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HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

Following in the tradition of Syd Field’s Screenplay books and A Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler, The Writer’s Advantage: A Toolkit for Mastering Your Genre is the next step for every type of writer. From time to time, writers need a contemporaneous manual to assist them with developing and writing their material and — just as important — preparing that material for the marketplace. Just as Syd Field provided the bare bones information needed to write an effective script in the late ‘70s, and as Christopher Vogler outlined mythic structure as a way for writers to organize their storylines and characters in the mid-’90s, this book assists writers traverse the 21st century transmedia universe — a marketplace that includes all platforms: print, theatrical distribution, broadcast and cable networks, web channels and websites (including internet radio and podcasts). You’ll learn about the tools you’ll need to navigate through the waters of creating authentic and competitive ideas, avoiding plagiarism, and assuring that your ideas find an audience in this complicated and vast fluctuating marketplace — all giving you what I call “The Writer’s Advantage.”

THE BOOK’S REASON FOR BEING

We have arrived at a time when mass media is not so “mass” any longer. With so many ways to access and enjoy information and entertainment, the multitasking consumer only has time to comprehend a fraction of a text. It is rare that we consume a book or movie or television series in its entirety, and if we do we are usually marathon reading or binge watching texts. This leads to a great deal of miscommunication among consumers who may say “Yeah, sure, I know the show Mad Men” within a conversation, but they may have only watched it once or twice. Or, “I saw the latest Iron Man movie,” however, during the movie, they texted with their about-to-be-ex-girlfriend throughout the second half of the film, meanwhile losing elements of the storyline overall. We now exist in a culture of missed opportunities due to distractions, multitasking, and the convenience of advancing technology. Awareness of this is important because consumers are confused and overloaded — they think they may know of a text from popular culture, but they probably know very little about that text, and writers dangerously set out to write within their genre having only a fraction of the knowledge of that genre before and while they are writing their work. Writers then go out into the world naively selling mediocre and non-authentic material. In addition, those who choose material to be published and produced (development department execs, editors, producers) are also following along these lines and the result is what we currently see on the best-selling lists, at the box office, and on TV, and that is a preponderance of sequels, prequels, remakes, and reboots. Where are the original ideas?

What we have is a group of writers and publishing/entertainment execs who are mere followers. We need innovative writers who arm themselves with information, know complete texts within their genre, and eventually find their own voice and their own authentic texts. We need story innovators.

WHAT THIS BOOK CAN DO FOR YOU

Half of the information in this book assists you in mastering your genre and the other half is about what that mastering can do for you.

This book assists you —

1 as you begin a new writing project.

2 while you are writing a project.

3 when you feel your text just isn’t ready or perfect.

4 when you have been shopping your material and receiving consistent rejections.In this book, the term “texts” is used to describe material any given writer may be writing. When the term “texts” is used, I could be referring to any (or all) of the following types of writing:manuscripts for novels and novellasmanuscripts for short story and poetry anthologiesmanuscripts for flash and fan fictionmemoirsnonfiction manuscriptsscreenplays for feature-length and short theatrical moviesscreenplays for movies made for televisionscreenplays and bibles for television seriesscreenplays for web seriesIdeally, it is advantageous to read the book in its entirety before you begin writing for the transmedia marketplace because of the information you’ll discover through research and your new awareness of the overall scope of the market.Should you feel that you only want to zero in on improving a project that is already started, then utilizing the information in the first two sections of the book — KNOW WHAT HAS BEEN DONE BEFORE and ARMING YOURSELF — will give you the necessary background information needed to assist you in reworking what you have completed so far. If you have been out shopping your work and receiving rejection after rejection, then begin with the final section GETTING YOUR WORK OUT INTO THE WORLD, make your adjustments in keeping with the information therein, and go back out into the marketplace.Here are some specific ways to best utilize the material in this book:

5 If you’re a first-time writer, Sections One and Two, Chapters 1 through 11 are best for you to read to understand this complex marketplace of transmedia entertainment.

6 If you’ve had some success with short stories or an indie film, but you are stuck on how to keep the momentum going and you want to complete a full-fledged book/novel or script, it would be advantageous for you to read Section Two, Chapters 5 through 11.

7 If you are on deadline and must deliver a draft yesterday, however you’re not sure how to make sure your manuscript/script is in tip-top shape, then access Chapters 8, 9, and 10 to zero in on the specific background of your genre.

8 If you want to adapt your own work via a manuscript or script, Chapter 8 is for you — I’d suggest reading that chapter twice and playing with the Toolkit Sandbox items.

9 If you have had difficulty pitching your project and you’ve received little interest from potential buyers, then Section Three, Chapters 12, 13, and 14 are for you.

10 If you are a veteran writer looking to identify new horizons for your genre and what your genre will look like 1 to 3 years out, Chapters 8, 9, and 10 are certain to provide insight and fuel for your fire.

11 If you think your work is not ready, yet you’re not certain why that may be, be sure to read Chapter 12 and learn how to defend your work.The information available within this book can be applied to your current project and future writing projects again and again. If you write within a specific genre and have established your brand within that genre, then you can continue to build upon the research you gather for each project you are composing — even if you want to produce a hybrid or sub-genre within genres, or switch to a new genre. The book is an evergreen manual to be used throughout your writing career.BEING A FANBOY VS. BEING A FAN OF MEDIAThe transmedia landscape did not exist when I was coming up in the entertainment industry and academia. It is because of my experience of working within the traditional hallways of a broadcast network and processing media in a pre-fragmented world that I am able to present this method of writing to you. If I hadn’t been taught in the old-school ways, I would not be able to share this insight with you. That said, I am not so much a fan of any of the specific genres discussed in this book as I am a fan of the way these genres and media in general has been and continues to be delivered and consumed. I’m not the fanboy (those dedicated individuals who are fanatic fans of say, a certain franchise like Star Wars or the Twilight series), but I am the coach for fanboys everywhere as they write and distribute their material via 21st century transmedia platforms. You are no longer just writing a stand-alone novel or feature film. Within a transmedia marketplace your idea can be repurposed, rebroadcast, and/or refurbished for each of the various transmedia platforms. You need to think beyond the original incarnation of your project and the sooner you realize this, the easier it is going to be for you to be profitable within this arena.UNIQUELY QUALIFIEDWhen I arrived in Hollywood in the early ‘80s I did not have a specific goal, I only knew that I wanted to be involved in the behind-the-scenes goings-on of the entertainment industry. When I took my first job as an assistant in the Dramatic Development department at ABC in Century City, I didn’t even know what “Dramatic Development” meant.I learned quickly and I embraced skills that have benefitted me throughout my entire career, skills that have adapted well throughout the changes in culture and technology and followed me as I added academic experience on to my industry credits. It seems that I was at the right place, right time at many points in my career, such as:From Dramatic Development at ABC, I moved to ABC Motion Pictures, a unique production company that was a branch of a broadcast network.A year after joining Viacom Enterprises, Viacom mogul Sumner Redstone acquired MTV, Showtime, Nickelodeon, VH-1 and Ha! (a precursor to Comedy Central), and so there I was acquiring content (known as “material” at the time) for all of these cable networks.From there I worked my way up the ladder to Vice President of a cable network — a new, emerging channel called Romance Classics. The network would be renamed as WE: Women’s Entertainment.Within my academic career, I have also found myself at the beginning of new ventures. I was called upon to co-develop the broadcasting curriculum at a digital academic start-up in Chicago, and completed the project on deadline and with much success.My most recent “first” has been to serve as managing editor of the newly established annual literary journal, the Midwest Prairie Review, for a Midwest writing community.So, from TV networks to film acquisition, to digital academies and literary journals, the basic development skills of identifying strong characters, solid storylines, and meaningful, believable dialogue, along with commercial appeal that would resonate to many — all the elements that I learned in those first few months on my first Hollywood desk — have now been utilized throughout the past three decades and continue to be used daily. I feel I am uniquely qualified to guide you on your writing journey as you master your genre.

TOOLKIT SANDBOX

This book’s discussions and exercises are designed for you to have fun with your material and the research you’ll conduct. Each chapter ending provides you with a TOOLKIT SANDBOX filled with items to pique your imagination. The minute you are working on a project and you are not having fun you should stop right there and ask why. By reading about these examples, answering the questions, and doing the exercises, you’ll develop skills to write authentic texts.

In each chapter within the first two sections you’ll find CASE STUDIES that illustrate the subject of that chapter in depth. Next, you’ll find the section QUESTIONING WITH THE WRITER’S ADVANTAGE. Answer these questions after you have read and processed each chapter. They are designed to walk you through the material to ensure that you are addressing all the concepts. They are also present so you can have a little fun with the subject matter on hand. And finally, you’ll see a chapter Exercise. These exercises are designed to assist you in your own unique understanding of the concepts discussed as you apply these concepts to your writing and your writing life.

Take control of your writing destiny — beginning now!

TO BEGIN

As you read these first chapters, here are some general questions you should be asking:

1 Do you know the genre in which you wish to work?

2 Do you know your story?

3 Do you know (in general) what your material will bring to the marketplace?These questions are addressed at length and in detail within the upcoming chapters. For now, just let the answers to these questions simmer in your mind. Then state your genre, write out a basic one- or two-sentence description of your story (this will later be perfected as your “logline”), and most importantly, write your mission statement in regard to the material you are writing.In other words, state why you want to bring this idea into the world.Welcome to The Writer’s Advantage. Let’s move onward toward creating original and authentic texts for the 21st century market­­place!