WHAT FICTION WRITERS CAN LEARN FROM THE OSCAR WINNING MOVIES

There's nothing better than a good movie, and there are six valuable lessons we can learn from writers of screenplays:

1) SCREENWRITERS DON'T WASTE TIME GETTING INTO THE STORY. Since we live in a world of sound bites, text messages, IM, and emoticons, readers don't have the patience to open a book, much less concentrate long. Therefore, we need to take this attention deficit disorder into account and make sure there's an emotional connection right from the beginning story.

2) SCREENWRITERS NAIL THE BEGINNING. As novel writers, we must revise the first ten pages over and over and over again. Revision is the only way to get it right.

3) SCREENWRITERS CREATE MEMORABLE HEROES. 

And villains. As authors, we need to make the protagonist a fully rounded character. This is especially true if the protagonist is also the POV narrator.

4) SCREENWRITERS WRITE ECONOMICALLY.  Every line in a screenplay moves the story forward. Every scene in a novel should be there for a reason. We must not overwrite. We must delete, kill our "darlings," get rid of  "on the nose" dialogue, and cut out lots of backstory. 

5) SCREENWRITERS CREATE GREAT DIALOGUE. 

We need to make sure every character in our story has a unique voice. Dialogue should reveal character and move the story forward.

5) SCREENWRITERS KNOW THEIR AUDIENCE  As novelists, we need to analyze our readership, the genre we're writing in, and the type of readers we want to attract. Choosing a few Beta readers from this group is helpful during revision.

6) SCREENWRITERS UNDERSTAND THE THREE-ACT STRUCTURE. Novel writers can benefit by analyzing this story structure. In a nutshell:

By page ten, readers want to be introduced to your hero, know what he or she wants, and feel comfortable in the genre of the story. 

By the end of Act One, readers should have an idea where the story is headed, what the stakes are, and the obstacles preventing the hero from achieving that goal. By the middle of Act Two, readers expect the stakes to be raised, a new character introduced, and/or a more difficult obstacle.  

By the end of Act Two, readers know your hero will be in terrible trouble, backed into a corner, thrown into a crucible, or caught in the midst of some inescapable situation. And the tension builds. 

In Act Three, readers expect your hero to overcome the odds, create a new plan, or escape, learn to deal with, or thwart an impossible situation. And this leads to the big satisfying ending. 

OSCAR WINNING MOVIES provide enjoyment for audiences and lessons for authors.  Writing is an art form, and novelists and screenwriters can learn from each other. Analyzing screenplays can become a part of your creative process and lead to better story scenes, structure, and dialogue.

STRUCTURE YOUR NOVEL

STRUCTURE YOUR NOVEL FIVE WAYS

#1: START WITH A HOOK

The hook pulls the reader into the story. You have about 20-50 pages in a novel. Actually, agents and readers might give you one page, so make sure the hook is a good one. 

#2: INTRODUCE YOUR HERO

Establish your hero early. It might be your POV narrator. The reader must connect with your hero and other story characters and identify with them in some universal way. Make certain your hero is flawed in some way but capable of surprising and startling things.

#3: ESTABLISH THE STAKES

If the hero has nothing to lose, who cares? To keep the story interesting, make sure the reader understands what's at stake from the beginning. Make the stakes dramatic and important to the hero. High stakes will force your hero to do something and move the story forward.

#4: FORESHADOW EVENTS

When revising, be sure to hint of things that come later in the story. If the reader suspects impending doom or imminent change, he or she will keep turning pages.

#5: CREATE CONFLICT FOR CHANGE

Story is conflict. Without conflict, there's no change. Nothing in a story should remain static. It's a character's response to conflict that reveals his or her character and brings about change in the plot, establishes a character arc, and perhaps offers a surprising result in the end.

SHOW, DON'T TELL

SHOW, DON'T TELL

SHOWING brings readers into the story instead of keeping them as distant observers. I usually quote Anton Chekov. "Don't tell me the moon is shining. Show me the glint of light on broken glass."

And usually my students ask what I mean. What does "show, don't tell" actually mean and how can it be accomplished?

It's almost a cliché when writing instructors give students this age-old advice. I must admit that I suggest this revision at least once a week.

SHOWING is accomplished through specific and sensory detail, the smells and sounds, what is seen and heard and how something tastes.

Concrete nouns and the right action verbs also contribute to showing.

Authors must work with the immediate physical and emotional actions of their story characters. SHOWING evokes feelings through the use of 1) specific detail, 2) action verbs, and 3) active voice.

As John Gardiner says, "It's by being convincing in the reality and detail of how we evoke our imagined world— by what the characters do and say—that we persuade the reader to read the story we're telling as if it really happened, even though we all know it didn't."

Dialogue is a good way to show. Dialogue is action.

Characters are speaking and interacting. Like in a movie scene, this is action.

Authors, however, must make dialogue count. It must not be meaningless dialogue. instead, it must reveal character and move the story forward. 

Careful consideration to the way each character speaks is important. The dialogue must be right so that what characters say is consistent with who they are, the way they talk, and how they think about things. People speak differently, with attitude, tone of voice, and hardly anyone ever speaks in complete sentences.

SHOWING is dramatic and makes readers feel in the moment with the character and the action taking place.

TELLING is perfectly acceptable, useful for exposition, a way to cover ground as a narrator, and a way to supply information.

TELLING is hearing something secondhand. It describes the situation rather than the story, but it's SHOWING that makes the story come alive and brings readers into a scene. 

Specific details, action verbs, good dialogue and active voice can accomplish this all important feat and improve the work-in-progress dramatically.

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

Well, okay, I must admit I'm no scientist and perhaps what I write about in my twelfth upcoming book, CHANGED IN THE NIGHT, is really not science at all, only pseudoscience . . . but what the bleep do I know? 

I certainly don't know the theory of everything.

Ages ago, back in my teen years, high school science meant dissecting dead things marinating in formaldehyde and memorizing hieroglyphic symbols and equations, but that was then and this is now. 

So down the rabbit hole I go.

My White Rabbit Friend  (Photo by Pam Fish)

At this late date, I'm attracted by how thought can affect water molecules, tantalized by the possibility of parallel universes where carbon copies of me are leading totally separate lives from the life I'm living, and curious if other dimensions might be filled with thinking and breathing life forms. I'm also puzzled about our ways of seeing and the evidence that the mind can actually alter events through meditation or intense concentration. 

Who wouldn't be awed by the incredible fact that everything is energy, including you and me, and it's our perceptions that create our reality? 

Now these are scientific bites I can chew on awhile and find easy to digest. In fact, I want to devour more and don't even mind the homework as I attempt to explain the unexplainable to readers who are most likely light-years ahead of me when it comes to Science 101, an advanced species compared to the good old days of Roswell and UFOs over the White House and sightings no one could explain.

Okay, I must admit I might have gone straight down the rabbit hole while writing CHANGED IN THE NIGHT, but I sure had a great time doing the research and poring over unclassified information and exploring quantum physics or, as scientists might want to suggest, quantum nonsense. 

As my old friend, Alice in Wonderland, might say, it's all quite a puzzle, isn't it? 

I'm an admirer of scientist Richard Dawkins who remarked that authors seem undecided whether their theme is quantum theory or consciousness, but since both ideas are equally appealing to me, does it really matter?

He's not referring to me, of course, or to my writing per se, but to the cult favorite, "What the Bleep Do We Know?" a film I've seen a few times.

Technology, quantum physics, and the cosmos seem to conspire to outdate us before we can grasp all the concepts. We update our apps and then update them hours later; we link devices that are outdated the minute we exit the store. It's impossible to stay current. 

Science is our future, no doubt about it. Our myths and legends indicate we surely come from star stuff, and it seems we're on a collision course with our future selves; maybe we really are our own worst enemy. 

Anyone seeking spiritual connections can surely find meaning in the stars even though science writer Margaret Wertheim claims, "No scientific discovery has proved so ripe for spiritual projection as the theories of quantum physics, replete with their quixotic qualities of uncertainty, simultaneity and parallelism." 

But it's exquisite fun for me to think about such things as I try to interpret meaning in the way planets are arranged and attempt to translate the synchronicity that reoccurs throughout life as evidence of our human decay or destiny. 

And even though my investigative search plunges me right down the rabbit hole, what's not to love about those quixotic qualities of quantum physics? 

How fortunate that young people today have all this information at their fingertips. As we race headlong into an uncertain future, I want my readers to appreciate the value of science and the secrets revealed by discovery, to be open minded about science religion. What better tools for their journey through life than a deep appreciation of the exciting theories of quantum physics with all the uncertainty, simultaneity and parallelism?

Parallel universes and the concepts of time and space are on my mind recently, and as the creator of a fictional world, these tantalizing ideas are woven into my plot as a way to arouse the curiosity of my readers. 

So I suppose in the final analysis, going down the rabbit hole isn't such a bad thing. Anything that engages readers and encourages them to further investigate interesting topics they might never have considered before is worthwhile. Our job as authors is to arouse awareness about the world we live in and impart insight into our human struggle to be better and more noble than we are. 

CHANGED IN THE NIGHT is the story of sixteen-year-old Allana Odette, an unstable loner marked by aliens. Abandoned and isolated and mourning the loss of her brother, she creates a portal that lures her into frightening dimensions where nothing is as it seems.  

IDEAS GROW LIKE RABBITS DURING RESEARCH

After being visited and marked by aliens, my sixteen-year-old protagonist Alana Odette Blair, aka, Allie, is diagnosed with AIWS, otherwise known as, the Alice in Wonderland Syndrome.

This little known ailment is only one example of what digging will turn up, and all fiction writers know the importance of solid research.

CHANGED IN THE NIGHT is set in 1952. Why did I choose that particular year?  Through research, I discovered UFOs were sighted over the White House.

July 20 - 0100 EDT: A Capitol Airlines flight out of National Airport reported unidentified flying objects resembling falling stars without tails that flew in all directions and hovered in place. 0105 EDT: Five witnesses at Andrews AFB reported seeing reddish-orange objects moving erratically. 0300 EDT: A Capitol Airlines flight incoming to National Airport reported an unidentified light following the airline to within four miles of the airport. 0430 to 0630 EDT: Air Force radar operators at Andrews AFB weather tower tracked ten unidentified flying objects as they approached the runway, scattered, and then made sharp turns and reversals of direction.

July 26 - 2115 EDT: UFO targets were clearly sighted on Air Route Traffic Control radar at National Airport. Civilian pilots observed glowing white objects on four occasions: a United Airlines pilot, two CAA pilots, and a National Airlines pilot who reported seeing a UFO flying directly a above his airliner. 2130 EDT: Andrews AFB radar operators confirmed “big target” on radar reported by ARTC. 2150 EDT: ARTC radar at National Airport tracked “sold returns” f four targets in “rough line abreast” and eight others scattered over the radarscope. 2154 EDT: Surveillance radar at Andrews AFB tracked a dozen unidentified flying objects in the Washington DC area. 2157 EDT: National Airport confirmed seeing at least a dozen UFOs over Washington DC. 2238 EDT: The Air Force Command Post scrambled two F-94 jet interceptors from New Castle AFB to investigate. Military officers arrived at the ARTC center and observed “seven good, solid targets.” By the time the F-94 jets arrived, no UFO targets remained onscreen and no visual contacts could be made.

DO THE HOMEWORK.

Ideas crop up like rabbits during research.

However, this was only the beginning of my research. For every episode of a sighting in my book, I needed to back it up with actual accounts. In addition, I researched the styles, trends, slang and attitudes of the fifties. I also reviewed the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor since that incident starts the chain of story events, and I read accounts and watched documentaries about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I struggled to learn about time and space and parallel dimensions, delved into the mysterious death of a cabinet member, read personal accounts from abductees, joined the Planetary Society, traveled to a site aliens had visited, witnessed the aurora borealis, studied ice caves, read Bible passages, mythology, and scientific theory, and discovered what it would be like to be locked up in a mental facility.

No, my research didn't incarcerate me in a mental ward, but it did force me into  improvisation. I relearned what it's like to drive a stick-shift Buick convertible, and I experienced meditation techniques, chakra cleaning, chanting, and sound baths for myself.

And yes, I've seen UFOs.

No wonder it takes so long to write a book! 

As my protagonist in CHANGED IN THE NIGHT was on a quest, I was on my own journey. Even though I'm no longer researching for this particular book, I have a continuing and profound interest in science, space exploration, and the unexplained in our mysterious and ever-changing Universe.

And yes, I believe science and religion are connected, that parallel universes exist, and that aliens are real. As humans, we are truly a miracle, but all of life is a miracle and there are many life forms, not only on Earth but surely throughout the Universe.

In order to pull readers into a time and place and situation, the author must create a feeling of verisimilitude throughout the story. While CHANGED IN THE NIGHT is fiction with elements of sci-fi and fantasy, it is rooted to significant factual events and sound science.

I know. I did my homework.

LOVE THOSE FLAWS

When I was young I was shy, I worried about my flaws. My knees were too knobby, my nose too big, my chest too flat. In addition, I couldn't swim.

All bad.

Little did I know that all humans are flawed, and when it comes to creating a character, flaws are good. Insecurities are good. Fears are good.

A story is CONFLICT. It's about a broken character trying to reach a worthy goal or solve a critical problem. As writers of story, we must make an emotional connection with the reader by creating characters as flawed as we are so that our story heroes are broken in the beginning and become whole at the end of their arduous journey.

Giving characters flaws helps create conflict.

In my novel, BELLY UP, I created a character who couldn't swim, put her on a sinking boat, and tossed her into the water in the middle of the ocean. As authors, we can kill off people, cause accidents, and blow up dreams. We break our characters in the beginning, prop them up to endure hardships as they battle internal and external obstacles. And that's how they discover UNIVERSAL TRUTHS about themselves and the world and become whole.

That's CHARACTER ARC.

In CHANGED IN THE NIGHT, I created a guilt-ridden teen with mental problems and forced her to duel with her most evil self during her quest to become WHOLE  Her obstacles include a dead brother only visible, alien abduction, parallel realities, extraterrestrial intervention and psychological issues.

We are human so we are flawed. Therefore, our characters must also be flawed.

The NEED in our character comes from these flaw or weaknesses. A flaw might be a psychological weakness like being a coward or too full of pride or a flaw can be a physical weakness like being unable to swim.

One interesting way to create a character weakness is to start with something that seems to be a good trait, like being generous. What if a character is generous to an extreme so that she's giving away the family fortune, money put away for her own college education? Eventually, this generosity, once praised, is a curse after her father loses his job and her mother needs expensive medical treatment.

Anything good to the extreme becomes bad; for example, someone who loves too much and becomes obsessive and possessive. Interesting concept.

Give your hero character flaws revealed through actions. Make sure one is a moral weakness so that others in the story might be harmed by it, and give the hero's opponents in the story weaknesses, too. When a character demonstrates courage in spite of everything and becomes whole in the end, we rejoice because it means we, too, can overcome our own weaknesses.  

RIP VAN WINKLE & ME

Being absorbed in a work-in-progress is a bit like becoming Rip Van Winkle. I feel as if I've been asleep for the last four years. I've traveled back in time to 1941, spent 24/7  in 1952, seen UFOs over the White House, gone through portals in forests, been abducted my aliens, followed by men in black, and soared through other dimensions. Why? I'm writing a novel!

Rip Van Winkle took a nap and slept for years. When he awoke, he was an old man with a long white beard and the world around him had changed.

Well, I must finally admit I'm an old woman, and while I've been "away" —so to speak—the world has definitely changed. Certainly publishing. And marketing. And how people read books. And what books they read.

Today there's a plethora of books and blogs and words.

But it seems a lot of people are good-book-deprived and a lot of people pass off a blog post or a rough draft as an actual book and sell it online.

Oh, well, things change.

Why has it taken me so long to write this particular book? 

After all, I have a dozen real books you can pick up and feel pages and set on a shelf to my name. I've taught writing for years, facilitate critique groups, and peer coach writers. This should be a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am, piece-of-cake walk in the park for someone like me. Why can't I produce something review-worthly in a matter of months?

First of all, I've gotten really, really  picky about story structure, character development, and words—they have to be just right—words with the right connotation, words set exactly right in a sentence, words that fit into the puzzle correctly.

Second-rate, fly-by-night, run-of-the-mill, seat-of-the-pants sort of writing simply isn't good enough.

Secondly, while my other YA books are also set back in time, this book is Sci-fi/fantasy based on factual UFO events and that takes a lot of research. The story is told by a sixteen-year-old unreliable narrator, and it's not easy to write from the point of view of someone who is mentally unstable. And make her likable. 

So if you've been wondering where I've been lately and what I've been doing, or if you find me wandering about in sort of a haze, bewildered by current trends, and behind on the news, I have an excuse, I'm not senile or ready to be hauled off to some facility. I'm an author.

And I've been with sixteen-year-old Allana Odette Blair, aka, Allie-cat, an isolated girl who does get locked up in a facility and is still grieving a decade after killing her twin brother on December 7, 1941. Yes, the date the Japanese dropped bombs on Pearl Harbor, the day that will live in infamy. 

See what I mean? It's complicated! 

I just sent the first eleven chapters to my teen Beta readers. The book at 55 chapters is finished, but it simply won't let me go. I'm caught in Allana's post-war world, living on Oak Street where nothing is as it seems. At least I know there's a portal because I put that in, and did I mention other dimensions and parallel worlds? 

And trying to get the science right?

More about that later.