Busy Bee

Hey fellow writers! I hope that all is well with your writing endeavors. Just wanted to give you a little update as to what I've been doing. I have two classes left until I receive my master's degree! I'm so excited. As far as writing goes, I'm writing a book called Hot Like Fire. It's about a girl named Special who is a stripper. She decides that she needs the extra cash to pay for college. But, she falls in love with her boss and finds out a shocking secret that will not only destroy her, but others in the business as well! Okay, that's all that I'm giving away!! 

                                                                               

School is going really well. I just finished taking Editing For Screenwriting and I got a B in the class! It surprised the heck out of me because editing is a weakness of mine. I spoke to one of my teachers today and she said," It's good that you know your weakness to work on." I agree 100%, but I won't lie and say it isn't frustrating to work so hard at something and still not excel. But, I did okay, I got a B in the class. When editing any piece of writing, please TAKE YOUR TIME. I know we like to run spell check and think it's great once we see, " SPELLING AND GRAMMAR CHECK IS COMPLETE!"  WRONG!!! Spell check doesn't check for grammar as well as it should. Trust me, I learned the hard way!! My issue with editing is that I'm comma crazy. I will place a comma every and anywhere, but I was taught that a comma is like a pause. Shame on that teacher who told me that in middle school! I'm a work in progress! So, now I'm in my portfolio class where I am going over my script again and critiquing someone else's script! Yikes!!! How can I tell someone else about their work, when I don't even know about mine being correct?  Nonsense! But, I'm going to do my best. I mean, after all, that's all I can do, right? 

That's all for now. Just wanted you to know what was going on with me over here. OH!!! I almost forgot, I'm filming a movie next month. Yes, my film, "If It Ain't Broke Don't Fix It will be filmed in May! I'm so excited! There will also be a casting call April 20, 2013 from 10am-2pm here: 

                                                                                         

MOVIE CASTING CALL

DETAILS

·      AUDITION is Saturday, April 20, 2013 from 10-2 at 1801 N. Tryon St, Charlotte, NC 28206

·      Need actors/actresses who ARE available for filming for a month, maybe a little longer

·      NON-PAID JOB

o   Actors will receive screen credit

o   Reels with all scenes you performed in a trailer

o   Will be able to use movie on resume/ or portfolio

o   Free DVD of movie

CASTING REQUIREMENTS

·      MALE  actors, age 25-35, BODY SHAPE- in shape

·      FEMALE actresses, age 25-35- BODY SHAPE- in shape

·      Other casting roles:

o   1 (one) Caucasian female- preferably Blond

o   1 (one) older African-American female

o   1 (one) older African-American male

o   1 (one) teenage African-American female- fair skinned, between the age of 14-16, PARENT/GUARDIAN MUST ATTEND AUDITION

·      Extras

o   Extras needed for reception and classroom scene

§  Age: 20-35

AUDITION INFORMATION

·      MUST EMAIL HEADSHOT/RESUME TO kdcasting302@gmail.com

·      Slides will be given at AUDITION

·      MUST bring headshot/resume to audition

·      Serious Inquiries ONLY!!!

Movie Synopsis

Synopsis: Vivian Green, an attorney who is great at what she does in all phases of her life or so she thinks. The loving wife, friend and sister in law thought she had it going on until things changed. Vivian’s careless habits with other men comes to a standstill when she suspects her husband is playing the same game she is, tit for tat. Vivian uncovers that she isn’t the only one with secrets. This couple play a good game until all the cards are put on the table and then it's game over.

  

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He is KOKAYN

 “I am Kokayn”

Devon “Kokayn Reynolds is a “Jack Of All Trades.” This man does it all!! With his Production/Publishing Company and his foundation called Center Of Attention, what can’t this man do? Having the opportunity to work with big names in the music industry like Joe Budden, Kokayn is unstoppable. “With music being part of my life since I’ve been young, my sound is unique. I had to find people to make my sound deliver properly.”  Mr. Reynolds was inspired by a lot people to name a few Timberland and Dr.Dre. He gives his mother a lot of credit for his success. “My mother is a warrior. The way she took care of me and my sister. She’s so strong even during times of weakness.” When asked what challenges Kokayn faces being in productions he says, “I face the challenge of learning that it’s a lot to learn. Once you introduce sounds, they have to blend. Others challenges that are hard to face are dealing with people and always being true to myself.”  Getting into publishing was more a business move for Mr. Reynolds.  He says that being able to make money off you instead of other people making money off you. There is no limit to the kind of writing Kokayn does. “I’m an emotional writer, I write short stories and some poetry.” Being involved in many different avenues, Devon also is involved in three different cinematic movies, soundscapes for a couple movies, and a series called The New You Inside Of You which tailors to a healthier lifestyle for people. With all of these roles that Mr. Reynolds play he manages them with balance. “Over my years of being in the military, it taught me to balance. When you have the help of God, I’m able to balance everything.”  The hardest challenge that Kokayn faces is to learn how to stop caring about others instead of him. “Dealing with the mental anguish of being in a war, learning to care about myself was a hard lesson to learn.” With his Women’s Empowerment foundation, Center Of Attention, it started in 2011. “ Myself and another artist made Center Of Attention a song, a feel good song. But, I wanted to do something to give back. The foundation helps women in shelters and helps provide them with hotels, food, and women transition once they are out of shelters.” Kokayn is very dedicated in helping the youth of this generation. When asked his opinion on how society views this generation he states, “Our current generation doesn’t know how we are to look. Slave mentality is in our current youth, mentality slavery as far as music and life. They don’t know about handling money. They don’t know how to count to twenty in Spanish but they can teach em how to “dougie”. As a father, I limit what my son sees. Kids are like sponges and they soak up everything on TV, there almost programmed to it.”  Devon “Kokayn Reynolds is very talented and passionate about what he does. Whether it’s music, a foundation, productions, or publishing, this man won’t be forgotten. If you don’t know him now, stay tuned because you will see more of him!! Kokayn is on fire!  The best is yet to come!

“Only on the brink of total destruction does a man discover the will to change.” ~Kokayn

Written by: Krystol Diggs

The Rewrite

Hey everyone!!! By now you have already completed your first draft of your script, correct? CONGRATULATIONS!!! Give yourself a pat on the back. It's a rewarding feeling to have finished writing your first screenplay. All the blood, sweat, and tears you have gone through to get a finished product. I know it wasn't easy doing the research, reading the many books, and putting the words on paper. I applaud you at this stage of your writing. But now comes the REWRITE and EDIT!!! I know this part sucks but it CAN be rewarding as well. During this process you may be moving things around, adding and taking out, or deleting a scene or two! Don't worry, it's okay...this too shall pass! I know you may have just did the biggest sigh but I PROMISE I have some notes that will make it better! As you all know or if you don't I'm getting my Master's Degree at Full Sail University in Creative Writing where I learned about writing screenplays, games, animation and more. I just finished my screenplay in a month. You must think I'm crazy right? With the tools and the books and applying yourself you too can do this! Now, don't get it wrong it was so much hard work because I had deadlines and it's crunch time! But, whether you are doing this for school or as a goal you can get things done in an ample amount of time if you have this...TIME MANAGEMENT! Time management isn't one of my best friends at all, but we have learned to get along for the better! For the big REWRITE, I have some great notes for a book that I'm using for school called Rewrite by Paul Chitlik. Let me tell you...I thought it was going to be boring like most text books but this one is AWESOME and easy to read. So let's get started...I'll write the first  chapters of notes for you. If you have any questions please comment below! 

                                                                         Chapter 1

                                                   Clarifying Story and Structure For Impact

Does your film have the 7 points that provide the bare bones of the body of your movie? Here are the seven points: 

1. Ordinary Life- getting to know who the central character is and what his issue (flaw) is. We see the protagonist in his usual surroundings, dealing with the usual people in his life, but we also see that he has some issues and that there is a need for change. He may or may not know that. 

2. The Inciting Incident- this shows up usually around page 15 (or 15 minutes into the film), give or take a couple pages. Something happens to your protagonist that will change his life forever. Eventually, it will compel him to act. It will help him define his goal. 

3. End of Act One- when your character decides on a course of action in order to deal with whatever the inciting incident brought up. Usually another major event forces him to decide that he must take action. A plan is part of that. It usually occurs between pages 25 and 35. 

4. Midpoint or Turning Point- Yes, this does happen right around the middle wherein the action takes a sudden and new unexpected direction. The goal may change. The central character may realize what his flaw is. 

5. The low point- End of the second act. The all is lost point in terms of the goal. It appears there's no way in hell he'll ever reach his goal. Happens around page 75-85 depending on the length of your script. 

6. The Final Challenge- AT the beginning of Act 3, your protagonist sees something, hears something, or even remembers something that reanimates him and gives him the will to continue. The he prepares to face the final test, the final barrier that your character must overcome in order to reach his goal. The last, biggest battle.  

7. The return to(the now- changed- forever) normal life. Two or three pages to show us that life goes on and that our character has triumphed and changed.

GUIDELINES, NOT LAWS

The seven points are only guidelines, of course. But the inciting incident should come as early as you can get it while still showing us who the main character is and why we should care about him.

There are scenes between these points-important scenes and many barriers to get through and many people to relate to, but these are the major signposts along the way of your protagonists journey. 

HERE IS SOMETHING FOR YOU TO DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Briefly outline your story in terms of the seven points. Write no more than a sentence about each of the seven points. Make sure that each of the seven points. Make sure that each point after the inciting incident relates to the goal of your central character. 

THE BEAT SHEET

Now it's time to really see where you are in your structure. Were all your points expressed in terms of the protagonist's goal? Were they in the proximity to the balance described above? Now we're going  to get intimate with your script. YES....INTIMATE!  Without making any changes to your story yet, we need to see what exactly what you have in terms of scenes, so let's write a beatsheet of your story.  

A beatsheet is a list of the scenes of your story to remind them what each scene will be. 

*But the beatsheet you wrote when you started your script might not correspond to what ended up in your script. You may have added scenes, changed them,taken some away. That's the process* 

When you you do your rewrite, you've got to be ready to do this, too, so you need a new beatsheet to get the lay of the land. The best way to do this according to some screenwriters, is to write each beat on index cards. (BY THE WAY IF YOU HAVE THE FINAL DRAFT SOFTWARE, INDEX CARDS ARE AVAILABLE FOR YOU.)

DEVELOPING SUBPLOTS

 By this time you should be thinking of two main subplots that is the " B" and the "C" of your story, the emotional subplot and the personal growth subplot. In most stories, the central story is the "A" story. In romantic comedies, it's the emotional, or the "B" story.  The protagonist isn't the only person in your story. He has friends, lovers and enemies. Each of these people can have a subplot on his own. 

RAISING THE STACKS 

Here when raising the stacks you've got to set up your story so that each step, it gets harder and harder for your protagonist to get past the obstacles in his way. What is the penalty of your central character doesn't achieve a short-term goal and eventually, the long term goal? In other words, what are the stakes? What is the jeopardy for the protagonist? If he drives too fast, his car will slide off the road. If he fails his test, he'll have to start over again.  As you progress in your script, you should be continually raising the stakes. Do you?

TO DO!!!!!!!!!!!!

What happens to your central character if he fails his quest? What are the consequences of failure? Write one or two lines describing the stakes.

WHO IS THE REAL HERO?

 One of the MOST difficult things about writing a feature film is to figure out who the hero is. Yes, hero. The hero is the person who has to overcome adversity to reach his goal.  

 

TO DO!!!!!! ( Last One, lol)

Write in one line what your protagonist does to overcome the big barrier in the final challenge. He can have help. but he must lead the charge, whatever form that charge takes. 

Now in this chapter if you have done ALL the work provided...you have worked hard. Take a time to relax and do something fun. Watch a movie or read a book for fun. 

Discussion Question: Do you feel that these notes will help you advance and make your screenplay better? Why or why not? Comment below PLEASE!!!! 

Character Profile

                                                                                     

Hey Writers! Today I want to blog about the importance of a " Character Profile". A character profile is answering questions about your character. This process should be used when writing a script, book, etc.  I really didn't know about a character profile until I started my Master's Program. I promise you, it will take you FAR with your writing. It will help with develop and dialogue. Now I do a character profile on ALL of my books and my scripts too. With writing I notice that people have a lot of problems with story telling. I used to have this problem. I wasn't developing my characters enough or my characters. With the character profile, you have answering questions in the first person as if you are the character. I mean, for the most part you ARE the character but with the profile everyone is answered from the character. This can be VERY fun to do. You really get into character and talk about everyday life things. I have two character profiles that I want to show you but I will just show you one. The other is a lot longer with more detail. But, as you do your character profiles, add a picture to it that could be your character. That makes it fun too! I give my characters birth dates, zodiac sign, and even a BLOOD TYPE! Yes, I make my characters real like you and me!  Below is are two character profiles I did for one of my books Sweet Innocence...but I made a twist to it. So it's not all that my book is about but the characters yes, I just changed them around a little bit for this character profile. 

Character Profiles

My name is Aurica Daniels.  You may know me from my best selling book Sweet Innocence, but enough of that! Back to the matter at hand.  Let me just say that I just want to get out of this mental facility and get on with my life. Here I am 15 years old and my doctor keeps telling me that I’m 35 years old. I have places to go and people to kill. My father deserved to die when I was 15 because he raped me. But no one else knows that but me. They think he died of an hear attack, from a bad hit of heroin due to the marks in his arm. But little do they know, it was snakebite. Yea, a copper head snake. I’m glad he felt the pain that I felt when he violated me. I have got to get out of here so from now on I’m playing by the doctor’s rules. Ms. Aurica Daniels needs to get out on good behavior.

Name: Aurica Daniels

Age: 35 years old

Sex: Female

Marital Status: Married

Appearance: 5’8 Brown Skin, brown eye with black hair, dimples. I am a petite frame with curves. My posture is very upright and I wear suits on occasions and jeans. Wears high heels with every outfit. Aurica Daniels loves to wear MAC makeup and the different colors to match every outfit.

Mannerisms: My mannerisms are very business professional. I’m a high end famous author I takes my business seriously. My motto is “ Business first and then I can let my hair down and have fun.

Voice: My voice is soft most of the time but it can get a very devious tone when I’m up to something bad. Often times I say, “ I didn’t do it, it’s not my fault.” At least that’s what the doctor’s say that I yell out at time. See, having schizophrenia can be a bitch at times. You never know what will come out of the mouth sometimes.

Personality: My personality is very straightforward. I don’t take any stuff from anyone and if you aren’t for me you’re against me. No one believes that my father raped me so I oftentimes feel like it’s me against the world.  My flaws consist of lying. I really can’t tell the truth to everything now can I? My biggest secret is that I killed my father and if anyone finds out, I will go to jail. We can’t have that because I have to much to do when I get out of here. While I’m in this hospital I don’t have a lot of friends. I mean who wants to be around a crazy person all day. Well that’s all I have to say for now, but trust me…I will be back.

My name is Garie Daniels. I’m a lawyer and I love what I do for a living. I make really good money being an entertainment attorney and I can’t see myself doing anything else but. I’m married to a beautiful woman named Aurica Daniels and we have been married for about two years. She is truly my soul mate. I miss her very much because she’s in the hospital right now. She suffers from schizophrenia but that’s my wife. Although my marriage is on the rocks, I have been keeping a secret from her. I’ve been having an affair for about three months. I know it isn’t right but it just happen. My heart is still with my wife. I’m going to stop cheating when my wife gets home.

Name: Garie Daniels

Age: 35 years old

Sex: Male

Appearance: During the work week you can catch me in a designer suit, preferable Armani. I love to wear a nice suit with a Stacy Adams shoe to match. I always wear cologne. On the weekends I’m more likely to be wearing jeans lounging around the house.

Marital Status: Married

Personality: I have a real laid back personality when I’m not working but when I’m in the courtroom, I’m very stern and assertive. I’m loyal for the most part except for this secret that I’m hiding from my wife. If she finds out that I betrayed her, I’m afraid what might happen. The last thing I want is for her to have a setback.

Birthplace: Wilmington, Delaware.

Education: I graduated form Widener School of Law.

Family: I have a sister named Trinity and she’s my world. Although she’s 20 years old that’s my baby girl. I would snap if anything happened to her. I want to have a family with Aurica but we are waiting until she healthier with her condition.

Lifestyle: Aurica and I live in a beautiful five story house. I drive a Porsche and she drives a BMW when she is able to drive. We have an all white living room that no one is allowed to  be in. I like it for decoration.

Well that’s all for now. I will continue to tell more of a story later, but meanwhile I will pray that God has mercy on me for cheating on my wife. I do love her with all her heart. I just want her to get well so we can get back to our life as a happy married couple.

Discussion Question: What kind of characters do you like to develop when writing your stories? How do you get these characters born?

The Writing Blues

                                                                                 



Writers what do you do when you have the writing blues? It's ALOT different from having writer's block. You have those times when you literally get frustrated when you are writing.  Often times you are crying, or stressing over the people in your head. Trying to talk to the characters that are living in your head. I've had the writer's blues several times and the only thing that seems to work for me is to keep writing!! I know that may sound weird, but it's true. The more you write the more the story comes alive. Even if you think it's garbage, it still may be some potential that lies within the pages. I get it, no one wants to walk through the swinging door of confusion and developing possible writer's block.  But having the blues can make or break any writer. There's always the possibility of writing a really GREAT story filled with adventure or writing the worst story none to man. But, there is always a risk to take right? Dr. Seuss got turned down 32 times before anyone gave him a yes and there isn't one person on the earth that doesn't know about green eggs n ham. As writer's  we have to grab our pens, paper, and laptops by the horns and get to work. Never stay stagnant, keep moving. Having the writer's blues is okay to have for a moment. Sure, you can sulk, cry and even feel guilty for your writing career, but once you've gotten down and out just ask yourself, How will anyone know my story if I don't tell it?  If you have the writing blues, here are some tips that I have developed to help you along the way. I like to think of it as a prescription that will help you get over your illness. Happy writing folks! Until next time always remember, " Everyone has a story, what better way to tell it then through words!"
Krystol

Below are some signs that you have the writer's blues

1. You stare at your story for hours without writing anything.
2. You add fluff without any description
3. Loose will power to pick up your pen
4. Say, " I'll get to it later when i'm inspired"
5. Expect the story to come alive just because you say so
6. Stop writing for long periods of time because it' on the back burner
7. Develop writer's block and say F it.
8. Stop reading books that deal with the genre you are writing (Always a good tool)
9. Say you will write everyday and don't
10. Bang your head against your laptop because you no longer have or see your vision for the story.

Tools to help you to have the Writing Spirit

1. Make an outline of each chapter
2. Be as descriptive as possible when writing.
3. Showing your story to readers and not just telling it.
4. Have a clear and open mind.
5. Write as much as possible whether it's a journal, blog, etc.
6. Read books for leisure
7. Talk to your friends about your story and getting them excited for the read
8. Sitting in a comfortable atmosphere writing your heart out.
9. Giving yourself a deadline to complete the first draft
10. Getting excited about your rewrite and sending it of to the editor

Let's Discuss!
What helps you recover from the blues?