Knowing Your Subject

                                                  
Hey Everyone!! If you don't know or haven't been paying attention to my blog's i'm in school for my master's degree in Creative Writing. Aside from being an author, I think that it's important to learn a different style of writing. At first i was very hesitate to the idea but I must say that now that I am in this school, I'm liking the fact that I am learning about new styles of writing. In this moment I'm taking a class called Visual Storytelling. In my own novels that I have written, character development was always a struggle for me. Being in this class is teaching me ALL about that. If you are my Facebook friend or you are following me in Twitter, I have often complained about how I hate reading this book for school. The book is called The Foundations of Screenwriting!! Prior to starting the class, I thought, " Wow, screenwriting, me?" The thought never came across to me but I must say, things aren't always what they seem. At first I kept saying,": this book is boring, or I can't get into it." I have learned that I had to get that negative thought process out of my head. I got on my comfy bed opened the book, and as I was reading it out loud, and not to myself like i normally do, this book is great! It talking about things that I never knew existed in the screenwriting world, and it's actually similar to learning character development when writing a novel. So far I have learned so much about writing a screen play that I look forward to doing one myself. It's funny how things go because I was asked to write a screenplay, yesterday!! Talk about God working in mysterious ways. Not to mention, I have to write a screen play as my thesis for school. I thought to myself," This is a win-win!" 
Here are a few pointers that I have learned that I am willing to pass on: 
                                                 


                                       Writing A ScreenPlay

                                                   
1. Who is it about?
2. What is it about?
3. Do you know the subject of your screenplay?
4. Can you express the subject of your screenplay in a few sentences?
 Take for example, A crime spree with two women involved
   1. Who are they?
   2. Where did they come from?
   3. What is their background?
   4. What crimes did they commit?
   5. Why did they commit these crimes?
Knowing your subject is the focal or starting point of writing a screen play. Remember just like with novels every story must have a beginning, middle, and an end. The writer must exercise choice and responsibility when determining the dramatic execution of the story. With me and what Syd Field says, is that " The hardest part of writing is knowing what to write."  
If you don't understand that, I don't know any other way to explain that further in detail. There are always times when I don't know what to write and i'm just sitting there looking stuck. But then as my grandmother used to say," Krystol one day that light bulb will come on and you will say, " BAM, I got it!" 
Just like any writing one must always do your RESEARCH!!!  It wasn't until a little later into my writing career that I understood that this tool was very important to do. According to Syd Field there are TWO kinds of research, Text research and Live research. Text research is going to the library and pulling books, magazine, newspaper, articles, etc. This kind of research works best if someone is writing a piece on historical, or some sort of mystery piece that requires more information. Live research is when one goes straight to the source by doing interviews, etc. I have done a lot of live research but I am just getting into text research. Whether you are learning to write a screenplays like I am, or writing a novel always remember " KNOW YOUR SUBJECT"!!!  Field states, " When looking for a subject to write about, the subject is actually looking for you." 
                                       RULE OF STORYTELLING: 
" THE MORE YOU KNOW, THE MORE YOU CAN COMMUNICATE"