Tag Archives: prince charming

Screenwriting: Save The Cat

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While taking the course on Writing a Proposal for TV, one of the books recommended was Blake Snyder’s SAVE THE CAT –  The Last Book On Screenwriting That You’ll Ever Need.

My intention here is certainly not to write a review of the book. The guy’s got almost 5,000 ratings, 80% of them 5 stars.

But before I tell you why I am writing about Save the Cat, let me let the cat out of the bag, so to speak, and explain the title in Blake’s words:

Save the Cat is the screenwriting rule that says… it’s the scene where we meet the hero and the hero does something -like saving a cat – that defines who he is and make us, the audience, like him.

Further in the book, Blake explains his test marketing method:

I pitch to anyone who will stand still. I do it in line at Starbucks. I do it with friends and strangers. I always spill my guts when it comes to discussing what I’m working on, because:

I have no fear that anyone will steal my idea (and anyone who has that fear is an amateur and…

You find out more about your script by talking to people.

I talk to “civilians’”

Which brings me to THANK ALL OF YOU who provided me with comments, suggestions and encouragements regarding my logline (see previous post).

One comment was that the absent father may not be the best term to use. For an indebt comment on my logline you may want to read the comments posted by PRIOR.

Perhaps abandoned fathers might be a better term.

If you’re interested in writing a screenplay you might consider having a look at this book.

One last word. I am aware that taking on this project and especially talking about it places me in a vulnerable position. What if I fail (and the chances, considering my zero contacts with the business) are quite high.

I will continue to work on my logline and will also write about the other aspects of screenwriting which are the concept, the characters, genre, the setting, and the all intimidating screenwriting software which I am in the process of learning.

If anything, all this gives me material to post on my blog. 😉

THE LOGLINE

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A few weeks ago I completed a twelve hour course on Creating A TV Series Proposal given by Jennifer McAuley sponsored by The Quebec Writers’ Federation.

One of the features of writing a proposal for TV is to have a GREAT logline. It’s one to three sentences that grabs the agent, producer, director, audience attention to your story. It is precise and gets to the point of your story.

Here’s my logline for my TV script (which might change as I go along writing the script) but for now here it is:

According to Keri Novak’s PhD study group, women who have had absent fathers grow up assuming that they are doomed to unsuccessful relationships with men. That is, until Keri meets her own Prince Charming putting her research and the award she is about to receive in jeopardy.

Does this grab your attention?

Based on my Getting to Mr. Right Series

Please visit my author page on Amazon.

Getting To Mr. Right: Choosing a Book Cover

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We all know that a lot of people judge a book by its cover. I the first. Therefore, I did a lot of analyzing before selecting this cover from the several interesting options Miruna Radulescu, a graphic designer, presented to me.

To add to the difficulty, mid way through the process,  I changed the title of my novel from The Dating Club to Getting To Mr. Right. Here’s what Miruna had to say about this:

After you gave the new title, wheels got into motion again and came up with the two other ideas. It’s amazing how a title can have such a different concept behind it!

 Finally, I decided on this cover for these reasons:

  • The image of the suitcase represents a journey of leaving behind the past in order to go towards the future. This is an important theme of the novel.

  • The suitcase also represents baggage which we all carry with us. The novel focuses on father/daughter relationships and its impact on a daughter’s adult love relationships. The stickers on the tattered suitcase are memories of these past relationships.

  • I like that the reader does not see the age nor what the woman on the cover looks like. I felt that this, hopefully, would draw the reader in by identifying with the character.

  • I also like the hilly road, symbolizing the ups and downs of relationships, which is present throughout the novel.

  • Finally, I found the cover had a mood of serenity and optimism to it. Something which I tried to convey in the novel.

As a bonus, which I did not expect, Miruna put Mr. in smaller letters than the rest of the cover title. It’s not that I think a Mr. is not important to a woman’s life. After all, my novel is largely about meeting Prince Charming. But through the novel, these women learn that Mr. Right is merely a cherry on the Sundae of their lives.

Here are some topics I’ll be posting (not necessarily in this order)  that are connected to Getting to Mr. Right:

The Editing Process

Kindle Apps

Book Launch

Father/Daughter relationships

The Setting