Novels, Screenplays and Free Time

I have completed almost seventy-thousand words of my novel-in-progress Bones of Skeleton Creek, and probably have less than ten-thousand words to go. Problem is, I stalled out about thirty days ago and have been unable, or unwilling to complete the last few chapters, even though I already know the ending, or at least much of it. I got a possible hint as to the reason for my malaise while reading Screenplay, the foundations of Screenwriting, one of Syd Field’s books.

Called the Guru of Screenwriting, Field has launched more screenwriting careers than possibly anyone alive has. In his book, just one of many that he has written, he mentions that it is a common occurrence for his students to experience the same phenomenon as I when nearing the end of a screenplay. The reason, he says, is that your characters begin talking to you, often moving in directions and situations you never predicted. The writer begins enjoying his involvement and interaction with the characters to the extent that he (or she) does not want it to end. To this, I say amen.

Why am I reading a book on screenwriting? Every novelist should read Screenplay because Field offers lots of good advice on writing that transcends genre. Oh, and I had a call from a Hollywood producer asking if Big Easy’s movie rights were optioned.

“You had never written a book until you finished your first one,” he said when I protested that I knew nothing about writing a screenplay.

Hey, maybe the real reason that I am having trouble finishing Bones of Skeleton Creek is because there are only so many hours in a day, and many of mine now filled with the adaptation of Big Easy into a movie script.

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