The Writing of THE CULLINGS PRINCIPLE - Part I

WRITING

Over the summer I wrote a new full length screenplay - an adaption of my own novel. Why? It's absolutely fascinating to me to how a novel must differ from a screenplay, and from a play. If the same story is written as three different manuscripts (novel, screenplay, play), one ends up with three different stories on a theme.

The focus changes. Characters come to the fore while others are minimized, sometimes combined and occasionally deleted. The story arc remains the same, in my case, but subtext changes as do subplots. Speeches are swapped, expanded on or decreased. Entire sections are moved. Entire sections are deleted. Entire sections are added.

And the title, it changes as well...

THE CULLINGS PRINCIPLE is the screenplay. A MAN OF LETTERS is the novel.

Why? Two completely different markets. What works for one doesn't necessarily work for the other. There are different rules altogether.

The briefest summary I can give is this logline: In 1850‘s London, Owen Cullings desperately seeks his sister, purported dead in a curt letter. Fruitless months of searching allow his access into London’s high society and its underbelly. Ill and with only one lead left, the young attorney will have to face the truth about himself first...

So, it's a Victorian-era suspense. It crosses into several genres - literary fiction and GLBT included. It has a huge cast of distinct characters. It's verbose at times, while at others we find not a word. I respect the ability of the actors who will one day portray these characters.

SCREENPLAY

So, let me backtrack a bit to the screenplay first. The most surprising thing I learned was that I am capable of cutting more than I ever thought I could. As a writer, you know how difficult it is to let go of certain scenes, or lines, or descriptions! But sometimes, it just has to go!

I have to say that since spec scripts have a page limit, it made the process quite simple. I had a goal. However, I didn't think I could cut almost 100 pages. Yes, you read that right! From around 202 to 118. How? It began with a simple formula: for every ___ pages I must delete ____. I kept track on a legal pads - doing the math, making the numbers shrink. Then I would do it again, if I didn't reach my goal. It  did this twice. All I can say is: It can be done!

On this journey I had to ask for help. I met a gentleman named Richard Broadhurst through a filmmaking friend and asked him to do coverage for the script. Yes, the first thing I apologized for was the length and told him I'd send him something shorter. He was wonderful with phone conferences and ultimately with some notes. It felt truly wonderful to be able to discuss everything from character development to plot, from language choice to formatting. I'm usually on the other side of the equation - as the reader/critiquer - and it was very helpful to be on this side for a change. It is very different from being in a critique group.

Richard gave me moral support and encouragement, and that, I believe, helped most of all. Also, he is able to discuss the negative and positive without putting the writer in a spot - it's a discussion, back and forth. He told me he appreciated the fact that I could TAKE critique without becoming defensive and could look at it objectively.

This is an important point - and it didn't come easy! It took me many years to learn how to do this. Yes, there are times it feels personal, but that is the lesson to learn: as a professional writer, do what needs to be done to make the story the best that it can be.

After several months of intense rewrites and a table read with some fabulous local actors (helps to be a casting director), the script was finalized. Robin Bodey also read the script and helped with her critiques, as usual.

It is important to state that this script is not a four-quadrant hollywood tent-pole blockbuster. It is a character study, a mystery, a coming of age tale. In a way, it is Merchant-Ivory material. It's a period piece. It's an indie!

It exposes the good and the bad, and the protagonist is heavily flawed - he's not perfect, he has to go through a lot to simply unearth parts of himself. And every character goes through an arc of discovery.

FILM PHILOSOPHY

I have always been an independent film fan (and I'll include foreign films in this broad category) - it's what I seek out, what I thrive on. Ask my kids about our Netflix queue. As I submit for representation, I find that writers like me are sought only by a small percentage in Hollywood - as I suspected, I will do much better in the overseas (UK) market.

I have been told things like simplify the language. Minimize characters. Make the protagonist more lovable. I refuse. I have nothing against rewrites to smooth out problems, fix errors, just ask Richard! But I REFUSE TO DUMB DOWN MY MATERIAL.

I have respect for my audience. I will write for them what I want others to write for me: profound characters, smart dialog, complex plot, no limits. I don't want to figure out the plot from the trailer, nor do I want to discover it when I've just tapped my popcorn.

Let's look at some examples of good writing:
DEATH AT A FUNERAL
JANE EYRE (2011)
CREATION
MOON
PERFUME
LADIES IN LAVENDER
NORTHFORK
GOOD
ETC. (I could go on for pages...)

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not comparing myself to them. I aspire to be a good writer, work incredibly hard at my rewrites, am the harshest critic of all, and punish myself when I fall short of expectation. I can only strive to be improve. Improvements are incremental - I learn little lessons along the way and hopefully by the time I'm 80, I'll be much better.

IRONY

I have so far sent out the screenplay to a number of festivals and contests. So far I've reached the finals in EVERY one which has thus far announced. Despite the fact that this is not a Hollywood blockbuster. I'm absolutely thrilled - and gobsmacked! I'm still in the running for a number of contests which have not yet announced winners. I am hopeful, to say the least.

I will keep on working on new material and editing that which is not yet in a final draft. I am presently wrapping up the novel version (A Man of Letters) and will be submitting it within the month.

I will keep you posted...

An Update on Submissions - Part 2

Commiserate with me! I know there are a lot of you out there who can.

I'm in the waiting game: NY agent has my manuscript. First I worried about how it arrived - in shambles inside the box because the US Postal worker took it out of its personalized, white, tear-proof swaddle (i.e. envelope). I worried about contacting the agent and sounding too needy - but she had to know it may be traumatized upon arrival.

It took weeks to muster enough courage to track it on the USPS website and now I know exactly when it arrived. Sounds silly, right? Not if you've been there... I find I think about it the way I think about my kids (all other cliches put aside) - where is it now, what is it doing, is she reading it, is it still in a box? Okay, that last part clearly doesn't apply to thoughts of my children, even though they have been obsessed with turning boxes into houses, spaceships, boats, etc., and have spent time pretending the laundry basket is also a house, spaceship, boat, etc.

So, it took almost a month, but I began sending out my novel again. It's renamed now, can't do that with a child: The Scale of Souls. Ah, yes, it sounds grand. I can almost see it on a shelf, nestled between other titles and sleeping comfortably until it is picked up by a reader who appreciates literary fiction - one that doesn't mind traveling through time and who likes complex sentence structures one doesn't always find in New York best sellers. (I know I'll regret that last statement...)

I wait and I wait. There are moments when I nearly lose patience. I want an answer: be it yay or nay, just an answer. It is followed by, "Please let it be a yay! I know it's a lot to ask for - first agent who wants to see the whole manuscript wants to sign me." But I can do that - it's my reverie!

I re-reviewed the agent's articles and web site (not much of a site at this point, more of a one page listing of stats and requirements - I hope they build one, make researching agents so much easier!). It stated that the response time for queries was quick, and it was, but that manuscript responses take between 1 and 3 months. Let her pore over each word, each phrase, each chapter so carefully chosen, structured and restructured. Let her get hooked and remind herself that she hasn't made notes in a few pages, but she wants to continue. Let her advance through Part II and smile because she wants to know what happens to Lizzie after five years. Let her be shocked, let her laugh, let her wince. Let her be enthralled and empathize with Lizzie. Let her call me to tell me she's interested! (God, it's truly like dating, isn't it?!)

I think about the art work the book may one day have and it seems overwhelming, as do book promotion tours I'll have to most likely plan myself to push the book. I'm ready for that; my husband and I have spoken about the marketing time dedicated to a successful book in today's market where 20% of books get 80% of the marketing budget of the large houses, and you can guess at the converse of 80% of books getting 20% of the budget. I'M READY!!!

I suppose it's much easier to go back to worrying if it's out of the box yet...

An Update on Submissions

So, Linda S's blog had a breakdown of how many agents she queried, how many responded versus rejected her, how many asked for her manuscript. etc., before she was accepted. Her limit was 100 and she reached 83. I'm practically a virgin then! Whoo-hoo!

This discussion also came up at a workshop I recently attended, especially the amount of work that goes into each query letter - the research on the agency and agent, tracking their books (the hardest part!), making certain the letter is specific to that ONE agent, fiddling with the synopsis and bio every time, and so on.

Have I learned anything?

Yes.

1. The art of editing is certainly alive and well - which I knew already since I edit my manuscripts to death, I edit other writers' work, I edit the newspaper while I'm reading it because they can't afford editors anymore (really?) so basic spelling and grammar is now on the endangered list.

2. Though sometimes the query letters get longer rather than shorter, per an agent's request for information to include, it always needs to be tweaked. It's amazing how, after looking at the same basic information so many times, one can find a new twist on it.

3. Rejections with Comments - these are my favorite and are too few and far between. My latest rejection letter actually told me it was a "strong project" but that she won't be able to find a fit among her editorial contacts. (I reiterate - really?) (Please look back to previous blog and see my friend's retort!)

"Strong project" - Assumptions

1. The story line is strong - meaning it's well constructed, not the same-old-same-old, good setting, good plot, it has surprises
2. The characters are well developed - no skeletons, but actual muscle and flesh and skin
3. The writing is well crafted - the writing style is appropriate for the genre and the story

Could she get all these from the writing brief synopsis and sample pages? So some feedback is great but it seems to open up to more questions than answers.

Anything else I've learned?

Well, I've changed the novel's title from "We Wore White" to "The Scale of Souls".

What do you think?

Musings on Rejection Letters

Emailing my best friend, I wrote her this note answering to another rejection letter from a literary agent.

My rejection pile is growing. Since I am under 50 rejections, I'm really just a newbie, aren't I?

Option 1: I totally suck at writing and am living in some sort of delusion others are helping propel.

Option 2: I'm writing in a genre and/or style no one on earth wants to publish anymore.

Option 3: I've entered a parallel world in which I'm not allowed to get published.

Option 4: I'm brilliant and, because I'm in the third parallel world, no one will notice.

Option 5: I have nothing to lose [and will keep submitting].

Voice

The most difficult part of tackling a new story is not necessarily a concern of how a story will end, are the characters fleshed out sufficiently, or is my story arc worthy. For me, the story writes itself and I later analyze it - just had this discussion the other day with a friend and a manuscript on which I'm coaching. The idea has to first be put down on paper - or a computer screen.

When there is a stumbling block, a difficulty in accomplishing even the first draft, it is often not the plot or the characters, or that a scene has no resolution. It is that the story is not being properly told - meaning the voice of the narrator is not properly selected.

Think about your favorite book. Who is the narrator? It may be a first person account by the protagonist or by a bystander, by a book or a crow - it varies drastically. Well, sometimes a story is being told by the wrong person - maybe it shouldn't be in a particular person's perspective but in a third person omnipotent point of view, or vice versa.

I've rewritten entire stories because, at the end, I realized the voice was not right. There are things a character partaking in the story may know or may not be allowed to know - how does one choose? What is to be revealed? Is this hindsight? And here is where voice gets even more complicated with tense - is it past tense or present tense?

We've all been told that stories told in multiple POV's is too dangerous - each chapter dedicated to another's perspective. Two narrators are doable, generally speaking, but more than that we are told is a gamble.

Why not gamble? What is story writing anyway but a huge gamble on whether it will get finished, published, liked, approved of, well critiqued...?

I say there are no rules except what you (and maybe your agent or editor) feel is the correct voice. I'm an organic writer - it has to feel right. This feeling is almost like a scent or a melody running in the background that is either right or wrong. It is during the rewriting stage that it will be closely analyzed, where details will be added or unnecessary scenes deleted, and where the voice either goes flat, sharp or perfectly in tune.

So, taken into account must be the most basic question: what can our narrator reveal to the reader? In other words, is he/she omnipotent, part of the tale, an inanimate object, God, first person wise with hindsight?

As the novel or short story, or even screenplay, develops, are the right things being revealed about the tale? Whether it is a mystery or romance, there is timing about plot revelations that will either make your story work or fail. This is often found in the voice.

You might be asking: Well, what a bout narrative non-fiction versus biography/memoir versus fiction? Well, that will be more up to the agent and publisher than you, I fear. So, let's stick to who is telling our tale and how!

Keep going. Don't stop now. It's just something to think about...

Hopes & Dreams Part II

Here is part 2!

We are presently in post-production and a trailer will be released at the beginning of March 2011.

Thanks for all the great contributions, the time and equipment. It was so worth it - despite fog, rain and finally sun!

H&D Project - Part 2

Hopes & Dreams Part I

Here's part 1 of an article I wrote for Kings River Life. I regularly contribute to this regional magazine...

Part I