It is the first problem every writer
faces; no, not how will I ever get my great American novel published,
but having to pick a subject for your story. I have three criteria
that I base this decision on for my work; Marketability, Originality
and Strength.
MARKETABILITY: The harsh reality
is unless you are already and established writer with a strong fan
base, novels do not sell themselves, just as screenplays do not
sprout wings and land into the hands of producers. Every aspect will
require a lot of hard work from the writer, that is why it is best
to feel confident about the marketability of your idea before you
write the first word.
- Who is your audience?
- Does this story feel like it could
appeal to people of many walks of life?
- Would this story be relevant to an
international audience?
These are the kinds of questions you
should be asking yourself. It is possible and ideal to write a novel
or screenplay that would win the interest of a small, niche group as
well as a wide range of people. It all comes down to the subject.
Cam-Girl, my first
produced screenplay and the novel adaptation Box Cutter Killer
is about a single mother who works as a web cam stripper and is pushed to
the limit when a stalker invades her life. Thriller or Horror films
tend to do well even when produced on lower budgets and as the saying
goes; sex sells. This was a highly marketable idea for a movie that
could be produced on a low budget; that is why with Cam-Girl
my writing finally started getting noticed and eventually produced
and picked up by a distributor.
ORIGINALITY: Has your story
already been told? If the subject has been explored in other work you
could tell your story from a different point of view or write it in a
genre that would make it original. For example, Warm Bodies
is a horror-love story told from the perspective of a male zombie who is torn between true love and a hunger for brains. Of course there
is Shaun of The Dead, the most successful horror-comedy to
ever hit theaters.
Just look at how often Macbeth has been remade in countless original film adaptations; Akira Kurosawa made his with samurai’s and set it in Japan with Throne Of Blood. Roman Polanski made his distinctly European version and Scotland,PA told the story of Macbeth with a hamburger stand as the main location.
Figuring out if your story is original or not requires that you do the research. Do a search online for books or movies about your subject. I make it my job to watch thousands of movies, all kinds of movies. That is how I knew writing the screenplay for Cam-Girl in 2009 was a good idea. Web cam stripping was a fairly new profession at that time and I found the subject interesting. I thought of a story that would be a good fit for a protagonist who was a cam girl, then I was off and running. Most importantly, there were no other films on that subject; there were many movies about strippers, but not cam girls.
Just look at how often Macbeth has been remade in countless original film adaptations; Akira Kurosawa made his with samurai’s and set it in Japan with Throne Of Blood. Roman Polanski made his distinctly European version and Scotland,PA told the story of Macbeth with a hamburger stand as the main location.
Figuring out if your story is original or not requires that you do the research. Do a search online for books or movies about your subject. I make it my job to watch thousands of movies, all kinds of movies. That is how I knew writing the screenplay for Cam-Girl in 2009 was a good idea. Web cam stripping was a fairly new profession at that time and I found the subject interesting. I thought of a story that would be a good fit for a protagonist who was a cam girl, then I was off and running. Most importantly, there were no other films on that subject; there were many movies about strippers, but not cam girls.
STRENGTH: This third criteria can
sometimes be overlooked by writers and it never should be. Write for
your strengths. Can you relate to your subject, story or protagonist
in a personal way? If so great, write about that and express
yourself through the story. Maybe you have other comfort zones; like
a style of writing you know is your strong suit. Take the best
selling author Chuck Palahniuk for example. Fight Club,
Invisible Monsters, and Damned all center around
interesting iconoclasts, outsiders who live on the outskirts of
society. It could be due to radical political views, sexual
orientation or going from immense wealth then into the depths of Hell, but
all of his narrators have something that sets them apart.
Are you great at writing dialogue? If so pick stories that are character driven. Aaron Sorkin, KevinSmith, Quentin Tarantino and David Mamet have based their careers on
the strength of their dialogue. Novelist Hubert Selby Jr. has a gift
for writing street people, he cuts through his narrative with authentic
slang dialogue in his novels such as Requiem For A Dream and
Last Exit To Brooklyn.
Since I wrote a few screenplays before Cam-Girl I knew character and dialogue were what I am best at. Cam-Girl and Box Cutter Killer have their moments of action an suspense but they are largely character driven pieces that are full of hard hitting lines of dialogue. The movie has some humorous and introspective voice over which is something I always enjoyed writing and made Cam-Girl easier to adapt into a novel. I hope this has helped to inspire some ideas for your writing. Anyone can enjoy a well told story, all you have to do is write it.
