What Makes a Book a Good Movie
For years I worked for Warner Bros., where one of my jobs was to find books to turn into movies, also known as book-to-film adaptation. This is no small endeavor. An impressive 51% of the films that have won Academy Awards for best picture have been based on a book, a short story or a novella. 14% have been based on plays, while a few others were adaptations of previous films. Only 34% of Oscar-winning films have come from original screenplays. It is obvious that books are fertile ground for films. Read the full essay.
For Academic Writers Only: Secrets of Writing for a General Audience
Most writers are aware of the 5 W’s – the “who, what, when, where and why” checklist for journalists. For scholars and scientists, allow me to propose a truncated version of same – why, who and what.
Why
If you are an expert in your field, be it medicine, cosmology, neuroscience, history, psychology, anthropology or any other specialized body of knowledge, and you have decided to write a book for a popular audience about your subject, you should first ask yourself why: Why do you want to do this? Read the full essay.
Payoffs in Fiction
by Peter Ginna
A concept that seems not always well understood by fiction writers, though it is regularly discussed in screenwriting, is that of setups and payoffs. A novel can be seen as one big exercise in setting up and paying off: you set up a conflict, and its resolution is the payoff. But it’s also a tapestry of smaller setups and payoffs: some elements of your narrative create expectations in the reader which are satisfied later in the story. Read the full essay.
Finding and Working with a Freelance Editor
by Paul Dinas
A seasoned editor will get to the soul of your book and help shape it to best effect while respecting your creative vision.
Once you’ve decided that you might benefit from the help of a freelance editor, how do you find the right one? Personal recommendations from other writers are the best way. Googling is the next step. Be as specific as you can about the genre of your book in your search. It will help narrow your choices. First and foremost, remember that experience is key. Read the full essay.