Act II: Part 2 - Creating The Downward Spiral

Screenwriting Tricks for Authors

Halfway through November!

Those of us doing the Book by the End of the Year are maybe halfway through Act II: Part 2 now.

This third quarter of a book or script is almost universally loathed by authors and screenwriters alike (I had a friend in film development who called it The Third-Quarter Drop Dead).

And I admit I can get as lost here as anyone else.

Photo by Matt Bluejay on Unsplash

However, I LOVE to talk about Act II: Part 2! Because this is where the story tends to get really thematic, and THEME is why I read, write and watch TV/movies.

I’ve obsessed about this third quarter of the story for years and so I’ve written lots of material on it: this comprehensive post is too long for an email, but you can click through to read:

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For those who didn’t jump in to write a Book by the End of This Year, no problem!

We are going to start the whole process again in January - one of the very best times to commit to writing a book. Writers here who complete their first draft in December will be able to launch right into the delicious process of rewriting (honestly, my favorite part of writing a book) — and other writers can start with a shiny new book idea.

So today I’m going to plant that notion in your heads so you can start feeling around for that idea.

A couple of things about new ideas, though. If you have a book partially written and you’re just not feeling it, I would VERY STRONGLY encourage you not to move on to something else. At least until you read this post:

• DON’T start a new book! Finish the old one!

And here are two suggestions for brainstorming that book you’re going to start writing in January.

1. Write down all your story ideas.

Seriously. All of them.

Books or scripts you’ve started but not done anything with. Themes that have crossed your mind. A character that doesn’t have anything resembling a plot. An actor you’d love to write for. The book or play you’d most love to adapt. People you would dearly love to kill (that always works for me!). News articles that have stayed with you. A country you’ve always wanted to go to that you wouldn’t mind spending a year living in (in your head).

You get the idea.

Be as random as possible at first. Literally anything that crosses your mind as interesting.

And it will also hugely help to:

2. Make a Master List of favorite movies and books.

The Master List is a writing technique I developed for my students when I first started teaching this workshop: read all about it here.

If you’ve done Master Lists before, make a new one for this new book. The thing about a Master List is that it’s always changing, just like you are!

And - #3:

Along with 1 & 2, do some reading about publishing trends.

This is a tricky recommendation, and it comes with some strong warnings.

The first is -

1. By the time a publishing trend is identified, it’s already too late to jump on it.

Now as with all truisms, that’s not always true! But there is always truth in it.

When you have a new idea for an AI-themed thriller and your agent tells you that editors are hard passing on any crime thriller or mystery having to do with AI (as our agent just did) you need to take that seriously and move on to the next idea on your pitch list. Your agent knows what they can sell. This is a team decision.

If you don’t yet have an agent, and if you read, as the always informative Karin Gillespie pointed out a few months ago, that editors are sick to death of witch books (I’m paraphrasing!) - then do some more reading of other editors and agents, and if this “no more witch books!” thing seems to be a trend, then maybe don’t start that witch book if you have another idea that you like just as much.

But that definitely doesn’t mean don’t finish the witch book or AI thriller you’re almost done with! Because there are always exceptions, and you can always indie publish something that doesn’t sell to a trad publisher. Also, we fucking need great witch books right now, and any good witch is going to make her own trend, thank you very much!

Photo by Sierra Koder on Unsplash

In other words:

Be aware of trends, but don’t be constrained by them.

I would like to say don’t even bother with trends. However —there is an absolute ton of great material here on Substack from professional editors, agents, publicists, etc. In fact, Substack has actually given us almost unprecedented access to these publishing professionals and the thought processes that go into book buying and publishing. We would be fools not to take some of these insights into account.

And if you are just finishing up a Gothic thriller, and you read, as PRH publicist Abigail Monti wrote this week, that the Penguin Random House team is all in on Gothic thrillers, well, that’s pretty great information to have, right?

At the same time —

2. It is far too easy to spend so much time going down Substack publishing newsletter rabbit holes that YOU NEVER GET AROUND TO WRITING.

Reading about publishing feels like working on your writing career. It’s not. The Book must always, always, ALWAYS come first.

I have pretty good anti-procrastination muscles and I feel the tidal pull of Substack publishing newsletters just as much as anyone.

So I’m just talking to myself here when I say: DON’T read any publishing Substacks until you’re gotten your word or page count done for the day.

That being said, what publishing Substacks are you finding especially useful? I keep telling myself I need to compile and publish a list. (But see above: The Book must always, always, ALWAYS come first!)

And one more thing for this week -

We also started talking about indie publishing last week, and I promised to make it a series. So here’s another post I wrote when I first branched out into indie publishing.

• My e publishing decision, Part 2

—Alex

All material © Alexandra Sokoloff, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors

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Get the workbooks:

• Stealing Hollywood ebook, $3.99, also available as print workbook

• Writing Love ebook, $2.99

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All material © Alexandra Sokoloff, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors