Writing Love: Screenwriting Tricks for Authors II

by Alexandra Sokoloff

A revised and expanded second volume of award-winning author and screenwriter Alexandra Sokoloff's Screenwriting Tricks For Authors workbook, with a special emphasis on writing love.

Screenwriting is a compressed and dynamic storytelling form and the techniques of screenwriting are easily adaptable to novel writing. You can jump-start your plot and bring your characters and scenes vibrantly alive on the page - by watching your favorite movies and learning from the storytelling tricks of great filmmakers.

With this workbook you'll learn how to use techniques of film writing such as:

- the High Concept Premise
- the Three-Act, Eight-Sequence Structure
- the Storyboard Grid
- the Index Card Method of Plotting

- as well as tricks of film pacing and suspense, character arc and drive, visual storytelling, creating setpieces, and building image systems - to structure and color your novel for maximum emotional impact, suspense, and pacing, no matter what genre you're writing in.

Contains all the general story structure lessons of STFA I and much more, but with special attention to key story elements, techniques and examples from romantic comedy, romantic suspense, and romantic adventure, including ten full story breakdowns.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

PART ONE: STORY STRUCTURE

1. The Master List
2. What's Your Premise?
3. First, You Need an Idea
4. What KIND of Story Is It?
5. The Three-Act, Eight-Sequence Structure
6. The Index Card Method
7. Story Elements Checklist
8. Elements of Act I
9. Plan, Central Question, Central Story Action
10. What's The Plan?
11. Hero/ine, Protagonist, Main Character
12. Hero and Heroine, Lover and Loved One
13. What Makes A Great Villain?
14. Elements of Act Two
15. Elements of Act Two, Part 2
16. Elements of Act Three
17. Top Ten Endings
18. What Makes a Great Climax?
19. Act Climaxes Overview and Examples
20. Expanding on the Key Story Elements
21. Expanded Story Elements Checklist
22. Love Story Elements
23. Fairy Tale Structure
24. Meta Structure
25. What is "High Concept"?
26. The Rule of Three
27. Voice
28. First Chapters
29. Theme and Thematic Image Systems
30. Visual Storytelling
31. Creating Suspense
32. Plants and Payoffs
33. The Big Twist
34. Character Introductions
35. Using Character Clusters
36. Your First Draft is Always Going to Suck
37. Top Ten Things I Know About Editing
38. A Process for Writing

PART TWO: STORY BREAKDOWNS

39. The Breakdowns
40. Leap Year
41. While You Were Sleeping
42. Notting Hill
43. Four Weddings and a Funeral
44. The Proposal
45. New in Town
46. Groundhog Day
47. Sense and Sensibility
48. Romancing the Stone
49. Sea of Love

PART THREE: THE BUSINESS

50. Life is a Pitch Meeting
51. How Do I Get a Literary Agent?
52. Internet Resources for Writers
53. So You Want to Know About Screenwriting
54. Recommended Reading

Figure 1: Story Grid

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Crafts

Nook

First published July 18, 2011

About the author

I'm the Thriller Award-winning and Bram Stoker and Anthony Award-nominated author of the bestselling and very feminist HUNTRESS MOON thrillers: Huntress Moon, Blood Moon, Cold Moon. Bitter Moon, Hunger Moon, Shadow Moon and the supernatural thrillers The Harrowing, The Price, Book of Shadows, The Unseen, The Space Between. The New York Times Book Review has called me "a daughter of Mary Shelley" and my novels "some of the most original and freshly unnerving work in the genre."

I'm a California native and a graduate of U.C. Berkeley, where I majored in theater and minored in everything that Berkeley has a reputation for. After college I moved to Los Angeles, where I made an interesting living doing novel adaptations and selling original thriller scripts to various Hollywood studios.

Now I (mostly!) live in Scotland with my Scottish crime-writing husband, Craig Robertson. We've just written a new mystery/thriller series together — and we're still married and haven't killed each other! LOST HIGHWAY will be out in 2026.

My HUNTRESS MOON series follows a haunted FBI agent on the hunt for a female serial killer, which means I can smash hated genre cliches and kill a lot of men who need to be killed.

In my paranormal and supernatural thrillers, I like to cross the possibility of the supernatural with very real life explanations for any strangeness going on, and base the action squarely in fact. THE UNSEEN is based on real paranormal research conducted at the Duke University parapsychology lab, and BOOK OF SHADOWS teams a Boston homicide detective and a practicing Salem witch in a race to solve what may be a Satanic killing. THE SPACE BETWEEN is an edgy supernatural YA about a troubled high school girl who is having dreams of a terrible massacre at her school, and becomes convinced that she can prevent the shooting if she can unravel the dream.

My non-fiction workbooks SCREENWRITING TRICKS FOR AUTHORS and WRITING LOVE, based on my internationally acclaimed workshops and blog, have helped writers of all levels all over the world finish their books and find agents and book deals. https://alexandrasokoloff.substack.com/

When I'm not writing I travel and I dance: jazz, ballet, salsa, Lindy, swing - I do it all, every chance I get.

Join the mailing list (and receive a FREE short story from the SHATTERING GLASS anthology!):
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Read more about the books! http://alexandrasokoloff.com

Reviews

[Roni Loren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chock full of great info. Wish there was a print copy so I could flip back through it easily.

[Michael Haspil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book that covers a lot of the basics with copious examples. A good complement to Vogler and Campbell and a good book to serve as a refresher when you don't want to revisit the previously mentioned for the umpteenth time.

Very conversational in tone and an easy read. I only wish there was a print-on-demand version because this one is going on my "Repeat offender" bookshelf and I would love to mark up and highlight the heck out of it.

[Jessica DeLand · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the author’s original Screenwriting Tricks for Authors book and absolutely loved it. Fantastic resource for anyone writing stories in any genre. And since I frequently include romance subplots in my novels, when I saw this book specifically for romances, I bought it without much forethought expecting it to be just as fantastic.

I wish I’d done more research first.

Although this book remains just as wonderful as the original Screenwriting Tricks for Authors book, that’s its problem: it’s basically the same book. At least 90% of it is literally word for word the same as the original, and honestly, I didn’t spend a lot of time poking around trying to find all the sections unique to romance stories, though I did notice that the movie breakdowns and some of the in-text examples have been changed to romance-specific ones. Needless to say, I’m hugely disappointed.

So if you’re a romance writer and haven’t already bought and/or read the original Screenwriting Tricks for Authors book, then you should absolutely buy this book since it is specifically tailored toward romance stories. But if you’ve already read the original or aren’t a romance writer, don’t waste your money. The new additions aren’t worth it.

[NatalyaVqs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most useful book I have read on storytelling structure, those movie breakdowns at the end are absolutely invaluable to spotting patterns and recognizing effective techniques. Now, whenever I watch a movie or read, I hear Ms Sokoloff's voice in my head: "mentor," "plant," "into the special world," "payoff," "end of Act II." Her engaging and down to earth way of portraying the Hollywood screenwriters tricks made them sound obvious and intuitive, it was the least like learning and most like fun of craft lit. Greatful to CS Harris blog for turning me onto her.

[MJ]

Helpful!

[Elizabeth Crowens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely worthwhile

I've read some her other books. This one was also an invaluable resource. I'd also recommend taking her workshops. I took one at Bouchercon around 2017.

[A.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alexandra Sokoloff takes her screenwriting for authors book and edits it to be (mostly) for romance writers.
***
You know when you hit one of those ‘how to’ books and when you’ve finished reading it you realise you’ve highlighted a goodly percentage of the book?
This would be one of those books.
And plus, she recommends watching a list of movies, and keeping notes. I am bonding with kid3 over this. Each night we settle down in front of the telly; me with my notes and a pen, and the tissue box (naturally).
I like Alexandra’s voice.

It really can’t be said often enough. Your first draft is always going to suck. And I mean, the process and the draft. Both. It all sucks. I’ve been a professional writer for almost all of my adult life and I’ve never written anything that I didn’t hit the wall on, at one point or another. There is always a day, week, month, when I will lose all interest in the project I’m working on. I will realize it was insanity to think that I could ever write the fucking thing to begin with, or that anyone in their right mind would ever be interested in it, much less pay me for it. I will be sure that I would rather clean houses (not my own house, you understand, but other people’s) than ever have to look at the story again. (Kindle Locations 3870-3871).

Omg that’s me.
She says it takes her about two years to produce a book.
She’s honest.

Take a look at successful authors you admire. There’s something beyond their amazing writing, isn’t there? They’re also fascinating people. They have star power in person. You can always find them in a room, and once you spot them, you can’t take your eyes off them. (Kindle Locations 6012-6014).

And she’s brutal.

The chances are infinitesimal that they'll ever make your movie at all. Your script is just a sample to show that you can write the movie they want to make, which they will dictate to you, and which often won't make a whole lot of dramatic sense, but you’ll do it because they’re paying you to do it, and if you don’t do it the way they want you to do it, you’ll be fired and they’ll go on to another writer, or thirty. (Kindle Locations 6222-6223).

People talk about story beats all the time. And I have rarely found an example of one that illustrates the point well enough for me to work out what the heck they mean by it, and how I can replicate that in my own stories.
Here, she breaks down in detail a list of romance movies from Casablanca to Leap Year. She puts in CAPITALS the key story elements. It’s much easier to watch a 100 minute movie than to read a whole book.
Ugh… Leap Year. I agree that movie hit all the marks that it is supposed to hit and still somehow manages to FAIL as a romance in a completely spectacular fashion. What did they do wrong? Zero chemistry between the leads for a start… but that is a chat for another day. I guess it fits in the ‘watch and learn’ category.
Here’s a bit from her breakdown of Romancing the Stone.

Joan meets her publisher Gloria in a bar (ALLY, and the TAVERN is an archetypal jumping-off point for a journey story). There’s a thematic scene here, with the publisher analyzing a line of guys at the bar — all losers or flawed in some major way. This is a typical scene you see in a romantic comedy: the ally’s sole goal in life seems to be to make the protagonist happy. (Kindle Locations 5521-5524).

I’ve watched that movie a dozen times and it has never occurred to me that the tavern/bar location was significant. Huh.
Maybe twenty times. My parents OWNED a video store and it was my mother’s favourite movie. Which is funny given it has swearing, sex, drugs and gators - oh my!
She tells you to write a list of your own favourites: books, movies, heroes, heroines, themes, bad guys! She’s all about the lists. And she promotes writing it, not typing. She’s also big on index card layouts. I am coming around to this. I find that having a physical element works, even if Scrivener has a very neat corkboard, you can’t tell my brain it’s the same. Laying those cards out and shifting them around is working. I can literally SEE the story gap.
I also find that hand writing works when I am stuck. It has the added bonus of me not being able to wander off and check the web.
I know there are things/tropes that I adore beyond reason, and naturally I write those things. Found family, bad boys with a soft centre, women who emerge harder and stronger from the ‘fire’, and fake married!
In my own manuscript that is making me want to give it all up, I’ve now understood that I’ve hit a lot of key story elements without even knowing it. And I’ve missed a few or not given the payoff for other ones that I have setup.
And now I know how to fix it.
5 stars.

[Deann Alford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolutely fantastic how-to guide on novel-writing from a master of story structure. Her adaptation of Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey empowered me to plot a trilogy that I've begun writing [must note it's the textbook for her fabulous summer workshop at West Texas A&M]. The analyses of movies in Writing Love are invaluable guides to illustrate her method of modeling novel structure after the 3-act/8 sequence screenplay. And at $2.99, this textbook is worth a hundred times its price. I also have Alex's companion book titled Screenwriting Tricks for Authors I. The books have some overlap but you won't regret purchasing the pair.

[Charli · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books on novel writing I've read.

[Lauren Keegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource.

[Kim Ramsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! So helpful for my current project

[Pamela Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent tips for writers, especially those with an eye on a possible film contract. The resources at the end of the book are very helpful. This book is well worth the price.

[December]

great book!!

[Marcy Waldenville · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must have for writers.

[Leticia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really long book, and it's fully packed with awesome writing advice. It has a couple of flaws I won't talk about because perhaps they bothered only me. It's a pity there isn't a paperback format for this book.