Ping me!!!!
Oh, and grumpy and sarcastic does not equal "morally gray".
Game of Thrones had such promise. I got hold of the first 3 seasons at about the time the fourth season came out. I subscribed to HBO and watched religiously all the way to the end. In the final season, Beniof and Weiss decided that they wanted to wrap it up and so they quickly they together the ending so they could get on to a different project. It doesn’t help that James Martin didn’t finish the books. First they killed john snow and then revived his corpse. Then they put denerys and john snow into bed together despite the fact that she was his aunt. They made Denerys into a genocidal maniac and told us that it was because she went crazy. They killed all of the wolves and the head of the white walkers and then had cersi die in a rock pile. I was so insulted by that wrapping up that I canceled HBO and I swear never to subscribe to HBO again and if I watch any of their shows it will be second hand.
“Action is character.” - F. Scott somebody....
Many writers follow the ancient template that Joseph Campbell outlined as the hero’s journey:
—The lead character is a nobody in the town where they live.
—They set out on a grand adventure to distant lands.
—They have terrible trials and tribulations.
—They overcome those challenges and survive.
—They return home as a wise hero.
If you look you will see this all over the place.
Would that be this?
https://www.amazon.com/Dimensions-Essence-Laz-Mataz-ebook/dp/B0FDR3NQBB/
Unfortunately, in the modern world, book and movie sales are most often determined by marketing efforts rather than the quality of the content.
Having said that, good luck to you. And congratulations on completing it. That is an accomplishment regardless of the sales or reviews.
Please kindly add me to your ping list.
My big writing mistake was taking a class in screenplay writing. It was addiction at first sitting. I used to write fiction and did all the stuff you’re supposed to do. Then I tried my hand at movie scripts and I lost all ability to write novel style. Script are weird animals because you’re writing for a group of collaborators. With a novel, you’re all on your own and do it all. With a screenplay, you can’t step on the toes of the set decorator, you can’t limit the imagination of the casting director, etc. You give broad strokes that will fire the imagination of your collaborators and make them want to complete what you’ve started. My screenplay instructor was very critical of actors. If you described what they looked like too closely, they wouldn’t think they could audition for that role. All very strange. For example, never describe the color of your character’s eyes. Weird?
Another thing about screenplays is that the action goes like bat out of hell. You don’t rhapsodize over the fragrance of a flower or the shadows on a wall. You just move it along following the fixed outline of the timed pieces.
I didn’t believe in the timing business so I went to see The Fugitive with a stopwatch. Matched perfectly. Learning experience.
Hired my teacher as a consultant on my first screenplay and learned a lot more about writing dialog. People don’t talk in sentences. Record conversations and really listen to the way people speak. It’s fascinating.
And when you send a script to an agent, it was eye opening how rigid their nitpicking requirements were. Apparently, low level interns do the first read at agencies. The number of submissions is staggering and they use the nits to wipe out anyone not already in the business who doesn’t know which nits MUST be followed. That reduces their workload.
And even a query letter for an agent follows a set formula that you MUST follow. Same for a book proposal. Same for a TV spec script. There are books that give the details of the formulas and they’re well worth the money.
The agent I finally settled on ran into a guilt trip when they couldn’t get information on my screenplays out of their Hollywood partner, Writers & Artists, for the full two years they were pushing them. So the agent, which I’d chosen because they were the NYC book agent for John Grisham, offered to read a novel proposal from me.
I COULDN’T WRITE IT! Screenplays had totally changed my style and I couldn’t force myself to go back into novel model writing. One of my regrets.
But I do recommend classes as they usually know the inside info you need to know to get past the entrance door.
Ping list too, please…
Forgot to ping you. Wanted to talk about this topic in voice mode, author-to-author.
What else did your mother say?
Regards,