Tag: Action

Making Your Story Adaptable for Stage and Screen

Quan

I had picked up a cheap DVD at the dollar store a while back. It was “Blast” starring Eddie Griffin and Vivica Fox. It was a decent flick, nothing spectacular, but it wasn’t horrible, either. What surprised me was that the movie was based on a book.

Being a book writer, it always raises an eyebrow when a novel gets optioned for a movie or TV show. And it’s not just the holy grail franchises like “Twilight”, “Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”, “Da Vinci Code”, “Bourne”, or “Harry Potter”. Even lesser-known properties like “Virgin Suicides”, and the short-lived (but AWESOME) TV show “FlashForward” are based on books. Heck, even nonfiction how-to books like “Think Like A Man” got movie treatments.

So I’m sure I’m not the only one wondering how to get a piece of that action.

There’s a lot about getting your story optioned that is out of your control. You have to find a connected literary agent that can get your story in front of movie execs or people with enough power to make stuff like that happen. You have to have a studio actually interested in your story. And then there’s negotiating a fair deal, and hoping the guys adapting your story for screen don’t butcher your creation to the point where it’s not recognizable (Think the movie version of “I Robot” vs. the book). And that’s if the story actually makes it to film – many optioned properties get lost in the development process and never actually get made into movies or TV shows.

But one thing you CAN control about the process is making your story easily translatable for television and movies. This way you story becomes more attractive to would-be producers and film execs, because they can see an easy path to getting the story in the format that will make them the most money.

Break down your book into its core elements.

Remember, movies are visual mediums, and you don’t have more than a few hours (which translate into about 150 specially formatted pages) to tell a complete story. So your story needs to get to the point and stay there. First and foremost, you need to know the core elements of your story: The central characters, the central conflict, and the setting. Most films and television episodes are plot-driven, which means you want to make sure the plot that moves your story forward is strong and engaging. With characters, you want your main characters to have strong, definable characteristics that the actors portraying the role can build around. This doesn’t mean you eschew nuance and subtlety completely, but you want to make sure that your character’s defining traits are front and center and inform most of their behavior. The setting should be well defined, enough so that your readers (and a potential producer) can visualize where everything is happening.

Your book synopsis as a movie outline

After you find these core elements, then you want to build the skeleton of you story, or find the skeleton in your existing story. Most publishers and agents require a chapter-by-chapter synopsis of your story for submission anyway, so now is a good time to put one together. Write a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of your story, and then go back and filter out the details that are least vital to the plot. Look your outline over and then determine if the plot is strong enough to carry onscreen (or stage, if you want your story to be adapted into a play). These scenes are the ones that need the most of your attention when you write your final story. They need to stand out, engage and keep the narrative moving forward.

The plot points also need to drive home the central conflict of your story. Who is you protagonist, what are they up against, and what is at stake. These elements need to be front and center throughout your story. Ultimately, you want to be able to explain the biggest elements of your story in one sentence.

With those elements established, then you can go back in and build everything else on top of that, while still keeping everything pointing towards your core elements. Just about every story I write is intended to be adaptable. Godmode was built as a sci-fi horror story, but there is heavy action and character development moments to establish Elijah and his supporting characters, along with ever-raising stakes that escalate from simple survival, to protecting people near him, to rescuing his wife and child from a nemesis that was a former friend.

Action and Dialogue matters

Since movies are a visual medium that moves in realtime, you do not really have the luxury of delving deep into aspects that cannot be visually represented on the screen/stage. So inner thoughts, explanations of how stuff works, lengthy descriptions of history and settings, while still useful and essential to your story, all take a backseat to strong dialogue and action (and by action I don’t just mean shooting, fighting and blowing stuff up. By action I mean stuff happening and moving the plot forward). So you want to make sure your characters are talking or communicating to each other in some way, shape or form, and that they are interacting with their environment.

As long as you have a strong core to your story, and your story is moving and engaging, then moviemakers should be able to see how they can bring your story to the screen. Now it’s just a matter of finding a moviemaker willing to give your story a chance. Go for it.

Writing Action Scenes

Quan

A good action scene is almost like a miniature story unto itself. I particularly enjoy writing action (I like writing dialogue too), and I have a pretty simple approach to it. Action is conflict, and conflict is the crux of what drives a narrative forward. 

I use a rather simple formula when mapping out and choreographing my action sequences. It’s really just a matter of figuring out your character’s immediate goal, then asking yourself what could possibly go wrong within the parameters of the setting and situation your character is in, and making that scenario happen. After that, you have your character react to the situation,  and then your situation reacts to your character’s action. This is one of the few instances where Murphy’s Law is your friend. 

Whatever the worst thing that can happen to your character is in that moment, make it happen. Then you have to figure out how your character can overcome that problem, after your character has overcome that small setback, make something else go wrong. Rinse, wash, and repeat until your character either works his or her way towards accomplishing their goal, or it becomes clearly evident that there is no way they can possibly, logically complete their task. Then you go inside that character’s head and record his or her thoughts and feelings during this whole sequence. That way you get to relay how high the stakes are in that character’s mind.

Keep your sentences relatively short, because that speeds of the pace of the story. Also, writing with some uptempo, aggressive music in the background helps set the mood too. The goal is to have your reader constantly thinking “Wow he’s in a tight spot! how’s he gonna get out of this?”

Let’s break down each step of this process.

1. Your character’s immediate goal. 

This does not have to be some large or grandiose goal. You’re writing a scene, not a book. The goal can be as simple as getting from one end of a room to another. Just ask yourself what the character needs to right now, and how do they intend to accomplish that goal.

2. What could possibly go wrong?

The key here is putting an obstacle in front of your character that will not only inconvenience them, but prevent the goal from being accomplished altogether. Remember that you’re writing drama here, so trivial obstacles won’t be enough to keep the reader’s attention. Go Big.

3. Make the worst case scenario happen.

This is where the rubber meets the road. Take into account the setting and situation so that your obstacle happens organically. You don’t want a dude trying to go to the store, and then have some aliens come out of nowhere shooting lasers at him if you didn’t set up that possibility earlier in the story. The obstacle has to be logical, and you have to be fair about it: there has to at least appear to be a solution to the obstacle that the character can get to, even if they have to do some thinking and problem solving to get to it. The guys that write MacGyver always made sure that whenever MacGyver needed to cobble something to get out of a fix, the necessary ingredients to do so were within reach.

4. What does your character do about it? And what is going through their mind as they do it?

Writing your character’s response is the crucial element of moving the narrative forward. Be sure to stay true to your character’s personality and mode of operation. A character that is a planner reacts differently from one that is used to thinking on their feet. You want to make sure the actions are consistent and fluid within the setting. Make sure everything flows.
The thoughts and emotions going through your character’s mind is also crucial. The reader wants to see how that person’s mind is working their way through the dilemma. That will give a lot of insight into your character’s personality and thought process. It also lets the reader know what the stakes are and how important it is to the character to figure out how to solve the obstacle.

5. Now what?

Now that your character has made their move and overcome that obstacle, the environment and situation have changed. Every action has a reaction, so this changed environment now creates a new challenge blocking your character’s path. What is that new challenge? Perhaps your heroine escapes from bondage only to now have to find her way out of the building she is being held in without being noticed by her captors. After she finds her way out of the building, now she has to figure out where she is and get some transportation to safety. What dangers are posed by the method of transportation she finds? And so on. This process repeats until either the goal is complete, or there is absolutely no way the goal can be completed.

EXAMPLE TIME: One of the scenes in Godmode features Elijah trying to escape a room full of minotaur-like creatures. His first obstacle in the maze of cubicles he finds himself in. So he has to navigate through that to find the exit. But his curiosity takes him to one experiment chamber, where he is then confronted by his second obstacle, the minotaurs. So his immediate goal of getting out of that room is met with the biggest thing that could go wrong at that moment, which was these savage beastmen looking to slaughter him. So how does Elijah react? He runs, zigzagging through the room, trying to find an exit, some refuge, or a way to fight them off. He finds the latter in the form of a dead security guard with his gun still in the holster. Now the goal is get to the gun before the minotaurs get to him. He reaches the gun…but wait, he can’t get the holster to unclasp so he can get the gun out. And the minotaurs are still coming. So what does he do to react to that? He rips the gun out of its holster and shoots at the minotaurs….and misses every single shot. Now what?

Incorporating this method should bring you some clear, concise action sequences for you to build around. Give it a try and see how well it works.

Oh and if you want to see my example in realtime, grab a copy of Godmode here.

Writing to Music

Quan

When I write my stories, I often like to listen to music. For some, listening to music while they work is just a way to help them calm down or focus. But I use music for a different purpose, and I’m quite sure many other writers do the same. For me, music provides an ample way to set mood and tone for the stories I write. It’s very similar to how music plays an integral role in movies: a good soundtrack that fits the story stirs up emotions and feelings that really drive home the theme of the action in the story at that moment. So if that principle works when I’m watching a movie or playing a video game, then I figure it will also work when creating these stories.

For instance, I had an extensive list of songs and artists I listened to while writing my Sci-fi horror novel Godmode. It was an eclectic mix of artists ranging from Portishead to Linkin Park to Evanescence to composers Robyn Miller, Hidekai Kobayashi & Fumie Kumatani to even the French electronica group Air. Since all of these artists have distinct sounds, I use their music for different aspects of my story.

If I wanted my scene to feel creepy and ominous, I played Robyn Miller’s Riven Soundtrack. For something just as creepy but more menacing, I’d play Portishead’s Third. If I wanted some pathos and raw emotion, Evanescence’s “Like You” was a perfect fit. And for action, I listened to heavy doses of Hidekai Kobayashi & Fumie Kumatani’s Phantasy Star Online Soundtrack. That music made for some epic sci-fi fighting, especially for some of the larger, more high-stakes monster fights. I also listened to the more aggressive songs by Evanescence and Linkin Park.

For the Fantasy Thriller I just finished writing, I wanted an epic, blockbuster action feel, so my background music of choice was the Inception soundtrack by Hans Zimmer. I listened to the faster-paced tracks while I wrote the action scenes, and everything else for, well, everything else. I also have an epic, high-fantasy kung-fu story I want to write, and for that I would listen to a mix of traditional Asian music and grand, sweeping Lord Of The Rings-styled adventure music.

When choosing the perfect writing music, first consider what you’re writing about. What is the setting of the story, and what kind of mood are you trying to set up? What is happening in the story, and what plot points within that scene are you trying to emphasize? Once you’ve figured that out, then it’s a matter of finding appropriate music that fits that mood, setting and action. Also keep in mind that even within those criteria, different songs you write to will create different moods. A sweeping love theme by John Williams will work differently from an intimate love song by Adele, even though you could use either for the same scene; and an epic action song from John Barry’s James Bond soundtracks has a different feel than an aggressive heavy metal song from Metallica.

Also, when writing to music, if you can write fast enough to keep up with the song, then do so. It will help you to capture the mood and the feelings that the music evokes. And once you are finished with your scene, always go back and read it over to your music. This way you can tell if you’ve managed to capture the mood the way you originally intended.

Give it a try! Who knows: when your book is optioned for a motion picture, maybe the producers will get soundtrack music similar to what you used to write it to.

Starting Off With A Bang

Quan

The old cliche says you never get a second chance to make a first impression.  I’m quite sure many writing gurus have told you that especially applies to novels. Well, I happen to agree. The first sentence, the first few paragraphs,  the first few pages, and the first chapter all set the tone for the rest of the book, and it is critical for you as a writer to nail them. I for one know I’ve put away a few critically acclaimed books because the first few pages didn’t capture my interest. Your story has a very limited time frame to grab and keep the readers attention. Slow builds are fine, but there still has to be something there to make the reader want to turn the next page.

Once, I had critiqued a friend’s manuscript after Beta reading it. My critique was that the story started too pedestrian. The protagonist spent the first few pages going through the motions of her daily life, and there was nothing particularly engaging about what was happening or who it was happening to. I was not compelled in any way to read any further. If your story suffers from that, then you will have a hard time attracting an agent, publisher or new reader.

So now the question becomes “how can I tailor my beginning to grab the reader’s attention?” There are a few different approaches you can take, and they all work well, depending on the context of your story. Here are a few.

1. Start With Some Action.

If your story has heavy action in it, you can’t go wrong with starting the story with some insane high octane action scenes. The James Bond franchise had practicality made this an art form. You start the story by getting the adrenaline flowing and injecting that sense of excitement and danger right at the outset. This is a great option for Thrillers.

2. Start At A Crucial Moment.

For this one, you need to find one of the most pivotal moments of your story, where everything is hanging in the balance, and start your story right at that predicament. That way the stakes are established right off the bat, the reader is thrown right into the story, and there is even a little mystery added as to how the characters got to that situation. A High Fantasy story I’m working on actually starts at the “Final Battle” between the main hero and his nemesis.

3. Establish The Character

If you are looking to have a slow build for the core situations presented in your book, or your story is more character-driven, then you need to establish who the characters are immediately, and why a reader should care what happens to them. That means giving them an opportunity right off the bat to showcase their personalities, their quirks and their lifestyles. I did this for the first chapter of The Hand You’re Dealt. The story was more about Jay and Tika’s growth as characters than any major plot, so I started the story by introducing Jay (and a bit later Tika), allowing them to talk and interact with people and adjust to their new surroundings. You get a good sense of who they are as people and the charisma they possess, so you are compelled to follow them around and see what happens to them.

4. State The Problem

Another good way to start the story is to dive right into the problem at hand. Every story is really a chronicle of someone trying to solve a problem. So why not just cut to the chase and let the reader know right at the outset what the problem is? I did this for both The Leopard Man and for Double Entry. The Leopard Man started with Ashlynn’s dream about meeting a dangerous man, and Double Entry started with Dana’s ex-boyfriend and baby-father hiring her at his firm. Now the reader is automatically asking themselves where this story is going, and maybe even how did your protags get to this point.

5. Build The World

If you have a compelling, unique, vibrant or quirky setting, you have the option of starting with a description of that world. This one can be a bit tricky to pull off, because you are trying to make your reader care about your setting and that world before they even meet the principal characters. But with this approach, the key is to really highlight what makes your setting different. And you could also immerse your reader into the world, letting them experience all of the sights and sounds and other aspects of life in that setting so they really feel like they are there. This is what I did in Godmode, where the first few scenes were spent with Elijah exploring his bizarre new surroundings. There wasn’t a lot of character exploration at that time, because he was already disoriented by his new surroundings, and a lot of time was spent just reacting to the things he saw, heard or smelled as he made his way through that first floor.

6. Play With Time

This is an expansion of starting at a crucial moment. A trope of storytelling is to start the story near or at the end, and then once the reader/viewer is hooked, rewind the story back to it’s true beginning and go from there, explaining how the protag got to the point where the story started.

Try implementing one or more of these at the start of your story, and you should be able to put together an engaging sequence to grip the reader’s attention and keep them turning the pages. One thing is certain, though: by the end of the first chapter the reader should know what the central problem is, and have a good idea of what the stakes are.