Speak-writing your Novel or Screenplay

How do I even begin?

Greetings, fellow writers. As we speak, having completed the children's novel, THE GHOST GUARD, and its adapted screenplay, I am now toiling away at the sequel screenplay, THE ISLE OF KRON. Of course, I can’t be sure whether all the chaotic elements swarming around in my mind will ever gel together as a coherent script. (Without wanting to sound grandiose, I think fondly of Marcel Proust when he was creating his seemingly plotless, formless, labyrinthine multi-sequel classic: A la recherche du Temps Perdu / Remembrance of Things Past.) As everyone knows, the mere act of starting, let alone completing a work of fiction is a calculated risk of precious time. Not a decision to be taken lightly. However, once the compulsion takes hold, a writer will most likely just forge ahead.

In this instance, I began by assembling a collection of inspiring images to help me set the scene. Followed by relevant fragments of text describing ideas, themes, events and landscapes, imaginary Magick elements, as well as character sketches, pieces of dialogue, potential storylines and plots, whether from memory, the imagination, perhaps even letters and scrappy journals collected over the years. Now, I’m identifying and arranging a sequence of interrelated scenes within the general framework and conventions of a Three-Act feature film. I try to work out the essential story details, re-thinking, altering, re-arranging, composing in narrative form (that is to say, a lengthy synopsis), before I commit to writing / formatting the actual scenes of the screenplay itself.

How do I control a massive project such as a novel or a screenplay?

This might sound like a recipe for failure, except that I am now accustomed to using a novel-writing software which works beautifully and, best of all, is free. I find that it really helps to get a big project under control. It’s called yWriter7 novel-writing or script-writing software. When using this free program, you can easily input text into separate chapters / scenes and then shift these around as needed; you can also rename and renumber the chapters / scenes as you go along. It means that you don’t necessarily need to work through the novel or script in chronological order. You can build pieces of it, as though it were a jigsaw puzzle or an architectural structure, which it is.

The yWriter7 program also helps you to keep track of character descriptions, point of view, notes on chapters, daily word count progress, total word count, and more. It displays the scene names in order on a graphic timeline, as well. When you download this free software from the website, you will be invited to make a donation through PAYPAL if you choose to. I did, but only once I tested out how good it was. Go to: http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html

What about the actual typing of the novel or a screenplay?

The next electronic aid that I recommend is a software called Dragon Dictate. With the help of a combination headset/microphone, this program allows you to dictate your ideas as live text directly into MS Word and other programs, including yWriter7 novel-writing or script-writing software. Dragon Dictate is not capable of perfect work recognition, so you will have to correct certain words as you go along, but the program does tend to improve its performance with habitual use. It’s worth using as a practical aid, especially when you get inspired in your writing and prefer to dictate your thoughts quickly rather than write longhand or type. Go to: http://www.nuance.com/dragon/index.htm

Why should I even contemplate such a massive undertaking? Will anyone even read it? Does anyone care?

Of course, you'll need to face down the lingering demon of self-doubt. I would say: If the spirit moves you, go ahead and aspire to become a creator as well as a consumer. A writer can hardly control or predict the response to his or her work once it’s released out into the world. But the one thing a writer can control is the creation and completion of the work itself.

I have read a lot of advice, advocating the contrary. Writers may be told to ‘create buzz’ by setting up advance web sites and developing fan-bases across multiple social media outlets, sometimes before even embarking on the writing itself. For all I know, in our brave new cyber-driven world, this may be sensible advice. However, I continue to believe that the bedrock challenge for a writer is to create what they judge to be an authentic work, and then ‘put it out there’ for the world at large.

Author, J.K. Rowling, when embarking as a novice on her first Harry Potter novel, asked herself what was the worst that could happen. Answer: the rejection of her manuscript by every publishing house on the planet. Big deal! She decided that she had nothing to lose—and everything to gain—if she tried.

Christina Manolescu is the founder of Prince Chameleon Press: http:/www.princechameleon.com. She has written, designed, and published children’s illustrated fiction and two novels, Baglady and Waldensong Saturnalia. Excerpts from both these novels were short-listed for the Eastside Stories Competition in London, U.K. Her adapted screenplay, The Ghost Guard, was selected by the International Screenwriters' Association as Quarter-Finalist in their Sci-fi and Fantasy Screenplay Competition, 2022. She has also undertaken translation, ghostwriting, editorial revision, book design and print management for various clients, one of whose self-published books won a silver Ippy Award in 2009. She founded Invisible Cities Network in 2001 to support and showcase the work of independent artists and self-publishers: http:/www.InvisibleCitiesNetwork.org