Nanowrimo Prep - free mini-workshop!

As anyone who's read this blog knows, I do a Nanowrimo Prep series every October to help writers do some planning to get the most ouf of their November writing session. This year I'm going multi-media and doing it as a free mini-workshop on Teachable.com, with videos, assignments, and discussions to help you jump-start the book you're going to write this winter — and sell in the New Year! Hope you can join! -- You can access the course here.

Writing in Lockdown - Screenwriting Tricks for Authors online

We’ve been in lockdown for six weeks. And that very first week, for some demon - I mean reason -  I almost immediately decided to record my Screenwriting Tricks for Authors workshop in short videos.

Probably because I had several upcoming workshops, more than usual, that were canceled/postponed due to lockdowns in various countries.

Or maybe I just knew deep down that only a pandemic could get me to focus long enough to actually get it done.

I’ve just finished the tenth video, doing one a week, with many more to come. Each is just about 10 minutes long, with exercises that will take 15-20 minutes of your time and get you writing that book or script you’re always wanted to write. Might as well get some great writing out of this!

It’s a lot of work, and I’m writing full-time on the first book in a new series at the same time. There was a steep learning curve with the editing software, and some of the equipment I could really use is still on backorder because of excessive demand in these days of Zoom - everything. 

Also I was sick for weeks, most likely with the thing, so doing anything productive is a minor miracle.

But I’ve finally realized that getting the workshop fully recorded is like writing a book. You just do one chapter at a time until it’s done. Right? Eventually you reach a state of critical mass where the book is more real than not real, and you can’t imagine not finishing.

Here’s the Introduction:

And here’s the very fevery Lesson #1. I should have been in bed!! Even the light looks hot. 

Each next video should play after the one you’re watching is finished.

Hope to see some of you posting in the Comments of the channel! I'm happily incorporating movie requests into the videos.

 And besides that, how's your lockdown going? Really hoping everyone is staying safe and well.

- Alex

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                                          STEALING HOLLYWOOD

The workbook is a full course in writing a novel or script in any genre. All the tricks I’ve learned in my years of writing and teaching—including ten full movie breakdowns.

 

STEALING HOLLYWOOD ebook    $3.99
STEALING HOLLYWOOD print   $15.99

 
WRITING LOVE

Writing Love is a shorter version of the workbook, using examples from love stories, romantic suspense, and romantic comedy - available in e formats for just $2.99.


- Smashwords (includes online viewing and pdf file)

- Amazon/Kindle

- Barnes & Noble/Nook

- Amazon UK

- Amazon DE

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You can also sign up to get free movie breakdowns here:

                Get free Story Structure extras and movie breakdowns

New book! Hollywood vs. the Author

I join Michael Connelly, Tess Gerritsen, Lawrence Block, Stephen Jay Schwartz and fourteen other author/screenwriter/producers in this new anthology.

Hollywood vs. the Author

It’s (almost) every author’s dream to sell their book or series to Hollywood. But most know very little about the actual process, despite the vague and slightly terrifying rumors—which authors tend to ignore as exaggerations, too completely absurd to be real.

Hah.

I’m psyched to announce that I have an essay in Hollywood vs. the Author, out today.

My friend Stephen Jay Schwartz, former Director of Development for Wolfgang Peterson, has assembled a great list of authors who have sold books to Hollywood, authors who have worked as screenwriters, showrunners, TV producers, and authors who have written movie tie-ins.

My own essay, A Woman Wouldn’t Do That, recounts some of the surreal experiences I had in development hell during my ten years as a working screenwriter—before I snapped and wrote my first novel. I compare the two jobs – screenwriting vs. writing books— and talk about how I came full circle, back to Hollywood, once I had written a successful novel series that was a natural for the fantastic new age of television we’re in. 

The Huntress Moon series

There’s a lot to learn here, from Michael Connelly’s harrowing experience with fine print (and how he triumphed over it, by betting on himself with Bosch), to Larry Block’s hilarious recount of the vagaries of casting, to Tess Gerritsen’s heartbreaking and timely reminder that a bad judge makes bad judgments—that we all have to live with.

Between us all, we cover the good, the bad, the horrific, and the flat-out unbelievable.

And the audiobook, out December 5, is really a treat - it's read by all of the authors, ourselves!

So if selling your book to Hollywood is your dream, you owe it to yourself to check out these valuable lessons before you sign on that dotted line.

Check it out here!

Stephen Jay Schwartz, editor, with essays by Lawrence Block, Michael Connelly, Gregg Hurwitz, Andrew Kaplan, Tess Gerritsen, Diana Gould, Lee Goldberg, James Brown, Alexandra Sokoloff, Ron Roberge, T. Jefferson Parker, Alan Jacobson, Max Allan Collins, Peter James, Naomi Hirahara, and Joshua Corin – plus an interview with Jonathan Kellerman.

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