Come What May: The Novel Blog

The Bones of Editing

2011-05-26T17:04:00.000-04:00

In the last few weeks, Advent hired an editor, Sandra Judd, for refining and polishing CWM. She will focus on stylistic editing and copyediting. I've seen a short sample from her already, and I know she'll improve the novel's quality significantly. I found her service here at Book Editing Associates. I recommend that you check out these listings if you ever need an editor.

If you're serious about publishing and selling a book, getting a good editor is vital. Sure, you can throw up a book on Amazon without any editing at all (more on that on a later post), but if you're wanting it to be good, you have no excuse not to have a good editor. It's not just about making sure you spelled all your words correctly (believe me, it's surprising how poorly proofread some self-publishde work is), but it's about removing obstacles in the reader's path for them to connect with your work and making your work shine so your story is worth reading in itself.

That last sentence needs help. Let's make it better.

Before we change anything, we need to understand what's broken. For a cracked femur, bandages may be an easy fix, but resetting the bone is necessary for healing.

The most obvious problem is the misspelling of "self-published." That's easy enough to see, but it's not really important right now. Dig deeper.

The sentence is awkward, long, and hard to follow. It's convoluted and has too much filler, which clouds its message. What is its message? Let's go deeper.

Parsing through the sentence, we can find the basic message: Editing polishes, clarifies, and enriches your content. That's the core, the bedrock of the sentence. At this foundational level, the sentence is good. The bone's not broken, just out of joint.

These three levels can be summed up as the basic cycle of editing. Special thanks to Sandra for breaking these down for me in an email she wrote.

Copyediting - Correcting grammar, spelling, and minor style issues. Polish.

Stylistic editing - Reforming sentence construction, improving diction, eliminating filler, specifying. Clarification.

Substantive editing - Big picture suggestions, reworking of characters and plots, improving conflict. Enrichment.

Generally, the editing process starts with substantive editing and ends with copyediting. No reason to make cosmetic changes to something if you haven't fixed it from falling apart first.

Let's edit that earlier sentence.

It's not just about making sure you spelled all your words correctly (believe me, it's surprising how poorly proofread some self-publishde work is), but it's about removing obstacles in the reader's path for them to connect with your work and making your work shine so your story is worth reading in itself.

To . . .

More than correcting spelling and grammar, editing removes obstacles, such as jargon, filler, and convoluted sentence structure, which come between your reader and your story. Editing also refines the core elements of the story--characters, plot, environment, and theme--sculpting them until they are worthy of being told.

This is a complete, thorough edit. Everything except the core meaning has changed. Sometimes it is necessary to drop something passable for something much better. I know the edited example could use even more work (I would like it to be shorter and more personal). And then, of course, a lot of this is subjective, and you can't spend forever editing without moving on to the next thing.

Can you make a better edit?

Self-Publishing Prospects

2011-03-29T15:15:00.000-04:00

I'm currently hours into researching the fundamental basics of self-publishing, from Print on Demand and eBooks, to the Kindle and iPad. Not to mention marketing and templates and getting documents ready for publication. As you probably guessed, self-publishing is something Advent's considering for CWM.

It's going to take a while to take all the information about self-publishing and POD into account and crunch it down into a course of action. I'm amazed how much the market has become more friendly to self-publishers. It's not just a last resort anymore--some writers are turning down lucrative publishing offers because they know they can make more money in the long run by self-publishing than by going with a traditional publisher.

Of course, this can mean that the self-publisher assumes a lot of risk. He has to market it, edit it, put the cover together himself, or else pay someone to do it for him. The marketing and advertising seem to be the biggest risk, but if he can strategically target specific groups, people, and social networks, it seems likely that he can get at least some return for his product, especially if he's getting the lion's share of the profits.

I'm trying to find the ultimate do-it-yourself, bare-bones, cost-effective self-publishing route. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know!

Come What May's (Nearly) Done!

2011-03-10T12:07:00.003-05:00

Well, it looks like my break was a tad bit longer than a week and a half. Since this time I finished Hero pickups, worked on a period film for three months, and finished up a (nearly) final edit for Come What May!

It’s been a crazy road, but I feel like the book is in a good place now. Mr. Escobar and Mr. Snyder praised the book, and so have others, including my mom (which makes it well worth it!).

Rebekah Cook did a tremendous job helping me tweak the manuscript’s style, diction, and grammar. Without her help, the book’s quality would have suffered.

We’re currently exploring our publishing options. We want to get it out to you soon!

Please leave questions if you have any!

Hero shooting

2010-07-23T02:01:00.001-04:00

Looks like I'll be away from the keyboard for the next week and a half or so helping shoot pickups for Hero, the second Advent feature film coming out. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we try to get some great scenes and insert shots for the movie. It's looking like it'll be pretty jam-packed busy.

Be sure to check out the movie website here.

Just An Update...

2010-07-19T16:12:00.002-04:00

To tell you the truth, things are beginning to drag on my end. Having a rough draft is great(!), but I feel like the editing phase is just another long journey. Though I know better, I don’t feel like there’s really an end in sight. It’s almost like making a movie but doing it alone. Sometimes you want a hero to come save the project, and thankfully Come What May isn’t just about me. Yet, I’m not alone, because I’ve prayed a lot for it, and I know that the kind of dedication that it’s required has been because God’s given me the strength to get this far, and I know very few people who’ve had the opportunity to say they’ve written a novel.

Mr. Snyder and I had an excellent conversation with a very knowledgeable gentleman as a follow-up to one of our calls last week. He gave us some very pointed, valuable advice, and, speaking entirely from my own perspective, I wouldn’t be surprised if CWM ends up being self-published. There are a variety of reasons for this, but all in all, after reconsidering self-publishing CWM, I am pretty favorable to it. Of course, as an author, the usual goal is to get published by a major house to ensure better advances, marketing, and publicity for your work, so you can live off your writing and get more offers to write more things. It’s a big spiral that’s not really good or bad by itself, but it’s a great way to build a successful career if it’s what you want to do. We’ll see.

Really, the novel is about giving fans of the story a different way to enjoy it. I personally think that it will be a worthwhile book of its own right, but as I told one friend recently, I am so close to it, it’s pretty hard for me to be objective. But when you find yourself laughing or choking up on something you’ve written, especially if you’re hyper-critical of your own stuff, that’s usually a good sign.

If you like it, I’ll be happy. Still working on a third draft. Taking longer than I hoped, but what’s new?

And yes, I’m late posting this.

Being "Don Hogan" - Kenny Jezek

2010-07-12T23:48:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite things about working on Come What May was getting to know Kenny Jezek. Everything good about Don Hogan was really just Mr. Jezek being himself. He was always a source of stability, humor, and encouragement on set, in addition to being a great actor. When I hung out with him, he helped me forget the stress of the day and focus on what was really important, building relationships with people and God.

And if that's not enough, I also had the huge pleasure and opportunity to know his wife Karen Jezek (who plays Judith) and their two daughters, Savanna and Shiloh. They're an incredible family, and I miss them.

The Jezeks live in Arizona and have recently founded a theater company, Command Performers. If you can make it to Phoenix this summer, be sure to get a ticket for their production of "Stone Soup", performing August 6 & 7.

Mr. Jezek gave me this to share with you.

BEING "DON HOGAN" - By Kenny Jezek

JUNE 2010 - It has been nearly three years since I first received the call from George Escobar asking my wife and I to play the roles of Don and Judith Hogan in Advent Film Group’s first feature film “Come What May” which we filmed in the summer of 2007 and winter of 2008. I must first go on record in saying that this experience (5 weeks in the summer and another 2 weeks in the winter) was one of the most enjoyable and enriching in our family’s life.

Probably the biggest challenge in developing and playing this role was giving “Don” some depth with a very limited amount of “screen time”. In this, as in the other Christian film roles I’ve had the privilege to play, the first place I began, and where I suggest any Christian actor begins, was with the sovereignty of God. Yes, that’s right. Not a technique or method (which all have their place in character development and performance) but in the firm conviction that God is sovereign and reigns and rules over all of creation and that nothing happens outside of his gaze or foreknowledge. Having this belief firmly in place, I can honestly say, is the key to being able to do what I do. If God placed me in that role, which He obviously did, then God would provide the grace I needed to honestly and accurately portray that person. This would be the absolute best encouragement I could give to any young Christian actor. Having this belief informing your life will go a long way in keeping you humble as well. A very important thing to be in an industry where egos and arrogance are prevalent and the temptation to be so is great.

God’s prepared me to play the roles I’ve played through my experience and life in the entertainment industry as both a professional dancer and actor, especially in the role of Lars Englund in NBC’s “Days of Our Lives”. Acting in a soap opera gives an actor an enormous amount of experience in learning a large amount of lines in a very short period of time. Also, because soap operas film an entire show in one day (whereas a nighttime series would take an entire week to two to film one episode), we learned how to hit our marks and deliver our performances in one or two takes. Along with this ability gained through acting in a “soap” the usual technical aspects of character development came into play as well ie: back story (what do I know about Don and his life prior to this place in time?), motivation and personality. A quick caveat - I am not advocating or suggesting that Christian actors pursue getting on a soap opera.

Another thing that was very important was talking often and in depth with our director (and can I say now, my very dear friend) Manny Edwards about “Don” and his motivations. Many a late night were spent between Manny, Karen (my wife who so wonderfully played “Judith”), George and myself discussing scenes, flow, motivation, character arc, etc. Not only did this allow my wife and I to better develop our characters and make sure we were tracking with our director’s ideas for those characters as well but it allowed for our friendship to grow so that we continued our relationship well beyond the filming of the movie.

Something else that was very helpful (and I would say imperative) was spending time with the other actors in the movie, specifically Austin Kearney (Caleb) and Victoria Emmons (Rachel). Getting comfortable with them off camera allowed for us to be comfortable with them on camera. This was especially important for our relationship with Austin as he played our teenage son. So it had to look like we had known and loved this young man his whole life. I must say that both Austin and Tori made it very easy for us to love them both. Our friendship with them has only grown and for that we are so grateful to God.

That really leads me to my final point regarding acting for the Christian. For the Christian “actor” don’t allow yourself to believe that your role in a film is only, or even primarily about your acting in a movie, which would be a very narrow perspective, indeed. You will be working with and developing relationships with people. If those people are Christians remember that they have had an encounter with God (let that sink in for a moment). Treat them with respect, honor, dignity and professionalism. Sometimes we forget this when tensions begin to run high on a film set. Yes, even a Christian film set. If they are not believers then you are an ambassador of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them.

During my time in the entertainment industry when I was not a Christian, I worked with and met some of the most recognizable names around. Many of them would remember me if my name were to come up in conversation, but none of them are on my list of what I would call those I have a relationship with. God is about spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ here on earth and glorifying the name of His Son, our Savior. Your part in a movie (or anything else you do here on earth for that matter) is less about that part and more about the relationships you will develop during that movie. Don’t miss that opportunity by being overly obsessed with your performance. Yes, be professional. There are people you will never meet who will be impacted by watching your performance. So do your job as if unto the Lord. Work hard, think, concentrate, memorize your lines, communicate with your director, give it 100%, AND consider the people you are working with. Like your part in the movie, they were brought there by the sovereign hand of God.

~Kenny Jezek

Calling Publishers

2010-07-08T23:12:00.001-04:00

So this week Mr. Snyder and I got on the phone and made several calls to publishers, agents, and other important people to get the ball rolling on publishing. I’m working on the third draft still, but I’m pretty confident that it’s at a place right now that we can send out the first few chapters to spark interest for it. Since it can take six months or more for a manuscript to go from my computer to the publisher and then to the bookshelves, it’s imperative not to get behind here. The way I see it, if we can work out an agreement with a publisher while I’m finalizing the book, we’ll have saved a good chunk of time and can use the extra space to begin marketing.

Voicemail tends to be the modus operandi for communication in the publishing world. We left a lot of messages and are waiting to hear back. Advent Film Group is always crazy busy in the office, and it’s just a little film company (so far), so I can only guess how packed out time is in a literary agency or editor’s office. Still would be nice to hear back soon.

I’m not too hot on the idea of self-publishing. It comes with its own set of worthwhile rewards, but it also entails a lot more work from the writer. I’m not lazy, but I wouldn’t mind someone else doing some of the work on the book so I can move on to other projects. Either way, it’s a great practical education, and I’m learning a lot about the whole process.

Visiting the beach at Wilmington, NC right now. The last time I saw the ocean was probably two years ago. I’ve missed it.

NEXT MONDAY: Very special guest post. Come back for it.

Draft, draft, and more drafts

2010-07-01T23:59:00.000-04:00

I’m sitting in a Greyhound station as a type this, because when it’s posted I’ll be in the middle of being a camp counselor for Generation Joshua at Patrick Henry College. It should be a great week, and I’ll be working with a lot of old friends, which will make it even better. To find out more about Generation Joshua, you should check out their website.

By the time you read this, I will have finished the second draft of CWM (!). This draft is mostly a smoothing of the first draft—most of the events will be the same, but a lot of the style and some of the content has been significantly modified. Rough sentence structure and typographical errors are some of the things I’ve corrected. The end of June is my deadline for the second draft, and since I’m camp counseling this week, I had to finish it a few days early.

I’ll probably have at least three more drafts after this.

The third draft will take the second draft and expand some of the moot court material and strengthen the ending. To be realistic, the moot court arguments in the novel require me to do additional research into actual Supreme Court rulings. This research will be used for the arguments Caleb, Rachel, and Judith present. The CWM novel ending is also unsatisfying right now, and a little too open-ended for my and Mr. Escobar’s taste, so this will also be corrected in the third draft.

This third draft will be sent out to a few trusted people for their opinions and suggestions. When I get these suggestions, I will decide which ones I like and will turn around and put them into a fourth draft.

Before CWM is published, there’s a big possibility that a professional editor, either someone independent or someone employed through an acquiring publisher, will have their own corrections to make. These corrections will finally culminate in the final draft, which will go off to the printing presses.

Makes you realize how involved things can be even after the first draft is written, huh?

Judith

2010-06-25T01:04:00.001-04:00

When I started writing CWM, Judith posed a problem for me because she’s a very complicated character. At first, she comes across as a somewhat sympathetic antagonist primarily concerned for Caleb and his (as she sees it) poor academic choice of Patrick Henry College. Even though we’re rooting for Caleb, we understand that as his mother she only wants the best for him.

At the same time, we learn that there is more to this than a personal preference against PHC. Judith is not against PHC because it doesn’t have the prestige, history, or tradition of an Ivy school. She’s not against it because she had a falling out with PHC’s president or a faculty member. She’s not even against it because she thinks Caleb can have a better shot at getting into a good law school somewhere else.

She’s against it because it is diametrically opposed to her values, especially her social and religious values. On the other hand, Don wholeheartedly supports the school because he agrees with its position on those same issues. Conflict ensues. CWM’s intended audience naturally sides with Don. Here’s a line in the sand that cannot be crossed without a change in your philosophy and beliefs, not just your personal taste.

Judith pushes this further by taking on a case that Don would condemn. Caleb is caught in the middle. More conflict. Judith’s position as an antagonist becomes more pronounced to the point she’s almost a villain.

Then, near the end of the movie, the tables are turned, and a complex, psychological revelation occurs, which opens a whole new window into Judith’s soul. This revelation suddenly makes us empathize with Judith, to the point that even though we disagree with her, we hope that she finds comfort and acceptance by the end of the film.

For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, I won’t spoil it by saying what secret lies in Judith’s past, but I’ve heard many viewers mention how much they wish that Judith’s story could be explicated even more. What made her the way she is? Why is she so adamant about arguing for an abortion clinic?

Trying to do justice to Judith's story has been interesting. In the end, she’s not the villain—she’s a deeply hurt character. Exploring her story as one of a human being, while respecting the fact that she’s an antagonist in the story, has been difficult but rewarding.

She’s had a hard road to walk. I’m looking forward to the moment she arrives at her destination.

Prepare and Forget--Acting and Writing

2010-06-18T00:03:00.003-04:00

I audited an acting class tonight. It was a great use of two hours, and it reminded me just how similar acting can be to writing.

A good actor spends hours preparing for a scene, exploring layers of character motives and background. What’s your connection with another character? What is it that you want? When you connect, what are you feeling and does that actually come out in the performance? All of these questions should be explored so that you are as prepared as possible when you start performing. This will help you be in the zone with your character—making the character someone inside of you and not someone you are trying to emulate outside of you. This kind of preparation not only improves an actor’s performance, but it gives his acting partners something to connect to and interact with. No actor likes a flat partner—it kills the energy.

That said, when you actually start performing, you have to forget everything you just prepared for. It sounds crazy, but that’s what you have to do. If you start thinking about what the character should be doing at a certain time, the scene stops, you lose focus, and you are no longer acting. If you’ve prepared well, the preparation becomes a subconscious part of you, and you draw on it automatically when you’re actually performing.

Think of it this way—you live your whole life being shaped by your family and friends, by learning new things, and by living according to your convictions. But when you’re actually talking to someone, you’re not thinking about how all of your prior experiences shaped you—you’re focused on the other person and reacting to him or her. This kind of reaction is guided by what has shaped you, but it is a subconscious element.

Acting is all about reacting. It’s emotional. Sometimes when you’re acting, you’ll find yourself going somewhere with your character you’ve never been before, but the foundation you built in preparation will support and guide that new direction.

My writing process for CWM had a very similar process. At first I tried to write without having any kind of treatment—without fully investigating a lot of the different questions about characters and plot points. I tried to go straight to performing—to writing a draft. It started to fall apart after a few chapters, because I hadn’t done enough research into where I was going. So, I studied and took notes and explored a lot to put a treatment together.

When I actually started writing, I referred to the treatment, but once I had a general idea of where I was going, I found that the best stuff came when I looked at the treatment and then tried to forget it, letting the little details fall in place organically and spontaneously. I still had a plot structure, but I didn’t think about it as I wrote the real thing. It’s like performing on paper. You need to be prepared, but don’t let it weigh you down when you are writing. If you do, you kill the flow, lose focus, and often have to start over again.

Some of my favorite moments between the characters in the CWM novel have come about without having had any prior thought given to how exactly their interaction would play out. Often new story elements would pop into my mind, but they flourished because they were supported by the underlying preparation I had done before.

If you’ve worked diligently to prepare, you have the luxury of forgetting about the preparation and going with the moment.

It’s as if you got a map of a river and started floating down it. You know where it starts, where it will end, and where all the turns are. You can forget about heading in the wrong direction because you know exactly where it goes. Just enjoy the journey without worrying, riding through eddies, down rapids, and over slow waters. Sometimes you’ll capsize or hit a sandbar, but with a little effort you’re right back in the flow.

Divine writers, madmen, and other thoughts

2010-06-11T00:24:00.002-04:00

Currently I’m editing the rough draft as I visit near Winston-Salem, North Carolina (where AFG shot Hero). At first, I was afraid of reading what I’d written, but it’s been really nice to read along and say to myself, “You know, this stuff isn’t too bad. It’s kinda good.” I usually don’t have a level head when it comes to my writing. I look back over my stuff expecting it be junk, and usually come away pleasantly surprised that it’s tolerable, and even worthwhile. This bodes well for a paying audience.

I think if you’re not careful, writing (and maybe art as a whole) is dangerous. It’s not like washing the dishes or moving a pile of wood. You can’t just walk away and say, “This is good. It’s done.” So far writing hasn’t given me fulfillment like doing manual labor does.

I bounce between two extremes when I write. Either I write something great and feel divine, or I don’t and feel wholly inadequate for the position. It doesn’t help that writing a book is a long-term project that takes dedication to see it through. You can’t finish it in an afternoon. If I had a more structured writing schedule, with so many hours to put in a day at a certain time in a certain place, I think I would be a little more even-keeled about it all.

I decided to edit CWM by reading it through first and marking every place that needs changed with a big black circle beside the offending sentence or word. Sometimes I can’t help but edit while I’m reading, and so I start putting corrections on the draft copy itself. I don’t want to do this too often, because I’d really like to get the flow of the story in my mind so I can deal with overarching plot deficiencies, and later get to the gritty grammar and diction problems.

One thing I’d like to take away from this project is a confidence in my own natural voice. I never again wish to worry about what people will think of the finished project, until I have a finished project. The style of a novel should be backstage to the characters and plot out in front of the audience. If you ever notice the style, it should be in recollection of how well it functioned in its role, but if you notice it while reading and it distracts you from the story itself . . . well, that’s usually not a good sign. That said, I was too concerned about style to the point that I probably spent too much time trying to be as efficient as possible in my prose. I think this has its place, but it tended to take time and energy away from the creative process of developing the story.

Let the priest sanctify the quarry. Then release the madman to blast out the stone. Invite the sculptor next and let him refine it into a sculpture. Finally, bring out the salesman to convince everyone its worth their money.

What do you think of that? I kinda like it.

The Magic Treatment

2010-06-05T14:07:00.002-04:00

Hey, guys. Yes. I missed posting on Thursday, so I’m making up for it with a late post that has more punch than usual.

While shooting Hero, I realized that in order to move forward with writing CWM, I couldn’t continue writing by just jumping from scene to scene in the screenplay and filling in blanks when they came up. I had to write an outline so that I had a map of where I was going and how I would pace the events in the story.

CWM has several story threads that weave in and out, many of them begging to be developed. How did Caleb and Rachel score a qualifying spot at nationals? Why did Caleb, a complete newbie, get an automatic spot on Dr. Farris’s moot court team? Did Don have any major conflict at the school where he taught? What happened in Judith’s past? What’s the deal with Caleb’s baseball?

Many of these questions couldn’t just be answered in the blanks between the scenes in the film, but had to be developed from the scenes already there. At the same time, I wanted to be faithful to the film that so many people love already. It’s a pretty delicate balance, and I discovered that it was impossible to do without spending a lot of time and thought in a detailed, comprehensive treatment.

What that turned into was taking the CWM transcript with a few lines of description for each scene, like this—

40. Kitchen. D and J. Chips. R will not date. Coming over is date. J ate apple pie. R wants commitment.

C: Have you seen mom?

D: - Yeah. She's busy upstairs.

C: I'm sorry dad.

D: Hey, we're just going through a spell. Don't worry, I still love her.

C: You know my moot court partner?

D: Rachel.

C: - Yeah. Wow, she's fantastic. But um, she will not go on a date unless we're somehow engaged or something.

D: Well, don't complain. I can't even get a date with my own wife. Look. She came over here and made us pie. What do you call that?

C: In our house, that would be a job interview.

D: Well, okay. Why don't you invite her over again? I want some more of that pie.

C: Speaking of pie, I've been saving... Wait. Woah, where'd it go?

D: Your mother ate it.

C: What? She doesn't even like apple pie.

D: Yeah, well with the right evidence she can change her mind.

C: Yeah? That was my evidence.

D: Look. Say you lend a guy ten thousand bucks. What are you going to want from him?

C: Well I'd want him to pay it back.

D: Would you lend it to him if he wouldn't commit to that? If Rachel gives you her trust, If she puts herself in your hands, she wants a commitment that you're not going to break her heart. And you know what? I don't blame her a bit.

—and turning it into almost sixty double-spaced pages of a detailed treatment, outlining nearly every action and piece of dialogue, which encompassed both the scenes in the movie and additional backstory not present in the film.

(Above, the bold lines are the description of the scene, and the number is the scene number as I listed it in the transcript. The lines below are of course dialogue from the film.)

Here’s a sample of the treatment for the scene above.

Twenty-ninth Sequence – November

Caleb talks to his dad about the regionals trip tomorrow, and Rachel, now she’s decided not to even spend any extra time with him. Don wishes he could go, mandatory faculty meeting. His dad gives him the talk. Caleb wakes up to what’s going on. She wants a commitment. Are you ready for that? Caleb, I don’t know.

The first thing you’ll probably notice is that this is chicken-scratch prose. It’s all sketches in words. Like wire-framing for a CGI artist. I guess what I’m trying to say is please don’t judge my style by this selection. ;)

The date helps me keep the events of the story in a timeline. Since moot court nationals are in January, I needed to plan backwards for the events that happen before that. Giving this a month gives me a general idea of things like where Caleb and Rachel are in developing their moot court skills as well as their growing relationship.

The number for this part of the treatment is different from the scene number from the transcript. I wrote the treatment with sequences instead of scenes. A sequence is a helpful way for me to connect a continuous stream of narrative events together, instead of splitting everything up into a separate scene like you’d see in a movie’s screenplay. My sequences usually include several scenes that happen continuously. For example, Deputy Pelham’s sub-plot and Caleb’s visiting a sick Dr. Farris are made of many scenes in the film. In the treatment, however, I’ve streamlined it into two or three sequences.

Here’s another example of this…

44. Conference B. Deputy P understands deposition.

J: Deputy Pelham, this is just practice for a real deposition. Okay? Do you know what a deposition is?

P: The lawyers on the other side ask questions about the case, and I answer, under oath.

J: Good. So you've done this before?

P: Lot's of times.

45. Law lobby. C grabs R.

C: Hey Rachel. Where's the deputy?

R: In Conference-B.

C: Common.I want to show you something.

46. Conference B. P goes through trained response. C grills him, shows lies. Call log June 9, booking June 7. Arrested before heard of him.

PA1: Deputy Pelham, Mr. Fellendorf saysyou didn't have a warrant on the night you took him into custody.

P: That's a lie.

PA1: The jury is going to sympathize with the old farmer.

PA2: If you call him a liar, they'll punish you.

P: I'm sure it was an unpleasant experience for Mr. Fellendorf, and he just didn't remember everything.

PA1: Good. Better.

....

And here’s the sequence for these three scenes.

Forty-fifth Sequence – Tuesday before Nats/SC

Know what a deposition is, right? Right. Let’s practice then.

Caleb finds Rachel, grabs her into office, to show her what’s going to happen. He’s excited that maybe he can redeem himself, and she’s so shocked that she doesn’t stop him.

Judith gives Caleb a “where were you look” as soon as he walks in. Pelham answers questions of slimy lawyers. Caleb can tell he’s lying, and he knows the case enough to prove it. Judith, motions, Caleb shakes his head. “Try him.” Caleb grabs file (slimy lawyer tries to grab) and grills deputy, proving he’s lying. Deputy blames slimy lawyers.

Since this is pretty much straight from the movie, I don’t have to flesh it out too much because it’s clear what’s happening from the film. For a sequence with additional events and backstory not in the movie, I usually have a lengthier sequence with more detail. Here’s an example of that, near the beginning when Don is still looking for a publisher for his biology textbook:

Thirteenth Sequence – Beginning of Fall semester

Don finishes inputting grades into his laptop. He has just given his first quiz to his biology students. Seem to be pretty good so far. He closes his grading program and opens up his email. He looks over to his phone and sees that he has a voicemail. He plays it back. Another agent is interested, but he wants the religious overtones to be eliminated. Don deletes it and sighs. He pulls out his manuscript and sets it on his desk, paging through it again. He pulls out a sheet and crosses off the last agent listing. “Just have to find my own publisher.” Then he opens up an internet browser and searches for publishers.

This treatment became the cornerstone for the novel. It took a significant investment of time and thought, but without it, I wouldn’t have a draft today. Some of it was changed as I went from the treatment to the draft, but overall, it became the blueprint for the novel’s pacing, action, dialogue, and character motivation.

Starting Out and Shutting Down

2010-05-27T23:29:00.002-04:00

A blank screen and a cursor.

Blink. Blink. Blink.

Don’t blink back—don’t be a coward.

There I was, about to type the first letter/word/sentence/paragraph/page/chapter of CWM.

The first week was hard. The first day was harder. The first few minutes were hardest.

Actually, it’s all hard, but it’s like exercise. Once you start working out or running, it gets more natural—you know what you need to do and that knowledge means you have some control. But it’s that unknown, that first time when you don’t know what to expect or how you’ll do. You have to start somewhere, though. Have to be at rock bottom to build something sturdy.

I made a novice mistake that cost me precious time when I started the rough draft. I began writing too early.

Remember last week when I talked about two different ways of writing a novel? One kind is to rush headlong into it blind, with as little preparation as possible, and another is to put down an extensive outline and follow it to the end. These are near different ends of a wide spectrum of fiction writing, and the writing process for any novel will probably fall between them.

Before I wrote the first word, I watched CWM several times, taking notes, and then I copied down the transcript of nearly every line spoken into a Word document, grouping the dialogue according to scene sequence. For every one of these sections, I wrote out in bold the section number as well as a 1-5 line description of the scene.

When I did that, I thought I was pretty well prepared to start writing. Mr. Escobar had asked me to create backstory and character development to help enrich the story, but I thought that I could just think ahead a few chapters at a time to decide when the additional material would be necessary and just follow the movie scene structure straight through.

Well, I got about twenty pages into it and stopped. I found myself writing an additional scene not present in the film that seemed to be going in a wrong direction. I didn’t know where to go from there. I stepped away from the computer and wouldn’t touch the manuscript again for a long time.

Significant preparation is key for movie novelizations, and I learned it the hard way. Sometimes when I got stuck or found the writing to be like pulling teeth, I spread out on my bed and sweat under the pressure of taking on a project of a scale I had never attempted before. Of course, this fear only made things worse and shut down any creativity that may have been brewing.

I had to find a way to overcome this trepidation, and it took me a while to find out exactly how. Next week I'll share more.

I've been on the road a lot. Two days ago I went from North Carolina to Virginia to visit Monticello. Yesterday I traveled up with a couple friends to see NYC for a day. Today I came down to Georgia with a wonderful group of AFG interns and Mr. Snyder to visit the set of Sherwood Pictures's Courageous tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it--gonna be great to be on a set again.

Writing from Life - Tracy Klicka

2010-05-25T00:03:00.000-04:00

Tracy Klicka became my friend over the first AFG workshop in July of 2009. It didn’t take long for me to set aside a special place in my heart for her, and I will never be able to think of her encouraging personality, beautiful smile, and wise spirit without feeling so grateful to have her friendship.

Mrs. Klicka’s quiet strength during the Hero shoot was a bulwark for many on set. Much of it was given while her husband Christopher Klicka, a man I will always regret not meeting this side of heaven, was in his last few weeks before joining the Lord. I only hope that whatever direction God leads her, I have the privilege of calling her a friend.

Her guest post touches on one of the most important things to remember as a writer, and I encourage you to take it into consideration in your own work. When you are finished, you should visit her website and her blog. Her husband’s posthumous book is titled Power Perfected in Weakness: The Journal of Christopher J. Klicka, which is available here.

Mrs. Klicka gave me this to share with you.

"When Peter asked me to write an entry for this blog, my first thought was, 'What on earth can I contribute?' I’m a stay-at-home mom who homeschools (at least tries to!) four teenagers and a pre-teen boy. I’m definitely not a novelist. In fact, I’m not even a good storyteller. I do write my own blog, so I thought that perhaps this should be the starting point for sharing something here.

As I sat down to my computer, however, I had an Anne of Green Gables moment. Mrs. Cadbury, the matron of the orphanage where Anne had just been enrolled, says to Anne, 'Tell me what you know about yourself,' to which Anne replies, 'Well, it really isn’t worth telling, Mrs. Cadbury . . . but if you let me tell you what I imagine about myself you’d find it a lot more interesting.'

I confess, as a blogger I’m sometimes tempted to imagine all sorts of things that might be interesting to my readers. Yet as I started thinking about my life, I came to the realization that my whole life is a story. Last fall, my wonderful husband of 25 years passed away after courageously fighting MS for 15 years. In 1995, I almost lost our twin daughters in a very difficult pregnancy, and only by multiple miracles were they born alive and well. Going back even further to 1988, I almost died from complications with ulcerative colitis. My husband wondered if I would live to help raise our then one-year-old, the first of seven children God would eventually give us.

Other dramatic events have punctuated the seasons of my life, too numerous to mention. Yet, the sum of them point distinctly to God’s gracious superintending of my life. From my childhood on, God was orchestrating my days into chapters of a story He continues to write, full of joy and sorrow, yes, but also full of purpose and hope.

If you’re a writer, you may have several imaginative story ideas bouncing around in your head, and most stories being written today both as novels and as screenplays are pure fiction. I love a well-written piece of fiction myself. Take Anne of Green Gables, for example. Yet, if you’ve never thought about your own life as a story being written by the Master Storyteller, I would encourage you to take a mental stroll down your own 'memory lane.' You might just find some pretty interesting material there for your own story."

~Tracy Klicka

Two Kinds of Novel

2010-05-20T22:02:00.002-04:00

There are basically two ways to write a novel. Basically.

One is to create original material—characters, plot, setting. You watch people. You dream. You listen. You sit in your room and fiddle with your pencils or hover over your laptop until you start writing something down. Or perhaps you plan and plot everything before in an outline, and then you add the dialog and the description, like muscles and skin to a skeleton. With enough time and work, hopefully you find yourself with something that breathes on its own.

Then, there’s the second way to write a novel, and that is to take an existing story, such as a play, a film, or an opera, and put that into prose. Sometimes it’s as easy as writing down everything a character says and then giving it description. Other times you have to take apart the original work, and piece it back together so that it is both true to the source, and artistically sound in its new medium.

The book of Come What May is a novelization of Come What May the movie, so it fits in the second category. Mostly. Like many other novelizations, there will be original material to fill in the gaps that the movie left open. This includes new characters, new scenes, new backstory—all designed to give you a richer experience when you read it. So, in a way, this novel is part of the first category, too. The key for me is to know the story of Come What May well enough to be true to the movie, while also filling in Caleb and Rachel’s world with more depth and character for you, the discerning reader. This is pretty hard work, but if you enjoy the book, it will be totally worth it.

Next week I’ll have more information on the process for planning the novelization. It’s experience learned through mistakes and misfires. This process eventually resulted in the success of a rough draft, which I’m pretty proud of, but not yet satisfied with.

I’m in North Carolina now, editing the rough draft and spending time with family, so this week the post's a little short.

Very possible we’ll have a guest post this next Monday. Come back then.

Exhaustion and Fueling Creativity

2010-05-14T02:45:00.001-04:00

Rebekah asked last week if I ever get creatively exhausted when I’m in the middle of writing something, and how I refueled if that happened. To her first question, yes. In fact, for CWM it was more a matter of when and how often I would hit a creative wall.

I think there were a few reasons why I would find myself stopping.

1. Discipline. One of the biggest factors necessary in writing is the ability to sit down and just focus on putting something on the page. If you don’t sit down and just do it, you’ll find all kinds of things to distract you and drain you from what you’re supposed to be doing. My temptations are generally Facebook, Twitter, or the internet in general. In fact, the last month I was writing the rough draft, I made a near complete moratorium on any social networks. They eat up time and energy, and for the most part don’t give back what you put into them.

2. Commitment. This goes along with discipline. Most serious writers don’t have the luxury of waiting for inspiration. Instead, they need to be committed to writing for a certain amount of time or a certain number of pages or words every day. I am not the best example of someone who can consistently churn out a quota every day. During college I developed the habit of waiting until the last few hours before writing papers with the charged energy of adrenaline and a crushing deadline. I performed well under pressure. When I started CWM, I realized it was just too long to apply that same habit. It’s been something I’ve had to unlearn—using a deadline as a sole drive is not good practice.

That said, I’m still figuring out what works best for me as far as how often and how much I should write at a time. If I’m serious, I really should write something every day. Not only is it good practice, but it’s also good business sense if you’re smart. You could have a finished novel in a year if you write a page a day.

3. Interest. To tell the truth, I just wasn’t interested in some parts of CWM as in others. If I’m not passionate about my subject, my material will show it, unless I work very hard to bring it up to par with the rest of the content. When writing a novelization, there’s a higher chance you’ll run into a story point or character you’re not that excited about, than when you are writing your own novel.

Other things can come up to stop me from wanting to write more. Lack of rest and relaxation can really drain me, just like it can drain anyone else who may be doing what they otherwise love. Maybe personal struggles, inner conflict, losing interest over a prolonged period of time, etc.—many things can cause me to lag.

Here are a few ways I like to maintain and refuel my creativity when that happens:

1. If I stay on schedule exercising and running throughout the week, I usually have a pretty happy attitude and gain writing energy more quickly.

2. Sleeping for me was also a huge thing I needed for the novel. I’m writing this late at night, and no doubt my writing would be different (read: better) if I had written it hours before.

3. I also value a comfortable environment. I know that a few great writers wrote in abject circumstances, and some critics say that without these circumstances their work would not have been as great. This may be correct, but at least for CWM, a pleasant workspace was a big plus.

4. I find that after a major creative output, I have to eat a lot. By that I do mean literal food, but also reading and watching films. For me, writing is as much a workout as pumping iron, and my creative muscles have to rest for a bit to recoup and grow stronger. I like feeding my mind and soul good food—which means Scripture study, as well as watching good cinema and books, classic and modern. I’ve also started reading some graphic novels (big comic books) and even playing certain video games have been valuable in informing my imagination. I’ve been listening to and trying to play more music as well.

5. Sometimes you just need to get up and forget about it for a few hours or days, and then come back and it’ll start coming out again. That’s why working on more than one project can be a good thing, because if you find yourself drained on one story, you can always switch over to another one and keep writing.

Thanks for the question, Rebekah! Hope that answers it!

If you're a writer, do you get exhausted? What do you do?

Screenwriting & Novelizations - Virginia Morton

2010-05-10T21:45:00.000-04:00

Virginia Morton is a long-time Culpeper County, Virginia resident and a world-class expert on the Civil War in Culpeper County. She has given tours of the Culpeper battlefields to over 4,500 people and was featured on PBS in the series “Great Drives: The Journey Through Hallowed Ground”. She has won several honors and awards, including the Jefferson Davis Gold Medal in 2006, presented by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

She is very active in her church and community, and has lately been working in Advent Film Group, especially by building its social networking presence. For more information about her and her novel “Marching Through Culpeper”, visit her website.

Virginia gave me this to share with you.

“As a writer, I’m so delighted with this blog and appreciative of the opportunity to share my experiences. Over ten years ago I wrote my first and only novel, ‘Marching Through Culpeper’, an epic Civil War love story between a spirited Southern lady and a Union officer. It was a huge undertaking, but I loved being immersed in the hearts, minds and souls of my characters. I was able to develop the characters, allow them to grow, and throw in tons of historical details. Within a novel, the writer has space to reveal the back stories, take the reader deep into the struggles of the characters, and transport the reader back to another period of time. When readers say, ‘I felt like I was living through the war,’ I get very excited.

But reducing a novel into a screenplay is a completely different ball of wax! And I must add that it is enormously challenging. Everything is revealed visually. Subtle looks and gestures define a character as much as what they say. Dialog is cut to a bare minimum and only the most important and defining scenes can be included. A screenplay is basically the skeleton of a novel.

Now Peter Forbes is going through the exact opposite process by writing the novelization of ‘Come What May’. I envy him because he is allowed to use his imagination to create the back stories for the main characters and add the meat to the skeleton.

I want to know what aspects of Rachel’s upbringing instilled within her such strong values and the commitment not to date until she found her lifetime partner. She was seeking only the best that God had for her. This concept of modesty is quite unusual in today’s society. Since Peter was home schooled, I know he will show us how Rachel grew into a young woman so worthy of emulation.

And what about Caleb’s parents? Have they had marital problems? We learn surprising information about his high powered lawyer mother at the end of the movie. I want to know more details. And what ultimately gives Caleb the moral strength to argue against Roe v. Wade knowing he will lose the debate?

Peter, I can’t wait to read the novel! You’ve got a big assignment, but I pray the Lord will guide you through each step to create a novel even more inspiring than the movie.”

~Virginia Morton

The Halfway Point

2010-05-06T23:00:00.000-04:00

THE END

I typed those words this Monday on the last page of the CWM manuscript. In some ways, I was happy, because I had reached the point at least halfway up the mountain where I can pause and say, “I’ve come thus far.”

In other ways, I didn’t feel anything. A friend of mine said that maybe it just hadn’t sunk in yet, and I think she’s partly right. Over the last few days I’ve taken a step back and just enjoyed the fact that God’s blessed me through this opportunity and given me strength for it.

Several months of thought and actual typing have gone into what I’ve written, and it’s just hard to be at the point that I feel I’m not writing the rough draft anymore. Late Monday night, I gave it to Mr. Escobar. He’s reading it and will give me a break-down of what he thinks—what he likes, doesn’t like, and his suggestions. Eventually more people will have to read it and give it their approval as well.

I feel a little trepidation. In many ways, even though it’s a novelization of the film, it’s also been a very personal project. Much that is in the manuscript now is not present in the film, though I have confidence it makes it an even more complete story. It certainly needs work, but I hope that the structure and things that I’ve brought to the table are valuable contributions, worth my effort and the trust AFG has given me. I’ll find out soon.

That said, the editing and rewriting phase has begun. There are several sections I know off the top of my head that I want to beef up or pare down, and every page will need smoothing. I’ll have to become a much more objective person regarding the book from now on. The thought of being a team member in creating the final edit of this book is one that I’ll have to adjust to—it’s not something that I feel really happy about, honestly, because I like being in control of my writing and after all, I’ve poured my heart into it. But, ultimately, I can’t think of it as my work, especially since this is a novelization of someone else’s movie. This novel, as is the case with many books, will be a collaboration of several people refining it until the project becomes something that you will hopefully buy, enjoy, and give to someone else.

Of course, the fun will ramp up even more as we get closer to publication and marketing. I’m looking forward to that, because the process has always intrigued me.

I didn’t get any questions last week. Feel free to leave some, and I’ll answer next Thursday.

Also, another guest post next Monday. Stay tuned.

Being Rachel - Victoria Emmons

2010-05-03T22:29:00.003-04:00

One of the great opportunities I’ve had in the course of writing Come What May has been the pleasure of collaborating with and discussing the project with so many great people. On Mondays, I’ll be posting guest entries from some of these people that relate to CWM, Patrick Henry College, or the process of writing.

Victoria Emmons played Rachel in CWM, which was her first feature film role. Since then she’s starred in another film, Saving Winston, which will be debuting on DVD soon. No stranger to performing, she and her sisters are in two bands. One is appropriately named “The Emmons Sisters”, and the other is an acoustic rock group, “The Ivy Street Band”. You can follow her blog here.

Victoria gave me this to share with you.

“On my bookshelf, in a white binder, rests my Come What May script. Over the past couple years, every once in awhile, I would have thoughts about packing it away, making more room on my bookshelf by relocating it to a forgotten shelf in my closet. But I never could do it. And now it’s not even a possibility.

You see, I have grown attached. Not just to the white binder and all the memories I made carrying it around nonstop with me for a month in 2007. Yes, I am attached to the physical script, but more than that, I am attached to a part of myself. The part that became Rachel during the filming of Come What May.

Rachel taught me so many things. She taught me what it’s like to study hard, work harder, and pray hardest.

She encouraged me to believe in something that the world considers crazy. She showed me what it was to be firm in your convictions, yet not rub them in the faces of your friends. She challenged me to wait for the best, to be patient in the areas of my life that I want to hurry up.

Rachel wasn’t a flawless character, and I’m glad—it was my goal to not have her come across as perfect. I wanted her to be real, to have goals and aspirations, convictions and standards. But also, I wanted her to grow. Just as I learned about the process of film making as the shooting went along, so we see Rachel growing as the movie progresses.

Every time I act, each character has taken a piece of me with them when shooting has completed. But, I’ve also kept a part of them with me too. Sure, the white binder might just be sitting on my shelf now, but the lessons that Rachel taught me have stayed with me and challenged me. And hopefully, those lessons will stay with me for a long time. Forever.”

~ Victoria Emmons

Experience

2010-04-30T00:00:00.005-04:00

“You look too young to be writing a novel,” a man told me yesterday. It seemed that he doubted I had enough life experience to say anything really worthwhile.

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s something I’ve told myself, too.”

What could I, a young, college grad kid, have to say that’s worth you going out and buying this book? Excellent question.

A novel will have much more depth and meaning if you have experience in two things—the specific topic you’ll be writing about and life in general. You can’t write a novel about baseball without having a pretty good idea of how the game works, and I bet you can’t describe the thrill of rounding the bases without having done it yourself.

At the same time, without life experience, your work will be heartless. Most life experience is learned through relationships in the family, work, church, and more—how and why people love, hate, make friends or enemies, embrace or reject God. Even if your story is about one man alone in the wilderness, it will be his relationship to his surroundings, whether they’re hostile or beneficial, that will transform your story from an account of details to an empathetic narrative. Ultimately, the most important relationship is between the reader and your story. You can describe your mountain man’s efforts at lighting a fire, but unless I actually care that he lights it to survive through the night, it will read like a descriptive manual at best.

Attending Patrick Henry College, doing moot court, working through good and bad relationships, handling family problems while struggling to succeed—Caleb has a lot on his plate. I’ve done and experienced many of the same things. This is why I believe the novel will be worth reading.

On the other hand, there’s much more I haven’t experienced. Rebekah asked last week which scene was the hardest for me to write. The scene that quickly comes to mind is the argument between Don and Judith, which is near the end of the film. Don takes his bag and leaves, and Judith is left crying and alone.

Honestly, since I’m not married and have never had that kind of argument, I felt like I was flailing in deep waters when I wrote it just a few days ago. It’s going to need more than one pass by wiser eyes to make sure it’s true to life.

So, write what you know. And if you want to write something more than what you know, it’s a good idea at least to study up on it before you dive headlong into it. It makes for better, richer storytelling.

Rough draft due on Mr. Escobar’s desk this Monday. Fingers crossed.

Also, Monday—a very special guest post. Stay tuned.

Ask questions, post comments. Thank you for the great response last week!

Hello!

2010-04-22T00:52:00.001-04:00

If you’re here to read about novelization of Come What May, welcome! And if you’re not, welcome! A rough draft of CWM is scheduled to be completed by the end of April, and I’m excited by its progress. I will be even more excited when you have it in your hands, reading away.

I wandered into the Children’s Literature Center at the Library of Congress this Monday. Old editions of classic children’s books lined the shelves and tables—Alice in Wonderland, The Little Prince, Winnie-the-Pooh. I was there researching for a future book I’d like to write, and as I browsed, the chief librarian came by and asked me about the project.

For over half an hour she gave me wonderful advice on writing for children. Perhaps I’ll save that advice for later, or post by request, but it reminded me that the elements of a good story are shared with all genres and audiences.

I was asked to write a good story that included more than just the film, expanding on characters, backstory, and more. I think I’m doing this now, and I believe it’s going to be a great book. The lessons I’ve learned have sometimes been hard and time consuming, but maybe it will help you or at least make you curious enough to buy the book. And honestly, the history of the project is another story of its own—one I hope to tell over the next few months.

Check back next Thursday for another post. While you’re waiting, ask some questions and I’ll answer next week.

~Peter