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adaptation

Why Your Draft Doesn’t Make Sense (Plus What To Do About It)

So, Your Draft Doesn’t Make Sense It’s the note every writer – new to professional – dreads: your draft doesn’t make sense. Eeek! When your draft doesn’t make sense, it can be very overwhelming. When we get the note our stories are hard to follow, it’s easy to sink into hopelessness and despair. Some of us may even take it as proof we’re ‘terrible writers’ too and spiral even more. Perhaps you’re confused, too? Maybe you don’t understand why your script editor, beta reader or peer reviewer finds your story so hard to follow. You may feel as if the… Read More »Why Your Draft Doesn’t Make Sense (Plus What To Do About It)

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Sweets To The Sweet: Candyman, A Startlingly Relevant Halloween Horror

Candyman: The Short Story Candyman, Candyman, Candyman, Candyman, Candyman … Clive Barker’s 1985 short story The Forbidden is a haunting exploration of poverty and disenfranchisement. It was first published in 1985 as part of his ground-breaking horror anthology, Books of Blood. Set in the desperate sinkhole estate of Spector Street, Liverpool, England, the story takes place in October with several references to Bonfire Night being the following week. This means we can be fairly sure the events of the story take place around Halloween. The Forbidden follows Helen, a graduate student. Originally researching graffiti as part of her thesis, she… Read More »Sweets To The Sweet: Candyman, A Startlingly Relevant Halloween Horror

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How Does Character Motivation Work? (Your Secret To Writing Great Characters)

All About Character Motivation NEWSFLASH: great characterisation should lie at the heart of every narrative, whether that’s a novel or screenplay. These characters should drive the plot forward and engage audiences emotionally. What’s more, modern audiences and readers demand nuanced, layered characterisation as standard in the 2020s. One essential element that brings characters to life is their motivation – the driving force behind their actions and behaviours. I like to call this the ‘WHY’ of characterisation. Put simply, character motivation can be summed up as “A character wants or needs something for some reason, but will have to strive to… Read More »How Does Character Motivation Work? (Your Secret To Writing Great Characters)

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Pitching Made Easy: A Foolproof Guide to Writing a Killer Pitch Deck

What Is A Pitch Deck? If you’ve been asked for a pitch deck and thought ‘WTAF is that??’, you’re not alone. One of the biggest issues with this screenwriting malarkey is the terminology seems to change every five bloody minutes. Put simply, a pitch deck is a short document that helps sell your story ‘off the page’. The idea is an agent, producer or script reader can assess your idea BEFORE they read your script. You may have seen them described online as … Series Bibles (for spec TV pilots) Treatment The Package (for spec and movies in production) A… Read More »Pitching Made Easy: A Foolproof Guide to Writing a Killer Pitch Deck

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Top 10 Authors Who Pivoted To A Screenwriting Career

Pivoting From Novel Writing To A Screenwriting Career If you want to pivot from novel writing to a screenwriting career, you’re not alone. Of course, you may just want to be a screenwriter full stop (and that’s okay too! Or maybe you want to write a novel of your script??). LOTS of novelists have tried their hand at a screenwriting career. Some have had more success than others! Here’s just 10 of them. Let’s go … 1) Roald Dahl Frequently left off lists like these, Roald Dahl boasts an impressive screenwriting career. As well as adapting his own classic book… Read More »Top 10 Authors Who Pivoted To A Screenwriting Career

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It’s Never ONLY About The Story In Screenwriting – And That’s A GOOD Thing

‘It should ONLY be about the story!’ I often talk to writers about the commercial aspects of screenwriting. As someone who has seen lots of deals happen, I know that money talks. The industry is NOT a patron of the arts. It follows the $$$ because it’s ‘show BUSINESS’ after all. This means … Remakes and reboots are here to stay Great TV shows get cancelled if they don’t get enough views in the first few weeks (yes, really!) Why badly-written movies may still earn stacks Or why indie productions can sink without a trace if they don’t have enough… Read More »It’s Never ONLY About The Story In Screenwriting – And That’s A GOOD Thing

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The Witcher: 7 Important Lessons In Adaptation

The Witcher On Netflix  The Witcher is an epic fantasy adventure filled with magic, monsters, and romance. It is based on books written by the Polish author Andrzej Sapkowskiare, as well as a video game series. It’s an excellent example of how to adapt an original source. Here are 7 adaptation lessons from The Witcher … Enjoy! (SPOILER ALERT – If you have not watched or read the books, be aware there may be some in this post). LESSON #1: Add more PoVs to Make It More Interesting Geralt of Rivia is the main character of The Witcher, both in… Read More »The Witcher: 7 Important Lessons In Adaptation

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A Feminist Ranking of 10 Rom Com Heroines

Feminist Problems I sometimes feel like I’m betraying myself as a feminist with my rom com obsession. I live for the meet-cutes, Cinderella moments, and happily ever afters … All the unfiltered romance tropes that both make the genre so great and get it (unfairly) dismissed as superficial pap. But rom coms can and do offer a space in which feminist ideas can flourish. To prove it, I’m ranking some of my favourite leading ladies (not very feminist, but fun!) from least to most feminist. 10) Kathleen Kelly, You’ve Got Mail I enjoy a Nora Ephron rom-com as much as… Read More »A Feminist Ranking of 10 Rom Com Heroines

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Why GRACE Took 19 Years To Make It To Screen

The Grace TV Series Have you read the Roy Grace novels? Then you know the TV adaptation starts Sunday, March 14th on ITV. I can’t wait, plus I am a huge Peter Janes fan, so I am delighted to welcome him back to B2W. Over to you, Peter! On Adaptation One of the first question authors get asked when they meet someone for the first time … ‘Have you had anything on television I might have seen?’ ‘Yes,’ I told a builder at a party in Brighton, back in 1999, ‘in fact I had a miniseries of my novel, Host,… Read More »Why GRACE Took 19 Years To Make It To Screen

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What Are YOUR Writing Influences? Here’s 14 Of Mine

All About Influences We are not creating stories in a vacuum, so we all have writing influences. I also often say writers need to research ‘what’s gone before’ when it comes to … concept genre conventions character tropes plotting archetypes tones styles storyworlds Since B2W needs to practice what it preaches, I sit down at the beginning of EVERY project and do this too. The Coven Is Out Now Since The Coven is released NOW, I thought I would share 14 books, TV shows and movies that influenced me as I was writing. Some of these influences may be a… Read More »What Are YOUR Writing Influences? Here’s 14 Of Mine

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7 Writing Lessons From Bingeing OUTLANDER

Outlander – Books vs. TV series Outlander is a typical TV series meant to get us hooked and binging. Binging on TV series in 2020 became an acceptable habit, though not one I was proud of. However I spent 10 days bingeing the TV series and reading its four books. Here are the benefits I found for bingeing and adaptation. Ready? Let’s go! Lessons Learned WARNING: if you have not watched or read the books, there be SPOILERS in this post! The story begins after World War 2. Combat nurse Claire Beauchamp Randall is vacationing with her husband, Frank, in the… Read More »7 Writing Lessons From Bingeing OUTLANDER

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Playing The Long Game: 12 Movies Writers Can Learn From

Playing The Long Game No doubt you’ve been advised to ‘play the long game’ when it comes to  making movies, but what does this mean? Well, it’s gone down in screenwriting folklore that it took writer-producer Allan Scott 30 years to get his Netflix smash hit The Queen’s Gambit made. Walter Tevis’s chess novel was published in 1983 – and Scott optioned it immediately, buying the exclusive film rights in 1993. Over the ensuing years he concentrated on trying to get a movie version made (“I won’t embarrass all the directors with whom we didn’t make the movie but I… Read More »Playing The Long Game: 12 Movies Writers Can Learn From

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