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http://www.wyomingshortfilmcontest.com/entries#164198
You Gotta See Donald L. Vasicek’s Latest Acting Gig
“How to Be a Screenwriting Lion”
“Note to a Russian Screenwriter”
Don’t ever tell anyone that you believe American
screenwriters are more qualified than Russian screenwriters, even
if you believe it and grateful to them for your growth as a screenwriter.
Rather, make certain that all others believe you are the best Russian
screenwriter that ever lived. Believe and it shall be. Screenwriting
is subjective. What one likes, another does not. You like your
screenwriting, so it is the best screenwriting that anyone could ever
read. Believe it. Think it. Speak it. Parallel this belief with
arrogance. Be professional and nice, but be firm in your belief. Use
it as boxing gloves for all who challenge you.
A good, professional screenwriter must believe in themselves and in
their work, just like all professionals in any other field of work. A good,
professional screenwriter believes in who they are and the kind of
work they do.
It is always useful to keep one’s mind open to learning how one
can improve their writing. One way to accomplish that is to listen to
others and to read what others have written. Sort through this
information and only choose that which is useful to your
learning and growth as a screenwriter, then, discard the rest
of it, even if it comes from Steven Spielberg. He doesn’t know
anymore about your screenwriting than you do. So, it is
your job to teach people like him about your screenwriting so
that they can help you get your screenplay produced.
There is no room for lack of self-confidence in this game, else
one decides to go nowhere. A weak-minded screenwriter is
like a wildebeast with a broken leg. The lions will seek out
this wildebeast. They separate it from the entire wildebeast
herd that usually numbers in the hundreds. They will kill it.
They will eat it. The same applies to screenwriters and
producers. The screenwriter being the wildebeast with the
broken leg and the producer being the lion. The producer
will literally eat a weak screenwriter alive by taking every-
thing from the screenwriter and making it their own.
The screenwriter must believe they are the lion and producers
are wildebeasts with broken legs, or the screenwriter’s
bones will soon be bleaching in the sun.
How to Write Visually
by
Donald L. Vasicek
Fiction writing is a visual medium. Thus, writing must reflect visual images.
The more detailed these images are, the more visual what you are writing is,
and in any writing, detail is everything. Remember show and tell in
elementary school? When writing fiction, showing tells. Telling
doesn’t show. It is vital to show. How does the writer do that?
One way to improve one’s writing is to focus on verb usage. The use of
action verbs always sparks up the writing, gives the writer the opportunity
to be more detailed, and makes fiction writing more visual. Verb
usage “forces” the writer to write visually. The use of action verbs “forces”
the writer to be more creative and more visual.
For example, “John is blind.” This is telling. The key here is the verb.
The verb, “is,” is passive. It tells what John is, which is fine, depending
upon the kind of writing you are doing. Passive verbs, however, usually
make sentences boring when the writer’s goal is to be entertaining.
When writing fiction, the writer cannot afford to be boring. “John’s blank eyes
reflect a zombie-like look.” The verb here, “reflect”, is more visual. It shows
the reader how John’s eyes are, and then, leaves it up to the reader to
wonder, “What is going on here?” The reader will then hungrily read on
to find out what is going on.
Another aspect of making writing more competitive is to keep the
writing lean. It gives the reader a better opportunity to move through the read
faster, something most all people want to do who read scripts and manuscripts
as part of the way they make living. Editors, publishers,
agents, producers, directors, actors, etc. usually have manuscripts or
scripts stacked up on their reading table. They need to read, and they
need to read as rapidly as they can. So, one of the goals for you, the writer,
is to make sure you write in a way that makes your writing easy to read.
So, what you might want to do is go back through what you have
written. Focus on the verbs. Change those verbs to action verbs
where you see that it makes your writing more detailed, and
more visual. This will shorten what you are writing, but in the
same stroke of the pen, make it more vivid, more graphic, and
more visual. And the bonus here, is the reader will be more
attracted to what you have written.