Published: July 18, 2011
Words: 141,521 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781465973863

Short description

A revised, expanded version of award-winning author/screenwriter Alexandra Sokoloff's story structure workbook Screenwriting Tricks For Authors, with twice the material and using examples from all genres – but with a special focus on the structure and key elements of love stories. Includes full breakdowns of ten romantic comedies, romantic adventure, period romance and romantic suspense films.

Extended description

A revised and expanded second volume of award-winning author and screenwriter Alexandra Sokoloff's Screenwriting Tricks For Authors workbook, with a special emphasis on writing love.

Screenwriting is a compressed and dynamic storytelling form and the techniques of screenwriting are easily adaptable to novel writing. You can jump-start your plot and bring your characters and scenes vibrantly alive on the page - by watching your favorite movies and learning from the storytelling tricks of great filmmakers.

With this workbook you'll learn how to use techniques of film writing such as: (Read more) A revised and expanded second volume of award-winning author and screenwriter Alexandra Sokoloff's Screenwriting Tricks For Authors workbook, with a special emphasis on writing love.

Screenwriting is a compressed and dynamic storytelling form and the techniques of screenwriting are easily adaptable to novel writing. You can jump-start your plot and bring your characters and scenes vibrantly alive on the page - by watching your favorite movies and learning from the storytelling tricks of great filmmakers.

With this workbook you'll learn how to use techniques of film writing such as:

- the High Concept Premise
- the Three-Act, Eight-Sequence Structure
- the Storyboard Grid
- the Index Card Method of Plotting

- as well as tricks of film pacing and suspense, character arc and drive, visual storytelling, creating setpieces, and building image systems - to structure and color your novel for maximum emotional impact, suspense, and pacing, no matter what genre you're writing in.

Contains all the general story structure lessons of STFA I and much more, but with special attention to key story elements, techniques and examples from romantic comedy, romantic suspense, and romantic adventure, including ten full story breakdowns.

"Sokoloff's advice is spot-on, and her teaching style is direct and effective. A must-have book for authors and screenwriters."
- JA Konrath, A Newbie's Guide To Publishing
(Less)

Tags

romance, romantic suspense, hollywood, love, drama, romantic comedy, screenwriting, novel writing, high concept, big book, story structure, three act structure, eight sequence structure, screenwriting tricks for authors, 3 act structure, 8 sequence structure, film writing, premise, logline, alexandra sokoloff

Available ebook reading formats

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Plain Text (view) (viewable as web page)	Buy	No sample available

Reviews

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Review by: Wendy Scott on July 11, 2012 :
All writers could benefit from the structural analysis detailed in this guide. I'm a fan of using index cards for plotting,and liked the way sequencing was explained. As soon as I finished reading this book I used the techniques to plot out a dark fantasy romance, Masquerade. Also recommended this book at an authors' workshop and have had emails thanking me as they also found this book extremely helpful. Thanks and I'm looking forward to the next one on paranormal and urban fantasy. Fantasy author, Wendy Scott.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/72082
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Peter Holmquist on July 11, 2012 :
Great book, poured through the previous edition and found that very helpful. Every time I watch a movie now, I think about the scene changes and plot twists every 5 minutes. Nice!
(reviewed long after purchase)

Review by: Suzan Battah on April 10, 2012 :
Loved this book, very informative and well written. Very impressed and pleased I finally purchased this book. All writers should read it. It goes through disecting every aspect in making a story great and more.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Shirley Shelton on Feb. 21, 2012 :
Forget any of the myriad 'how to write a novel' publications swamping the marketplace. This is the one you need to read if you have any serious ambitions to write a novel that people might actually buy, enjoy and come back for more. This is the real deal!

Alexandra Sokoloff brings her considerable skills as both author and screen writer in producing a practical, common sense guide to the many diverse facets involved in writing your own book.

As others here have already said, it's packed with helpful tips, bullet points and a plethora of invaluable information for both novice and experienced writers alike.

Do yourself one big massive favour and chuck out all those 'how to' manuals cluttering your book shelf and replace them with Alexandra Sokoloff's invaluable guide. Do it now!
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Shirley Shelton on Feb. 21, 2012 :
Forget any of the myriad 'how to write a novel' publications swamping the marketplace. This is the one you need to read if you have any serious ambitions to write a novel that people might actually buy, enjoy and come back for more. This is the real deal!

Alexandra Sokoloff brings her considerable skills as both author and screen writer in producing a practical, common sense guide to the many diverse facets involved in writing your own book.

As others here have already said, it's packed with helpful tips, bullet points and a plethora of invaluable information for both novice and experienced writers alike.

Do yourself one big massive favour and chuck out all those 'how to' manuals cluttering your book shelf and replace them with Alexandra Sokoloff's invaluable guide. Do it now!
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Shirley Shelton on Feb. 21, 2012 : (no rating)
Forget any of the myriad 'how to write a novel' publications swamping the marketplace. This is the one you need to read if you have any serious ambitions to write a novel that people might actually buy, enjoy and come back for more. This is the real deal!

Alexandra Sokoloff brings her considerable skills as both author and screen writer in producing a practical, common sense guide to the many diverse facets involved in writing your own book.

As others here have already said, it's packed with helpful tips, bullet points and a plethora of invaluable information for both novice and experienced writers alike.

Do yourself one big massive favour and chuck out all those 'how to' manuals cluttering your book shelf and replace them with Alexandra Sokoloff's invaluable guide. Do it now!
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Sarah Hutchins on Feb. 09, 2012 : (no rating)
As a romance novelist, I found this ebook to be a great asset.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Valle Bower on Nov. 01, 2011 :
I've been following Alexandra's blog for a while now, and I've learned a lot from her. So, I was eagerly waiting for this book to come out...and it doesn't disappoint. Don't let the awesome price of 2.99 fool ya...there is a lot of information and direction packed in here. I don't have a kindle yet, so I downloaded it in pdf format on my pc...and it stays on my desktop for easy reference.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Leslie Nuccio on Oct. 26, 2011 :
I purchased this book because after taking Alexandra's online class, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors (amazing class BTW), I wondered, how could she expand on the rich nuggets of information already presented? Well should have known better than to wonder. Ms. Sokoloff's description of this book does not do it justice, not by a long shot. To say it's a revised and expanded version of her excellent book, "Screenwriting Tricks for Authors", is selling this volume short.

Now I've read a ton, and I mean a ton (my husband will vouch for me) of fiction writing books and there are some amazing books out there but this book, not only gives you in-depth descriptions of book and movie structure, it also gives you bullet-point lists you can follow from the opening image to the end of your story. In addition, Sokoloff covers different types of stories (i.e Fairy Tale, Love Story, Meta Structure), breaking each down completely. And she has tons of examples, she talks about high concept, voice, rule of 3, etc.

I could go on for a long time but it boils down to this. There is sooo much helpful information for writers, I recommend you run, don't walk to buy this book for yourself. I bought a pdf copy through Smashwords for only $2.99 USD and that, ladies and gentlemen, is a BARGAIN.

Leslie Nuccio
(reviewed long after purchase)

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