No, I'm not a movie writer, *points* she is……

[Jenna Terese]

Hey guys! I’m not a movie/film writer……at all. But my bestie is. She recently starting writing a couple movies, but she’s previously just been a children’s book writer. Do any of you have any advice on what’s the biggest difference between writing fiction and writing a movie? Any tips I can give her?

I’m not sure who writes movies/films so I’m just gonna tag those I know @dekreel @rochellaine @ingridrd @devastate-lasting @jane-maree @dragon-snapper @sam-kowal

I'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.com

[Ingrid]

@jenwriter17  Unfortunately, I am not a movie writer either.  But I’m sure one of the lovely people you tagged can be of some assistance.  🙂

A dreamer who believes in the impossible...and dragons. (INFJ-T)

[The fledgling Artist]

@jenwriter17 I’m highly interested to see what answers you get!
I’ve thought writing for movies/shows would be cool but idk anything about it.

and I was so confused

[Rochellaine]

@jenwriter17 I also have no experience in writing for film. 🙁  I have a little (very little) experience with stage plays, and my mom is really good at that, but as for movies – well, that’s quite different.

But as I was thinking I remembered something I had once heard/thought about the difference between books and movies.

 

A book is written by the author, and it is the author alone on whose shoulders rest the telling of the story.  A stage play is brought to life by the dialogue and setting created by the author, and the playing of the actors.

A movie, however, is a collaboration of four different people.  The author writes the story and the dialogue, the actor speaks the part, the cinematographer films the story, and the composer scores the film.  So, in writing, I would suggest to take all these into consideration.  With a book, it is important to bring in tension using words of description, but with a movie, you can just tell the actor to look strained, expect the cameraman to zoom in to the right angle, and expect the composer to use some high squealing violins to emphasize the suspense.

I have no idea how to put what I just said into practice…but maybe you and your friend will figure out what I mean. 😀

"Sylvester - Sylvester!"

[Elizabeth]

Tell her to come check us out, I’m sure she could learn something. *grins*

@rochellaine gave a pretty good answer as to what the differences are, but I’d like to point out that there are also many similarities between fiction writing and screenwriting. The plot points are the same, though they happen over shorter periods of time, and ideas like character arcs and theme carry across the medium too, so that makes it easier to understand.

If she wants to learn more about screenwriting, you can have her look up The Foundations of Screenwriting, by Syd Field. It’s a great book, and really informative.

Writer. Dreamer. Sometimes blogger. MBTI mess. Lover of Jesus and books.

[Jenna Terese]

@rochellaine thank you for this!

I'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.com

[Jane Maree]

@Jenwriter17 as Elizabeth said, the plot points of writing a movie script is the same as a fiction novel. And as Rochellaine said there’s a lot of different people who take part in the storytelling.

My #1 tip: imagine every single word you write as happening in a movie. If you can see it perfectly in the movie style, then write down the small details of acting, cinematography, etc. so that when the actual movie happens you’d be able to capture it much closer to how you imagined. Eg. you can write “camera zoom to just MC’s eyes” “narrowed, determined gaze” just tiny details like that as well as the overall.
But at the same time leave room for the actors to interpret the meanings, because if they know what they’re doing they’ll be able to act it in a very realistic way. So you can keep your notes as backup reference, but also give the actors a chance to put their own take on it.

And I don’t even know if any of that made sense. xD

Writing Heroes ♦ Writing Hope // janemareeauthor.com.au

[Jenna Terese]

@that_writer_girl_99 thank you! I’ll definitely let her know about that book 🙂

@jane-maree thank you too! yup, it made sense 😉

I'm a Kapeefer 'TIL WE'RE OLD AND GREY!
www.jennaterese.com

[Linyang Zhang]

Writing children’s books is definitely a long stretch from writing movies.

(somebody tagged me? squeee)

I have experience writing plays, but I’ve never actually seen my plays performed. 🙁

Writing scripts is honestly pretty similar to writing a novel, except with more dialogue/action stuff.

The only advice that I can give is watch a lot of movies that you know have good scripts. Pay close attention to every character’s actions,  even subtle ones, like eyebrow raises.

For movies, also, don’t drag out the plot.

I mean, I’ve seen movies where the script didn’t even sound real, and the actors were just reciting something.

Observe actual dialogue, peoples. Really.

Don’t try to explain everything in your dialogue, like those old epics. Show what happens, don’t just tell. In movies, you show everything to the audience through actions.

Aaand…I just made all of that advice up. I have absolutely no experience in anything. But hope this helps!

Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days

[Author]

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