How to Write a Movie in 21 Days: The Inner Movie Method by Viki King
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Book Reviews of How to Write a Movie in 21 Days: The Inner Movie Method
Book Review: Great advice
Summary: 5 Stars
Although a person can't effectively write a movie in 2l days this book gives great advice in how to start your screenplay.Book Review: A great book for any level screenwriter
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an excellent step-by-step, as well as motivational book for anyone wishing to write a screenplay.Book Review: Excellent guide for any starting writer
Summary: 4 Stars
As a writer, my biggest problem is slowing down to fix what I'm writing before I've finished writing it. It's very easy for me to get so caught up in making something sound perfect that I never get around to finishing the piece--just write it off as another imperfect work-in-progress and go on to something else.King's approach gets you writing, writing, writing, writing, writing. You don't even think about editing until the whole story has been written down--even if it's written down in a thoroughly unreadable form. Her reasoning? It's easier to make something good from something mediocre (or even bad) than it is to make something good from nothing.
I've written a few screenplays (none sold yet, doggone it), but only one using exactly the plan outlined in this book. I found that, while her method works and works very well, just going through it once showed me where the span of my writing approach needed her kind of support and where it stood firmly on my own abilities.
I continue to use her 8-minute exercises because they are wonderful for getting you writing while preventing you from thinking about writing: if you only have 8 minutes to cover a topic, you'd better get those words onto paper as fast as you can. 8 minutes is the perfect limit because it's enough to get a substantial amount written--but only if you don't spend your time diddling with the words. Longer than 8 minutes and an old diddler like me will be tempted to diddle.
I don't use her "write 20 pages in 2 hours" approach, but I do write each scene in a block from beginning to end without stopping, for as many pages as that first visceral "heart draft" of the scene needs to be.
It's been a long time since I've read this book--though I do give it a once-over before I start a project--and many things she teaches in it have stuck with me as personal approaches to writing. It's a small book, but that's only because she doesn't waste time getting to her point.
A very rich find--it should serve every screenwriter well.
Book Review: Useful book if you're seeking the discipline to get your script finished
Summary: 4 Stars
Following the steps outlined in King's book won't guarantee you'll end up with a ready-to-sell script in 21 days, but it will give you a shot at finding the discipline to get your idea on paper and the tools to develop it into something worthwhile.
The notion of turning out a completed script -- even a first draft -- in 21 days is unrealistic for some aspiring screenwriters, but what this book does best is get you writing. The hardest part for most new writers is finding the motivation and discipline to stick to a regular writing schedule and get the script finished, and King provides a useful solution via a day-by-day program that breaks the process down into manageable steps.
This is writing by the numbers. King adheres to the "screenwriter's master chart" of locking critical story events into specific page numbers in what she calls "The 120-page Marathon." While many writers find this sort of rigid structure confining, it may be useful to new writers struggling to make the pieces fit.
King's program of daily writing assignments keeps you asking the important questions -- Who is my character? What is he questing after? -- and helps you come up with the answers. Although this book can't promise you'll live up to the title, it can point you in the right direction.
Book Review: How to Write a ROUGH DRAFT of a Movie in 21 Days
Summary: 4 Stars
I've used this book not only to write screenplays (one of which I sold for a very nice sum) but also to write a novel. This book contains a lot of information, and you honestly don't need to (and shouldn't) follow all of it. But, if you need something to get you started and to at least get you to that point where you have a rough, tangible manuscipt in your hands, this is a good book to get you there.
Following the regimen this book prescribes, you WILL write yourself a rough draft of a screenplay in twenty-one days. But then, you'll probably need to spend months, maybe even years, working on it some more.
You should know that, but that's not to say you shouldn't use this book. You should. It will help you get started, and it will give you good advice. Don't take it as unbreakable law though, because ultimately it's just some experienced person's opinion. I recommend buying it though, and I recommend using it with "Elements of Style for Screenwriting" by Paul Argentini, which is just a good, alphebetized, glossary of screenplay terms; the good, old-fashioned "Elements of Style" by Strunk and White (especially their notes on using the active voice); and a stack of actual screenplays. Between all of these, you have the chance to write something great.