Hollywood Screen Writing Techniques

Using Screenwriting Techniques to Plot Your Novel with Catherine Ryan Howard

http://writing.ie/writers-toolbox/writing-better/potting-and-planning/66-help-from-hollywoodland.html

Seven Ways to Inject Suspense into your Novel

Certain genres are renowned for being more suspenseful than others: horror, crime fiction and romantic suspense, but each and every book, no matter whether it's an Historical Romance or a Paranormal Fantasy, HAS to have a level of suspense interwoven between the pages!

All stories need to have this element, otherwise the reader isn't going to want to turn the page, it's as simple as that. So if you're interested in what makes a suspenseful page turner, then please read on...


Creating conflict in your novel is a given, otherwise there would be no story. If all went smoothly it would be as dull-as-dishwater, wouldn't it? They all lived happily throughout the story and ever after, yawn...

I've listed seven ways you can inject suspense into your novel:


1. Introduce your characters to their worst nightmare!

Find out about your characters beforehand. If possible, write up their likes and dislikes etc, and most importantly of all, find out what it is they fear most? What is it that causes their hearts to thump loudly, beads of perspiration to form on their upper lips, and the hairs on the back of their necks to stand on end? Find out what that thing or things are, and then give it to them, both barrels. For example, if your heroine is petrified of flying because her parents died in a plane crash, create a story where she HAS to take a journey on an airplane. If your hero fears water because he almost drowned as a young child, put him in a position where he HAS to get back in the water to rescue someone.

Introduce them to their worst nightmare and watch how they react!


2. Lull them into a false sense of security

When your character is really frightened of something, throw in a red herring. For example, if your heroine thinks she hears a noise outside, allow the plot to let her fears grow and grow. Let it be something quite innocuous, like the dustbin blowing over in the wind. Then, when she has reassured herself, breathing a sigh of relief, petrify her to death by placing a prowler outside her back door!


3. Throw the spotlight on at least two people

This might sound a little obvious, but for goodness sake, don't make the villain of the piece stand out a mile. Instead, have suspicion fall on at least two, possibly three characters. This will have the effect of your reader not really being sure until the end, when the other shoe falls! But, by all means, leave some clues and some red herrings along the way!


4. Pacing

Pacing is important to create suspense. In general, short, snappy sentences will enable the reader to race ahead so they feel their heart is beating in time with the frightened protagonist. Longer sentences tend to slow things down. You might want to speed things up for a car chase or slow it down for a love making scene. Imagine your novel as if you were watching it on the big screen. How would it be filmed? What would that particular scene look like to the audience?


5. The calm before the storm

Make use of the weather to good effect. Thunderclouds brewing overhead, often give the reader the feeling that something is about to happen [prophetic fallacy]. A bolt of lightening hitting the night sky, power lines down, a stranger at the door, etc. Think of the last time you watched a horror film; didn't the weather come into somewhere?


6. When all goes well, throw in a dead body!

When you hit a sagging middle of a novel, and you find there's no where to go, try throwing in a dead body. This doesn't necessarily mean that a character has to be killed off, although you might want to do just that, it can mean that something unexpected happens, such as the birth of a baby, etc. Something that injects a little more oomph into the plot!


7. Setting

Setting is very important as a tool to create suspense. What about that dark stone staircase covered in cobwebs? Or the elevator that suddenly stops in between floors? Choosing the right sort of setting can make or break a novel. And sometimes, placing the object or person the protagonist fears in an innocuous setting can make the story all the more horrifying.

Be cruel to your characters and watch them run for their lives!

Stepping Forward Into Recovery

There's a new website called Stepping Forward Into Recovery

It's the website of Terry Davies from Gorseinon in Swansea who was diagnosed with manic depression, formerly known as bipolar disorder, at the age of 22, following a thirteen-week-stay in hospital. It wasn’t until he found out about self-management some thirteen years later that he was able to begin to turn his life around…

It wasn’t until his last hospital admission that he became so frustrated with the lack of support and understanding from the mental health services that he sought help. Discovering self-management and how it was possible to manage his condition himself. It was the first time anyone had ever told him that it was still possible to live a normal life.

It was a light bulb moment.

“Gradually he learned the tools and techniques that would enable him to manage his condition. These included learning to recognise triggers and early warning signs that might precede an episode of illness, then learning what action to take in order to stop it in its tracks. This might involve keeping a diary, implementing a coping strategy or getting support from other people with a similar diagnosis as himself.

Terry says: “Self-management isn’t rocket science. For me it was a revelation!”

These days, Terry is married to Miriam a senior midwife and they have three sons. He's a successful trainer and course facilitator in recovery-management, having over twenty years worth of personal and professional experience of mental health recovery. With roles such as NHS Expert Patient Coordinator, Self-Management Programme Coordinator for MDF Wales and Guest Lecturer at the Swansea University School of Health and Human Sciences to his credit, Terry has an abundance of proven experience of teaching practical recovery skills - to both staff and to service users.

Terry's unique advantage comes from the fact that he has been in the position of both service user, implementing recovery techniques and also the position of professional, assisting people with their recovery. Sessions can be delivered in a practical, hands-on workshop format or in a more formal lecture style, depending on the needs of your organisation.

Merthyr Tydfil: The good, the bad and the lovely...

There's a great new Facebook page called: "You Know You're From Merthyr Tydfil When..." that has brought back so many memories from my contemporaries. The idea behind it is to discuss local characters, places and events from the past, etc.

The page has only been up for a couple of weeks and already has nearly a thousand members. Topics so far have included eating steam pies at The Station Cafe smothered with H.P. Sauce to favourite TV programmes from our childhood. It's triggered off a whole host of memories for me.

Times seemed much simpler then. During the summer months we'd pack some jam sandwiches and a bottle of squash and either go swimming in Pant local open air pool, or take a hike up the mountain and be gone for hours. We rarely went on expensive outings to places like Alton Towers. If we went to somewhere like Bristol Zoo or Barry Island, it was usually as part of a school or Sunday school outing.

We had some fantastic characters gracing the streets of Merthyr back in the day too. There was Georgie Onions, Ronnie Mouth Organ, Jezzie and Dai Bump [who both slept rough and ended up dying young. The latter was in my class in primary school and used to attend birthday parties at my home.] Most of the local well-known characters seemed to be men, although there was one lady who worked at an old fashioned cafe at the top of town. She was tall, Italian , swarthy-skinned and wore her hair bee-hive fashion. There were a lot of Spanish and Italian in Merthyr at one time running cafes and chip shops and some families still remain to this day.

There are so many cliched things said about Merthyr too, like when a deputy manager from Asda said they sold more white socks at the Merthyr store than any other it became dubbed, 'The white sock capital of the world!'. According to The Sun, Merthyr is 'The sick note capital of Britain!' and Tenovus the cancer charity says we have, 'The most adult smokers in Wales!'

Perhaps these stats are true, but what about the great and the good that evolved from our home town like designers, Laura Ashley and Julian MacDonald; boxers like, Howard Winstone and Johnny Owen; or what about the fact that Iron from Merthyr Tydfil was transported all over the world and we have a lovely castle and museum connected with all of that?

I love my town and its people.

I know I'm from Merthyr when complete strangers in the town talk to me like they know me. I don't know many places as friendly as Merthyr. And another thing...how many other people can say they went to school in a castle, unless of course they're Harry Potter!

Roll of the Dice

Decided to shake up my life at 50, deciding various options by the roll of a dice. When the sands of time are slipping through your fingertips, you got to do something different from your usual routine...Started yesterday afternoon and ended up in the pub instead of shopping. I always go shopping on Saturday afternoon, but this was far more fun!

Today, Dice woman rolls number 6:" Finish the novel 'The Clock Strikes Twelve'!" I almost finished writing this book a couple of years ago but put it to one side when life events took over. So, shall get back into the world of a serial killer this week. Should prove interesting...

The Writing Group

Some of you may be wondering what happened to my writing group featured on Secret Millionaire just over two years ago? Well, the good news is that it's still going strong! Even though I'm not working at the cancer centre any more, I've kept the group together by arranging monthly meetings for the past fifteen months. We meet upstairs in Wetherspoon and we ALWAYS have a great time!

We meet again tomorrow and it'll be party time for two of the ladies! We make a point of celebrating one another's birthdays. The group has been through so much together. There's a bond and everyone is as supportive as ever, it's taken on a life of its own. We've even got a couple of new members!

We wine, dine, chill-out and chat, and then when we've cleared our plates, we get down to some writing exercises. We've laughed, we've cried, we've cared and shared.

Whenever someone feels down, there's a gentle touch of a hand, a hug, or someone to pass a tissue.

It's more than a writing group, it's a writing family.

Long may our group continue!!

Inspirational Women: Bea Sheftel

A woman who had a huge impact on me and my writing life was, Bea Sheftel. Bea was an American writer who belonged to the same online group as myself, Momwriters. A Yahoo group of over a thousand writers, some unpublished, some published and some who even made the best seller list!

Bea Sheftel became a published writer at just sixteen years old. Her major writing influence was her father who wrote essays and poetry for the Knights of Columbus and the local newspaper.

Growing up in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY, Bea dreamed of being a writer. After decades of writing in between other jobs, she became a full time freelance writer and writing teacher.

Bea was published in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. She was also the former editor of The Coventry Journal. She had an Associates Degree from Manchester Community College, and a Bachelor's in writing from the University of Connecticut.

She taught Writing Confessions, Memoir Writing, Scrapbook Creating and other classes through
http://www.universalclass.com

Her work appeared in several anthologies including Guideposts Books, Chicken Soup for the Nurses Soul, Cup of Comfort for a Woman's Journey and many others.

The thing that inspired me about Bea was that she wrote from the heart. Her writing was real, it had life and soul.

Bea died in March of 2005 and I wept for someone I had never met because her words touched me so.

Here's Bea's Memorial page at the Momwriter's website. You'll see what a huge impact she made on people!

http://www.momwriters.com/memory/BSheftel.html

You can still read some of Bea's online writing at the following websites:

http://ewritersplace.com/a005.php

http://www.hazelst.com/writer/bea_sheftel/02-04husbandmet.php

http://www.suite101.com/articles.cfm/homelessness

http://thedabblingmum.com/parenting/cookingstories/christmascookies.htm