Authoring & Playwriting

Music would make me nervous and is like a clock ticking in the background. A song is how long? 3 minutes? I would never get into the flow but count the songs and the time... :)) I live on the country side, hence, I love the silence and the the birds singing too.

i hope both of you have a place to put bird feeders where you will be guaranteed bird song! I use music to block sudden noises, because I have PTSD, since childhood. When I choose music, I choose it for a mood, and once i'm writing....it's background, and it masks sudden noises that I would have to respond to in the moment and may not be worth the response at all (say, a robo call....there's less of those now but they're still there). Any writer needs the right atmosphere for them to write.

getting a hummingbird feeder this week! the birds calm me down..

Liz, just so you know....hummies will totally bust your ass if the diner is not to their liking! They are stunningly beautiful flurries of tiny fierceness. They will know who you are, they will know you live. They will look at you through your window (i've had all this happen). Don't know what your weather is at right now, but just use plain sugar, get a feeder that has red on it. Ratio for feed: 1 sugar 4 water when it's hot; 1 sugar 3 water when it's mild; 1 sugar 2 water when it gets around freezing at night; and 1 to 1 ratio when it goes below freezing. They have high metabolism. When flowers aren't in bloom yet, they'll rely on feeders. Also check them & keep them clean, because as it gets warmer...mold likes to grow in them. I LOVE watching them. Oh. They will TOTALLY buzz you when you're putting out a fresh feeder. Don't take it personally. They're just letting you know you're their waitress!

I am with you on that. I usually crank some instrumental African music or some jamming Baroque. Sets my minds at ease, gets my feet tapping and my fingers tapping the keys. Goes for all genres of writing, non-fiction and screenplays. Thanks for confessing for us.

Joey, if you know the format, you should really give fiction a shot with a script. I'll bet you could knock it out with some success. I was great with horror radio plays, but that was my extent of it.

Anybody hear of the Black List, and what that entails? It's a service right? I already tossed my book into Book Office just for feces and giggles. I expect little or nothing there. But It doesn't hurt to spread the word.

I don't get if you just want to learn how to adapt a novel to a script or even think you just do it and your agent will sell. The last will never happen. But, you can of course learn doing it. How.

1. Learn from the writer the producer/s will find for the project and

2. Try it with one of your shorter books. It isn't easy as the author of the original book because you value every word very high and important and now have to reduce the whole thing to it's essence with intelligent dialogues in which each word counts and is important for the film.

3. Just do it. :)

What's book office?

I just went there and it looks like a place to list your book with all the details. I signed up for the free listing, and I think they have a feature listing opportunity for around $30.00

Ben, hello! Welcome to Stage 32.

Excellent, Eoin. A very crucial time in the shaping of America and the world

Great, boys, you write what I would love to write too. I'm still searching for "my" historical time. So far I think it would be a good idea to start with what my great great grandpa experienced and if that works for me I will figure out more and go deeper to that era.

Sounds exactly right, Elisabeth! If you have some time, have a look at that article I recently wrote. It might give you some ideas as well. Happy writing!

I admire folks who write historical. I've got one that I've shelved. Studying for it was fascinating, but creating the characters and giving them personality is very challenging.

Martin, if I can offer some advice, people (characters) are people in any story. Once you have all of that research, let them play around in it. Each era has its own particular concerns as far as the challenges they face (we are getting a sample of the eras of plagues and widespread illnesses, which will give us more understanding on the Other Side) but Wants and Needs are in many ways Universal. Personalities haven't changed too much. The basic socioeconomic political dynamics are basically unchanged over centuries. Have a read of my article from the Stage 32 blog: https://www.stage32.com/blog/Seven-Essentials-for-Projects-Based-on-a-Tr.... Happy to help you get started. What era were you researching?

Thank you Heidi that's v useful and I love the library idea! x

A great marketing concept was done by Davida Ginter who wrote the book about Burning out that you can find via this URL: https://www.amazon.com/Burning-Out-Wont-Get-There/dp/9659277709

She asked people if they wanted to read it and review it and also share it to more. That gave her the initial reader base, reviews and got the book into more thoughts through such.

I appreciate the time you bring and the creativity you awakened into the world.

God Bless,

John German

It would be good to know your target group better and what these people are doing. You can read a part of your book at garden parties in clubs for women, at book fairs or even in shopping malls in your area or in book shops. Look out for places where you find your target group and go there. The more events like this you have the more you can spread the word... Good luck!!!!!

Oh, one more... what about a reading for your instagram community? Produce a podcast or a video at vimeo, youtube....

Once all the "social distancing" stuff goes away, and if you're novel is a genre (esp. romance, sci-fi, horror or fantasy), look at attending conventions for those genres. Not ComicCons, they're too expensive and exclusive, but fan cons - there's dozens in Europe every year. Try to go as a Guest, rather than an Attendee, you'll get more exposure and more chances to promote the book. With these genre fan-based cons, face-to-face and word-of-mouth is by far the most effective marketing tool.

Hello Rayner.

My thoughts are that the contracts for both writers if co-writing and playing equal roles must pay the same, including profit shares.

I have been offered writing gigs from other countries where my contract was different and I was offered less than the other writer who had less writing experience but more certificates. .She was paid international rates because her wall was decorated with all kinds of university degrees and l was self trained.

Confidence cannot be given, Guerra., like respect it can be earned through trial and failure . How? I was intimidated by the other writer's qualifications and portfolio but l was confident l got the job because the hiring team saw the quality of the writing samples l submitted.

When two people are working together, they do as a team to deliver as expected. Without respect, the other person who feels inferior wouldn't be able to perform at their best because their opinions or ideas to break or make the story would be disregarded and when the assignment fails, the team falls together.

So what did l do? I didn't sign the contract because she gave me the impression I wasn't qualified to write with her and wanted to give me her own personal writing tests because l wasn't certified.

If you want samples of writing contracts, you can also Google them.

Thanks for your explanation. I appreciate that.

Rayner Guerra I agree to Thoko Zulu Both writers deserve the same contract. The one who's searching a co-writer obviously needs help. The other one wants to work and get paid and usually wouldn't apply if s/he weren't able to manage the writing.

Then, you must trust each other. So, before it comes to a contract you usually exchange ideas, writing samples via emails and skype etc. and by this you know if you can trust and the chemistry is right. If yes, you can work out the contract. Maybe even together and then give it to a lawyer to fix it.

It looks as if your main problem is the distance and maybe a different language - but seriously, Rayner, we all are human beings and distance is the less problem. Even if the English is not quite correct it shouldn't be a prob as this can easily be corrected. Creativity, diligence, knowing the craft and delivering in time is what counts most and what should be valued and paid fair and correctly.