MovieChat Forums > Shop Talk Writers > So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Good...

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodnight


I assume you all saw IMDb is closing the message boards? I doubt I'll be seeing anyone at other screenwriting boards, since I'm not a screenwriter.

It's been real.

SPEED
P.S. This is how part of the alphabet would look if you eliminated Q and R

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Such a shame. I was just getting ready to rejoin the boards after taking a break due to my Mother's death last summer. Guess there's no need to play 'catchup' now.






Threads with links to boards/sites that I've come across on IMDb boards where I post/lurk:

http://whooshorg.proboards.com/post/144696/thread
http://remly1.proboards.com/post/27/thread
http://remly2.proboards.com/post/1028/thread
http://remly.proboards.com/post/3415/thread






=========
http://tinyurl.com/TwilightSagaBoard
http://tinyurl.com/ProWhoosh

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M.A.S.H.

God damn but I am old.

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I killed a lot of time replying to mostly inane posts on the Film General board because I like to write, but I also spent a fair bit of time here reading and learning. The best thing that ever happened to me at IMDB was meeting you, and you graciously taking the time to review my short story Money Well Spent. I can't ever thank you enough and wish you the best.


"We all have it comin', Kid." Unforgiven (1992)

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What a nice thing to say! Thank you.

SPEED
P.S. This is how part of the alphabet would look if you eliminated Q and R

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Quick question(s) before you go:

What's the deal with chapters and mini-chapters and breaks in a book?

1) I understand the concept of a chapter - much like acts - but I've read books where there's no obvious reason for a chapter break to be inserted. And when you've got 400 page books and one has just 4 chapters whilst another has 20 then it's quite confusing.


2) Many books have what I call mini-chapters where a chunk of white space breaks up text into bitesize pieces. They may be a few pages long or just half a page and they may or may not be numbered. Again, there would often be no obvious rhyme or reason. When they jump from one scene to aother, it makes sense, such as from one a supermarket to a garage back to the supermarket again, but not when the action/scene continues unabated.

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I'm way short of the definitive source, but section breaks and chapters do exactly what you said--break the work into manageable chunks. They're more common in the last twenty years or so, when so many people find their reading time coming in small increments. The writer makes sure there's a stopping place pretty often, since readers hate stopping mid-chapter.

Most of the time, the section break or chapter falls when certain conditions exist in the narrative:
--There's a gap or jump in time. Josie goes to sleep, end of section. Josie makes coffee, start of new section. (Boring book, though!)
--There's a change in setting. Elvin gets in his Corvette and heads for Vegas. Elvin slowly drives down The Strip. (Setting, remember, includes both place and time.) Or, Vanessa gets out her bike and pedals uncertainly toward the nearby village. In the village, she struggles to avoid vehicles.
--There's a change in point of view. Vanessa pedals toward the village. A bus driver worries about her son's failing grades and nearly collides with a young bicyclist who runs the stop sign.
--There's a small cliffhanger. Morrie hears--what is that, someone shouting? Damn it, he came here to de-stress. The sound nears his rented mountain cabin. Idiot hunters. Drunk, probably. Who else would be yelling in this peaceful setting? The door bursts open! (break) His landlord tells him he needs to evacuate, there's a fire approaching from the other side of the mountain.

If you're looking for fiction tips, you won't do better than AbsoluteWrite. (There are several other trans writers, too.)

SPEED
P.S. This is how part of the alphabet would look if you eliminated Q and R

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Thanks for the explanation! WIth regards to absolutewrite, what's the ratio of pro (pro-quality) to amateurs? STW is full of the blind leading the blind and it was only when I got away to where the pros frequent that I dicovered the 'rules of screenwriting' are just myth and that product placement, camera angles and 'we see' are all legit and, often essential.

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STW is full of the blind leading the blind and it was only when I got away to where the pros frequent that I dicovered the 'rules of screenwriting' are just myth and that product placement, camera angles and 'we see' are all legit and, often essential.

And now you're giving up screenwriting and have ended up right back at Shoptalk Writers. Ironic.

TV: http://ihatemydvr.blogspot.com
LOST:http://eyemsick.blogspot.com

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