Betty's Tips 4/13

Happy spring, dear readers,

Last week found Mr. Wryte-Goode and me puttering about our greenhouse, discussing the various merits of manure and fish emulsion for the garden and the foreseeable neighborhood complaints. The conversation was well worn as we have it every year when winter turns to spring. I champion the advantages and he defends the objections and neither one of us pays much attention to the opposing argument. Then from across a row of just sowed carrots, Mr. Wryte-Goode confessed he wanted to write a screenplay.

I am fairly sure, dear readers, that my jaw dropped.

Mr. Wryte-Goode has always been interested in my garden. Yet with the exception of occasionally standing behind me as I put pen to paper and pointing out where I’ve misused a semi-colon, he takes little notice of my writing. Suddenly, I was transfixed by a vision of us eating brunch at a smart little bistro discussing The Writer’s Journey (http://www.thewritersjourney.com/ ) or character development or plot points instead of our usual topics of pungent garden odors. It was a delightful scene. So, I asked him to tell me about his idea.

I may have stopped keenly listening after the sixth car chase or maybe it was the tenth explosion or maybe when the hero somehow manages to accidentally get blasted to Mars on a secret spy spacecraft. But I did hear him ask for help getting started.

A little time on the internet and I found all sorts of resources for my budding scriptwriter and I thought I would share them with you as well.

April used to be Script Frenzy! a month long script writing marathon sponsored by Nanowrimo, but this year they have changed from focusing on scriptwriting to just writing –anything, a script, a novel, short stories. Now called Camp Nanowrimo, you can sign up here: http://www.campnanowrimo.org/sign_in

The old Script Frenzy! Website http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/ is still up and it has all sorts of useful information especially on the Writer’s Resources. There are how-to guides that include online articles and templates that you can download to your computer for later use. I especially enjoyed How to Format a Screenplay http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/howtoformatascreenplay

“How to Write a Screenplay that Sells”: http://www.screenwritingu.com/blog/how-write-screenplay-sells is another excellent article as is How to Write a Screenplay from The Writer’s Store. https://www.writersstore.com/how-to-write-a-screenplay-a-guide-to-scriptwriting

A fun website for all writers is Written Sound, an online onomatopoeia dictionary http://www.writtensound.com/index.php

For those scriptwriters living close to LA, there is a Scriptwriters Network 3-day Screenwriting Marathon this month http://scriptwritersnetwork.com/3-day-screenwriting-marathon/ and for those on the East Coast there is Screenwriters World Conference East http://www.screenwritersworld.com/ehome/51534/89588/

Finally we have Screenplay formatting software

For free you can try:

Mac or PC: Celtx : https://www.celtx.com/index.html

Mac, PC or Linux: Trelby: http://www.trelby.org/

Cloud based (nothing to download) plotbot: http://www.plotbot.com/

Cloud based (nothing to download) Scriptbuddy: http://www.scriptbuddy.com/

Paid programs:

Mac or PC: Scripted : http://www.scripped.com/

Scrivener both Mac and PC with iPad coming soon: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php

Storyist for the Mac and iPad http://storyist.com/index.html

StoryO for Mac or PC http://www.junglesoftware.com/storyo/what_is_storyo.php

Happy script writing.

Betty Wryte-Goode

Betty Wryte-Goode is a writer, mother, and wife who lives in the Lehigh Valley. Her passions include writing, reading, shopping, gardening, and exploring the internet. Betty is always looking for writing tips, so if you have any you would like to share, please send them to her through our Submissions/Contacts page.