Hi - My name is Kathy and I'm in the closet - with my writing that is. I decided that this is the year I finally get serious about my writing and songwriting. I also want to educate myself when it comes to writing and submitting scripts to television shows as I have several partially developed ideas (by that it means they are rolling around in my brain) that I feel would work for a few current shows. I write mostly fiction. I have several short stories and a few novels that I started then my inner critic got the better of me and I put them aside. Enough of that. The times when I have been most productive with my writing were times I was involved with a writer's group of some sort. I'm hoping that joining these forums will help me to keep focused and moving forward.
Welcome to Writing Forums, Kathy! I hope you find what you're looking for here, whatever your interests in writing. This forum aims to provide the best workshopping resources on the internet, and to that end we have a few rules which you should familiarise yourself with before you get stuck in. The main section of the site is the Writing Workshop, where members can post their writing in order to receive critique of their work. However, before we allow members to post their work, they must have met some basic requirements. Firstly, you must have been a member for fourteen days, and have made twenty posts on the forum overall (please note, posts in Word Games do not count towards this). This is so that members, when they post their work, have familiarised themselves with the forums and contributed to them (as well as hopefully learned something for themselves). Secondly, members must provide two constructive reviews of other people's work for each piece of their own that they wish to post. This is because we believe that the focus of workshopping should be equally upon giving reviews as receiving them, as they allow a writer to practice and improve their editing skills, which they can then apply to their own writing. Beyond the Writing Workshop, you will find that we have extensive forums for discussion of aspects of writing, as well as a community area for general discussion. We also run periodic short story and poetry contests, which are good for challenging yourself and expanding your skills. The requirements of the Writing Workshop don't apply to the contests, so new members are allowed (nay, encouraged!) to get stuck in and enter! If you have any questions or problems, then the moderators (myself, Lemex and Dante Dases) should be your first port of call. Any technical problems with the site itself should be directed to Daniel, the site administrator and owner. I would recommend you have a look over the rules so that you know what to expect, and what is expected. But aside from that, I hope you enjoy your time here. Banzai
welcome, kathy! i hope you're somewhere other than in the US, if you hope to write for tv... here, you must have an agent to get anything read, as tv industry legal departments make it a very tightly closed shop... the only alternative to having an agent is to get a job in the industry and start making connections that will give you a boost up the ladder... i mentor many screenwriters, along with other writing breeds, so feel free to drop me a line anytime you can't get answers fast enough by posting... love and hugs, maia maia3maia@hotmail.com
Thank you for welcoming me. I have been spending some time familiarizing myself with the rules. mammamaia, I posted about submitting spec scripts in another forum and found out how difficult (impossible) it is to submit scripts for TV if you aren't already connected. Too bad the industry is so closed. Since I am "older", getting a job in the industry probably isn't feasible (also, I live in a very rural area of the NW). I wish I would have not procrastinated for so many years because my brother and his father-in-law were both sound editors (and my brother was also a foley artist) and they worked on many different TV shows through the years. They have both since passed on. Opportunity missed.....
Hi Kathy, I've just joined too, for the very same reason as you have. I'm hoping that by associating with fellow writers, I’ll get motivated to get my first fiction on paper and out there. The story is already written in my head, at least the main twists and turns. I now have to do the grunt work of researching the details, to make it all sound plausible, even water-tight. (There is so much stuff out there that just doesn’t work. Suspension of disbelief can only be maintained for so long.) Stuff like how to get my hands on a differential for my Mitsubishi Montero and change it when I'm 500 miles from anywhere. Good luck!
kathy... just now noticed that we're almost neighbors!... though i'm in the sw part of the state, down in coquille [inland a tad from coos bay]... let me know if you ever get down this way... maia3maia@hotmail.com
empower - isn't it amazing how much we can create and hold in our brains yet when it comes to writing it all down it can be so difficult. I like to read different author's take on the writing process. As a child/teen, I was basically taught that writing is a linear process but there is no hard and fast rule that says it has to be. Why not write the end first and work backwards? Or write all the dialogue and then fill in around it? It's not easy for me to not think linearly but I'm working hard on breaking the pattern. mammamaia - I haven't been in your part of state in such a long time. One thing about living on the eastside of the Cascades is being so far from the ocean. I love being around water, especially the ocean. I lived in the Seattle area for about 30 years and the one thing I don't miss is the dark, gray drizzly weather. I don't have any plans to head that way except to try and visit family in the Medford area this summer.
Hey NeOrKathy, Re "Why not write the end first and work backwards? Or write all the dialogue and then fill in around it? It's not easy for me to not think linearly but I'm working hard on breaking the pattern". Great idea. I guess we are still influenced by the long tradition of writing spanning back in time, before the advent of word processing software, a time when linearity was simply a given. Ain't progress wicked? .
Hello fellow Pacific Northwesterners! Born and raised in the Seattle area and love it, even the gray skies that's how we keep our evergreen hills so beautiful : ). I am not in the screenwriting business but have followed story boarding occasionally, you may be interested in this book written by a friend of mine - Storyboarding 101, by James Fraioli Kindest,
How To Start A Screen Play. This thread is basically about me Adam giving to you, on how to start your own screen play. Starting something new is extremely hard i know this but your have to carry on trying you have to be successful. I know this from personal experience, however to be successful in this business you need be prepared to learn to skills. There was a key word in that last sentence LEARN skills are learn-able and once you have learn them skills you can put them into action and be successful in the screen writing industry or any industry there will always will be certain skills you nee to learn. Right in the next part of this thread i will be talking about a step by step guide on "How to Write Your Own Screen Play" Here are my tips on how to be a successful screen writer Tips on how to start screen writing. 1. First of all you need to appoint a target audience (this could be anyone) 2. Once you know your audience make your screen to the audience likes - do this this by maybe having questionnaires 3. Once you have done this pick a main character the character needs to be a character that the audience, can laugh at and know where the character is coming from. 4. Try not to repeat yourself more than two times this keeps the audience interested and engaged. 5. make your plot point subtle so the audience don't know it. this make you a better writer Right you want addition information go to my blog, click here
