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4 Tips For Building Your Screenwriting Competition Submissions Strategy

Screenwriting Competitions can be an excellent way to ignite your screenwriting career. Benefits may include: Circulation of your script to producers/agents, garnering industry attention Networking opportunities with industry professionals Marketing soundbites to include in cover letters or on your website The motivation of a deadline Strengthen your writers’ CV (aka resumé) Boost you confidence in your abilities as a writer Script analysis with an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of your script $$££€€ cash prizes BUT … there are now so many screenwriting competitions, preparing submissions is time-consuming and can set you back quite a bit of $$££€€. So… Read More »4 Tips For Building Your Screenwriting Competition Submissions Strategy

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9 Reasons Why Writers Make Brilliant Friends

Friendly Writers It’s always nice to be appreciated, so many thanks to Brendan at Global English Editing for getting in touch with this fun infographic on why writers make brilliant friends. I wholeheartedly approve of all the points here (ahem), especially number 8! And as for point 7, as anyone knows who was at the first phase of the LondonSWF Talent Campus supported by Skillset last weekend, I drank FAR too much! Coffee, alcohol, you name it … I was on the ceiling with enthusiasm or on the floor hungover for most of it  (yes, I’m still recovering!). By the way,… Read More »9 Reasons Why Writers Make Brilliant Friends

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5 Key Questions To Help Edit Your Own Writing

As writers, it’s really hard not to get too close to your work. And it should be! If you’re not getting too close to it then there’s no blood going to it, either. But there are some things that we find it incredibly hard to spot in our own writing because in our heads all the work is done already. Sharing your work is absolutely essential. My writing group, Kites and Violence, has been running for nearly four years now and these are some of the notes that get given out time and time again (including to me!): 1) Are… Read More »5 Key Questions To Help Edit Your Own Writing

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25 Writing Secrets of Famous Authors

 Sign up for the B2W Mailing List, HERE! 1) Stephen King If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut. 2) Suzanne Collins All the writing elements are the same. You need to tell a good story… You’ve got good characters… People think there’s some dramatic difference between writing ‘Little Bear’ and the ‘Hunger Games,’ and as a writer, for me, there isn’t. 3) George Orwell For a creative writer possession of the ‘truth’… Read More »25 Writing Secrets of Famous Authors

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5 Ways To Evaluate Your Feedback

So last weekend I taught my “Breaking Into Script Reading Course” for LondonSWF … And what a weekend! I had a terrific time with some really switched-on delegates who brought their energy and enthusiasm to the room, two days just FLEW by and I had a blast. If you missed the class, please check out the fantastic live tweet my scripty sisters @SoFluid & @BrideofChrist provided … Their thumbs must have been ON FIRE because they did approx 70% of the nearly ONE THOUSAND #Bang2write tweets over the weekend! Amazing. View the live tweet HERE and find out about other… Read More »5 Ways To Evaluate Your Feedback

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6 Tips To Write Science Fiction On A Budget

As emerging screenwriters, there’s no point writing a science fiction short, right? We can’t hope to get it made. It’s all CGI talking monkeys and Interstellar spacecraft. Yeah? Well if you think like that you might as well give up now. Your job is to think outside the box. Your job is to make it work. 1) Don’t Overdose on SFX You’re making your film to convince people you can be taken seriously, so it’s better to avoid asteroids on strings unless you are shooting a ‘Plan 9 from Outer Space’. Do you want a film that has people talking… Read More »6 Tips To Write Science Fiction On A Budget

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I’ve Written A Book, Now What? (Indie Versus Traditional Publishing)

Updated Following the runaway success of the rebooted “I’ve Written A Screenplay, Now What?” page, lots of Bang2writers requested a similar one for book writing and publishing. So without further ado, here’s Luke with a short and sweet rundown of the basics. There’s plenty of great linkage too. Enjoy everyone! So, you’ve written a book Congrats! Go out and celebrate. Pat yourself on the back. Pat yourself all over. Eat a cake. Eat two. Writing a book is hard, so you should celebrate it. However, writing is only the first step in publishing a book, because that’s the ultimate goal… Read More »I’ve Written A Book, Now What? (Indie Versus Traditional Publishing)

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7 Steps To Road Test Your Concept

You MUST road test your concepts BEFORE you start writing. I can’t emphasise this enough. Too many writers conceive half-baked ideas and then try and run with them regardless … Then wonder why they hit roadblocks and go down various insane detours. Don’t spend aeons trying to make a draft work when it’s simply a doomed exercise, because you haven’t done the foundation work. But how to road test your concept? Try these 7 simple steps: 1. Write a logline/ novel pitch 25-60 words, describing the characters and the situation they find themselves in. Remember those all important 3 Cs.… Read More »7 Steps To Road Test Your Concept

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5 Ways To Use Feedback Effectively On Your Screenplay or Novel

So, you’ve got some feedback on your writing … Maybe it’s great … Yay! Or maybe it’s bad. Boo. Or maybe it’s both? OMFG. Whatever: you need to use that feedback effectively in order to rewrite. You know this. But what next? This is often where writers come unstuck … ‘Cos they don’t know how to use feedback effectively, even with GOOD notes!!! Sometimes it’s because there seems like too much choice … Other times it’s because problems with a draft seem insurmountable, or life gets in the way. Sometimes all of the above – or something else. Ack. CUE WRITER… Read More »5 Ways To Use Feedback Effectively On Your Screenplay or Novel

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Dealing With Feedback: Losses & Gains

Lots of Bang2writers say they know they should get feedback on their work – but confess that once they have, they’re not always terribly illuminated by it. In fact, sometimes they feel even more confused. It should be noted this can happen whether they have paid for a reader like me or got their feedback via peer review. Surprisingly, this can happen with GOOD notes as much as bad too, so it also doesn’t depend on the quality of the notes, either. It depends wholly on the writer themselves. Knowing how to deal with feedback is a skill in itself.… Read More »Dealing With Feedback: Losses & Gains

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We Luv Short Shorts

Many thanks to Dave Herman, who asks about the business of finding a producer/director for your short film. So let’s fast forward the writing part. You’ve got a short: it’s amazing. Now what? As Dave rightly points out on my Facebook group Bang2writers (join here), there is a well trodden path into TV and Film (FYI, “well trodden” doesn’t mean “easy”), yet short film *feels* a lot more like a free-for-all. Where do you even start getting that film OFF the page and rendered as image? First off, I can only tell you how I’ve done it and what’s happened.… Read More »We Luv Short Shorts

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The Feedback Exchange — for script leads?

The Feedback Exchange is really gathering momentum and it’s great to see so many names on there. I’m not aware of any people who’ve *met* virtually and exchanged feedback yet because of it – so if you have, DO let me know! I want to know the successes AND the horror stories. If you want to join The Feedback Exchange, leave your details here. Secondly, it’s come to my attention not one but TWO directors/filmmakers have approached writers listed on The Feedback Exchange. This was unanticipated, but very welcome – so if you’re a filmmaker, please do use the list… Read More »The Feedback Exchange — for script leads?

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