Thread: totally backwards, the gifted curse of aspergers

the end!

ok, ordinarilly, someone will write a book, and if by some miracle the author has managed to get an agent and lord forbid a book deal... the general public will be allowed to buy into said litterary work, and should sufficient people buy into it, the book in question becomes a best seller, and more often than not, when that happens, a film producer will acquire the film rights to the book, and have a film script written.

the main downside with this, is the old saying that the film is never as good as the book, which is fair comment, as every reader will have their own slant on the written word and no two people will ever view it the same way... that plus the fact that someone from the production crew will say something like "there's no way that we can create that on this budget, so lets make it similar to the book, as it will be cheaper".

But, it is always the book that comes first, allowing the film script to follow.

my problem is that i do not have the ability to write books, as i can not set a scene. to me, a room is a room, which is fine for film scripts, as set designers get free range to an extent.

thing is, it kinda pees me off that none of my scripts will ever be books.

i do have one book on the go, but thats not a book book, its a barrage of thoughts, smashed together with some celebrity bashing and heavy rants... normal for me but i know how my condition is taken by "normal" people!

its not that i can see things that other people cant see, its more like i can see them in a way that other people cant see them... and whats the point of being ahead of your time when you'll never be able to enjoy the fruits of your own labour?

does anybody using this forum enjoy writing books but more often than not get stuck for ideas? only i've got a shed load of stories that will only ever be film scripts unless i can find a writing partner of sorts.

you can not have any of the rights to any of the stories, as i own them... licence to write books from the scripts, sure, why not.

some people say that what i have is a blessing, but i can only view it as a curse, as my particular form of creative ability isnt 100%, as i have a severe lack of descriptive content.

never rains it pours

Originally Posted by Chuffmonkey

does anybody using this forum enjoy writing books but more often than not get stuck for ideas? only i've got a shed load of stories that will only ever be film scripts unless i can find a writing partner of sorts.

you can not have any of the rights to any of the stories, as i own them... licence to write books from the scripts, sure, why not.

forgive me if I have totally misunderstood this (as I am prone to misunderstandings!). But are you looking for someone to help you adapt your scripts into book form just for the fun of it?

Originally Posted by Potty

forgive me if I have totally misunderstood this (as I am prone to misunderstandings!). But are you looking for someone to help you adapt your scripts into book form just for the fun of it?

no.

what i am seeking is someone who wants to write books but has no inspiration... the reverse of how things currently are.

instead of reading my book and turning it into a film script, have one of my film scripts and turn it into a book.

as for motivation... i could call writing a lot of things, but never fun.

writing is like a sickness, a disease or addiction that cant be controlled or tamed, which is all the more worse for screen writers, as there is no industry in the UK for script writers, ask marks and gran. it is an insanity. one day, some scientists will isolate the gene responsible for making a person write, and create a medication, and i'll take that pill and be cured... but until that day arives, i will continue to see things, and then question them, and expand on it all, until its fully understood and sense can be made of it.

Forgive the quick post, as I'm on the brink of sleep, and so I'll just offer a quick two cents:

You'll be incredibly hard pressed to find an author with no imagination. An author is a director, set designer, costume designer, producer, special effects artist and scriptwriter and cameraman all rolled into one...

If you're writing a script about a room and seeing only a room, then perhaps you should go back to the scripts. If the room is just a vague nothingness then I'd say that it wouldn't do well as a literary adaptation. If it's tangible and real to you, then try and transcribe your descriptions in order to flesh out the scripts.

Sorry for the quick pace, good luck.

Originally Posted by felix

Forgive the quick post, as I'm on the brink of sleep, and so I'll just offer a quick two cents:

You'll be incredibly hard pressed to find an author with no imagination. An author is a director, set designer, costume designer, producer, special effects artist and scriptwriter and cameraman all rolled into one...

If you're writing a script about a room and seeing only a room, then perhaps you should go back to the scripts. If the room is just a vague nothingness then I'd say that it wouldn't do well as a literary adaptation. If it's tangible and real to you, then try and transcribe your descriptions in order to flesh out the scripts.

Sorry for the quick pace, good luck.

probably my own fault but there you go !

look, what i meant was, as an example, a film called amsterdam, has locations like a sex shop window for the prostitute... its a sex shop window.

by the same token, a dutch cafe is a dutch cafe, its a place where people go to get stoned.

most of my stuff is dialogue based and driven... too much info about a location causes problems when filming.

as for finding an author with no imagination... i think thats puting words into a mouth that never actually spoke them... i said writers who are stuck for ideas.

a writer with no imagination is like a footballer with no feet.

writers can be good at what they do, rowling is good at wizardry books, but could she do a love story about a coach load of footy fans going to an away game that has plenty of potential for violence? probably not, unless of course a screenplay already exists that could inspire her.... that sort of thing.

No. I'd rather write my own stories and not be in the shadow of someone else.

I've read a bit about asbergers, but can't see how it relates to the preference for writing screenplays to books.

Naturally, I've seen films that were based on books, but I've also seen books "inspired" by TV series and movies (especially in the youth market).

Originally Posted by johnM

No. I'd rather write my own stories and not be in the shadow of someone else.

good for you

Hi, there is another member here called Cartoon Shade who shoots short, independent movies based on the scripts of his team/ others. The shoots are ultra low-budget and usually feature a very small cast. But he's still making the movies.

Writing a movie and writing a book are two wholly different disciplines, not just styles. A classic movie script takes places over three acts, the characters are immediately defined (usually very 2 dimensionally) to make way for the plot. The characters arch along with the storyline and resolution is reached in 120 minutes or less.

A book does not have these constraints. The hero from chapter 2 could become a villain in chapter 12. This change alone, regardless of plot, sub-plot or other characters could take the full 10 chapters. There could be three, four, five or more acts. That is why the movie is never as good as the book, because they are very different animals.

I would say that a really good film has more in common with a slide show (like The Jetty) than it does with the linguistic world of a book.

Any, my advice would be to keep your scripts as scripts and instead of looking for someone to write a book to help you realise your ideas, go make your movies. They don't need to star Tom Cruise or cost a million dollars to be good. It's your art, those are your stories, so own them.

Alright, let's try it this way then.

Free speech etc... however, i would rather you stay silent if this is not for you / not your cup of tea, as i didn't ask for / request people that were not interested in creating books from existing screenplays... i want the reverse, i want someone or someone(s) that DO want to have a go.

And vanity aside... this is not about being in anybody else's shadow, its called collaboration.

Birds of a feather, hi-de-hi, it ain't half hot mum, relative strangers, dad's army, the simpsons, south park, family guy, friends, two and a half men, american dad, little briatain and many, many, many, many other sitcoms are / were very, very, very, very successful, as they all have / had input from more than one writer.

I know of two writers who did it all on their own, and both ended up in the nut house... spike milligan and paul metron.

And Pat Sky Writer... its aspergers... with a P, not a B... its an affliction, not foodstock, and as such, its not like a headcold or flue whereby all symptoms are the same... its autism, but unlike rainman, i dont start shouting and hitting my head if a fire alarm goes off, i cant tell you how many matches are on the floor if you drop a box of them once opened, i dont know how to play any instruments, and i couldn't acurately draw a basic stick man having looked at it only once.

It should be enough to take me at my word that i do not have it in me to write books... this is a writers forum, not a spychyatrists couch after all.

Originally Posted by BabaYaga

Hi, there is another member here called Cartoon Shade who shoots short, independent movies based on the scripts of his team/ others. The shoots are ultra low-budget and usually feature a very small cast. But he's still making the movies.

Writing a movie and writing a book are two wholly different disciplines, not just styles. A classic movie script takes places over three acts, the characters are immediately defined (usually very 2 dimensionally) to make way for the plot. The characters arch along with the storyline and resolution is reached in 120 minutes or less.

A book does not have these constraints. The hero from chapter 2 could become a villain in chapter 12. This change alone, regardless of plot, sub-plot or other characters could take the full 10 chapters. There could be three, four, five or more acts. That is why the movie is never as good as the book, because they are very different animals.

I would say that a really good film has more in common with a slide show (like The Jetty) than it does with the linguistic world of a book.

Any, my advice would be to keep your scripts as scripts and instead of looking for someone to write a book to help you realise your ideas, go make your movies. They don't need to star Tom Cruise or cost a million dollars to be good. It's your art, those are your stories, so own them.

film making i already do... thanks for the pep talk though, but this isnt about realising my ideas... ideas are not in short supply, i think they would make for interesting books is all, but its not something that i personally could do.

but thanks for highlighting the difference between book and film script, as you've put it way better than i ever could.

So, if I understand this correctly, you are looking for a writer who, at this point in their writing, for whatever reason, would be willing to take your ideas and "flush" them out into a book form. You mentioned that you have no trouble writing dialog, but that when you see or hear a setting place name, such as "an alley", or "a coffee shop", you have no internal visual "picture" regarding these place names. So you want a writer who can describe "setting" in detail, as well as incorporate your other ideas into book form.
I think someone else asked "Why?" I ask, what's the motivation for the writer? Is it just that you provide them with some ideas or are you proposing that there is an actual co-writing going on?
Would you sit together, virtually or otherwise , and go back and forth, or would the writer present a passage or chapter that the two of you would go over? Would you add dialog. To what end? You've stated that the writer would have no ownership rights over this work, as the ideas would be yours. What is the writer's motivation? Do you pay them, or give them a co-write on the cover? Sounds like a lot of time and effort. Why would they do this? What's the payoff?
Obsessive writers that can't write because they have no ideas, aren't they pretty much no longer obsessive? Like drunks that don't drink. I'm asking because I'm curious, not because I'm having a bitch fit over here. I don't know much of anything about film making or script writing. I wondered what advantage (for you) there is, of having your ideas as a book instead of a screenplay. Why do you want to do this? Is it so eventually your ideas can be turned into screenplays or sold as basisses for screenplays? I think I understand you to say that otherwise, they would simply remain unwritten ideas. Is that right? Does that mean you can't turn them (your raw ideas) into screenplays yourself? Anyway, I hope I haven't insulted. I just wanted to understand your post(s).

I can surmise by your interactions here that "collaborating" with you could be an unpleasant experience. You might be a wonderful person, but you come off as impatient, sarcastic, and petty. Those traits don't make for productive collaborations. Would I be correct in saying that all, if not most, of us already have projects that we're working on? Maybe you should try what BabaYoga suggested and make your own low-budget films. Or you can make a sampler reel—some filmmakers make 10- or 15-minute shorts in order to attract investors. I definitely wish you well.

I think that, whether writing scripts or books, you need to learn to use upper case if you want someone to take you seriously.

I have got aspergers and I think I know what you mean about descriptions. But the key is not to describe the room, it is to create it in words. Just mention the unusual things about the room, readers don't always want a lot of description anyway. I have got tonnes of imagination and ideas. Maybe you are just more keyed up for scripts, so why not send them to a local tv studio? Or the BBC?