A screenplay was my choice for my first attempt at storytelling. It made sense since I was a TV writer-producer by trade. That turned out to be true on a few levels; I knew how to write for visuals and, because I had experience writing short 10-30 second commercials, I knew how to keep scenes tight.
But, I was so wrong on another level; I didn’t even know that screenplays had to have a certain structure. I found out about three-act structure midway through. So, I started over!
Then, I studied more about point-of-view. Even though I was almost done with it, I decided the script needed a change in POV. I rewrote it all in the screenwriter’s version of first person. That is, that the audience sees nothing that the hero(ine) doesn’t see. Only, I used the POV of the two main characters. Wow. What a difference that made in the story.
Curtain of Iron was work shopped twice on Zoetrope before I entered it in the American Screenwriting contest hosted by Writer’s Digest and the American Screenwriters’ Association. And, it won the grand prize! I received $5,000, an all expenses paid trip to a Hollywood conference and a big snazzy glass trophy. I got a write-up in Writer’s Digest, too. (My last name was Clubs at the time.)
It sounds like I won instantly, doesn’t it? Well, I did win with my first script, but it took a few false starts and a lot of polishing before it was ready to show to the world.
I’ve since written just one other screenplay, Flower Child, that I will polish a bit more and enter into a few contests this spring. I’ve also published a nonfiction ebook, Selling in an Antique Mall: A Beginner’s Guide. (Antiques are another love of mine.) I’m working on the second draft of my first novel. And, of course, churn out regular babblings on nothing in particular at my own blog as well.
Read more from Inis on her blog A Lovely Thing.
You can find her book here: Selling in an Antique Mall: A Beginner’s Guide
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