• Every story is about a WHAT (the premise) happening to a WHO (the main character).  The biggest thing to consider before writing a story is whether or not it deserves to or should be written— mainly, will there be an audience for it?  The second thing to consider is in what way (medium) the story could be best told-- as a book, play, movie, or TV series?
  • All characters have always represented themselves at their most worst or best moments— think of the “extremes” when creating where they are when your story takes place and what they have to learn, achieve, lose, or overcome by the end of their journey to be in a different place.
  • Combine characters by contrasting them-- use “opposite types” of characters to bring out certain qualities in certain situations.  Keep in mind that it’s what all the characters do together that creates the story’s effect and emotions.
  • Stories should go from “emotion to emotion” in every scene… be aware of the feelings each scene is creating as you write and make sure it’s coming across. 
  • Conflicts, arguments, and obstacles all keep a story going and more interesting to engage in.  Without these in every scene stories become boring fast.
  • Every single event and word spoken in a story is there for a reason— to move the story along in an interesting way.  (If it doesn’t, it should not be in it.)

                              
Recommended Books

For More Writing Tips & Writing Help:

  • Aristotle’s Poetics
  • The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr.
  • Making A Good Script Great (2nd Edition) by Linda Seger
  • Grammar always matters:  The Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition) by The University of Chicago Press is the "industry standard" grammar book to use and is available both in print and on-line.
  • A Good Thesaurus Selection: Always have at least 3-5 thesauruses on hand to help keep your writing speckled with great words that keep it entertaining and interesting to read without any repetition.
  • Baby Name Books/Phone Books:  Use baby name books (old and new) for finding strong character first names and a phone book for finding unique last names.  Never use the name of a real person for fictional stories.


For Marketing Your Work:

  • For Books:  The Writer's Market (comes out annually)
  • For Plays:  The Playwright's Companion (discontinued/find old copies)
  • For Screenplays/TV Material:  The Hollywood Creative Directory (comes out twice a year in print and is also available on-line)



Happy Writing! --Your Writing Muse.com
Manuscript Format Does Matter

For Books:
  • In most cases, the publishing industry’s “standard, preferred length” for a book manuscript’s full page of text is based on 250 words per page (double spaced) using   only Times New Roman or Courier fonts.  
  • Manuscripts are counted by page rather than word count because authors write with varying amounts of “white space” (meaning some pages can have only short lines of dialogue while others are filled with lots of descriptive narrative). Therefore, the editor/publisher has to think in terms of the total number of pages, not the total number of words (though some do like knowing both, so it’s best to list both).
  • There are all kinds of books written in all different lengths, but most novels are between 70,000 – 110,000 words.  The bottom line to remember is this: a book should be as   long as it needs to be to tell the story (or subject) well.    
  • Writing children’s picture books can sometimes include doing a “dummy book” and changing the manuscript format to fit with the tone/style/pacing of the book best.  These kinds of books are the only book manuscripts that normally vary from the preferred, "industry standard" kind.

For Plays:
  • There is no “real standard” for how a play manuscript is written, but most writers do try  to make their manuscripts look like a “published play” when submitting it.  However, that also causes some confusion, for publishers of plays all have their own specific formats.  So look at several different publishers of plays such as Samuel French or Dramatists Play Service to see how they vary and then adapt your manuscript to one of these styles.  (Do still double space your manuscript though throughout.)
  • Lengths of plays vary according to whether it is a one-act play (which is usually about 45 minutes to an hour), or a two- or even three-act play (which can be anywhere from 2 to  4 hours). 
  • How can you tell how long your play is?  Read it out loud and time it.
  • Musicals are written differently than “straight plays” and need to include a score for the songs (with their lyrics) along with the “book” for the play/story part. Again, look at published musicals to see how they are written and adapt your manuscript to fit that style.

For Screenplays/Movies:
  • Standard Hollywood format for a screenplay for a theatrical movie is easy to learn from any of the writing software available for screenwriting.  (Final Draft is one of the most common used.)
  • The average length for a screenplay is 90-110 pages (Courier font, 12 pt.). 
  • Writing a screenplay for an M.O.W. (“movie of the week” for network or cable TV) is not done in the same format as writing one for a theatrical release.  This is because they need to be done in specific act breaks according to commercial breaks.  Find scripts of already produced M.O.W.’s on-line to read and study this kind of formatting if you are writing a movie script intended for TV.

For TV Show/Series Scripts:
  • Writing TV show scripts varies according to whether the project is for a sitcom, half-hour one camera show, or one-hour show.   Find writing software that shows the difference of each of these, or look for scripts of already produced shows on-line to read and study. 
  • Writing a TV series idea for an original scripted show means you need to create a “series book bible” describing the series as well as write the pilot episode to set the whole series up.  Find both of these things on-line to read and study and make sure you understand all the elements that need to be included in a TV series pitch before submitting anything to anyone in the industry.
  • Creating a reality TV show series is not the same as creating an original scripted TV show series and the formats for reality shows can vary greatly.    

Note: If you need more help figuring out the correct format for writing your story, please contact Melissa by clicking here. She has done all of the above formats and will be happy  to help make sure your manuscript looks professional before submitting it anywhere.  She also has writing templates available to help with each of these formats too if you are unable to find them on-line.

Have more questions about your specific project, or writing in general?  Contact Melissa to see if she can help!



Note: Melissa recommends registering the first draft of your project with the Library of Congress as soon as possible to ensure the earliest copyright date.
Melissa's Writing Tips     To Remember