“I do not object to people looking at their watches when I am speaking. But I strongly object when they start shaking them to make sure they are still going!” –Lord Birkett

OK. You have been working in the company for a few years now and, through hard work and enthusiasm, have risen up the ranks to a responsible middle-management position. You know your job backwards and are confident that you could rise to any challenge.

One day your Chief Executive asks to see you. You know you have kept your nose clean of late so this can only be good news. No doubt he has a job that needs doing and has looked no further than you. A good choice!

He sits you down and, after a little polite chat, he says:

“As you know, our company is looking to develop its services into other sectors and an opportunity has arisen to raise our profile at a national conference. If we can make our name there it could be the best thing that has happened to us in years. I need someone that I can trust to pull this off and I have been keeping an eye on you for some time. I would like you to make a presentation about our company at the conference.”

What would your reaction be? Perhaps:

* I have never spoken in public before
* Everybody will be looking at me!
* I am sure that I will forget what I have to say!
* I may get asked a difficult question!
* What happens if I screw up!

But it does not have to be so frightening. In fact, it can be immensely stimulating and rewarding. There is no other feeling like standing on a platform in front of people, with them hanging on your every word. You can see by their rapt attention that you have them in the palm of your hand. And afterwards they come up to you and say how much they have enjoyed your presentation.

You don’t believe me! Well, read on and believe how even you could PRESENT LIKE A PRO by applying my Ten Ways to WOW Your Audience

Step 1 - Understand Your Audience

“Some speakers electrify their listeners, others only gas them”
Sidney Smith

The first lesson you must learn is that your presentation must be geared towards your audience’s needs, not yours.

Your audience will respond to your approach, based broadly upon their:

- educational background
- culture
- existing knowledge of the subject
- technical expertise
- position within the organisation
- enthusiasm for the subject and event
- expectation of the experience

Ask yourself the following questions:

• How much does my audience already know about the subject?
• What do they expect from me?
• What interests them in the subject area of my presentation?
• What is their likely attitude towards me and my subject?
• Are there any ‘hidden agendas’?
• Is there any internal politics or inter-group tensions I should be aware of?
• What ‘language’ do they speak?
• Do they want to be at the event? Were they pressed to attend?
• What is the age range?
• What is their educational and social background?
• What is their cultural or ethnic background?
• Could religion and/or politics influence their reception to my presentation?
• What positions do they hold in the organisation? Is there a mix of grades present?
• What presentation style are they most likely to relate to?

Step 2 - Set Your Objectives

“Men never plan to be failures; they simply fail to plan to be successful”
William A Ward

The key to planning a powerful presentation is to determine its objectives. Again, these should be largely formed with the audience in mind. For example, they may be to:

* pass on pure information: the results of some recent market research, perhaps

* improve the work performance of members of the audience by imparting new skills or knowledge to them

* change the attitude of the audience towards factors that they have recently faced, or will be facing in the future

* persuade key decision-makers to use a product or service your organisation offers

* introduce new working policies or procedures

* entertain and amuse

Step 3 - Structure Your Presentation

“A speech should be like a lady’s dress: long enough to cover the essentials, but short enough to be interesting”
Anon

Have you ever heard anyone complaining that a presentation was too short? No? I bet that you have heard the opposite, though! Your presentation should be structured into three distinct sections:

The opening (5% - 10% of total time) has three main functions:

1. To attract the audience’s attention as a means of starting the presentation on a positive note.

2. To explain the purpose of the presentation

3. To advise the audience of any ground rules

The main body (75% - 85% of total time) should be split into a number of main sections: from three to no more than six. This is where you aim to fulfil your main objectives, be they to pass on information; change attitudes; introduce new concepts; or to entertain.
Each section should be easily identified by the audience as being separate to that which proceeds or follows it. The use of bold visual aids with the title or description of the section (possibly numbered) will assist in differentiating each section.

The conclusion (5% - 10% of total time) is the most important section of the presentation because people tend to remember the last thing they hear.

The four purposes of the conclusion are to:

1. Recap the important points you made in the main body of the presentation - although do not be tempted merely to repeat them at length. Make them short and snappy.

2. Reinforce the main message - which could be the dire consequences of not taking the actions you have proposed.

3. Provide a springboard for action: in other words what you want the members to do after the presentation.

4. End on a high note. Do not let your presentation peter out to a feeble, forgettable end.

Step 4 Practice, Practice, Practice

“When other speakers present, we applaud. But when Demosthenes speaks, we arise and go to war!”

The above quotation refers to Demosthenes, a speaker in ancient Greece, who had a stutter, but who practiced his speeches so much, with pebbles in his mouth to counter his stutter, that he became famous for his passion and eloquence.

Do not try to ‘wing it’ - the only way to guarantee a successful presentation is to practice it until it becomes second nature. Doing so:

o Helps reduce the possibility of nerves on the day
o Improves the delivery of the presentation
o Determines the timing of it
o Allows you to refine the content
o Familiarises you with any aids you will be using

Step 5 - Arrive Early and Check

“There are risks and costs to a programme of action. But they are far less than the long-range risk and costs of comfortable inaction”
J F Kennedy

It is essential that you arrive in plenty of time in advance of your presentation, not least because it will allow you time to gather your thoughts, have a glass of water and a deep breath, and relax before you take the stage. Better still, visit the venue days in advance, thus allowing you to take any necessary actions or amendments to your plans.

The principle reason for arriving early is to check every aspect appertaining to your presentation. You need to check out the:

* Room

* Environment

* Equipment

Step 6 - Control Your Nerves

“The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public”
Anon

Let’s get one thing straight first: to some degree, everyone has butterflies in the stomach before having to speak to an audience. The key is to have the butterflies flying in formation.

Can you ever remember someone having difficulties when performing or speaking in public? I bet that you felt for him and his discomfort. I bet that you wanted to find some way to help him; to reduce his discomfort. Audiences are not evil; they do not want you to fail. And if things do get a little difficult for you they will want to assist you through it, rather than revel in your discomfort. They will wait patiently; suggest words; tell you that you have missed out a page of notes; or put the transparency on the OHP upside down. After all, it could be them up there having to make the presentation! So put your fears into perspective.

Step 7 - Build Initial Rapport With Your Audience

“A speaker who does not strike oil in ten minutes should stop boring”
Louis Nizer

You have researched your audience (Step 1) so you know a lot about them. Hence, you have all the information you need to build an immediate rapport with them. One-size-fits-all may apply to socks but it does not apply to audiences. You must understand what their ‘hot buttons’ are and be prepared to press them from the outset. The over-riding objective must be to get them on your side.

Try out these ideas to build an initial rapport:

• Boost their personal egos.

• Stress the importance of their roles, however menial they believe them to be.

• Talk their language.

• Dress the part.

• Establish your credibility.

• Use examples and anecdotes they will relate to.

• Stress that you understand the challenges they face.

Step 8 - Deliver with a Passion

“We communicate with passion - and passion persuades”
Anita Roddick

Once you have built an initial rapport with your audience, you must maintain it throughout your presentation. People will have come to hear you speak with some preconceptions and expectations. They may initially have been negative but you have worked hard in your initial five to ten minutes to grab the audience’s attention and raise expectations for the remainder of your presentation. It is your job now to meet, or even exceed, their high expectations. You must stand and deliver!

There is nothing more engaging in a speaker than for her to give the impression that she is really enjoying the presentation herself. It may be that she has given that very speech a hundred times but the audience feels and believes that this is the first time and that they are being given special attention. Yes, it is about the professionalism of the delivery, but it is also about the enthusiasm behind the delivery - the passion. Speakers must make their audience believe that they, the speaker, are as interested in, and committed to, the subject as they hope their audience will be.

Step 9 - Tell Them a Story

“Once you get people laughing, they’re listening and you can tell them almost anything” –Herbert Gardner

People have been using stories as a means of passing on information and messages since time began. People would sit around a fire and exchange experiences and these stories would be passed on from generation to generation. People love to hear stories - they hold our interest as they take us from level to level, from incident to incident, building up our curiosity until all is revealed at the ending. Our love of stories begins in early childhood and never leaves us. The camp fire may have been replaced by the bar counter or the dining room table but the fascination remains. Effective speakers understand the power of storytelling and use it to good, even dramatic, effect in their presentations. Stories add variety and can be used to illustrate and emphasise messages.

Step 10 - Use Visual Aids and Props

“Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it”.
Joseph Pulitzer

Visual aids are used to add interest for your audience, and there is a wide range of such, including:

* Slides (OHP or PowerPoint)

* Video

* Flipcharts

* Slide projectors

* Props, models, jigsaws, Lego pieces etc

* Graphs, charts

* Demonstrations

* Cartoons

* Photographs

* Handouts

Props. Even novice speakers should consider using props as well as visual aids. Props are particularly good at adding interest and humour to a presentation. Here are some props that I and fellow speakers have used to good effect:

• A giant toy telephone to reinforce points about telephone selling.

• Throwing small toy dinosaurs or ostriches into the audience when talking about people’s resistance to change.

• Simple magic tricks.

• Wearing costumes - from complete clown outfits to a simple baseball hat.

• Toy bombs or machine guns to grab the audience’s attention through noise.

• Aerosol sprays to invoke the sense of smell associated with a story, perhaps.

Copyright Alan Cutler 2005

Permission is given for this article to be copied and used in any way so long as it is not changed in any way.

Alan Cutler is a Member of The Professional Speakers Association and The International Federation of Professional Speakers. Further details of his services are at http://www.leadershiptalks.com

This article is taken from his 48-page ebook ‘PRESENT LIKE A PRO! Ten Ways to WOW Your Audience’. Copies can be purchased for immediate download for only $14.95 by clicking on http://www.leadershiptalks.co.uk/productdetail.cfm?ProductID=14

One of the most common weaknesses I see in day-to-day
writing is poor logical flow from one idea or point to
the next. This usually takes the form of a bunch of
seemingly unrelated phrases thrown together with little
or no sense of sequence, continuity, or relativity.

Although the overall subject may be obvious, the words
to describe it seem to be scattered on the page like an
almost random set of unconnected thoughts. On a regular
basis, I see letters and reports in which each phrase
seems to be independent of the one before and the one
after, when in reality, there is an actual sequential
and/or logical flow.

Consider the following three sentence example:

1. The entire building had to be searched.

2. They started the search on the third floor.

3. It took three hours to complete the search.

Notice that the three separate statements are all valid
sentences. They convey the bare essential facts of the
situation, but nothing more. In fact, they raise almost
more questions than they answer. For example:

- Was it a serious incident?

- Had it ever happened before?

- Why did they start on the third floor?

- What about the first two floors?

- How big/high was the building?

- Is three hours a long time for that?

- How long does it usually take?

These are all logical (and obvious) questions that the
average person might ask when reading a paragraph made
up of the three sentences above.

Let’s transform these now, using transition phrases:

“UNLIKE the previous minor incident, this time the entire
building had to be searched. BECAUSE the fire was still
smoking on the first two floors, they had to start on the
third, working upwards to the tenth, covering the first two floors last. CONSEQUENTLY, it took them a full three hours before they finally completed the typical two-hour job.”

Notice the use of the transition words: UNLIKE, BECAUSE,
and CONSEQUENTLY. Using these three words has allowed us
to easily connect the three independent sentences and
give them a sense of chronological order and logical flow.
They also allow us to answer ALL of the obvious questions,
either with the transition word itself, or by adding a
couple more words.

In short, transition words/phrases have turned three dry
independent phrases into a little story that makes sense
to the reader.

These types of words/phrases are ideal for allowing one
to easily connect thoughts, and create logical sequences
between sentences and paragraphs. They are usually inserted
at the beginning of a sentence and normally refer directly
back to the previous sentence and/or paragraph without
repeating the specific subject.

The following paragraphs list some of the more common
transition words and phrases that will help make your
text more understandable and interesting to the reader.
For each one, I have included a typical example of how
the word/phrase might be used in a typical sentence.

Note that I have capitalized the transition words/phrases
for emphasis and easy identification.

CAUSE AND EFFECT…

THEN, he moved on to the next work station.

AS A RESULT, the team lost the game.

FOR THIS REASON, she always went home for the weekend.

THE RESULT WAS always predictable.

WHAT FOLLOWED was as painful as it was inevitable.

IN RESPONSE, he quickly upped the ante.

THEREFORE, the aircraft overshot the runway.

THUS, it was just a matter of time.

BECAUSE OF THIS, the results were always the same.

CONSEQUENTLY, he was no longer friends with Frank.

THE REACTION to this event was swift and decisive.

IN CONTRAST TO…

UNLIKE last year, this one was highly profitable.

DIFFERENT from this, was our approach to manufacturing.

IN SPITE OF the dot com bust, the company prospered.

ON THE OTHER HAND, earnings per share have increased.

ON THE CONTRARY, the impact was less than expected.

OPPOSING that idea was the move to new technologies.

HOWEVER, that approach may actually prove better.

CONTRARY to his findings, the revenue picture is good.

NEVERTHELESS, something still appears to be missing.

SEQUENCE AND RELATIVITY…

THEN, each one followed in numerical sequence.

IN ADDITION, a fourth material was added to the mix.

TO ENUMERATE, first there was the car, second the boat,…

NEXT in the series was the “outrigger” brand line.

BESIDES THAT, there were two other possible sources.

SIMILARITY AND COMPARISON…

LIKE always, he took the company on a dangerous course.

SAME as before, he managed to meet all of the requirements.

SIMILAR things were known to happen at certain times.

CLOSE to that was the result of the second round of voting.

LIKEWISE, they made similar changes in the factory.

ALSO, there were the worker’s families to consider.

NEAR that one, was where we found the faulty component.

EXPLANATION AND EXAMPLE…

FOR EXAMPLE, last year’s model was underpowered.

ONE SUCH occurrence was last week’s power outage.

FOR INSTANCE, earnings this year are higher than last.

TO ILLUSTRATE, he went to Chicago just to make his point.

ALSO, there is a new approach to sheet-metal moulding.

TO DEMONSTRATE, I will use the new model throughout.

The above are just examples, and there many other such
transition words and phrases that are used in everyday
conversation and writing. In my opinion, appropriate use
of these words/phrases is the number one technique for
making any type of writing flow logically and clearly.

Bottom line: Smooth, orderly and logical transitions
from one thought to the other, one sentence to the next,
and one paragraph to another — are key to creating clear
meaning and flow in any document. Transition words and
phrases will achieve this for you.

© 2005 by Shaun Fawcett

Shaun Fawcett, is webmaster of the popular writing help site
WritingHelp-Central.com. He is also the author of several
best selling “writing toolkit” eBooks. All of his eBooks and
his internationally acclaimed f-r-e-e course, “Tips and Tricks
For Writing Success” are available at his writing tools site:
http://www.writinghelptools.com

Virtually everything ever written about freelance writing and getting published says that you need to write query letters. Yet in the Internet Age, the truth of the matter is that query letters are almost always a huge waste of time.

Certainly some people do get work by writing query letters. But the query process soon turns into a numbers game, almost like a direct mail campaign. You have to send out so many queries to get meaningful responses that you won’t have much time left to do any actual work. A good query letter must be carefully crafted and painstakingly personalized. To compose one that doesn’t sound cutesy or contrived is difficult and time-consuming.

The reality is that you must think of editors as your potential customers. They control the budget and whether or not to buy from you. It is NEVER a good idea to harass or inconvenience a customer. For many busy editors, query letters are annoying. Often they are just another form of junk mail.

Now you’re probably thinking, “If editors don’t read query letters, how does anyone ever get published?” What the writing books don’t tell you is that article topics are often defined far in advance. At many magazines, editors figure out a monthly or yearly plan. Barring some earth-shattering catastrophe, the editors stick to that plan. The standard query letter is usually a waste of time because with the calendar of topics decided well in advance, off-topic queries are ignored. In other words, your carefully crafted query letter gets round-filed, not because it’s bad, but because it had no hope of being used.

The fact that query letters are often thrown away doesn’t mean editors don’t use freelance writers; they do. But the reality is that editors tend to rely on a stable of writers who have proven themselves experts on the magazine’s chosen topics. So if you want to be published, your task is to discover those topics and become one of those experts.

From an editor’s point of view, few decent writers actually exist out there in the big world. Editors have simple needs: they want articles that are original, easy to read, accurate, and on time.

Flakey writers that don’t meet deadlines are the bane of every editor and publisher in the industry. If you meet your deadlines, every time with no excuses, you will stand out from the pack. If you consistently send articles that are:

* precisely focused on a topic the magazine wants to run;
* written in the magazine’s chosen style and tone;
* 100% accurate and error free;
* formatted the way the magazine wants them;
* and arrive BEFORE the deadline

an editor will notice you!

Okay, so what if you’ve never written for that magazine before? Instead of querying, do some research on the magazine. After you have read the magazine and any available writer’s guidelines, write a polite letter to the editor to ask for an editorial calendar and explain your expertise.

This method is far preferable to any query letter, no matter how clever or well-written. Why? With some concise information about you, often an editor can tell whether or not your writing will be a good fit for my publication.

For example, if you say that you have written articles for managers about “enterprise computing” and the editor works for a “how to use Microsoft Word step by step” magazine, it’s likely that you won’t be the right writer for that magazine.

However, if you explain that you spent two years teaching “introduction to word processing” classes at your local YMCA, and that you wrote handouts for your students about how to get started using Microsoft Word, that same editor might just encourage you to submit a few articles! At the very least, the editor might send you the editorial calendar.

Don’t forget the basics! Simple little things often make you stand out from the crowd and help your chances of getting published. For example, when writing an e-mail or letter to an editor, always remember that you are writing to someone who spends a lot of time with words and probably has a degree in English or Journalism. Double-check your spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Format properly. If you don’t compose your e-mail competently and professionally, editors won’t believe that you can write a good article.

And finally, be truthful. Don’t inflate your credentials. Don’t fib about how much you know about a topic. Don’t gush, and don’t sell. Just state your credentials concisely, clearly, and correctly. Editors don’t need to be sold and they have no tolerance for hype. They’re just too busy to put up with it.

Susan Daffron is the President of Logical Expressions, Inc. (http://www.logicalexpressions.com) and is the author of more than 70 national magazine articles, 200 newspaper articles, two books, and online training courses. With hundreds of online articles to her credit, she regularly publishes ezines on computer tips (Logical Tips), pet care (Pet Tails), and other topics.

The Three Act Structure

By Patrick Dent New Online Bookstore

As the craft of writing has evolved, it has naturally formed the
plot structure most pleasant to the human mind. This is the
Three Act Structure, and it applies to short stories, novels and
screenplays alike. What follows is the general flow of the Three
Act Structure.

ACT ONE - The Setup

In Act One the protagonist meets all of the characters in the
story. We also learn the main problem of the story. Everybody
can usually plot Act One because we have to know the problem to
have the idea. The trick in Act One is to keep it interesting.
Don’t just start rolling out story points. Start at the most
interesting point, where there is conflict and excitement, and
help the audience sort it out. Act One is a preparation act for
the viewer or reader. This is where they learn about the central
character - whether they like him, whether they care about him,
and whether they care about his dilemma. The protagonist may be
the hero or the villain, depending on whose story is more
interesting, whose story drives the plot forward. You should
open Act One with a bang. Don’t start at “Once upon a time.”
Open with a hook. By the end of Act One you should also have
introduced the protagonist, the antagonist and set up all of the
secondary character relationships.

Here are some general guidelines for the objectives of Act One.
1. Establish the status quo for the protagonist. 2. Present the
initial impetus for a move or change by the protagonist. 3. Ask
the central question of the book. Summarize your book in 25
words or less and you will find the central question of your
book. 4. Define the wants of the major characters and their
reasons for desiring these things. 5. Lay the groundwork and
establish the stakes for the chase to occur in Act 2.

ACT TWO - The Chase

This is the most important act in the drama because you have the
two most important structural moves in the story. 1. It
complicates the initial problem. 2. It defeats the protagonist
at its end.

The complication usually comes at the top of Act Two. The
problem that we already set up in Act One, now has to become
much more dangerous and difficult. A good way to design the
complication is to let it be a piece of the back-story that has
remained hidden until Act Two. The protagonist must then start
to try to solve this bigger, more complicated problem, while the
adversaries make moves to defeat them. Your adversaries must be
in motion. Adversaries should not be standing around, waiting to
be caught. The end of Act Two marks the destruction of the
protagonist’s plan. At the end of Act Two the protagonist should
be almost destroyed, and at the lowest point in the drama,
either physically and/or emotionally. He (or she) is flat on his
back and it looks like there is no way he can succeed.

Here are some general guidelines for the objectives of Act Two.
1. The protagonist behaves differently, more assertive 2. The
protagonist tries to do the right thing, but is foiled by the
antagonist three times. These are called reversals. Think of any
story and spot the reversals. The overall conflict has three
reversals and one conclusion. 3. Use the information presented
in Act One. This is the groundwork we discussed during Act One.
Objects and facts that appeared in the background of Act One now
take on new meanings significant to the plot. 4. Make the chase
unpredictable, stimulating, engaging and unique. 5. Rely heavily
on physical action. 6. Put the characters in interesting
situations and locations, ensuring those situations and
locations relate to the hero’s intent.

ACT THREE

This is simply the resolution of the problem. From the rubble
laying around him/her, the protagonist picks up a piece of
string and follows it to the eventual conclusion of the story.
Some stories have downbeat endings, where the protagonist learns
a lesson, but dies or is defeated. Of course, there is no
precise formula for success. It is always possible to alter this
Three Act Structure, but remember, if you break these plot
rules, you should at least know why you are doing it.

Here are some general guidelines for the objectives of Act
Three. 1. Answer the central question of the book. 2. Fulfill
all the promises made in Acts One and Two. 3. Answer all
questions asked in Acts One and Two - no loose ends. 4. The
protagonist must undergo a change to conquer a larger version of
something that conquered him during Act 1.

For more information on writing and selling fiction, please
visit www.new-online-bookstore.com and go to New Authors, where
we have a free, 8-segment tutorial on the craft of writing and a
5 segment series on internet marketing - both free.

Patrick Dent New Online Bookstore New Books by New Authors
Expect a little more…And get it.
http://www.new-online-bookstore.com
info@new-online-bookstore.com

ADAPTATION 101

Brimming with confidence, you’ve just signed the check purchasing the rights to adapt John Doe’s fabulous, but little known novel, Lawrence of Monrovia, to screenplay form. Suddenly, panic sets in. “What was I thinking? How the devil am I going to convert this 400-page novel to a 110-page screenplay?”

The answer is: “The same way you transport six elephants in a Hyundai… three in the front seat and three in the back!”

Old and very bad jokes aside, how does one pour ten gallons of story into a one-gallon jug?

In this article, we’ll take a look at this challenge and a few others that a writer may encounter when adapting a novel to screenplay form.

CHALLENGE NUMBER ONE - LENGTH
Screenplays rarely run longer than 120 pages. Figuring one page of a screenplay equals one minute of film, a 120-page screenplay translates into a two-hour motion picture. Much longer than that and exhibitors lose a showing, which translates to fewer six-cent boxes of popcorn sold for $5.99 at the refreshment stand. It took the author of your source material 400 pages to tell the story. How can you possibly tell the same story in 110 pages, the ideal length for a screenplay by today’s industry standards?

And the answer to this question is no joke. “You can’t! Don’t even try!”

Instead, look to capture the essence and spirit of the story. Determine the through-line and major sub-plot of the story and viciously cut everything else.

By “through-line” I mean, WHO (protagonist) wants WHAT (goal), and WHO (antagonist) or WHAT (some other force) opposes him or her? It helps to pose the through-line as a question.

“Will Dorothy find her way back to Kansas despite the evil Wicked Witch of the West’s efforts to stop her?”

The same needs to be done for the major sub-plot.

“Will Dorothy’s allies achieve their goals despite the danger they face as a result of their alliance?”

One workable technique is to read the book, set it aside for a few weeks, and then see what you still remember of the story’s through-line. After all, your goal is to excerpt the most memorable parts of the novel, and what you remember best certainly meets that criterion.

In most cases, everything off the through-line or not essential to the major sub-plot has to go. Develop your outline, treatment or “beat sheet” accordingly.

CHALLENGE NUMBER TWO - VOICE
Many novels are written in the first person. The temptation to adapt such, using tons of voiceovers, should be resisted. While limited voiceovers can be effective when properly done, remember that audiences pay the price of admission to watch a MOTION (things moving about) PICTURE (stuff you can SEE). If they wanted to HEAR a story they’d visit their Uncle Elmer who drones on for hour upon hour about the adventures of slogging through the snow, uphill, both ways, to get to and from school when he was a kid, or perhaps they’d buy a book on tape.

The old screenwriting adage, “Show, don’t tell!” applies more than ever when writing an adaptation.

CHALLENGE NUMBER THREE - “LONG-THINKING”
Some tribes of American Indians had a word to describe those of their brethren who sat around thinking deep thoughts. Literally the word translated to, “THE DISEASE OF LONG-THINKING”. Quite often, lead characters in novels suffer from this disease.

“Mike knew in his heart that Judith was no good. Yet she caused such a stirring in his loins, he could think of nothing else. He feared someday he would give in to this temptation named Judith, and his surrender would surely bring about the end of his marriage!”

If adapted directly, how on Earth would a director film the above? All we would SEE is Mike sitting there, “long-thinking”. That is not very exciting to say the least. And as mentioned previously, voiceovers are rarely the best solution.

When essential plot information is presented only in a character’s thought or in the character’s internal world, one solution is to give this character a sounding board, another character, to which his thoughts can be voiced aloud. Either adapt an existing character from the novel or create a new one. Of course as always, you should avoid overly obvious exposition by cloaking such dialogue in conflict, or through some other technique. Even better, figure out a way to express the character’s dilemma or internal world through action in the external world.

CHALLENGE NUMBER FOUR - WHAT STORY?
Mark Twain is quoted as saying about Oakland, California, “There’s no there, there”. Similarly, some novels, even successful ones, are very shy on story and rely for the most part on style and character to create an effect. Some prose writers are so good at what they do, that their artful command of the language alone is enough to maintain reader interest. Such is never the case in screenwriting.

Successfully adapting a “no-story-there” novel to screenplay form is a daunting task. One approach is to move away from direct adaptation toward, “story based upon”. Use the brilliant background and characters created by the original author as a platform from which to launch a screen story. In fact, if for any reason a screenplay doesn’t lend itself to screenplay form, consider moving toward a “based upon” approach, rather than attempting a direct adaptation.

Congratulations! You’re now an expert on adapting novels to screenplay form! Well maybe not an expert, but hopefully you have a better understanding of how to approach the subject than you did ten minutes ago. And if the subject still seems too daunting, you can always get professional help as outlined on our web page http://www.coverscript.com/adaptation.html

Copyright © 2004 Lynne Pembroke and Jim Kalergis, Coverscript.com

About the Author

Lynne Pembroke is a writer, poet and screenwriter. Over 18 years of experience in screenwriting and screenplay analysis, helping individual writers and a variety of areas within the industry. Services include screenplay, TV script and treatment analysis, ghostwriting, rewriting and adaptation of novel to screenplay. Jim Kalergis is a working screenwriter experienced in the art of adaptation. Visit http://www.coverscript.com for details.