Insights about Writers from the Movies

Unless you study my tweets on a regular basis, you probably don't know that I love going to movies. In fact, if I'm in town, we often go almost every week to some film. If the movie is worth it, after I get home, I will often send a tweet about the movie and a rating. Just like every book, not every movie is worth telling you about so if it is a dud then I say nothing about it.

Last weekend, we saw The Man Who Invented Christmas which is currently in the theaters. If you haven't caught this film, I recommend you get there. Why? Because this film captures something unusual about the life of a writer and the writing process. The movie is set in 19^th  century England and tells the story behind the writing of the Charles Dickens' classic novel, A Christmas Carol. While over 50 movies have been made from the novel, this film captures something different. It is focused on the behind-the-scenes elements of how Dickens wrote the book. Yet like any good piece of fiction, the film still takes creative license with the historical facts.

The acting from Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens and Christopher Plummer as Scrooge is well-done and the story is a fun film. My reason for telling you about this movie is how it portrays the writing process and the pain that a writer must go through to create his work. The interaction with family members and how Dickens had to face personal nightmares from his own past to complete the work on deadline mirrors things that I've experienced in my own writing life.

The epilogue of the movie said A Christmas Carol was released in bookstores on December 19, 1843. Every copy of the book was sold by Christmas Eve on December 24th. Also charitable giving throughout London dramatically increased that Christmas season. Dickens wrote this book in a short amount of time but it has become a Christmas classic about our need to be generous and celebrate life.

This movie is one for the entire family yet it shows something important about the writing process.

Tell me if you go to movies and how this experience feeds into your writing. Tell me in the comments below. 

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Five Fascinating Insights About The Writing Life

Recently I was thrilled to learn about How My Book Became A Movie from Robin Jones Gunn. While Robin has written over 90 novels, many authors dream of making their book into a movie. Do you realize what a long odds you have to overcome for such a possibility to happen?

Dr. Ted Baehr, the Founder and Publisher of Movieguide, wrote How to Succeed in Hollywood (Without Losing Your Soul) he said, “Remember that the average movie takes nine years from start to finish. The Passion of the Christ took ten years. Evita took twenty-three years. Batman took seventeen years. There are several reasons why it takes so long. First, there are 300,000 scripts submitted every year to the Writers guild of America and many more are written that are never submitted, aside from the flood of novels every year, but less than three hundred movies open in theaters every year. Thus, most scripts never make it into production.” (Page 150)

Now that you understand the huge obstacles to making a book into a movie, I want to tell you about why you need to read How My Book Became A Movie. Robin writes about her journey in a riveting, page-turning way that will keep your attention. You learn how a novella called Finding Father Christmas will be a Hallmark channel movie. In fact, the Hallmark Channel will air the movie Finding Father Christmas on Sunday, November 13th.

One of the novellas, Robin rewrote several times in the process of getting it accepted for print—an effort that would have made many writers with less courage and persistence give up. As she writes, “Have you noticed, fellow dreamers, that the way up is down? The higher the mountain before you, the longer and deeper and wider is the valley you must slog through in order to reach your desired haven.” (Page 34)

Valuable lessons and insights for every writer are scattered throughout this well-crafted nonfiction book. Some of those lessons are in chapter titles like: Ask for the Moon, Put Your Whole Heart into Your Work, Humble Yourself, Do the Hard Work and Show Up.  I loved the encouragement and honesty in these pages. I highly recommend How My Book Became A Movie. Amazon is selling only the Kindle version of this terrific book.  If you want a paperback, you can get the book directly from Robin Gunn (follow this link).

Also watch this short video from Robin (use this link if you can't see the video) about why she wrote this book:




This article on The Writing Life is more than a review of the book. I want to highlight several insights from this book for every writer:

1. Publishing is a long game. If you don't read Christian romance, you may have never heard of Robin Jones Gunn. I've known Robin for at least 20 years. She started her book publishing career with some nonfiction children's books yet now writes novels. Overnight success stories are rare and Robin has been faithfully writing for years. Book publishing is more of a marathon than a sprint. 

2. Writers need to be consistent and faithful. If you read How My Book Became A Movie, you will see the consistent effort that Robin puts into her writing. Yes there are struggles (see my next point), yet in obedience and faithful action, she writes the stories and gets them out of her head onto paper.

3. Writers need to do what their editor's ask them to do. When an editor directs a writer, many writers resist. If I'm honest, I mutter a bit (to myself), then I do what the editor asked me to do. The editor understands the focus of their publishing efforts and their audience. It's true in books and in the magazine world as well. As I read How My Book Became A Movie, I learned Robin had to rewrite one of her novellas several times before the book was accepted and published. Some authors would have not done this hard work that Robin did with her editor. Her actions provide a shining example for each of us to do whatever is needed for the book to get written with excellence.

4. Persistence will pay off—but not instantly. For years, Robin had this dream of one of her stories becoming a movie. It took years of persistent and hard work but finally happened. All too often in our culture, we are looking for the instant success or the instant fix. Every writer who succeeds needs a healthy dose of persistence.

5. Writers need to have big dreams and goals. As you write and move toward accomplishing your dreams, I encourage you to have big dreams. As Robin Gunn writes toward the end of her book, “Ask for anything. Be Extravagant. Ask for the moon.” (page 99)

As you ask for the moon and work toward your dreams, you might just get it.

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Once again in November I made the list of the top 100 Marketers to Follow on Twitter. I'm #63 this month.  Check it out at: http://bit.ly/2el7FJj

Paper Towns and Book Marketing

This weekend the movie Paper Towns released. If you don’t read young adult novels, then you probably don’t know what I’m talking about. The well-done film is based on the third novel, Paper Towns by bestselling author John Green. His bestselling book, Fault in Our Stars, also had a movie attached to it. For the launch of Paper Towns, check out his unusual marketing ideas, for example this video of the Get Found, Get Lost Tour (over 110,000 views on You Tube as of this writing).

For the opening of the Paper Towns movie, John Green greets the audience in the first few minutes and thanks everyone for coming to the movie.  In all of the movies, I’ve seen, I’ve never seen the author of the book do such an opening. Why?

John Green is known as a fun author who creates entertaining videos and has a huge following. By the author speaking at the beginning of the film everyone was reminded the movie was based on his book

1. Books have more depth and information than any movie because of the limitations and differences between the two art forms. I’ve not read the book but Ashley Ross pointed out some of the distinctions in this article.
2. The reminder will drive book sales and get more people to buy or read the book

It was a smart marketing move from John Green to thank the audience in the opening minutes of the film. It showed his support of the film (some authors dislike how their movies are portrayed and would never do such an opening) and drives more readers to his books.

As I mentioned in this 2005 article, it is rare for a book to become a movie. Yet every writer can learn the example of John Green. First, while Green is a bestselling author, he is active in the marketing of his books and products (like movies) associated with his books. You may be reluctant to jump into the marketing area but learn from watching people like John Green.

Second, look for something different or unusual to do for the marketing of your book. How can you stand out from other authors (in a good way) and be remembered? It may not be a movie but you can create a blog campaign or a real book tour or any number of other ways with your book—but it is up to you as the author to put the thought and energy into that campaign. You need to created it, then carry it out.  

If you don’t market and get people talking about you book, no one else will do it. As authors each of us wants someone else to do it. I continually hear complaints from every author. It does not matter who published their book (major publisher, minor publisher or self-published). The truth is the marketing and promotion of your book is your responsibility as an author. Your complaining will not help. Instead you need to follow the Nike slogan and just do it.

Contains Years of Wisdom and Insight

If you have ever had the yearning to become a Christian screenwriter or actor or producer or director, then you will take years off wasting your time with this book. Dr. Ted Baehr, the Founder and Publisher of Movieguide, has written a comprehensive guide. As he writes in the introduction, "It is a critical time for people of faith to communicate through the mass media of the entertainment industry...This book intends to help you to do just what Jesus commanded: herald His good news in movies and television, the marketplace of entertainment." (Page xxviii)

Dr. Baehr breaks the contents into two main sections: Foundations and Step-by-Step. Each section is loaded with practical yet detailed information into the business. While the author has years of experience, he has reached out to 30 diverse Hollywood experts with stellar credentials. He interweaves these contributors throughout the book and it strengthens the message and impact of the contents.

While this book is loaded with practical information, I want to give one detailed example as a taste of the contents from the chapter, "If It's Not On the Page...":

"Remember that the average movie takes nine years from start to finish. The Passion of the Christ took ten years. Evita took twenty-three years. Batman took seventeen years. There are several reasons why it takes so long. First, there are 300,000 scripts submitted every year to the Writers guild of America and many more are written that are never submitted, aside from the flood of novels every year, but less than three hundred movies open in theaters every year. Thus, most scripts never make it into production. Second, Hollywood movies cost over $104 million to produce and distribute in 2010, and it takes a long, long time to get all the elements together so that some distributor or investor will want to put up this kind of money. Third, most people take years to get the script right. The Los Angeles Times interviewed a woman who was trying to twenty years to sell her script. She said that in all those years she had not had the time to take a scriptwriting course or read a book on scriptwriting. The Los Angeles Times and all of us should be perplexed: What was she doing all that time that she could not take a moment to learn her chosen craft?" (Page 150 to 151)

Before you follow the beckoning siren of Hollywood, you need the detailed information in How to Succeed in Hollywood (Without Losing Your Soul) A FieldGuide for Christian Screenwriters, Actors, Producers, Directors, and more...

If You Need A Dose of Courage. . .

There are many forces which threaten to undo our own resolve about writing and publishing. Maybe it's a rejection that you recently received. Literary agents get rejected more than most writers because we receive the news for our various clients. Maybe watching the news has discouraged you--and that's easy to have happen because the bulk of the news is about some disaster or crisis in our world.

This weekend, I read literary agent Terry Burns' speech which he posted from speaking at the Glorieta Christian Writers' Conference about publishing and the economy. If you read this material, it's not easy to take away an upbeat positive message. If you are in the middle of writing a full-length novel or trying to learn how to create a book proposal or write a magazine article, in the face of such reports, it's easy to lose heart.

For a great dose of courage for the heart, I suggest you get out and see High School Musical 3, Senior Year. Now if you are like me, you don't have fond memories of high school or know anything about High School Musical and High School Musical 2. We had no background about this mega hit Disney television movie--yet we went to see it yesterday. Even at an early showing, it was packed with many young people.

In a nutshell, Troy and Gabriella are facing a state basketball championship, senior prom and graduation. They are also wondering what to do with their lives. Like many young people, they are facing the decisions about where to go to college and what to study and next steps in their life. The music is fun and upbeat. Just follow this link to listen to little clips of some of the songs. With the G rating, you can take the whole family and enjoy the experience.

Every agent and editor that I know are actively looking for excellence--and after over 15 years in this business, I have a lot of contact with many different parts of the publishing world. Admittedly it is hard to find those excellent projects but we continue reading our submissions and working with writers because people continue to purchase books and read magazines.

If you need that dose of courage, then get to the movies. As they say in High School Musical 3, it's time to turn it up. Game on!

A Clever Romantic Comedy

I'll admit something in unusual for a man. I love almost any romantic comedy. My wife and I have been waiting for the release of 27 Dresses and watched it this last weekend. It is a clever romantic comedy and the writing is sharp and fascinating. It may seem unusual to comment on the writing in the opening but many people forget that any good story line in a movie is always based on a good script. This one shines in my view because it's based on one of the common themes of a romantic comedy--the search for true love.

You've probably heard the saying, "Always a bridesmaid and never a bride." Jane has been in 27 different weddings but never married. There is considerable variety in the 27 types of weddings and dresses. It was fun to see how Jane handles the wedding for her younger sister then the twists in the story for the ending. I'm not going to spoil it for you but I'm recommending it if you like these types of films. James Marsden plays a key role in 27 Dresses along with the lead actress Katherine Heigl. Marsden is also in the Disney film Enchanted which we've seen twice and has such a happy innocent theme that my wife is talking about going a third time.

I found both films engaging and worth the time.

A Gift Beyond The Season

Several years ago, I was the acquisitions editor at Cook Communications (now rebranding as David C. Cook) when the company acquired hundreds of book titles from Eagle Communications including the books from Honor Books. One of those many books was a beautifully packaged novel from Jim Stovall called The Ultimate Gift. If you look at Jim’s site, one of the things you will be hard pressed to learn is that Jim is visually impaired.

Tom Bosley approached me as the acquisitions editor about our publishing house producing an audio version of the novel. I listened to the entire audio CD as I commuted back and forth to work. The story is remarkable and I attempted to move this effort ahead but found little interest in audio from the key players in the publishing house. Almost everyone in a decision making position has changed from those days but from Jim Stovall’s site, it looks like they found a way to produce the audio version of The Ultimate Gift. I was pleased to see that Tom Bosley or someone didn’t take the rejection as the final word but continued pressing ahead to bring the audio product into existence. It’s a lesson many of us should learn as writers.

A week or so ago, my wife and I were wandering around in Blockbuster looking at new releases and spotted the movie version of The Ultimate Gift. The storyline stirred great memories for me and I picked it up and brought it home. What a terrific story and especially a good one to watch during this Christmas season. I recommend it.

For a taste of the movie, check out this YouTube version of the trailer:

Finally, in the spirit of the season, check out this Audio Postcard which I created yesterday and download the gift and listen to the teleseminar.

Are You Listening To The Music?

Occasionally in these entries about the writing life, I write about a recent movie. For weeks, my wife and I have watched the trailer in the theaters of August Rush. From the first time we saw it, this movie looked like one we wanted to make sure and see. The tag line for the movie says, "The Music Is Everywhere. All You Have To Do Is Listen." In a word, this movie delivers on the promise and is well-worth adding to your movie plans.

Last Saturday night, we caught a "sneak preview" of August Rush and every seat in the theater was filled. For almost two hours, we were held spellbound with this moving story. Two musicians meet and spend a night together (which is tastefully portrayed). Lyla is pregnant and goes into labor. Her controlling father implies the baby died but actually he forged her signature on the adoption papers. Eleven years later when the father goes into the hospital and is dying, he tells his daughter that her son is alive. It sets her on a search for her son. Three strands of human experience are woven into a rich storytelling experience.

Evan Taylor searches for himself and his parents. In many ways I saw the story parallel to the parable Jesus told about The Prodigal Son--yet in modern day circumstances and situations. I was fascinated with the experience of Evan and his genius talent with music. For any film like August Rush, powerful screenwriting is the foundation and this movie has such power. Original music is woven into the storytelling and combined with solid acting. It's a film that I will want to see several times in the days ahead.

The Unexpected Movie

Often on the weekend, my wife and I will head to the movies. This weekend, the selection seemed particularly thin and we almost selected a drama just because we wanted to go to something. Normally we select the romantic comedies or something which isn't too violent or sexual in content.

Then my wife suggested going to The Jane Austen Book Club which is a small independent film, which has been out for several weeks. I know Jane Austen has a huge fan base in the market yet I'll admit that I've not read anything from this author. The film has an unexpected delight to it. A group of people (some friends, some family and some strangers) come together to form The Jane Austen Book Club. A number of members in the group are intimately familiar with the books yet re-read them so they can participate in the book club meetings. With six novels, they tackle one a month. You don't have to know anything about Jane Austen to enjoy this movie. Unspoken yet a predominate theme of the movie is whether art (the creation of novels) imitates life or whether life imitates art (the novel creation and the life of Jane Austen).

Many contemporary novelists feel like they have to end with a lack of resolution to reflect the unresolved nature of our real lives--but this film wraps in a delightful and upbeat way. It is a terrific way to spend a few hours and I recommend it.

Someone To Believe

My wife and I love to go to movies. It's one of our fun weekend recreations. This weekend, we caught the new Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore romantic comedy called Music and Lyrics. Grant plays a washed up 80s pop music star named Alex Fletcher who is looking for his next hit. His life has spiraled downward until about his only course of action is to play small events for his group of aging fans. Then a new pop sensation Cora gives Alex the chance to write a new song for her next mega-hit album. Yet Cora does not make an exclusive offer. Alex is one of seven different songwriters competing for this single opportunity. Barrymore's character, Sophie Fisher enters into his home helping out her friend who waters plants. Alex sees something in Sophie that makes him believe she could be the lyricist that he needs to write the hit song. Through Alex's encouragement and persistence, the pair work together on a song. (Yes, Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore really do sing during the movie.) I loved how Sophie clicked her ballpoint pen while she was trying to create her lyrics.

The longer I'm involved in publishing, the more I've found that every writer or a creative artist of any type needs someone to believe in them--and to spur them to greatness in their craft and work. In this movie, Alex Fletcher could see something in Sophie Fisher that she couldn’t see or even if she did see it, she discounted her talent. It's more than having a person who cheers you onward, it's a matter of the other person believing that you can do it--even if at first you don't believe it yourself. Some times it's a spouse and other times it's another writer or an editor or a literary agent who will perform this function. As an editor, I've often drawn these qualities out of others. In my life, my wife, Christine, provides me with the lion's share of this function. At times, some of my writer friends provide this belief for my life. I've seen it called different things but it's a talent to spot valuable skills in others then draw these skills into action. You want to have someone who believes you can get it done and provides verbal encouragement.

If you don't have this type of person in your life, can you take some steps today to begin looking for this person? I liked what Mike Hyatt said in his post about how to boost your energy--particularly his final point. If you have energy depleting people in your life, then you need to be aware of it and take steps not to let them drain your energy. And if you are looking for a great way to spend a few hours in the movie, I recommend Music and Lyrics.