movie breakdowns and tons of movie examples.







WRITING LOVE ebook, $2.99

All the basics of Stealing Hollywood, but focused on the elements of romance and love stories, with ten full romantic movie breakdowns and tons of movie examples.

 

 

 

 

And if you prefer video lessons with personal feedback:

Write a Book in the New Year - online workshop

 

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February Full Moon and Huntress Moon series sale, 99c!

 The last few nights I’ve been restless sleeping because of the incredibly bright waxing moon, full tonight.

 

The February full moon is called variously, by various Native tribes: Snow Moon, Wolf Moon, and Bitter Moon.

 

I took BITTER MOON as the name for the fourth book in the HUNTRESS MOON series - all six books currently on sale 99c each - and you can add RC Bray’s award-winning audio for just $3.99).

 

 As you might guess by the cover, this book takes Roarke deep into the desert, following a sixteen year old cold case that may be the key to Cara's bloody history. It's probably the most mystical of the books, unfolding on a dual time line, with the present and past intersecting as Roarke and fourteen-year old Cara both race to stop a sadistic serial predator.

There are new characters I think you'll love as much as I do, and you'll find out much more about Cara's past. And there are new settings! The California desert is possibly my favorite place on the planet, and for this one I'll be taking you to the magical Coachella Valley (yes, home to the Coachella music festival) and the wine country of Temecula.

 

I believe BITTER MOON is the best of the series, and a lot of reviewers agree.

 

 

 

Instead of trying to describe why on my own, I’ll leave it to Nancy Bilyeau, reviewing for ITW’s The Big Thrill:

 

 

In the fourth novel in the series, the action is suspenseful, the atmosphere eerie, the characters nuanced.

 

But BITTER MOON accomplishes a truly remarkable feat: It is both a prequel that explores the harrowing history and psychological development of Cara Lindstrom as it unfolded 16 years ago in a town in the California desert, and a present day narrative that follows FBI agent Matthew Roarke as he investigates her history—and finds himself on the trail of long-ago sadistic predator who wa never caught.

 

With a plot that swivels back and forth between alternating points of view, the two characters are literally in the same place but sixteen years apart in time, their arcs drawing closer and closer to a tense finish.

 

Sokoloff makes further choices that push the novel into fresh territory.  What puts Roarke in moredanger is that he is not on the job as an FBI agent during BITTER MOON. At the end of the preceding novel, he was shaken and disturbed by what happened to Cara. Finding answers takes over his life; it’s personal. “I wanted him to stop being an agent,” Sokoloff says. “He was really hit hard. ”

 

As for the inspiration for Cara Lindstrom, she came from several sources. One influence was the atmosphere in California surrounding the murders committed by the Zodiac Killer, a serial killer who was never caught. Another is the true story Sokoloff read about a nine-year-old girl who was at a friend’s house the night a rapist/murderer struck, and the girl herself was attacked and left for dead.

 

“This is a girl who has seen pure evil,” Sokoloff says.

 

* I will add that the plot of BITTER MOON, and Cara’s entire back story, has much to do with another horrific California crime: the abduction, rape, and burning alive of a young high school girl.)

 

Another feature of the series is the melding of careful research into crime forensics with plot developments that could possibly be supernatural. On one page, a reader finds discussion of the latest technology in evidence rape kits; on another, there’s a suggestion of a shamanic vision.

 

“There are some readers who are absolutely convinced that there is nothing supernatural in the books, and others who are convinced that the books are supernatural,” says Sokoloff, laughing.

 

 

Full review/interview here:  https://www.thebigthrill.org/2016/10/bitter-moon-by-alexandra-sokoloff/

 

Thanks, Nancy!!

 

 

 

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For Martin Luther King Jr. Day: SELMA story analysis

It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Why not celebrate this American hero and work on your storytelling craft—by watching Selma?

 

I’ve been doing a breakdown of the movie for my online Screenwriting Tricks for Authorsworkshop. The film has a wildly ambitious goal: to depict the monolith of U.S. racism; to educate its audience about King, a key civil rights battle, and the history of voter suppression in America; to break the history down into understandable segments to change the hearts and minds of its audience; and to prompt present-day action by awakening both rage and inspiration.

 

Director Ava DuVernay brings not just her brilliance but some serious documentary chops to this movie. Her films 13thand When They See Us are also must-sees for this moment.

 

Screenwriter Paul Webb was inspired to write the script from talks with Dick Goodwin, a speechwriter for President Lyndon Johnson (and husband of Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin).

 

When I do film breakdowns in live workshops or class, I screen the film and talk over it. What I suggest here is you watch the whole film just to experience it, and then watch it again 15 minute sequence by 15 minute sequence.

 

In this post, I’ll jump-start that process for you by breaking down Sequence One.

 

First I want to point out two general techniques that the filmmakers are using to accomplish their huge goal of portraying the evil of racism and effecting intellectual, emotional, and political change.

 

1.    UNITY of time, place and action. I’ve always thought biopics are maybe the hardest genre to get right. But this isn’t a biopic, and it announces that in the title. It’s not called King, it’s called Selma.

 

The filmmakers have chosen one event to illuminate King’s life. That is classic UNITY: a storytelling technique detailed by the first story structure guru: Aristotle, in his book The Poetics. Selmafocuses on one representative event to illuminate King’s life, the civil rights battle, and the ongoing historical struggle against racism.

 

2.   The KIND of story it is: they filmmakers have chosen the structural form of a war story and used storytelling conventions of great war movies to keep the stakes high and emotional tensions fraught.

 

And it also deftly presents a dystopian society, as we see in dystopian fiction like The Hunger Games. But in Selma this dystopian society is real, and we’re all living in it.

 

Let’s look at the Set Up in Sequence One.