Screenplay craft book for Novelists?

[dios4vida]

Hi all.

I've heard a lot about Robert McKee's book Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting as a great reference not only for screenplays, but for novels as well. Has anyone read it? Did you find it beneficial for novelists?

I'm looking for some books that'll help me deepen my craft when it comes to characters and intricate plotting. I've been reading Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass and while it's been incredible in some areas, a lot of it isn't really geared toward the hero's journey-type fantasy that I write. I don't need to know about general fiction plot techniques. I need some help with character development, tension building, and that kind of thing. Does anyone have any recommendations that could help me?

Thanks, Bransforumers!

[Writecastlesinthesky]

All I've read is the famous Syd Field book which sounds more general than you want, though it does have a chapter on characters. I'm wondering since your interest is so specific if you can't just apply general help to experimenting on your own. OR, what I've done in the past is find films that reflect the kind of story I want to tell and then I look up the screenplay on google. Quite a lot of them are posted for the public. That might be better for getting an idea of what translates to the big screen.

Does that help??

[dios4vida]

All I've read is the famous Syd Field book which sounds more general than you want, though it does have a chapter on characters. I'm wondering since your interest is so specific if you can't just apply general help to experimenting on your own. OR, what I've done in the past is find films that reflect the kind of story I want to tell and then I look up the screenplay on google. Quite a lot of them are posted for the public. That might be better for getting an idea of what translates to the big screen.

Does that help??

Well, I'm not actually writing a screenplay. I've heard that Robert McKee's book is good for novelists as well, which is why I was asking instead of just finding myself a copy.

I've taken the general help that I've gotten and applied it, and don't get me wrong, it's been fantastic. Extremely helpful. I don't mean to sound like the general fiction writing advice hasn't applied to me, because it has. What my complaint is actually about (if you can call it a complaint, it isn't one but I can't think of a better term for it) is that a lot of the books I've been looking at or reading spend a lot of time on how to structure your plot so it isn't linear since a lot of general fiction doesn't do well with linear storylines. What I write - the high fantasy, epic, sword-and-sorcery, whatever you want to call it - works very well with a linear storyline. It's the hero's journey. Which means that the three or four chapters on plot stucture don't really apply to me. I would like to find something that maybe doesn't put such an emphasis on how to structure your plot and more on how to craft convincing characters, how to raise stakes and create convincing twists, and things like that. So more of the creative-crafting process rather than the technical-crafting process.

I don't know if that makes sense, but I hope it clarifies what I'm hoping to find.

[Writecastlesinthesky]

Hmmm. Thanks for the clarification its all coming into perspective now...I'm still thinking that aside from craft books the best way to learn, at least for me, is to find existing work that does what I want to do and make it my own. If LOTR is something similar to your work--its linear for the most part, unlikely hero must save the world from evil by destroying ring of power. The series is universally loved but rarely discussed for what makes it work as a convincing fantasy. If I was going to try and learn from it, I'd probably take the book, mark the plot points, the sub plot points, and then map the various character journeys to see what I could learn. But that's a lot more difficult than reading a craft book... :-/

[Don Zolidis]

I'm a screenwriter/novelist/playwright, (well, mostly playwright) but the single most useful book I've ever found for screenwriting is Save the Cat, by Blake Snyder.

Snyder might not be your cup of tea, but he's brilliant at structure. And character development and structure should go hand-in-hand. When I began my novel, I wanted to have a very strong structure in order to make sure my hero had all the right turns and twists in his journey, and the screenwriter's map came in extremely handy. He's not for everyone, but I would definitely take a look at that book.