Kansas Writers Association

Let Your Work Find Its Home

Of all the ways to tell a story, screenwriting is one of the most collaborative. The screenwriter provides the raw material for the story, then watches as it is further interpreted by the director, the actors, the editor, and who knows how many other cooks.

That’s why story analyst Elizabeth Stevens advised writers at our August workshop to be terse. Be essential. And be patient. “If you want to write screenplays, understand that it’s going to take years. The average screenwriter does half a dozen or more scripts before he or she has any success. You need the practice to get it right. Find stories you can invest in and hang with.”

Even people in Hollywood don’t always know what a story analyst does, says Stevens, who recently relocated to Lawrence from L.A. She has evaluated more than 1,500 scripts and novels for their suitability as film productions, writing both critiques and “coverage” — an industry standard report with brief comments, a synopsis, and commentary on the writing quality of a script. She recommends ways to strengthen a story’s structure, depth, character arc, and dialogue.

Her clients include Barry Levinson’s Baltimore/Spring Creek Pictures, Sandra Bullock’s Fortis Films, and Lifetime Television, and she has been a judge in the Final Draft International Screenwriting Competition for several years.

We asked Stevens about rookie mistakes. Here are some common pitfalls of beginning screenwriters:

• Don’t be so polite to your characters, showing every scene from greeting to farewell. Instead, remember “in late, out early.”
• Don’t be “on the nose” with dialogue - i.e., too obvious. “People don’t say what they mean. People lie. They talk about something else that may be an analogy for what they really mean.”
• Don’t be vague about your setting. Give an exact time and place in your opening slugline.
• Don’t be sloppy! Study the precise formatting that a screenplay requires, and stick to it.

As for the Do’s:

• Really study the craft. Learn about exposition, narrative, those elements of storytelling. Read a lot of screenplays. Read books and see how they are adapted. Read everything.
• Break down a movie by yourself. Go minute-by-minute through a film and write down what happens and how it is shot.
• Enter contests - but not too many.
• If you know anyone in Hollywood, use your connection. Don’t be shy.

Finally, we asked Stevens how much a writer should worry about making his or her work marketable or following trends. Her advice: Don’t. “Write what you want to write, and let it find its home,” she said. “There are all kinds of producers, just like there are all kinds of publishers.”

– Erin Perry O’Donnell, KWA Webmaster

Greetings, friends!

We want to thank Hazel Hart, who did a wonderful job presenting Nancy Pickard’s CASTS system to all of us at the July meeting. If you weren’t there, you missed a good program.

Do you aspire to see your stories played out on the silver screen? Join us in August as we welcome Elizabeth (E.A.) Stevens, a freelance feature film story analyst, script consultant, and writer newly transplanted to Lawrence. Elizabeth has evaluated more than 1,500 scripts and books for clients including Sandra Bullock’s Fortis Films, Lifetime Television, Interscope, the Final Draft International Screenwriting Competition, just to name a few. She loves dissecting screenplays and films for what works, what doesn’t, and why, and she is passionate about scripts and films that embody “smart art with heart.” She’s the real deal folks, so please make her welcome at the August meeting.

As for September, we have literary agents Janet Reid and Joanna Stampfel coming from New York. YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS ONE EITHER! We’ll have an all-day event at the Collegiate Upper School. This is a special workshop so we will be charging $50 for KWA members and $60 for non-members. If you would like to have an opportunity to speak with a NY agent, here’s your chance, but it’s first-come, first-serve, so don’t wait to sign up. Janet Bahl will set up 10-minute consultations for all those interested - and if you’re not interested, then come anyway. There will be presentations on queries, pitches, synopses, pet peeves and top mistakes we writers make. There will no doubt be funny publishing stories, too, so mark your calendars.

It was really fun meeting the new visitors to the July meeting. We really miss the long time members, too, so please make it a point to put KWA on your calendar for the third Saturday each month. Our VP, Vicki Hermes-Bond, has done a terrific job with programs this year in answer to the member surveys you filled out. The Board is working very hard to make KWA an organization that all writers will benefit from.

I recently watched a video called The Last Lecture, and it moved me deeply. Many times we have dreams and don’t achieve them. Maybe something bars the road, but those obstacles are put there for a reason - to see if we truly want what we think we want. Do you want to be a published writer? If so, then don’t let anything stop you and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. Believe in your dreams.

Take care all and write on!

BD (Bonnie) Tharp
2008 KWA President

At our July workshop, author and KWA member Hazel Hart took us through the CASTS method for revising scenes. The system was created by author Nancy Pickard, who shared it at our Scene of the Crime Conference in April.

CASTS stands for Conflict, Actions, Surprise, Turn (emotional shift), and Senses. The point is to evaluate each of your scenes to ensure that it includes all of these elements. Pickard also recommends scanning for point of view problems and cliches.

“When you’re revising and you want to get it into a shape that might be publishable, use these elements to help you decide if a scene is successful or not,” Hazel said.

Remember, this is a revision process. Don’t use it on your rough draft. Use whatever notemaking tool works best for you: index cards, large sticky notes, the Track Comments feature in Microsoft Word. Just take your manuscript a chunk at a time — one writer at the meeting recommended doing 50 pages at a go.

CASTS may be a more analytical process than you’re used to, but it’s a quick way to get in the habit of checking your work to make sure all the critical pieces are there to complete your literary puzzle. We’re grateful to Hazel for walking us through it!

If you attended the workshop, let us know what you thought of the exercise! Post a reply below (click on the Comments link if you don’t see the Leave a Reply box below).

• Hazel’s blog: Seasoned Aspirer
• Hazel’s storefront on Lulu.com

Please welcome us in congratulating KWA member Joyce Markley on the staging of her play, Mind Scripted, at Wichita Community Theatre in August! Way to go, Joyce!

Mind Scripted

Six vignettes;
twenty-two lives forever changed…
by a palm-held rectangle…
Do we program … or is it we who are programmed?

Mind Scripted is showing Aug. 7-9 and 14-16 at 8 p.m. The theatre is at 258 N. Fountain. For info or reservations, call 316.686.1282. Let’s all help support Joyce and give her a good turnout for the show!

We saw this on WritersDigest.com and liked it. See what you can do with this:

You and a friend have just finished a lovely meal at your favorite restaurant. But things take a turn when you notice that the waiter has scribbled an unexpected—and startling—message on your bill. Write this scene.

Let us see what you get. Click on the Comments link below or the Leave a Reply box to share your results! You can write it in your usual program (Word or whatever) then copy and paste it here.

Greetings, friends!

I hope you’re enjoying the summer so far and have lots of writing projects in progress. KWA had a wonderful poetry workshop and reading with Dr. Chinyere Okafor in June (click the link to view photos of her visit). There was a small group in attendance, but I think they will all agree we had a great time and learned a lot. Poetry is something that can be found in everything and used in every genre. It can help us learn more interesting word choices, trim the fat in our writing, and give it passion and rhythm. All writing has a rhythm, and the more lyrical it is, the more pleasant a story can become. I’ve always been a bit verbose (I’ll bet you didn’t know that) and reading and writing poetry has helped me be more selective of the words that I use. It also helps to find new ways with words so we’re not tempted to fall back on clichés. I highly recommend that if you haven’t spent any time writing poetry you give it a try.

The July program will be great for everyone. Hazel Hart has graciously agreed to facilitate a workshop on the CASTS system that Nancy Pickard presented to us during the Scene conference. What is it, you ask? It’s a way to hone our writing. It will help us have a much better chance of publishing, because we make sure that we include every important element that makes a good story better.

There are a lot of good workshops planned for the summer, so set aside KWA Saturday.

A group of new and long time members (Erin O’Donnell, Seti Walker, Richard Walkup and Ray “Grizzly” Racobs) have agreed to be the nominating committee for the 2009 board. If you are interested in being more involved, being a board member is a great way to do it. Contact one of these members if you are interested. I personally recommend it. I’ve been a board member for two years and it’s been fun, interesting, and sometimes really exciting. The board meets quarterly, so it’s not a huge time commitment.

Kerry Johnston has kindly agreed to fulfill the PR position for 2008 after Arlene Graber resigned after five years. Please welcome Kerry, who has a lot of experience with marketing and public relations. We are very lucky to have her. She already has brought some wonderful new ideas that will help KWA, so stay tuned.

The KWA Anthology of award-winning entries for 2008 is available at Watermark Books for $15. Get your copy and come to the next workshop; the winners will be happy to sign their page. Copies from previous years are available at the KWA meetings for $5. It’s a great way to support your fellow writers and KWA.

The new contest will be coming up shortly. We’re returning to the old format, so if you’d like to help out as a judge or sponsor, please contact Louise Pelzl. Send your questions or comments to contest@kwawriters.org. Check the web site periodically (www.kwawriters.org), because Erin is doing a great job of keeping us informed. Visit the blog and share your thoughts, ask questions and respond to subjects that have been posted.

Take care all and write on!

BD (Bonnie) Tharp
2008 KWA President

So who is afraid of poetry? Are you? We missed many of you at our June workshop. But we’re not here to chastise. It’s summer, vacations are calling (in spite of staggering gas prices), and we understand.

If you didn’t join us, you missed out on taking a journey of the mind to Nigeria, the homeland of poet Dr. Chinyere Okafor, a professor of women’s studies at Wichita State University. Chinyere read — beautifully, lyrically — from her poetry collection It Grows In Winter. She shared with us some background about her country and about growing up in a storytelling culture — a culture that is already slipping away among the younger generation.

As a child, Chinyere spent evenings not in front of a TV or PlayStation, but out in the village with her neighbors, listening to the storytellers and participating in the tales. There was drama, music, role-playing, and lessons to be learned without even knowing it. “I never really studied writing — fortunately,” Chinyere said. “In my village, language was very poetic, full of idioms and proverbs.”

That’s how a poet is made, she says. No one is born a poet, but by being open to your senses and experiences, you learn. The three main factors in poetic writing, she says, are knowledge, practice, and experimentation. But the heart of poetry is emotion, and expressing it with imagery. “Poetry is the communication of emotion,” she says. A poet has to know oneself in order to write from his or her heart, but don’t feel you have to know yourself completely. Write about the discovery, and don’t hold back.

Even if you don’t write poetry — even if you don’t like poetry — every writer can learn from it. Take another look at poetry if you haven’t lately, and see what you find.

Next meeting: Novel Writing, July 19.

Greetings to you all!

Those of you that chose RiverFest and vacations over the KWA award winners readings missed a great time, some great food and door prizes (Thanks Vicki). There is an amazing amount of talent in the work that was shared, and no doubt a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. I was very impressed with the quality and diversity of the writing. WAY TO GO WINNERS! We sold several anthologies, but since so many of you were out enjoying the lovely spring weather we’ll make them available again and also at Watermark Books & Cafe.

Our VP, Vicki Hermes-Bond, came up with a great idea. We should all partner with someone and encourage them to participate in the next contest which will begin in August. We are reverting back to the old schedule by popular demand, with the judging in November and awards in December. More details will be forthcoming, but if you have comments or would like to help our illustrious Contest Coordinator, Louise Pelzl, then let her know - it’s fun, but it’s a BIG job and more hands make light work.

We’ll be adding email links to the web site for questions regarding contests, memberships, the newsletter and general information - so check it often. Erin, our Web Master, is doing a great job of keeping the site up to date and filled with news. (Thank you Erin!)

Don’t forget - if you are tutoring, mentoring, or participating in the community for literacy to let our Grant Coordinator, Vicki Hermes-Bond, know. I’m mentoring a senior at Collegiate and having a great time doing it. It’s important that we do our part as a 501(c)3 organization, and as a part of KWA your contributions count.

If you would like to get some experience writing, share some new idea on the writing process, or submit a review on an awesome book, then send your article for the KWA newsletter to Seti Walker. We don’t pay contributors, but it’s a clip for your samples book and looks good on the writing resume; plus it’s good practice. The deadline is the 20th of each month.

The OWFI 40th Year Conference was great this year. They had a new venue and tons of room to grow. The speakers were just as good as the KWA Scene of the Crime, too. Since KWA is an affiliate member of OWFI, several of our members went and volunteered to help out (myself included) with agent/editor consults, shepherding speakers, and the like. It is always fun and you learn a lot. Just like Scene of the Crime, there is something for everyone. I met with the editor from Samuel-French play publishers and will be sending them my play as soon as it’s been performed a couple of times. I also met with an editor for Avalon who is interested in my historical novel, so I need to get it finished pronto.

One of the best things about writing organizations and conferences is the people you meet. We’ve made some great friends who truly understand the writing process and know when we need a friendly reader, sympathetic ear, or even what to do to support us. It’s important to have that support and understanding and, frankly, non-writers, no matter how well meaning, just don’t get it. So, get involved, support the organization and each other, and remember — we all have stories to share.

The next board meeting is Wednesday, July 16, from 6 to 8 PM at Watermark Books. We have an opening for a historian for the remaining months of 2008, since Arlene Graber has resigned (Good luck, Arlene!). Kerry Johnston has agreed to fill in for the remainer of 2008 as the PR Director. Welcome, Kerry!

Write on my friends,
BD “Bonnie” Tharp

Yes, we’re back with another link to another NPR piece. This time it’s “In Character,” a recurring feature on Morning Edition, which profiles iconic characters in American literature, film, and TV. Or, as the series tagline puts it, “Tricksters, Vamps, Heroes and Scamps.” Check out the main series page at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17914370

Today’s installment was on Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler’s quintessential private eye, with audio clips from his various film incarnations by the likes of Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum.

They’ve done everyone from Indiana Jones and Dora the Explorer to Hannibal Lecter and Jack Bauer. It really gets you thinking about how to round out the characters in your own stories.

Did you ever want to read the classics but were afraid to tackle them alone? You can join the great books discussion group Saturdays at Eighth Day Books, 2838 E. Douglas. From the Wichita Eagle (complete article at http://www.kansas.com/302/story/386220.html ) –

Fans of timeless classic literature, including the Bible, Homer’s “Iliad” and George Orwell’s “1984,” meet weekly for discussions from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturdays.

The great books discussion group, which formed in February, meets at Eighth Day Books, 2838 E. Douglas.

For more information, contact Garrett Jeter at 316-832-3550 or call 316-683-9446 to find out about other book clubs Eighth Day Books offers.