Screenplay Redux

I just received my critique for the screenplay I wrote for Eyes of Garnet. All in all, for my very first try, it wasn't bad. Of course there's work to do, but it's not like they said, stick to writing books. That being said, writing books and writing scripts are two very different animals. I'm reading an older Nora Roberts book right now about a writer who's just had his book made into a movie. When the protagonist asked him why he didn't write it himself, his reply was, "what do you take for me for, a masochist?" Oh, how true I'm finding that out to be. First, while Eyes isn't all that long, there are tons of things going on. Things I couldn't fit into a mandatory 120-page story. That meant I had to chop and hack my way through entire scenes, vaporizing entire chapters and characters. The funny part was my critiquer told me it didn't flow quite as well as it could. I'm thinking, no shit! You made me cut out all the connecting scenes!

Anyway, for my rewrite I have to stop thinking like the author of the book, and think about what would make a good movie. More visuals, less speech. More emotion that connects the scenes better. I need to find the one continuity and carry that through the movie. Feel it rather than read it. A new concept, but I do so love a challenge! I think by the end of this rewrite, it will definitely be more of "based on the book Eyes of Garnet".

On the writing front, I've just send a new batch of queries to 37 literary agencies. Yeah, I know it's a lot, but with the age of e-queries becoming more prevalent (saves a lot of trees!), the agents get back to you much quicker than the standard 2 month wait. I still have one agency interested from the last batch I sent out, and a few haven't gotten back to me yet. It's such a slow, agonizing process. The third book in the Garnet series is coming along very nicely, though. I'm on page 140 and beginning chapter 16. And the signing season is creeping up quickly. I always love that part of the deal - meeting the people who have read, or want to read my book.