I decided to rewrite a short story I wrote 10 years ago...

[SlickSnake]

I was never really happy about the original short horror story I wrote. I originally did it in a heavy Lovecraftian vein while channeling Lovecraft, of course. But this time around, I'm backing off of the heavy essence of Lovecraft I wrote it in last time, but still retaining the lingering sense of dread that Lovecraft and even Poe used so well in their tales.

And rather than working up to the action at the beginning a bit slowly and methodically, this time around I'm starting out the story in the middle of the action, then working in the bits about how it leads up to this point and then continuing the story from there after a few chapters.

I also thought about just going ahead and doing the screenplay first, but to properly flesh out this retelling, I thought it might be easier to work on the screenplay once I have the story redone in the manner I wish to tell it in.

Do any writers out there think this is a good plan? Should I submit the story and the screenplay together when I attempt to get the story or rights sold to a publisher or studio?

One of the reasons I decided to rehash this particular story is because recently another completely original short story I wrote was made into a similar crappy movie version which surprised the hell out of me, considering my original version was never circulated or published. Stuff like that ticks me off, but it's my own fault for not doing something with it in the first place, I guess.

Anyone else out there in off topic never land an aspiring or successful writer?

 

[mcmilljb]

I got a 100 on a paper for my Advanced Composition class in high school. Does that count as successful?

It was a short story based my favorite halloween costume. 🙂

 

[SlickSnake]

Originally posted by: mcmilljb
I got a 100 on a paper for my Advanced Composition class in high school. Does that count as successful?

It was a short story based my favorite halloween costume. 🙂

I hope you remembered to capitalize Halloween! 😉

I was referring to published when I used the term successful, but at least you got a 100 on it!:thumbsup:

 

[wwswimming]

when i was in college, i wrote a short story about putting the food service manager
on a deli slicer.

got a B+ in the class, from Toby Wolff, a writer some ATers may have read.

 

[SlickSnake]

Originally posted by: wwswimming
when i was in college, i wrote a short story about putting the food service manager
on a deli slicer.

got a B+ in the class, from Toby Wolff, a writer some ATers may have read.

Grats!

What part or parts of him went on the deli slicer? :evil:

 

[nerp]

Nobody is going to read your screenplay or short story unless you know someone personally or have an agent. Getting fiction published is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Not to be a downer or anything, but as someone who writes for a living and has made the leap from journalism to fiction, let me just say that you should plan on writing for several hours a day every day of your life if you want to be a real writer. You should have dozens of short stories and the framework of a couple novels going simultaneously. Once you have a contract, then you can focus on one work at a time.

I suggest you find someone to read and respond to your work critically. The first rule is to not fall in love with your work because you'll be blind to its flaws. Get real criticism and take it to heart. And on the business side of things, keep in mind that your idea of great compelling fiction might seem like pretentious unmarketable trash to an agent or a publisher. They want something that they can market and sell. Many authors start with lighter, breezier, easier-to-sell stuff to get established before they pen their ultimate vision of what a great novel should be. Not everyone is 'discovered' and given free reign to write what they fancy. And even amazingly good first efforts are edited heavily and usually end up looking nothing like the first draft.

I think you should focus on writing and reading like a writer more than how you're going to market your incomplete work. You're setting yourself for dissapointment if you don't have your priorities aligned right.

Good luck

 

[SlickSnake]

Originally posted by: nerp
Nobody is going to read your screenplay or short story unless you know someone personally or have an agent. Getting fiction published is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Not to be a downer or anything, but as someone who writes for a living and has made the leap from journalism to fiction, let me just say that you should plan on writing for several hours a day every day of your life if you want to be a real writer. You should have dozens of short stories and the framework of a couple novels going simultaneously. Once you have a contract, then you can focus on one work at a time.

I suggest you find someone to read and respond to your work critically. The first rule is to not fall in love with your work because you'll be blind to its flaws. Get real criticism and take it to heart. And on the business side of things, keep in mind that your idea of great compelling fiction might seem like pretentious unmarketable trash to an agent or a publisher. They want something that they can market and sell. Many authors start with lighter, breezier, easier-to-sell stuff to get established before they pen their ultimate vision of what a great novel should be. Not everyone is 'discovered' and given free reign to write what they fancy. And even amazingly good first efforts are edited heavily and usually end up looking nothing like the first draft.

I think you should focus on writing and reading like a writer more than how you're going to market your incomplete work. You're setting yourself for dissapointment if you don't have your priorities aligned right.

Good luck

Good post. Thanks for the input. I tend to think in a film directors mode about what I am writing, and have a vivid imagination, so the screenplay will be easier for me to flesh out than the short story will. And I have several other ideas for stories and screenplays not even started yet. I have no lack of unusual creative ideas. I would be categorized as a niche market writer who is trying to chip out my own market, not necessarily fit an existing one, which means my stories will stand out in a pile of trash regurgitated and recirculated daily to a hundred publishers and studios. I read profusely, but I also acknowledge you can't read and write at the same time. So my focus now is writing.

I am also my own worst writing critic. While I write I think to myself, would I want to read this, if so why, and if not, why not? When I read other authors who are successful and publish, a lot of what I read is completely boring cast off rubbish and filler. They have one good idea, then flesh it out with boring characterizations and uncaptivating subplots to get to the climax. Most successful writers seem like they are really writing a short story, and instead get caught up on trying to make the short story an entire book to be more marketable, or even an entire series. All too often they are financially successful not because they are good writers, because they appeal to the lowest common denominator concerning the audience they are targeting.

Take romance novels as an example. That is a very niche market that survives based on one thing, romance. It is a TV soap opera in a book form, meant to be read at beauty shops and waiting rooms and appeals mostly to women. Yet many other writers can very successfully apply that romance novel formula to other genres. Take the Interview with a Vampire series as a good example. It works very well in book form, but how badly did most people trash the movies who were even fans of the books? Their vision of the books did not match the movies. Quite a bit of them hated it. Tom Cruise? Brad Pitt? You GOT to be KIDDING! But they were added for marketability for the movie, not the fact they were ideal for the part. Which was exactly what the readers rejected in the first place. But this also shows that an author can create a mini niche for themselves with a certain style of writing.

Harry Potter is another perfect example of this niche writers market. Take a kids story and mix it with a heavy dose of magic and fantasy, and you got a market winner! It don't matter that she is a great writer or not, what becomes most marketable and profitable is now the movies and the toys.

And I also plan to have the stories read by a critical group of people before I will even circulate them publicly, just like I have already done in the past. But the screenplays of the stories will be a bit more closely guarded when I begin circulating the stories, for obvious reasons. I also have some ideas for marketing my stories outside the of the mainstream publishing markets, if necessary. I don't see selling my highly original works as a problem, frankly. And even if they don't sell, or they only appeal to a very limited market, at least I am getting these nightmare beasties out of my head. I am creating something out of nothing but my overactive imagination here, and it is entirely mine and if I can, I will milk it for every dime I can get out of it. Even my lucid dreams are often like movies, and have given me inspiration for some stories in the past, and more stories in the future.

All I can do is try or not try. If the final results end up being entirely for personal reasons, then at least I will get something out of it in the process.