How to Break In and Succeed as a Screenwriter

Screenwriting is a competitive trade. To distinguish yourself as a prize-winning writer you need to master organizational skills, take creative risks, and learn how best to present your final product. For the aspiring screenwriter, Tom Lazarus’ book, “Secrets of Film Writing” is one of the best. An exceptional screenwriter with five produced screenplays, Lazarus developed this book for beginning writers enrolled in his classes at UCLA.

This article examines a few of the many techniques outlined in “Secrets of Film Writing” and provides examples of screenwriters who succeeded with Tom Lazarus’ guidelines.

ORGANIZATION IS KEY
Master organization and you’re closer to producing a stellar screenplay, not a mediocre one. Ask yourself these questions:

1) Does the screenplay have a clear beginning, middle and end?

2) Does the story drift aimlessly or does it make its point successfully?

These may seem like basic questions, yet many screenwriters grapple with organizational problems.

Lazarus addresses this issue in his book; he recommends writers use one of four organizational methods to ensure their screenplays flow smoothly: outlines, treatments, index cards, and scene lists. All four of these tools are equally effective. Writers need to be discreet to decide which organizational crutch best suits their needs.

SEO Copywriting: 7 Tips

So you finally built a website for your home-based business. How exciting is that!? Now you just have to let people know you’re out there. The best method is to use an SEO copywriting strategy, which optimizes your web content using popular keywords.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. You want to fill your website with the most commonly searched words within your industry. These words are called keywords. They’re what web researchers type into search engine boxes when looking for information. Your job will be to find out what those words are, and then add them to your website content and web theme.

As the top search engines send their spiders out to crawl the web, they’ll index your content using the keywords you’ve placed strategically throughout. If you do this right, you’ll rank high in your content category. Even if you don’t do it exactly right, you’ll still be better off than if you don’t do it at all.

Tips on SEO Copywriting: Where do I put those keywords?

1. In your website’s title and ALT titles.

Put a Spin on Your Idea!

Eight or nine times out of ten, picking up and leafing through a magazine’s or book’s table of contents, you will find at least one or more articles or chapters that will catch your attention immediately. Never mind that that article or chapter’s subject had been written about many times before. The one that caught YOUR attention stood out, most likely, because it put the topic in a new perspective.

For starters, that new perspective, aka, “spin” may have involved saying “no” to something that everyone seemingly agrees with or “yes” to something that everyone seemingly disagrees with. If most people agree that going to college is great, an author such as Caroline Bird will take the opposite tack, arguing that going to college is a bad idea. So reviewing commonly accepted concepts in your field and taking an opposite stance on one of them may yield a unique spin.

Another way to put a different spin on a topic is to examine its related issues and problems. One time, I was interested in writing a book for substitute teachers and recalled from my own experiences what substitutes had to deal with. One of the issues was the lack of good activities to be used immediately with restless students. This led to a book about activities using common objects, such as confiscated toys, in motivating students to write.

Writing New Ideas

Someone once commented that there were no new ideas to write, that all that could be done was a recombination of the words and phrases for a deeper, more personal expression of meaning. They have completely missed the point and purpose to ‘writing’.

One writes, not to refine old ideas, but to express personal, heart-felt thoughts that have been born anew, deep within the longing soul. Writing is an attempt to understand oneself, and to explain those often deeply personal feelings to the world at large; a world that needs more honest and personal understanding of the expression of oneself. In life, we see the darkness and the worst in people. But we also see the very best in individuals who are sincerely trying to make the best of their time here on this earth. We need to be the chroniclers of these people and these times.

I’ve been struggling to write exactly what I feel.

The muse works like that.

She doesn’t let me go until I struggle and

Wrench out my heart

Wringing the blood all over the page

Scratching the thick, red ink

Into words and phrases that truly mean something

Article Marketing Benefit - Surges in Web Traffic Over and Over Again From Article Writing

Writing dozens, hundreds or even thousands of articles and making them available for distribution is one of the best ways to ensure that your website gets surges in traffic over the long-haul. Why? Let me explain:

When you put your articles into distribution (meaning you submit them to ezine publishers and the article sites that ezine publishers visit for fresh content), you increase your chances of your article getting picked up as supplemental content by ezine publishers. They take your article and send it to their email newsletter membership or add it to their website.

Why would you give them your article for free? Heck, you’re a paid expert, right?

The answer is because good ezine publishers will leave your article in tact and provide you with an active link back to your website. When they send your article to their list, you can expect an immediate surge in traffic. Most of the time, you won’t know who sent your article to their list, but you will see spikes throughout the year if your articles are quality.

Five Tips To Consider When Choosing A Publisher

Choosing a publisher probably seems like a complicated task, however, you may find the process somewhat less challenging if you consider the following five suggestions.

Research the legitimacy of your prospective publishers. Consider factors like: how long they’ve been in business; how many books they’ve published; what types of books they seek; how successful their published books are. etc…

Do not assume that the giant publishing houses, which put out more than 200 books annually, are your best option. The competition is obviously arduous with these organizations.

Refer to industry bibles like: The Writer’s Market.

These respected resources will provide information like: what kinds of books each publisher prefers; contact information for editors; tips on how to submit your proposal and more.

Find books similar to yours and make a note of each publisher’s name, address, website etc… Search for related books online at amazon or barnesandnoble.

Consult other published authors for their personal advice. You easily do this online by joining a professional association - you can find a list of numerous such organizations on this page.

You can also use the web to seek help from other writers by enrolling in a writer’s group, participating in discussion forums, or asking for feedback in critique circles. You may find writing groups and professional associations for writers in your local community as well.

Idea-Mining for Writers, 102

As many authors are fond of stating, “Ideas are all around!” when asked to be more specific. Well, in a way, that’s true. Ideas ARE all around. You just have to know how and where to look for them. If anything, you will have to read like a writer.

Reading like a writer means focusing on items that catch your attention, make you wonder, or make you angry or happy. So after you’ve read the paper or a magazine, don’t throw it out or put it aside yet. If that paper or magazine belongs to you, go back and mark or clip stuff that caught your attention and held it. Perhaps you read the entire article or skimmed it for information that mattered to you.

Chances are that you may have come across a sentence or paragraph that stated an idea much too briefly in passing. But there was something about it that engaged your curiosity and for a few seconds, raised questions. Perhaps you felt that it was too bad that the author did not explain his or her idea just a little further. Pay attention because this may be just the idea that you can develop into an article, story or book with more research.

The Magic Button That Earns $3,546 or more

Ever wonder how a “guru” earns $3,546 or more just by pressing a button?

The first thing a newbie learns when landing on the Internet is that it is full of hype. Hype this. Hype that. But when you cut through the hype, there is one simple truth. If you want to make real money on the Internet, you have to build an opt-in list.

This is the simple truth the gurus understand. They are, after all, gurus. They are not wizards, nor magicians. They know that making money on the Internet is a very simple mathematical equation. A small opt-in list equals candlelight dinners in the basement rec room, savouring macaroni and cheese in front of the TV. A big, bulging opt-in list equals candlelight dinners at Chez Ritz, enjoying baked brie and filet mignon while overlooking the lake.

That’s why the gurus earn so much money.

But just what is an opt-in list? Simply put, it is a list of email addresses belonging to people who have given you permission to send them messages. Anything else is spam. Make sure your list is opt-in.

What a Ghostwriter Can Do for You

Do you ever have brilliant ideas for articles, books or a website, but never get around to doing anything about them? Don’t feel like the Lone Ranger. Trust and credibility are vital in creating consumer confidence. Being able to tell the world who you are, what you do and how you do it is the best kind of confidence-building free publicity?producing results rivaling those of standard advertising. But even if you could crank out passable copy yourself, most businesspeople should be spending their time doing what they do best?minding the store, not staring at blank sheets of paper!

If that’s you, and your marketing plans include publishing books or articles, or enhancing your Web presence, an experienced professional ghostwriter can help you focus on your subject, organize your ideas, and then write persuasively to your target audience.

Or, if you’ve already written a book, article or webpage and think it’s ready for the publisher or webmaster, think again! A professional copywriter’s objective critique–complete with line edits and grammar, style and consistency checks–can spell the difference between acceptance and rejection.

What Does it Cost?

Five Common Errors to Correct Before Submitting a Letter or Report

First impressions count in writing too! So it is always a good idea to carefully check documents such as letter, reports, and proposals before submitting them. Below are five of the most common errors.

1. The document isn’t tailored for its audience. For example, a proposal does not speak to a client in a “you” tone. Sometimes, it includes terms that a client may not understand. After giving your document some time to cool off, reread it as your client would. Remember to mark jargon and underline unclear sentences.

2. The document isn’t organized well. In other words, its paragraphs do not flow smoothly from one to the next. That is, a given paragraph may cover a totally different aspect instead of clarifying a point. This problem can be fixed or avoided altogether by numbering paragraphs in a draft and writing a few words that summarize what you said. What you’ll have is a quick outline of the entire document. You’ll also see any organizational flaws in a glance and be able to deal with them directly.

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