Screenwriting for Neurotics

A quite nicely done.

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Review of Screenwriting for Neurotics

I should start by saying that this book is the one I have highlighted most on my kindle. It is full of real gems. And the beauty of it is that it applies to more than just screenwriting. It is helping me see the manuscript of my novel in a different way.

Using many examples from well known films (and I think the author likes Casablanca), quotes from Aristotle and occasional exercises, Scott Winfield Sublett provides “A Beginners Guide to Writing a Feature Length Screenplay from Start to Finish” – the subtitle of the book. The main title doesn’t really do the contents justice as writers may not see themselves as neurotic and miss out on an excellent book. With simple nuggets like:-

“(1) the hero’s success or failure in achieving the goal, (2) answering the central question, and (3) the outcome of the central conflict. The goal, central question, and central conflict all need to be posited in the beginning and adhered to throughout the film.”

That’s all there is to it, right? Act I: engage interest. Act II: sustain interest. Act III: satisfy interest. The freedom in the writing is because although you need to know your hero’s goal and the central question, whether he/she achieves the goal or not is worked through in the writing. From the initial idea, and outlining through to how to format the actual script, Sublett takes us by the hand through the whole process.

There are references to many films and excerpts from scripts to illustrate the various stages and there is much humour in here. Every so often there are small “asides” addressed to the “neurotic” writer. This is the only bit of the whole book that doesn’t jibe with me. I’m not sure why but it seems to break up the narrative.

There is much here about introducing conflict and challenges and the value of a good outline. Sublett believes if you have a good outline and know what scenes you need to develop, then it is less likely you will have a major rewrite where you have to cut loads of your beautiful writing – or “kill your darlings”. But he also says that any written script even if never produced helps you learn as a writer. Now and again you should bin the whole effort and start something new that comes out of who you are now and reflects that learning.

I like his quote from French novelist Jules Renard “Writing is a profession in which you have to keep proving your talent to people who have none.” Mr Sublett proves his talent in every section of this book.

This book was great and it will be very helpful to me right now as I use it as a reference for one of my special study modules (scriptwriting) at Uni. It breaks everything down to edible little chunks and guides the reader on his or hers way to write and finish a screenplay

Great book for someone interested in screenwriting. I have added it to my arsenal of writing guides.

Scott Winfield Sublett's Screenwriting for Neurotics is full of great tips and advice that will help you move your story from idea to print. Sublett's style of writing is entertaining and makes the process seem "doable." I saw a lot of my husband while reading about Sublett's struggles to write. In this book, Sublett tells it like it is and shows you how to be successful at writing that screenplay. I recommend this book for aspiring writers, beginners, those stuck on their screenplay and as a teaching tool.

I love to write and have never written a screenplay before! I wanted to try something new, and I'm glad this book was the first one that I picked out! This book was informational and helped me take the first steps to writing my first screenplay! A great read!