Next Up: A Screenplay?

I didn't post a blog last week because I was out of town attending a wonderful writer’s conference in the historic town of Berea, Kentucky. This small Appalachian town is the home of Berea College where students attend free of tuition and work for the university to contribute towards their education. I stayed at the Boone Tavern which is partially run by students from the college.

From Tuesday to Friday, I was an attendee at the Appalachian Writer’s Conference where I met some amazing people and learned a whole lot about writing and publishing. (I was also honored to be presented with a Pubby Award for the publication of Bound by an Oath and for contributions to the writing community!)

It was my first acquaintance with a group of writers, and I was pleased to find them an open and friendly group, which, since most are introverts, I feared would not have been the case. There was free sharing of ideas, and there were several offers of Alpha and Beta readings for works in progress.

So, what did I learn? I think the biggest surprise for me was that I was excited by the idea of writing a screenplay! When I wrote Bound by an Oath I visualized every scene, starting with the physical surroundings, then populating the scene with characters, then imagining conversations and actions. It turns out not all writers do this, but screenwriters do! 

I will have to do a lot more research into the details of how to write a screenplay before I put metaphorical pen to paper. (Does a screenplay include camera angles? Lighting directions? How much detail is acceptable?) To help fill the gaps I have purchased a book written by Emma Thompson detailing the process she went through to write the screenplay for Sense and Sensibility, and it includes the actual script. I can’t wait to dig into it.   

Meanwhile, besides writing a sequel, I’m polishing up a couple of novels I wrote before Bound by an Oath, in the hope that I can find an agent or a US publisher and get them out into the world before too much longer. The first is a novel in the style of the Mitford series, about a female Episcopal Priest. It’s set in South Florida in the late 1990’s. Within the novel there are semibiographical elements (no surprises there) and some elements of a crime novel. It was enormous fun to write, and I think fans of the Mitford series will enjoy this updated version of the life of a priest.

The second is a middle grade novel which I wrote for my granddaughter, about a girl for whom schoolwork is difficult, but who is a very talented singer, story writer, and artist. I had even more fun writing for middle school readers than I did for adult readers.

One of the things you may not know about publishing a novel is that writing it is actually the easy part. A much harder part is finding a publisher, and then, by far the hardest part is getting people to buy your book and read it! I’m hoping that all of you who enjoyed Bound by an Oath have recommended it to all your friends. And, if any of you are in book clubs, don’t forget I have suggested questions on my website under the “General” tab. Amazon is offering the book at a discount, so now is a very good time to buy extra copies.