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Manage Your Freelance Writing Career While Writing What You Love

Complicated Conflicts, (Un)Acceptable Character Reactions and What This Means For Your Screenplay

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The Hunt, Mads Mikkelsen
Mads Mikkelsen’s character in The Hunt. His so-called friendly countrymen did that to him. Image via cynic critics.com.

I love interesting conflicts and dilemmas. So much so, I often pick my favorite movie conflicts and analyze them on this blog:

Look at these conflicts!

You either have to commit suicide, or someone will murder the person you love.

You will either live with the guilt of your friend’s death, or you’ll “live” 6 years in prison. Right. And that is if you trust the authorities who gave such an option in the first place.

You either suppress every single emotion and live, or fight for the right to feel and die trying. Ouch…

The Hunt, though, is probably the most heart-breaking one of them all. Either your young daughter was molested by your best friend or she’s lying and you’re screwing up his life for…nothing. Holy Crap!

It is a great, albeit expectedly depressing movie. This 2012 Danish film is still on the top 250 list on IMDB, and I’m shocked it didn’t get the Oscar for best foreign film. (Mads Mikkelsen’s luck, always the nominee movie, never the bride winner).

LET THERE BE SPOILERS FOR THE HUNT and RETURN TO PARADISE

So what would you do if you were the father? What would you do if you are the friend? Because guess what? She’s lying, and he is innocent.

The whole town turns on him for nothing. They don’t even bring in an actual child psychologist. And this almost drives our protagonist insane. I don’t get that when it’s revealed that he’s innocent, he stays in that small town where some people still don’t believe him.

What the f…?

Seriously. Look, I get that he grew up there. His teenage son is there. But are your friends still your friends after they believed the worst about you? And it’s not like he lives in a third world country. There are many more towns and countries he can go to, find work and make money, while minimizing the homesickness. Yes, he has a son, who could in a few years join his dad wherever.

But that is me. I grew up in a big city. I don’t feel homesick much. I don’t mind living abroad. I tried hard to put myself in his shoes. I still don’t agree with what he decided. I wouldn’t look twice at those people.

And the ending doesn’t quite indicate he made the right choice if you are honest about last scene.

However, while the ending might not be the most believable (to me at least), it creates the biggest impact. The director Thomas Vinterberg is also the co-writer, so that presents an advantage. He could shoot the movie the way he wanted.

What does this mean about your screenplay’s conflicts and characters’ reactions?

In my drama feature, I have a story conflict that’s hard to sell. In other words, one of the main character’s actions is extreme, though in line with what he’s going through, and what he has experienced.

And not only are some readers having trouble with the conflict (despite enjoying the premise), they are not particularly fond of how a certain character handles the conflict, which puzzles me.

Because if I were that character, I’d do exactly that.

When I ask people around me what they would in that situation, they choose my character’s way.

So how come some readers aren’t into it?

Well, for one, our personalities and outlooks on life determine a certain percentage of how we react to movies (and screenplays). Remember, a couple of years after seeing The Hunt, I’m still singing the “I would so get out of there!” tune.

Whenever a character takes a cheating spouse back, I’m disappointed until that movie/story ends. Cheaters don’t deserve a second chance in my book, unless the situation is extreme, like the person being cheated on is a complete psychopath or something. You can enjoy my fun cheating-condoning posts on my movie blog.

Some found Death Sentence unrealistic. I tend to love revenge flicks. I cheer for parents who go down the extreme route. Even well-educated, seemingly mild-mannered ones. Because:

  1.  Don’t be afraid, I approve of regular folk taking justice into their own hands only in revenge movies
  2.  I can relate to the pain that will result in losing a loved one. Of course they will go crazy and do drastic things. So while the level of Bacon’s character’s success might not necessarily be the realistic aspect of his movie, his losing it over the not-so-certain outcome of the trial makes sense to me. Yes, Braveheart and The Crow are among my favorite movies. How did you know? 🙂

Anyway…

The point is, we react, judge and interpret differently. I find my character’s action, and the other’s reaction completely in line with their personalities, life experiences.

Would I react the same way if I were in the same situation? Yes. But would I be in the same situation? Not likely. For one, I’m not a musician, and my crow-like voice wouldn’t earn me any fans. So I have my characters, my obsession with the rock music world and my imagination to guide me.

So, we again come back to listening to your gut.

But am I to blame a little? Of course I am. Chances are, I couldn’t reflect the extremity & uniqueness of the situation, as well as I should have.

It feels like mission impossible to balance exposition, good dialog, enough (but not too much) backstory while capturing and holding everyone’s attention in a freaking drama. No matter how engaging I try to make it, it’s still a drama, albeit a glamorous and larger-than-life one at that.

So what do you do?

You work on your craft and draft until the story, the story you know is the right one to tell, shines and eliminates (or minimizes) doubts and let everyone enjoy the ride.

I immensely enjoy the stakes in Return to Paradise. I can honestly say I wouldn’t trust the authorities and go back to save my friend, love or no love. But then again, I wouldn’t do drugs so I wouldn’t be in that situation. That doesn’t stop me from rooting for these characters.

You hear stories about screenwriters who can only sell their 11th script. Then you hear the ones about the first/second or third script they wrote being sold. Who wants to bet there were like 30 drafts of that sold script before it got the greenlight?

Happy rewriting!

How to Evaluate Your Script Evaluations: My Post on Bang2Write

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In an ideal (and lucky world), your script evaluations would all be positive, and you could start worrying about your pitch after you got your consider or even better, recommend.

But more often than not, you’ll either get a pass or consider with reservations despite your best editing efforts. And different script readers will disagree on pretty much anything.

So you won’t be able to jumpstart editing before deciphering what everyone means, and whether you should consider every tip.

I’m happy to announce that my tips on the subject was published on Lucy V Hay’s Bang2write, a blog I religiously follow.:)

You can click to title to read the article there: 5 Ways To Evaluate Your Feedback by Pinar Tahan aka @zoeyclark

 

Happy Evaluating!

 

 

 

 

This Writer Is Getting Smarter About Money: And How You Can Too

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From my Oslo winter trip this year.

The truth is I’ve always been somewhat smart, or at least sensible, with my money.

Despite a brief fascination with Levi’s products in the 90s as I was growing up, I never really had a fascination for brands. As my friends shed their family’s money on Lacoste, Burberry and many other brands I can’t remember, I spent on movies, music and books.

Sure, I bought clothes and shoes and accessories too. Look, I love shopping. I’m just not (that) addicted. Compared to Rebecca Bloomwood, I’m a financial wizard.

I’ve always tried to save some money in case of emergencies, luxuries, trips, future moving plans, even though it’s not always easy doing that.

I’m a freelancer who’s adamant she’ll only take on projects she’s enthusiastic about. Linda Formichelli is right in a way: it’s very difficult if you only try to write about what you love. That’s why I also teach ESL. I’d rather teach English (I love the language, and I love teaching it) than write about something that bores me. I also can’t learn to love something according to the paycheck it provides. I tried.

While I don’t really spend on things I don’t need or don’t care for, there are “luxuries” I refuse to cut back on, such as:

-Nero coffee (Starbucks too, but I like Nero more, to be honest.) And by coffee, I mean mocha. And other stuff I eat and drink while I do my writing at their numerous branches.

– Screenplay coverage: I’ll argue this is more a professional necessity than a luxury, but it costs money. Add to it if you also want it proofread. Add some more for the coverage of your resubmissions, as first submissions are rarely a consider or recommend.

Add even more for other screenplays. You have to have more than one. If not, please stop reading. Bookmark this post, and come back to it after you’ve done some screenwriting. This post isn’t going anywhere. If it does, I’ll let you know.

– Cabs. I love cabs. Granted, I don’t often take them as much as Carrie Bradshaw does. But I certainly appreciate the option.

– Vacation abroad. I need one at least once a year. I can’t always afford it, and it’s not pretty when I go cold turkey.

-Vacation at 5-star hotels/holiday villages. I’ve never been the backpacking or camping type. I like the outdoors as long as it comes controlled, so I won’t have to deal with poisonous or otherwise dangerous animals. I’ve never appreciated tents. And call me crazy, but I do love indoor plumbing and hot water. And food cooked for me. And big, clean pools. You get the idea.

Luxuries I want to have:

– Traveling first class. For the leg space more than anything else, to be honest.

– Rush jobs on my script coverage. Waiting for feedback on your writing sucks. Because let’s face it, we do more waiting as writers than most other folk. We wait for editors, agents, studios, etc. to answer to our original email. We wait for the answer to our follow-up email. We wait a reasonable time to count it as a rejection, we wait for our piece to be published.

We wait.

The problem is writing is personal, even when we do it professionally. We care if people care about our ideas. We get excited if they like the finished product. And chances are, if you are writing fiction, you get even more attached to your ideas. They’re kind of like your babies, admit it. They shouldn’t be, but they usually are.

So if you can get your script coverage faster, why not do it if you can easily afford it? I haven’t really been able to up to now.

– Eating healthier all the time at restaurants that are Monica-clean. Typically, fast food is cheaper and easier to obtain. Unhealthy snacks are usually more available than healthy ones. And by healthy, I mean the natural stuff. And I hate cooking. Damn it!

– A beach house in California.

– More trips aboard, more stays at 5-star places.

– Investing more on my blogs.

– Investing more on courses.

– Going to pitch conferences in person.

-Pitching one-to-one more.

– Working with a story consultant like Marilyn Horowitz

– Work on my pitches with Stephanie Palmer

….

There’s probably more, but those are my top ones at the moment.

How Am I Getting Smarter?

How do I plan on keeping the luxuries I have, making them more frequent and reaching the others?

By making more.

I don’t believe in saving to the point that you stop living and enjoying your life. But I do believe at this point in my life, I can live without 500-dollar-a-pair shoes.

It doesn’t mean some shoes aren’t worth it. It just means it’s a luxury I don’t care for at the moment.

So you can (and should) save according to your own needs and preferences. For more guidance, I recommend I’ll Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. I love that book. It’s fun, understandable and practical. It’s slightly more helpful if you live in the USA, but with some research, you can benefit from it no matter from where you are from.

More unbelievably helpful resources on how to make more:

–  The Freelance Writer’s Guide to Making $1000 Extra This Month by Mridu Khullar Relph

– Ramit Sethi offers a lot of free materials to help you make at least 1K more on the side. It’s also a premium course, but I haven’t tried it yet.

– How to Give Yourself an Instant Pay Rise as a Freelance Writer Online by Kirsty Stuart

– How I Got to Write a Regular Column — After My Article Was Rejected on Make a Living Writing.

*None of the links in this post are affiliate links.

This is hopefully only the beginning to a smarter, more profitable life.

*

How do you handle your luxuries? What are your luxuries and money management techniques?

Grammarly: My Favorite Grammar Checker for Articles, Posts, Stories and Pitches

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Grammarly is an online site that checks your grammar, vocabulary, and style. It has free and paid versions.

The free version grades your writing out of 100 points and gives you a list of areas where you’ve made mistakes and how many. It doesn’t, however, tell you what exactly those mistakes are so you’ve to keep guessing.

When you’re using the paid version, it points out your mistakes and why, as well as offering its correct suggestions. Of course, not all mistakes are necessarily mistakes but stylistic choices you’ve made. You still get graded over 100, and your point gets higher when you correct the mistake or ignore it. (It gives you the option to ignore.)

Now, Grammarly is not perfect. It’s also not human. It’s allergic to passive, for instance. It’s also fond of more formal writing, so it sends out warnings when you end sentences with a preposition or use numbers instead of spelling them. And it doesn’t catch every mistake though it catches a good percentage. Sometimes it suggests you use articles when you shouldn’t or don’t have to.

I don’t recommend using Grammarly without looking at your text once or twice with “editor eyes” yourself. Combine it with the read-out-loud option of your computer or free software like Natural Readers, and you’re golden.

It has saved me a lot of time and increased my productivity. I’ve also recently discovered that you can adjust your settings as creative (novel, script, and other options), so it evaluates accordingly.

Happy Editing!

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