40 years worth of TV writing experience and info, yours for the taking.
One of the things that keeps viewers viewing is a constant increase in the dramatic tension of a teleplay.
That means you have to do more than just drop your hero or heroine into a jam and then help him or her get out of it. You’ve got to keep piling on the woe.
LB’S NOTE: One of our fave TV writers-illustrators-screenwriters-vloggers, Stephanie Bourbon, reminds us that “it happens to all of us. Every writer has been rejected.” Here are her thoughts on handling this, erm, uncomfortable situation.
UGH, you have sent in your manuscript or query letter and this time you did everything right. You took a class on writing the perfect query, you had your first pages reviewed, you sent to beta readers and STILL—the phone pings, you know you have an email, you go to it to see that big NO staring you in the face.
Nathan Bransford, TVWriter™’s favorite publishing know-it-all, shares his perspective about the writerly use of description. And, yes, it differs quite a bit from LB’s tip yesterday. Because we’re talking fiction as lit now, y’hear?
An extremely common writing foible I see when I’m editing novels reads like this…
Over the past several years I’ve noticed a running battle on all Message Boards, Bulletin Boards, Facebook Groups, you-name-it about screen and/or television writing. That battle is about how much to describe the action and settings in your script.
I can’t speak for feature films (although my theory there, which I’ve stated in other writings, is that everyone might as well emulate Shane Black, the most successful spec script writer/seller in history. Read something he’s written and then do the same), but I know television.
LB’S NOTE: One of our fave TV writers-illustrators-screenwriters-vloggers, Stephanie Bourbon, talks about characters and “character” and what those words really mean.
Today, I’m talking about CHARACTER.