🤩 WRITERS OF ALL ILK! 🖥️
*You* should take a screenwriting course. Or two. Sorry for pointing with my freakishly long finger -- I know it's rude. Seriously, though: screenwriting.
Thanks, Jenn, but I write novels. I write short stories. I am a poet! I have zero interest in making movies.
PERHAPS. However, every story needs good bones. And screenwriting teaches writers how to build solid skeletons. A million years ago when I realized my stories never went anywhere because I didn't have an innate understanding of structure, I picked up Robert McKee's STORY and Blake Snyder's SAVE THE CAT and Christopher Vogler's THE WRITER'S JOURNEY. Screenwriting technique is a terrific way to develop the flavours of your story -- not just structure but character development, dialogue, interiority, physicality -- it's all related, my darlings. Like a big, savoury word stew.
Lucky for you, the Federation of BC Writers (www.bcwriters.ca) is hosting a weeklong screenwriting intensive in a few weeks. I have not been Jennie on the Spot with sharing this event, so it's time to shout it from the rooftops: SIGN UP TODAY. Fed members pay $69.50 CAD for five days of programming, which include one-hour prompted writing sprints + two instructional/discussion sessions per day *and* a wrap-up Q&A on Friday, September 18, for attendees to bring questions that maybe weren't answered during the week. Not a Fed member (ahem, why not?)? It's only $89 CAD.
We have a terrific lineup of folks actually working in the industry -- screenwriters, filmmakers, an adaptation specialist -- as well as a session devoted to writing effective dialogue, understanding and applying character archetypes in the hero's and heroine's journeys, and even an intimacy coordinator to help us get the kissing bits right.
Think of the week like calcium soaking into your bones -- solid (story) skeletons directly translate to a better end result, i.e., stronger stories with compelling characters and believable dialogue and logical action sequences to keep readers turning pages. (Also, fewer broken hips. Maybe.)
See you there. 🎬