SIMULATE News: Filming a Book Trailer

Instead of writing a post apologizing for not blogging in forever, I'm going to give you peoples a very quick overview of what's happening in my writing life (which, coincidentally, has very little to do with writing.)

My WIP, SIMULATE, is currently in its third draft. For me, this means that I'm taking last year's nearly completed, 83k manuscript, and re-working it. Adding a bigger plot, changing scenes, taking some elements out, adding others, changing characters... it's basically a new novel. And it's always changing. I thought I had it figured out a couple weeks ago, but then I got some cool new ideas so I have to fit those in, too.

But what I really want to talk about is an exciting new project I've started with some friends. We're filming a book trailer for SIMULATE! It so happens that one of my good friends loves filming (she's going into a film program at university) and a lot of my other friends are actors/actresses, so I have the perfect people to make a trailer.

The style of trailer we've chosen is similar to the trailer for Veronica Rossi's UNDER THE NEVER SKY, which has various shots done as if the book was a movie. However, instead of having dialogue in the shots, we're just having the narrator do a voice-over for the whole trailer. So, it's sort of a cross between a more traditional book trailer and a movie trailer. I've been disappointed with a lot of book trailers I've seen recently, so I wanted to create one that would draw me in to the story.

We've filmed two days now, a total of about seven hours, and probably have about half of the footage that we'll need for the trailer. Since one of my friends who plays a main character is leaving on Saturday to go perform across the country, we had to hurry and do his scenes today. Even though we had to work quickly and try to adapt (filming a futuristic book trailer in little ole PEI isn't easy), I think everyone involved had fun. For instance, two of my friends got to do some epic fight scenes, which I really enjoyed. It helped that one of them managed to cut his arm on a tree branch, so we had real blood to work with... (don't worry, it was more of a scratch than a cut!)

There was one awkward part, though, where two of my friends had to kiss. We had to have the scene, since it's really pivotal in the book, but since one of my friends is dating (someone else), and the other has never been kissed, we made it a stage kiss instead. Still, they had to do it about ten times, which easy could have been awkward, but they were great about it. Even though they didn't actually kiss it looked real, which is what counted. Plus, afterwards my female friend got to really slap my guy friend, which definitely made up for the kiss. :)

Basically, that's what's happening in the world of SIMULATE. I'll try and post more often about the writing process, since this type of editing is new to me, and as soon as the book trailer is up I'll let you know!

Cut the Boring

Recently, I entered the first 1250 words of my WIP, SIMULATE in a workshop on Adventures in Children’s Publishing. It’s a great opportunity; five writers submit pieces, then receive critiques from their fellow participants and two professional writers. The stories were first posted two Mondays ago, my first revision went up this Monday, and the second revision (which I have yet to write) will go up next Monday.

Probably the best thing I learned from this workshop so far is to not let my beginning be boring. That may sound obvious, but I ignored that crucial piece of advice. My first chapter has a crazy cliffhanger that has my friends clamouring for more months after I read it to them. However, the first 1250 words felt a little blah. Here’s what people had to say about it:

 I'd like more focus on the action, as well as perhaps a sense of urgency. Right now, it feels like just another routine job for your narrator, 

It has a happy-go-lucky feel that doesn't seem threatening yet.

So far, you’re explaining challenges that aren’t really challenges, because everything can just be redone. Rather than building interest or tension, you are making it sound like the worst they have to cope with is an untied shoe. That isn’t what you’re saying, but that is the feeling you are accidentally conveying. 

The first thing I thought when I read these comments was, ‘Yeah… this is a routine job for her. It is kinda happy-go-lucky; pretty much the worst thing that could happen is an untied shoe. That’s what’s going on.’

My second thought was, Why? Why do I need to begin the book with a routine job? Why do I begin with such a happy-go-lucky feel? Why do my readers want to read about someone whose worst problem is an untied shoe? Yes, the end of my chapter throws a huge wrench in everything, but there’s absolutely no reason why I need to wait until the end of my first chapter to hook readers. If I wait that long, I may never hook them at all.

In short, there’s absolutely no reason for my book to be boring. The excuse ‘Well, that’s how it’s supposed to be’ is no excuse at all. Yes, my book was supposed to begin with a routine job for my narrator. But why? Why start the book off with something boring? Instead, I should be building tension from the very first page up until the crazy cliffhanger.

There’s no reason for your book to be boring, either. Next time someone says it’s boring and you think ‘Yes, but that’s the way the story goes’ ask yourself Why? If there’s no reason for it to be boring other than the fact that you’ve always imagined it that way, then maybe it’s time to change your story. The tension should be stretched to the max at every point in your story. Don’t let any part be boring just because that’s the way you’ve always thought it should be.

If you want to see just how boring my original draft was, and how I fixed it, check out my story on Adventures in Children’s Publishing. Here’s the original draft, and here’s the revised version, which I would absolutely love comments on!