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Post by transformthebat on Jun 23, 2019 22:55:41 GMT
I've seen some discussion and maybe concern around here about the growing prevalence of script form stories, especially when it comes to pacing and stories feeling (or not feeling) full and complete, and I can't say those concerns are completely unfounded. Despite scripts being my main form, they aren't, inherently, for reading; they're for making moving pictures out of- and so some effort must be put into making them readable.
What that means will vary from reader to reader, and from writer to writer; depending on how purple or practical one likes one's prose, one can produce (or prefer) very different scripts. However, I've found that all scripts pace and flow using the same tricks and choices, no matter how different a writer's "voice" is.
One can "force" the reader to make it through the script in a beat-by-beat manner that mimics (to a degree) the pacing of the moving picture itself through two main methods: 1. Choosing when to break dialogue with action-description, or use parentheticals instead 2. Choosing when to paragraph break in action-description
Method 1 not only includes choosing when to break a single character's lines with action-description, but even when to butt into the flow of the dialogue between characters and make the reader's eyes move back the left of the page. I'm still trying to get a handle on this method.
Method 2 is something I feel I have a better handle of. As a rule of thumb, I group together actions that happen simultaneously, or are part of one smooth action-thought, into a single paragraph. Anything that happens AFTER something else, especially if not /immediately/, should get a new action-description paragraph. I've found that the smaller an action-description paragraph is the longer that moment just sits there in the reader's mind, like a large comic panel with a small character and a single word; two or three words as its own line of action description will hang there forever (think "Jesus wept."). If things are flying fast and loose, this is actually a great time to utilize larger/longer paragraphs, as it keeps the reader reading along without interruption.
Hopefully this was somewhat helpful and not too wanky.
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Post by claypot on Jun 24, 2019 1:38:19 GMT
Maybe I'll get some free scriptwriting software for my script based titles. As I plan to go prose on Real Ghostbusters and Gargoyles after the end of their first arcs. Meet The Griffins is in script form as a nod to classic 80s-90s sitcoms. Plus I plan to start work on my Marvel TV projects this week with Howard the Duck and The Wolverine.
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Post by transformthebat on Jun 24, 2019 2:24:40 GMT
Script-format software helps so much. I use celtx, which is free, and I would recommend it. It's one of only two or three free scriptwriting softwares worth looking at.
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Post by J.Sykes on Jun 24, 2019 18:50:56 GMT
Honestly I have always loved reading scripts. I can easily just direct the movie in my head even easier than I would do reading a novel. I only write scripts here for my TV series work as a way to bolster my credits as a screenwriter however
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Post by travis on Jun 25, 2019 16:31:03 GMT
I have mixed feelings on the script format. It's interesting and I keep thinking I need to try doing a project in script format, see if I can adjust my style to the format. I'm a very talky writer and script format feels very bare bones. Not sure if it's the format itself or writers using it as a short cut.
Have to check out the software you guys mention.
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Post by transformthebat on Jun 25, 2019 17:17:47 GMT
Script form does eschew some lingual artistry to focus solely on story and character. If the lingual artistry is a very important part of it for you, script form will always fall short.
In the hands of capable (or compatible) writers, it will fall /less/ short; but it is certainly more of a story medium than a language medium, and so tastes will draw one toward or away from it.
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Post by J.Sykes on Jun 25, 2019 20:00:45 GMT
I have mixed feelings on the script format. It's interesting and I keep thinking I need to try doing a project in script format, see if I can adjust my style to the format. I'm a very talky writer and script format feels very bare bones. Not sure if it's the format itself or writers using it as a short cut. Have to check out the software you guys mention. It's designed to be bare bones. Like I got rejected last year for being too wordy in my scripts. Honestly I only write in it to sharpen that skillset, and it can be a tough way to write. Especially since I love descriptive action sequences, it can be a very hampering style
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Post by transformthebat on Jun 25, 2019 20:50:59 GMT
@josh - That's the beautiful thing about writing them for one's own pleasure: one can then bend and tweak the format however they like for artistic reasons!
Especially case-in-point: I describe action sequences and fight scenes in too much detail, by industry standards. But the script is more enjoyable, more /readable/, because of it.
I really think that in this surge of newer, potentially lazier (you're not wrong travis) writers, a lot of folks will find things they like about script form and pave the way for more varied styles of script specifically meant for reading. You and I will be happy because it infuses a form we like with more artistry while keeping the focus on story and character. travis will likely be upset because things that could be prose are being replaced by script-form pieces (no matter how wordy by script standards). Either way I see it on the horizon.
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Post by transformthebat on Jun 26, 2019 0:27:11 GMT
An even better example! I'm writing some Star Trek shit right now, and I'm doing MAD blocking. Things that would never go in the script because they're worked out on the day by the director: when someone stands up or sits down, or crosses the room, stuff like that. But this isn't getting produced, so if I don't write it in, nobody will ever know they're standing up or crossing the room. So I do write it in, even though I'm not "supposed to".
But if this /was/ being produced, and I was writing for a director/DP/crew I trusted, I wouldn't.
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Post by travis on Jun 26, 2019 2:35:59 GMT
I think one of the issues I have, is a lot of these scripts are being presented as stories in script format, so they need to be treated more like stories and less like first draft scripts.
For me, this is the only time I'll see them, as I'm not part of any production process. I'm viewing them as stories written in a different kind of format, and so find them lacking.
Even if you are treating this site as the workshop for your scripts, be wordy. You can trim them down as needed, when they move on to the next stage, but here the readers aren't experts or in charge of a franchise, we're going to need descriptions of places and characters.
My start in fanfic come from comic book properties, so my focus is 'every issue is somebdies' first issue' and you need to write accordingly. Script format seems geared toward people who already know the franchise characters.
I think I'm starting to ramble, so I hope you guys get what I'm saying.
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Post by transformthebat on Jun 26, 2019 3:06:06 GMT
You've absolutely hit on some real things about script form. As I have no hopes (or illusions) about making it in the industry I write my scripts to be read, but I also just prefer a less wordy approach, personally. I like to think I've reached a decent middle ground.
As far as "every issue is somebody's first," this is something I think needs to be taken into account for every piece of transformative fiction... but I don't think the answer is /always/ to invite in the newbs.
Case in point: I wrote (am writing) Shadow of the Bat so that it can be enjoyed equally by someone who's never heard of Batman and someone who knows everything about Batman*... But I wrote (am writing) B5: Isil'Zha specifically /for/ people who are deep into B5 lore (it is a sequel afterall).
I think (as with all things) there is no overall "right" answer so much as there is a "right" answer in every individual case, and that answer can vary.
- - -
*(I actually probably do err on the side of not enough description, but the STORY makes sense whether you know the kayFabe or not... hmmm... maybe I need to describe more shit in SotB)
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Post by transformthebat on Jun 26, 2019 3:10:08 GMT
One reason to avoid /over/-describing in script format has to do with my very first post in this thread: stopping the flow of the story to say what stuff looks like messes up the pacing real bad, and one of the main advantages of script form is the control it gives you over pacing.
As always, the goldilocks zone on this is a fine line. It's very easy to over-describe, and it's very easy to under-describe. I've been guilty of both at different times, sometimes within the same script. Hell, sometimes within the same page.
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Post by travis on Jun 26, 2019 16:48:20 GMT
I think it comes down to 'Who are you writing for?"
I have a tendency to be drawn to the fringes of established franchises and/or characters. That mixed with my comic love, means I throw my writing net wide. Some of the script stuff feels like it has a narrower focus: wether the idea is it will go someday to a show runner, so you don't need to describe the whole cast or just the hardcore fanbase, there's an assumption the reader already knows this stuff.
Every-verse, being not just a shared universe, but containing a lot of reimaginings, it just seems the narrow script focus will cause stumbling blocks.
Again, I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing, but if we are coming at it from different approaches, we end up tripping over each.
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Post by claypot on Jun 26, 2019 17:05:36 GMT
I liked to do scripted fanfics but when Fanfiction.net stopped doing scripted fics you had to get to other sites that use scripts.
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Post by transformthebat on Jun 26, 2019 17:12:50 GMT
A lot of scripts could definitely stand to explain a few more visuals, but overall script form stuff /should/ be light on description, because that's part of what makes the form work. Turning scripts into just strangely formatted novels won't do justice to script form or novel form.
It's all about finding that goldilocks zone.
And in a wider sense it's all about picking the right form for the story. I truly believe that every story has an ideal form in which it should be told, and picking the right form for the right story (or vice versa) is what separates the good storytellers from the great ones.
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