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5 Times It’s OK To Sacrifice Facts For Drama

Getting Your Facts Right Writing historical fiction, I have come to learn, is like navigating a slippery slope along a precarious cliff. God forbid you get facts wrong. Anyone who knows anything about the time period you are writing about will let you know that you did: in the reviews, on the internet, for all to see. Let’s face it. Getting the clothing down, the setting, the politics and social graces of the times is the easy part. Keeping people entertained in another time period is what makes the story a story. So I have had to take liberties with… Read More »5 Times It’s OK To Sacrifice Facts For Drama

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5 Reasons Why Gaming Has Its Place In Literature by Christina Lewis

Video games don’t get much of a mention here on B2W, so I was interested to hear from Christina on her thoughts about gaming and literature, especially as they chime with our previous posts on transmedia. I agree mediums are NOT as far apart as writers might first think, which in turn enables a lot of NEW opportunities. Some good food for thought for Writer Wednesday … enjoy! With the world of paper books and print media crumbling all around us, it’s hard to believe that there will be an existing industry for publishing in a few years’ time. Everywhere… Read More »5 Reasons Why Gaming Has Its Place In Literature by Christina Lewis

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6 Things Olivia Hetreed Can Teach New Writers

A fantastic post from KT Parker again, this time about top screenwriter Olivia Hetreed. B2W was privileged to do a script report on Olivia’s screenplay for WUTHERING HEIGHTS many moons ago (find out what other produced films I have done coverage for or consulted on, HERE). Olivia is a writer who really knows what she’s talking about craft-wise, but she also has some particularly good advice on go-getting for female writers too. Enjoy … For most of us, Olivia Hetreed will have first come onto our radar when she was BAFTA-nominated for her screenplay of Tracy Chevalier’s best-selling “Girl With… Read More »6 Things Olivia Hetreed Can Teach New Writers

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4 Reasons **That Moment You Don’t Like** Is NOT A Deus Ex Machina

All About The Deus Ex Machina So, the Deus Ex Machina. What is it? Well to know a word or phrase is to be able to define a word or phrase (as my English teacher always used to say!). So here is the dictionary’s definition … Pretty straightforward, tbh. In other words, by today’s standards, it’s *something* that’s parachuted in to a story to SAVE characters in some way and/or SOLVE a problem FOR THEM. Obviously, the Deus Ex Machina is lame. No one wants to put one in their stories. Oh, except those using it for comedic effect of… Read More »4 Reasons **That Moment You Don’t Like** Is NOT A Deus Ex Machina

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Inconceivable! 14 Reasons To Love THE PRINCESS BRIDE

The other day, someone asked me what my favourite film is and I immediately replied, “The Princess Bride!” I work in a cinema so this isn’t an unusual question to be asked but it did get me thinking about why The Princess Bride is my favourite film, and what I, as a writer, can learn from it. 1.  “As You Wish.” At heart, the plot is a simple love story between Buttercup and Westley. Their love is established within two scenes before Westley leaves, and the rest of the film shows the couple trying to overcome various obstacles so they… Read More »Inconceivable! 14 Reasons To Love THE PRINCESS BRIDE

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2 Laws Every Screenwriter Should Know

Laws You Should Know There is a lot of legal groundwork to cover before writing a script – anything you create which goes into the public eye will come under scrutiny from a number of organisations, and any breaches could land you with serious legal and financial troubles. Of course, these kinds of issues may also prevent your work from ever being produced or may even inhibit screenings once a film has been made. Understanding the legal implications of screenwriting before proceeding is the best way to prevent any future issues. We know this sounds pretty daunting, but the pieces… Read More »2 Laws Every Screenwriter Should Know

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5 Tips For Writing Period Movies

I love being transported by movies, not just entertained, but transported, moved up the ladder to a different reality. I love walking out of the cinema with a story and storyworld still sticking to me, like napalm in the morning. This explains why I’m attracted to period pieces (and “period piece” also includes science fiction films, which are period pieces that look forward rather than backward). A lot of my screenwriting – paid gigs and spec work both – has focused on slips up or down the timeline. So here are a few guideposts that have been helpful to me… Read More »5 Tips For Writing Period Movies

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7 Big Mistakes In Unpublished Novels

Unpublished Novels I’m reading more and more unpublished novels these days for Bang2writers. Just like the screenplays, I’m seeing lots of the same mistakes. So, here’s a round up of things to check out, so you can avoid those common pitfalls when you make your submissions: 7) Consistency of Tense & Mixed Tenses When I read unpublished novels for Bang2writers, one of the biggest issues is consistency of tense. This means the writer will chop and change from tense to tense, seemingly on a whim. Whilst this is not automatically incorrect, it frequently is … Particularly if you’re swapping tenses… Read More »7 Big Mistakes In Unpublished Novels

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Your Book Is Movie …

… I heard this advice at a seminar at London Book Fair 2010. It was a real watershed moment for me. It was quite literally the best advice I ever heard, because it finally unlocked the idea in my head that had been percolating for about five years, which enabled me to craft my novel so that it sold. But what does it mean? Seems to me there’s two ways of thinking about “your book is a movie”: Your book will want to “unlock” all possible markets … In other words, if your book can be easily adapted INTO a… Read More »Your Book Is Movie …

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Breaking Into Theatre By Carla Grauls

Many thanks to Bang2writer Carla for sharing her insights on breaking into theatre – some really good advice here. Enjoy! The first play I wrote was a dark comedy except that it wasn’t a comedy. It was just dark. After that first play written at university, I have been involved in developing a new play with a theatre, a dark comedy. This time I have taken steps to ensure it is funny…not just disturbing. My play Occupied will be previewed at Theatre 503 in July this year as part of Labfest: a season of new writing. I was invited to… Read More »Breaking Into Theatre By Carla Grauls

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Novel Writing: Characters, First/Third Person, Slang, Adaptation, Self Publishing

Many thanks to the Bang2writers who sent in these questions via Twitter, email and Facebook over the last two weeks regarding actual novel writing and its side interests, such as adaptation. Jennie asks: How many characters “should” be in a novel? In direct contrast to screenwriting, novels can have as many characters as they want. Novels don’t even have to stay with the same protagonist; they don’t necessarily need an antagonist; they can have a huge cast of characters to focus on; they can have an unreliable narrator – YOU NAME IT. This is the freeing – and often very… Read More »Novel Writing: Characters, First/Third Person, Slang, Adaptation, Self Publishing

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Copyright & Adaptation

Scriptpunk asked this on the Bang2writers page on Facebook: A Q for You! Do you have any idea when book copyright goes into the public domain? ie. Jane Austin, Charles Dickens, Bronte Novels – would you need to get permission from the estate to adapt or are they in the public domain therefore open to reintepretation al a Autin’s Emma as 1990s Classic Clueless? UK copyright lasts the author’s lifetime plus 70 years. So, the works of Shakespeare, Chaucer, The Bronte Sisters, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and all their mates are up for grabs. You don’t need to ask anyone… Read More »Copyright & Adaptation

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