Preparation and Perseverance: My Screenwriting Journey

By Elaine Klonicki, www.TheAuthenticLane.com

As several others have mentioned in their posts on this blog, one of the benefits of joining TAF is the opportunity to meet other writers. Although we started as a nonfiction group, over the years, we have morphed into an organization for all types of writers. I find it fascinating to talk with folks who work in other genres and learn about their craft.

While I initially thought nonfiction and fiction were completely different animals, I’ve come to understand how much overlap there is between them. Learning about other types of writing has greatly enhanced my own skills.

For example, some years ago, I met Jennifer Harrington, who writes award-winning historical romance novels, but has also dabbled in screenwriting since college. I was curious about the genre and peppered her with questions. She loaned me several of her screenwriting books, including “Save the Cat,” Blake Snyder’s popular guide featuring a 15-point story structure. I started reading it and was hooked.

This was not long after I had self-published “All on Account of You: A True WWII Love Story,” a memoir about my parents’ courtship based on interviews with my mom when she was in her mid-80s. My folks had dated in their hometown, the railroad hub of Altoona, Pennsylvania, before she left to attend fashion design school in New York City. They reconnected when my father went through naval officer training on a ship docked on the Hudson River. The story is told in large part through my dad’s romantic love letters. Many of my readers suggested they “saw” the story as a movie while reading it and asked if I had thought about making a movie about it.

Challenge accepted!

Since visual storytelling was new to me, I read everything I could get my hands on about writing screenplays. Following instructions for writing an adaptation, I printed out my whole memoir and highlighted only the visual parts. That was my starting point for the story structure. Then I began adding dialogue. Since my “characters” were real family members, it was not as difficult as it might have been. My writing partner and developmental editor, Cindy Brody, contributed greatly to the project.

My road to a completed screenplay was long and winding, with many fits and starts, but I kept going back to it. In 2010, excited about an early draft, I entered some screenplay contests and received feedback from professional reviewers. While they were drawn to the 1940s time period and the storyline of a feisty, independent young woman and a brilliant but sensitive suitor, their opinion was that my screenplay wasn’t quite “there” yet. Here’s an excerpt:  

“A nice competent effort, and genuine sincere emotion here… Mainly, though, it feels rather more like a procession of events and lacks the dramatic development, the cinematic back and forth, that makes something a compelling piece of filmed drama.”

Ouch!

Devastated after putting so much work into it, I set it aside and turned to other projects, including article and blog writing and copy editing for others. I also cared for my aging mother until she passed. I did keep my hand in screenwriting just a bit by attending the Write Now! conference sessions by Scott Myers and S. A. Cosby.

During those years, since I really enjoy reading historical fiction, Jennifer Harrington had asked me to be a beta reader for many of her books. Looking back, I can see now that our discussions about character motivations, emotions, and story arcs informed my understanding about how rich, historical stories are crafted.

Nearly two years ago, a great-niece considering film school asked to read my screenplay in order to know her great-grandparents better. I told her it needed some polishing up first. I read it again, along with the original reviews, with a much more objective eye and realized the professionals were on point in their assessment: it lacked the intensity, drama, and conflict we’re used to seeing in films. It was a humbling experience, but I’d gotten much better at accepting feedback in the intervening years.

Back to the drawing board!

I decided to give the project another go and dug back in with fresh eyes and renewed enthusiasm. I knew that if I wanted to see my story on screen, I had to free myself from the original storyline. Sticking too close to it wasn’t working. As with most adaptations, it needed to be somewhat fictionalized for the screen.

Once I pivoted, I surprised myself by conjuring up scene after scene to create more interesting and dramatic story arcs for my characters while still keeping the gist of their story intact. I had never written fiction before, but I had studied screenwriting so diligently over the years that I seemed to have internalized the methods and goals. During my long time away from the project, I had also become a better writer. Feeling more confident about my skills, I even had more fun working on it than the first go-round.

This time, Jennifer Harrington acted as my beta reader and gave valuable, actionable suggestions. Several other TAF members were kind enough to give helpful feedback to me as well.

Now, after having incorporated the changes and completed another full revision, and after receiving the blessing of my great-niece who just finished her first year of film school, I am working on getting the movie made. I know it’s a tall task, but I’ve been doing my homework and am determined. I created a “pitch deck” — a PowerPoint slide presentation filled with pictures and location references. I used colors and fonts representative of the time period to help potential filmmakers envision the 1940s settings.

The best news came this week when the results of a contest I entered were announced. My screenplay is a quarterfinalist in the StoryPros Screenwriting Award contest! That means “All on Account of You” is in the top 20% of roughly 1,000 entries. I couldn’t be more excited.

I’m proud I didn’t give up after receiving the less-than-stellar feedback on my first draft. Perseverance and the ability to handle rejections were the two most important lessons TAF founder Don Vaughan drilled into us at my freelancing class with him in 2006. They have held me in good stead.

While I can spin up an article or a blog fairly quickly, I’ve learned that full-length books and screenplays have their own timelines. Some of them have to percolate in our heads for a while, and some have to wait until our skills catch up to the requirements of the genre. In my case, I think things worked out just the way they were supposed to.

Elaine Klonicki is a freelance writer who has been published in Writers Digest, Military Officer, Boys’ Life, Midtown, Wake Living, and The News & Observer. She blogs about personal growth, family, and relationships at www.TheAuthenticLane.com. Elaine is the author of the memoir All on Account of You: A WWII Love Story which she has adapted for film. A certified independent copy editor, she has helped a number of authors self-publish their books and eBooks.