Noticing Newbies Newsletter 45 2/6/08

N0TICING NEWBIES NEWSLETTER

Noticing Newbies Newsletter is geared to help members get acquainted with Writing.com. There are many things to do and learn. Our goal is to help you make your time here more fun and manageable.

Each week we select and showcase new items (poetry, lyrics, short stories, essays, campfires, polls, etc.). Exposure for an item (your writing) helps to bring you more rates and reviews by fellow members and the general public...of course depending on how much exposure you want your item to have. Some writers like to keep their work private. When your work does receive exposure, it helps bring more member interaction, which will give you the opportunity to build new friendships. Remember, it is a two-way street...try to make an effort to reciprocate reviews.


"There's someone that you haven't already met, go introduce yourself to him or her. Walls and labels can't keep you from the people who are so similar to you in spirit. There's a friendly face behind every door if you pick the right moment to knock. Once you start your wave of creative outreach, it turns into a contagious force. People are waking up and smiling at each other, sharing their dreams without hesitation. This community is worth something."

-- Author Unknown


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EDITOR'S NOTE:

Hello Newbies!

A couple of weeks ago my twelve year old daughter asked me to take her to see a movie called Juno (http://www.foxsearchlight.com/juno/), which to my surprise is about a sixteen year old girl who becomes pregnant by her best friend. The movie is rated PG and I figured it would be a good film for her too see, being her age of puberty and all...also, she is quite interested in boys, though she is shy to admit it.

The screenplay is thorough with a direct and witty dialogue that takes you into the world of a bright, young lady's mind who has to deal with the reality of being pregnant for nine months. I was impressed with Cody Diablo's (http://imdb.com/name/nm1959505/) first screenplay; exceptional dialogue that I would some day love to capture in my writing. I have read a variety of screenwriting tips and resources, which for the most part basically give you the same advice for writing a short story, book or novel, with of course some distinct differences .

The following are important tips to remember when writing a screenplay:

 Outline Story: it is much easier to know what direction you're going to go ahead time, instead of just sitting down to write a story and then in the middle of it have no direction. Writer's block can come upon you that way.
 Make Scenes Flow: a scene must flow from one to the other in a progressive matter; there must be three elements worked into the story, which are logical, surprising, and climatic.
 Characterization: creating characters the audience/readers want to come back and see again and again -- remember to give your characters the same troubles the rest of us have...realistic qualities.
 Conflict! not all people get along all the time -- show emotion, good or bad.
 Description: describe everything thoroughly unless it's an obvious standing set. The writer is the choreographer. Show what happens, don't just tell about it. We need to understand what motivates the character. The only way to truly understand something is to participate in it, like you are actually in the show or in the story yourself.
 Good Dialogue: dialogue needs to be realistic. Take your time and create exciting new turns of phrase, express things in a way you've never heard them expressed before.
 Become Well-Read: read screenplays...it's difficult to become a successful screenwriter if you're not familiar with the range of what is out there.
 See A Play! The more plays you see the easier it is to visualize and use imaginative thinking in your writing.
 Meet or talk with other screenwriters.
 Get feedback on your writing.


The following links I thought were some of the best resources I could find on screenwriting:

http://www2.sundance.org/
(Film Festival)

http://www.screenwriter.com/
(Script classes and analysis)

http://www.screenwritersutopia.com/
(Screenwriter class)

http://www.asascreenwriters.com/
(American Screenwriters Association)

http://www.screenwritersmarket.com/index.html
(Help marketing your screenplay)

http://www.breakingin.net/
(Break into screenwriting tips)

http://www.paradiselost.org/psycho.html
(Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho - screenplay to study)

http://www.screenplay.com/
(Resources)

http://www.craftyscreenwriting.com/
(Tips)

http://www.thewritersmentor.com/
(Free newsletter)

http://www.triggerstreet.com/gbase/Trigger/Homepage
(Screenplay writing community with constructive criticism)

http://www.scriptsales.com/
(Resources)

http://www.finaldraft.com/resources/researchtools.php
(Research Tools)

http://www.geocities.com/cdeemer/format.htm
(Screenplay format)

Enjoy!

Until next time...


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 NEWBIE SHOW ITEMS SUBMITTED FOR NEWSLETTER: 

ID: 1384150 Invalid Item  This item number is not valid. by Not Available.

ID: 1375034 Invalid Item  This item number is not valid. by Not Available.

ID: 1372682   (Rated: 13+) "The Brat"  2ND short story of a collection; a girl growing up with emotional and physical abuse. by Hannah-Paper Doll Gang

ID: 1369777   (Rated: E) I Dwell in the Depths  i dwell in the depths of a perpetrator's mind by H R Green

ID: 1384192   (Rated: E) Storyteller  Just a random thing that I came up with on the spot. Took me 10 minutes. =P by stuck.in.a.book

ID: 1384056   (Rated: E) Spice of life  A short poem with an imaginary rhyme scheme by T Rayven

ID: 1383989   (Rated: 18+) The Shadow Tome (prologue & ch. 1)  Here is the beginning to my book, The Shadow Tome; a high fantasy novel. by Gildor

ID: 1383597 Invalid Item  This item number is not valid. by Not Available.

ID: 1383512 Invalid Item  This item number is not valid. by Not Available.

ID: 1383455   (Rated: E) Leaving Home...and History  I live in the brink of collapse. I feel nostalgic for the days I have not even seen. by Heather B. Flemming

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ASK & ANSWER:


This newsletter has helped me so much and has encouraged me when I am down in the dumps with writer's block. Great work!
Thanks so much
-ENviro
enviro

Thank you for reading!



Laurencia
Good advice and encouragement in this newsletter.
kansaspoet
Larry
larryp

Thank you for taking the time to stop by Larry.



I totally agree with your comments regarding criticism. As one of the toughest reviewers on this site I find it very helpful when others critique my work. I really appreciate the time and effort that they put into it and if there are those out there who wish to be a part of our world then they should get used to having others critique without getting angry. I have yet to have anyone get angry at me personally for a review I gave, but at the same time I have received a couple of not so nice replies to my critiques. To this all I have to say is if you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen.
Keep up the good work.
Arthur

Well thank you very much...and reviewers have the same luxury as the review recipients...the almighty delete key does wonders.



Cubby
Great advice for Newbies! Actually, great advice for any writer. It's hard sometimes to try and please everyone else; meeting other people's expectations should not be a priority here. Finding your own voice and reading constructive feedback are both so important. Not everyone at WDC is striving for the same goal, but to most of us who walk the path of possible publication in the future, it's so important to stay focused on that and not let obstacles get in our way nor allow others to bring us down. Good article, Laurencia. Oh, and I really liked your quote, too! What a nice welcome!
~Cubby ")

Thank you again Cubby for a wonderful review; I always look forward to what you have to say.

Thank you for your support of this newsletter!

See ya March 5th!

Laurencia

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