Note on Story Maps by Daniel Calvisi

I wanted to add something about Story Maps by Daniel Calvisi, the book I reviewed over the weekend.

Someone raised this point so I thought I would clarify. Please don't think the book is composed only of structural templates. It's not, and I don't want anyone to not buy the book because they have that expectation.

Story Maps gives you excerpts from actual screenplays, showing you the format and language on the page in use by pro screenwriters.

Tone, voice on the page, word choice, strong and active verbs, etc., as shown in excerpts from such screenplays as Juno, As Good As It Gets, Saving Private Ryan and even a sample scene that adapts the opening paragraph of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep to screenplay format.

Takeaway Truth

Excellent resource for your writer's library.

From Print Bestsellers To Ebooks

This morning my Guest Star is Bestselling Print romance author Elaine Raco Chase.

Elaine has made the transition from print bestseller to ebook author/publisher. You may have noticed her Framed Cover designs on Amazon, Nook, and the other digital publishing retailers.

Each book cover looks like a framed picture as you can tell from her most recent release Dare The Devil which is shown here. Like so many authors, Elaine's thrilled to be labeled Indie Author.

In Her Own Words

First, I'd like to thank Joan for giving me the opportunity to be a blogger on her great site. I'm sure you all realize how generous Joan is in giving her time, information and for just being Joan. Joan was my neighbor when I first moved to Clear Lake, Texas, back in 1985, and we've been friends no matter where our moves – well, moved us!

So, what does it take to make a print bestseller into an ebook? Not much – but then a lot! But it's a lot of fun.

Transition

My first book Rules of the Game, a contemporary romance, was written in 1979 and published in 1980 as part of the Dell Candlelight Romance series. This book represented a lot of firsts. It was their first romantic comedy, the first with a man's point of view, the first with more dialogue than normal. That's because I came from writing for radio/TV.

I wrote that book on a typewriter, with carbon paper and onion skin for copies (no copy machines for personal use back then!)--and with a large bottle of White-Out by my side.

Actually all of my romances were written that way. I was very late into the computer world as many of my friends would call me to cry over missing text, power outages that made it all disappear, and their accumulation of 4-letter words when the blue-screen of death popped up instead of their latest WIP, that is, work in progress.

Now I'm retyping all of my novels so I'll have a Word file to use for ebook format, and I am also updating each book as I go. I tried scanning rather than retyping. Some manuscripts easily took to scanning into a Word file, but others, not so much. I'd rather retype and edit as I go.

Plot Devices

So what am I updating? Certainly not the classic plot line of: boy meets girl, a few problems ensue, then happily ever after. That's been a standard happy ending plotline since the dawn of writing. But let's look at plot devices.

Technology: cellphones, computers, smartphones, iPads, tablets. It's mind-boggling. So adjustments have to be made for technology.

The other woman. She was a staple in early romance novels, oddly enough, and the other woman is still in the picture and in the headlines. Think sports stars, politicians, entertainment stars--yup, there she is. So this too is a viable plot device. You just have to make it mature and today.

Updating: Language & Love

As an experienced writer, and writing teacher, I recognize that romance readers' expectations are different now in what they expect from language and love scenes. Especially in the area of love scenes – yikes!

Explicit language was not allowed when my romance novels were published. Love scenes, while provocative then were actually quite tame. Yes, a lot of readers still love sweet romance, but I have a feeling my characters are just jumping at the chance to really consummate their relationships. After all, they've been waiting for a long time to get it on!

Updating: Fashions

Damn, everything old is new again!

Updating: Book Covers

It's been fun creating my own covers, paying homage to the basic design element of a framed image used by the original Dell Ecstasy and Silhouette Desire covers, but ramping them up a bit as well. My cover designs are a lot hotter and sexier to represent the sexier, updated stories.

Invitation

So far, I have ebooked seven of my titles, with Rules of the Game and Caught in a Trap coming in October and November. It's an adventure and quite thrilling to have new readers fall in love with my books.

Please take a look inside or sample my contemporary romances. Let me know what you think. I can be reached at elainerc at juno.com.

Takeaway Truth

Savvy authors analyze their backlist in light of the expectations of today's readers and proceed accordingly.

How Long Is A Novel?

Most writers I know go by word count when they're writing. They have a target in mind that a novel must be in order to be considered a novel.

Of course, most of the writers I know have a background in print, not ebooks. I'll take a guess and say that ebook-only writers do the same. However, I've come to realize that a lot of ebook-only writers don't have a firm grasp about the length of a novel versus a novella versus a short story.

According to the reviews I read, readers certainly have an opinion as to what constitutes a novel, and they're happy to jump on the unwary author whose book length doesn't measure up.

With that thought in mind, here are some guidelines I've put together that might help. Next week I'll revisit this discussion and define some of these forms of writing to provide more clarity and will also break down word length of novels by genre.

Word Lengths: Adult Trade Fiction

Micro-Fiction: about 100 words

Flash Fiction: 100--1,000 words

Short Story: 1,000--7,500 words

Novellette: 7,500--20,000 words

Novella: 20,000--50,000 words

Novel: 50,000--110,000

Epic Novel: 110,000+ words

Word Lengths: Juvenile Fiction

Middle Grade: 25,000--40,000

Young Adult (YA): 45,000--80,000 (genre dependent)

Check back next week for more about this subject, definitions of these classifications, and a word count breakdown by genre.

Takeaway Truth

A smart writer must know past publishing standards because those have a bearing on reader expectations.

Internet Floater: The Buzzard, The Bat, The Bumblebee

You know how dead bodies pop up in a river on a crime show on TV? That's kind of how an Internet Floater pops up--just when you think it's dead and gone.

This one, courtesy of my friend Perry, is a good one though. Thought-provoking as well as amusing. Good way to start a Monday.

The Buzzard, The Bat, The Bumblebee

If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

The Bat

The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkable nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about
helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

The Bumbletree

A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

People

In many ways, we are like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee. We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations never realizing that all we have to do is look to our faith, whatever it may be.

Remember

Sorrow looks back. Worry looks around. Faith looks up. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

Takeaway Truth

Try to get through today without once grumbling, "I hate Monday."

Baseball: TX Rangers Prove Something

This has been the best weekend. Larry and I put the top down on our fun car and drove up to the Hill Country.

Perfect rag top weather. Music on Top Down setting which meant loud so we could sing along to some of our favorites on my CD mixes.

Perfect Food

Stopped by Houston's BBQ in Normangee, Texas, this little town we always drive through. Picked up some ribs and smoked chicken. Best BBQ joint in Texas. Think I'll blog about them later this week.

Saturday Night

At night, we sit out on the porch, glass of a good wine in hand, and watch the stars pop out and the moon rise. Last night the moon was big and golden, but we didn't spend long outside because Game 6 of the American League playoffs between the Texas Rangers and the Detroit Tigers came on. You see, I have a confession to make. I love baseball.

My Baseball Backstory

When I was a kid and visited my grandparents, we went to bed as soon as the sun went down. Early to bed; early to rise. I can hear my grandfather's voice in my head--and my heart--as I write this because he often quoted that aphorism. He had a million of them, and he is probably responsible for my tendency to love quotations.

Of course, I was wide awake. My grandfather would turn on the radio, and we could hear it throughout the quiet house where silence was broken only by the sound of the ticking clock. Every night, when the radio came on, a baseball game was starting.

Baseball was the only reason my grandfather ever listened to a radio. Ah, I can hear it so clear even now: the announcer's excited voice, the roar of the crowd, the crack of the bat. All that seeped into my heart.

Houston Astros

When I moved to Houston many years ago, I rejoiced in the opportunity to watch the Houston Astros play. I watched Nolan Ryan pitch a no-hitter. I watched that famous 1986 playoff game where Mike Scott pitched a no-hitter against the Mets. My heart broke along with every Astro fan's when we didn't end up in the world series. We're still waiting for our Astros to get their act together. Poor guys! They're coming off their worst season.

Of course, most of us Astros fans who remember when Nolie wore the rainbow shirt, followed his career. After all, he lives just down the road in Alvin. We smile when we see him in commercials on our local TV channels, and we rejoiced when he became one of the owners of the Texas Rangers. Now we had a new team we could root for.

Just as it takes time to produce a good wine from the best root stock, soil, sunshine, and expertise, it also takes time to produce a winning team. I thought last year that time had arrived for the Rangers, but they fell short. Last night, watching one of the most phenomenal baseball games I'd ever seen, I again think their time as come.

Phenomenal

I wish I'd had last night's game DVR'd so I could watch it again. All the elements needed to win a world series seem to have come together--pitching, batting, fielding--just all around great teamwork and an attitude of camaraderie among the players.

My hero Nolan Ryan once said: "One of the beautiful things about baseball is that every once in a while you come into a situation where you want to, and where you have to, reach down and prove something."

Takeaway Truth

Last night, the Texas Rangers proved that they can make baseball magical.

Review: Story Maps by Daniel Calvisi

Why am I, a novelist, recommending Story Maps: How to Write a Great Screenplay by Daniel P. Calvisi to other novelists?

Sometimes, stepping outside one's own writing arena and exploring how other writers accomplish their storytelling may help one understand an element that is difficult. One may gain deeper insight into one's own field of writing endeavor.

Book Specs

Format: Several Digital Formats offered.
PDF format: 232 pages
Publisher: Act Four Screenplays
ISBN: 13 978-0-9836266-1-9
Copyright © Daniel P. Calvisi 2011
Price: Range from $9.95 to $14.95 depending on format; bundled packages also available

How To Write Books

I read a lot of how-to-write books because I, like most writers, am always learning, striving to improve–to find, perhaps, a better way to tell a story or to bring characters to life without so much trial and error. Even though I'm not a screenwriter of any fashion, I've read all the popular screenwriting books.

Too many of them seem designed to impress the reader with how esoteric the art of screen writing is rather than teach the writer how to create breakneck pacing like in the movie Taken. Or how to craft a story with the emotional resonance of Shawshank Redemption.

In his Introduction to Story Maps: How to Write a Great Screenplay, author Daniel P. Calvisi tells why he wrote this book. "No matter where you're at in your career or who you know, you still need to blow away the reader, so I'm going to show you the best and most focused way to emulate the many successful scripts and movies that I've studied for over two decades."

Writers Have Same Needs

Well, guess what? Novelists--indeed, all writers--need to blow away the reader too–with every book they write. In our case, the reader isn't a studio exec or a Story Analyst like Dan Calvisi. Our readers are the people who plunked down their hard-earned bucks for our books.

Any book that gives lessons in the skill of blowing the reader away is a book writers need to read. From the Introduction to Dan's closing, "Good luck and Happy Writing," Story Maps delivers. Imagine sitting around a coffee shop or a bar and talking one-on-one to a movie-writing, storytelling pro like Dan Calvisi. A no-holds barred, no frills, tell-it-like-it-really-is, no sugar-coating conversation. That's what reading this book is like.

We Know Movies

Movies are part of the fabric of our lives. We share the same cultural experience. We may not all read the same books, but, chances are, we grew up watching the same movies. Today, we throng to the theaters on opening day, or grab the DVDs as soon as they're available. We know the movies Dan discusses. We've all laughed at The Hangover and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days–two very different comedies (both analyzed herein so you see why they worked–why they were so popular with audiences).

When you read the Story Maps of all the movies Dan dissects, you'll see how the story moves from beat to beat. You'll understand the craft of the screenplay. We all "know" the Indiana Jones movies so when Dan discusses External Goal, Internal Goal, Central Dramatic Question, we nod. We get it!

A Treasure

The examples, the story maps, keep coming, and as you read, you get excited because you realize that a Story Map is something that you can apply to your novels. When you look at the structure, the Basic Story Map Elements, you instantly grasp that it's an easily accessible storytelling template much like the mythic structure popularized by Joseph Campbell, but so much easier to understand. Keep reading, and, by the end of the book, it's as if you absorbed the structure. There's a harmonic resonance between the story map structure and your writer's consciousness.

Takeaway Truth

In truth, I found this book to be brilliant. I can see how screenwriters would love it, but I know how fiction writers–whether novice or seasoned pro--would benefit tremendously by reading and using its techniques. Add this to your writing library today.

Daniel P. Calvisi: Blogging With the Big Boys

I'm excited to welcome a very special guest today: Hollywood insider Dan Calvisi, a Story Analyst and screenwriting pro. Not only is Dan going to give great blogging tips, he's also giving a free download offer just for SlingWords readers.

Daniel Calvisi, NYU Tisch alum, is a professional Story Analyst and script doctor with major movie studio experience, having worked as an A-list reader for the executives who developed the films CHICAGO, LIMITLESS, SCREAM, ULEE’S GOLD, ONE FINE DAY, CHOCOLAT and SPY KIDS.

He has coached hundreds of writers for over a decade, taught at the college level, written for "Script" magazine and is the author of Story Maps: How to Write a GREAT Screenplay.

Dan and I met online a couple of years ago when I subscribed to his newsletter. I found the items he posted fascinating so I relayed that info to him by email. He replied, and we've kind of stayed in touch ever since. When he told me he was going to hang out his shingle as an indie author with his book on screenwriting, I offered some advice based on what I'd learned. I invited him to spread the news about his book, and, to my delight, he accepted. You're in for a treat.

Before I turn this over to Dan, I want to tell you that I can describe his book Story Maps in one word. Brilliant. Of course, I'll post a review tomorrow and use a lot more words, but I just want you to know that I highly recommend his book.

He's offering a special deal today to SlingWords readers. Buy his book, and he'll GIVE you his Booster Pack for free. At the bottom of Dan's post, you'll find buy links with instructions on how to get a FREE copy of Story Maps Booster Pack, a $9.95 value.

Now, may I present Daniel P. Calvisi.

BLOGGING WITH THE BIG BOYS
by Daniel P. Calvisi, author of Story Maps: How to Write a GREAT Screenplay.

Writing a quality blog is not enough to reach a broad audience and boost sales of your books. You must blog smarter than your competition. If you employ some very specific, smart techniques, you will boost your traffic and increase sales.

Through trial and error, in writing my Act Four Screenplays blog and working with an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) professional, I developed a set of precepts that I try to follow on a regular basis.

If you're like me, you enjoy blogging and you take pride in posting informative and meticulously edited articles, but...you struggle with posting on a regular basis. It always takes longer than you thought it would, doesn't it? (Especially, if you're a perfectionist, like me.) After a while, it feels like work.

I feel your pain.

In fact, as I write this, I haven't blogged in over a week. Maybe it's almost two weeks—I'm too scared to check. But at least I now know I'm doing myself a disservice, because I've learned this first lesson...

1) BLOGGING IS YOUR JOB

You should consider regular blogging not as a hobby, but as a vital part of your job. It is crucial marketing for your product, whether that's your e-book, your consulting services or your award-winning line of hand-carved lawn gnomes. When I blog regularly (three times a week is a good goal for me) I notice an increase in my site ranking (which I monitor with my own Google searches and a Google Alert on the keyword "Act Four Screenplays"), my site traffic (which I check using Google Analytics), e-book sales and the amount of email queries I receive from curious site visitors. As my SEO guy told me once, "Google rewards you for creating more pages on your site." Sometimes, it's an incredibly fast return on your investment; just minutes after I posted a blog on The Shawshank Redemption, I sold an e-book to a web surfer who just happened to be searching for the keyword "shawshank structure!"

It's simple: When you post more content for the Google bots to index, your search engine ranking can only increase.

2) STICK TO YOUR EXPERTISE

As a professional Story Analyst and an author of a book that focuses on breaking down movie narratives, it is my DETAILED ANALYSIS of popular movies that gets me the most notice and makes me stand out from my colleagues, not my pithy observations about trends in entertainment. In short: your core expertise is your blog's bread and butter. For example, my detailed analysis of The Dark Knight garnered me twenty times the traffic of my quickie post about an old comic book I found that had a mention of James Cameron. With that said, the Dark Knight analysis took fifty times longer to write than the comic book quickie, so you have to weigh the time commitment.

If you don't have time to go into detail on your topic of expertise, err towards the timely and popular. For example, I wrote two blogs on the use of Setups and Payoffs -- the first analyzed Kill Bill and the second compared Revenge of the Nerds to The Beastmaster. Guess which one got the most traffic? Yep, Mr. Tarantino. He's been slightly more active in the past twenty-five years than Robert Carradine or Marc Singer.

3) EVERYONE LOVES FREE STUFF

Recently overheard in an internet cafe near you: "Hell, no, I don't need yet another e-book to put in my iBooks queue! Wait, did you say FREE? Wait, where's that download button?"

On my site, I've won over a lot of readers by offering free "Story Maps" of well-known films, like Rocky or Raiders of the Lost Ark. My 10-page Story Map of The Dark Knight is a big fan favorite (but fyi, the updated version is only available in my book!). This not only gives them a sample of what they can find in my e-books but also instills trust in my story analysis skills so they will sign up for my newsletter and consider hiring me for consultation work.

4) LET'S HAVE A "QUICKIE!"

My SEO guy encourages me to write short, punchy blog posts that are rich with the proper keywords (targeted search phrases that pertain to your topic and will drive traffic to your site (you can use the Google Keyword Tool for research). He recommends these short posts be at least 250 words long (tip: I go to wordcounter.net to check the word count on my posts), the logic being that if they are too short, Google won't consider them to be a full page on your site and won't bother to rank them.

These "quickie" posts are particularly difficult for me to write, since I am so detail-oriented and I take pride in offering more thorough articles to my readership. But every so often, I get inspired when I come across a compelling story online that I feel will be of interest to my readers, so I bang out a short but sweet blog post.

If you've noticed a trend in your topic of expertise, you can assume many others have (whether that's reflected in the blogosphere or not), so give us your unique take on it. In addition to being active on Facebook, I like to read the Comments sections on various sites for tips on emerging trends and links to cool landing pages. If you can be the first to point out this "cool" thing you found to your readers, they will appreciate it.

For example, I was really enjoying the ad campaign for the FX television series "American Horror Story," so I decided to blog about it. It was a quickie, but it gave me a chance to include some striking images and embed some fun YouTube clips. Since I posted this blog during the peak of the online ad campaign to launch this new show, I'd like to think that I benefited from a lot of search activity and captured some decent Google ranking. This is what I call...

5) DRAFTING OFF A "BIG BOY"

A "Big Boy" is a huge site or topic that is currently capturing tons of traffic. If Google is going nuts indexing this site, its keywords, its outgoing and incoming links, then you should try to "draft" off of it to give a boost to your own search engine ranking. Think of yourself as a row boat that floats up next to a pirate ship at full sail and throws a line over the bow, catching a ride.

Linking to these sites, getting backlinks from them (by posting linked comments in their forums) and embedding their keywords in your posts will help you benefit from their bigness. Timing is key. You should act fast to capture an emerging topic that everyone's blogging about or a site that just went viral.

Or, look ahead to predict a tidal wave of traffic so you can ride the wave. For example, I had an idea for a blog post where I compared my profession, the Screenplay Consultant, to a recording studio. I was going to use photos from that silly scene in Boogie Nights where Dirk Diggler and Reed Rothchild record awful pop tunes in the studio. But then I saw an article on Rolling Stone about the upcoming 25th anniversary of the album Nevermind by Nirvana, one of the biggest selling albums of all time. As a big Nirvana fan, I knew I could add some unique insight that would ring true. So I ditched the Boogie Nights angle and worked in Nirvana. I don't know if this helped my Google ranking but it sure didn't hurt when millions of fans around the globe searched for stories about Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. I made sure to include the keywords "kurt cobain movie" and "nirvana movie" as many of these articles and commenters were discussing various biopics that have been in development over the years.

Is a new Dan Brown book coming out? Upcoming election? Draft on it! Did a famous figure just die? Chase that ambulance! (virtually speaking, of course)

6) GET A FRIEND TO WATCH YOUR BACK(LINKS)

My student Robert Rich has taken my Story Maps method and ran with it -- he created a site named ScreenplayHowTo.com dedicated to movie analysis, and he's uploading pdfs that are even more detailed than mine. We decided to team up and write linked blog posts on the same topics. For example, he wrote an analysis of the movie Risky Business, so I wrote a post on it and linked back to him, and then he added a link back to my post. There's value in both posts as we offer unique takes on the subject. For example, I met the writer/director of Risky Business, Paul Brickman, back in film school, so I shared that personal anecdote.

Robert has also set up an affiliate program with my e-book on BarnesAndNoble.com, so he's not only promoting my book but he's making money off it, should any of his readers purchase a copy.

Another value to my readers is that I can provide a link to his free downloads, for example, his exhaustive Story Map of The Shawshank Redemption. So now we both have that lovely keyword "free download" waiting in our posts, just itching to be discovered by a hungry Google bot.

I hope these tips have given you some inspiration to develop a blog strategy of your own. As always, I say...

Good Luck and Happy Writing!

Daniel Calvisi

2 Ways to Get a FREE E-BOOK worth $9.95: Offer expires Oct. 31, 2011!

1) Purchase the Story Maps: How to Write a GREAT Screenplay e-book from Dan's website and he will email you a FREE Story Maps Booster Pack e-book, which contains 12 Story Maps of recent and classic movies, including Black Swan, Up, Juno, The Social Network, Rocky and the Sex and the City movie! This is a $9.95 VALUE for FREE.

2) Purchase the e-book from iTunes or Smashwords AND post a review and Dan will email you the free Booster Pack (just email your receipt to Dan via the Contact form on his site and he'll reply ASAP)