The "treatment" is a summary of your script.  It's virtually impossible to sell a first script with just a treatment, and all too often beginning writers can be confused into believing their "idea" was ripped off by a studio that saw the treatment and made a similar film. 

However, the technique of distilling your unique idea into a few words that display its inherent structural elegance is necessary for the writer of novels, too.

I haven't read this -- but the title makes me want to! 

It's NOT the first or only book you need, it is the LAST -- it puts all the notions of commercial screenplay spec sales into a precise organization so you can actually do it. 

See Syd Field's works below for the beginnings of screenwriting -- but not the foundation of STORYCRAFT.  Screencraft is built on storycraft, and the two disciplines are on a converging path in the modern world.  Learn it all. 

I do however recall reading older books from the 1950's that reveal most of these tips and tricks.

Novel writers need to know this in order to write novels that can become screenplays without being wholly distorted.

The thumbnail description of Matisyahu: File under Hasidic Beatbox Reggae. Despite having markings of novelty, it's really nothing of the sort. Fronted by a man named Matisyahu (born Matthew Miller), they are truly a band. Two independently released CDs brought them a rapid and well-deserved ascent, making their signing with a major label a logical step. Youth benefits from a more expansive sound and production by the fantastic Bill Laswell (Golden Palominos, Laurie Anderson, the Last Poets). Matisyahu's singing and the substance of his songs (spiritual living, self-awareness, the value of knowledge and learning, kindness to others) are presented with a loving sincerity, and buoyed . . . more here

And a NEW DOUBLE CD of Theo's SONGS OF A RUSSIAN GYPSY and other Russian songs.

Here are 12 Musical Theater Classics -- Remember Theo has toured in many stage plays, not the least of which is FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. 

Beginning writers would do well to acquire the variegated skills of the performing arts -- and voice training is one of them.  It can give you the confidence to appear on panels, do speeches at book signings, explain your book proposal to an editor on the phone or face-to-face, and perhaps most of all, to do well in the rare and precious moments allocated to you by a radio or TV interview. 

At least read the reviews of this software singing coach on amazon to get an idea of what you can do with it. 

Note in the ReReadable Books Review Column for Feb. 2006, the TV Series THRESHOLD is discussed.  That Prime Time show uses a theory of multiple dimensions as many other SF TV shows and books have. 

Here is the latest and the newest on those theories.

Investigate more on our non-fiction shelves.

S. L. Viehl is known for strong relationships driving a whopping good interstellar story.

Investigate our Science Fiction shelves. 

Her StarDoc series are a refreshing change.  Try one. 

This book reveals what it is about other people that might tick you off -- or send a character of yours into a tailspin.

Here you will find out about that "look of authority" by which people dominate a room. 
 

Investigate more of our non-fiction shelves.

Due out Sept. 2005
	List Price: $25.95

Straight Into Darkness, States of Grace, Sins of the Night, A Song in the Dark, and Locked Rooms will be reviewed here in 2006 when you will likely be able to find the paperbacks.  

This is the next in the Vampire Files series that have been reviewed so favorably on simegen.com.  It is reviewed in Jacqueline Lichtenberg's May 2006 column, when there may be a paperback edition.  Meanwhile, there is also a digital edition.  This is a great vampire novel that digs deep into the ethical and moral dilemma of being vampire.   

1. Rich people believe "I create my life." Poor people believe, "Life happens to me."
2. Rich people play the money game to win. Poor people play the money game to not lose.
3. Rich people are committed to being rich. Poor people want to be rich.
4. Rich people think big. Poor people think small.
5. Rich people focus on opportunities. Poor people focus on obstacles.
6. Rich people admire other rich and successful people. Poor people resent rich and successful people.
7. Rich people associate with positive, successful people. Poor people associate with negative or unsuccessful people.
8. Rich people are willing to promote themselves and their value. Poor people think negatively about selling and promotion.

9. Rich people are bigger than their problems. Poor people are smaller than their problems.
10. Rich people are excellent receivers. Poor people are poor receivers.
11. Rich people choose to get paid based on results. Poor people choose to get paid based on time.
12. Rich people think "both." Poor people
think "either/or."
13. Rich people focus on their net worth. Poor people focus on their working income.
14. Rich people manage their money well. Poor people mismanage their money well.
15. Rich people have their money work hard for them. Poor people work hard for their money.
16. Rich people act in spite of fear. Poor people let fear stop them.
17. Rich people constantly learn and grow. Poor people think they already know.

 Get free shipping with $25 orders, no tax, and 30% off. 

Contributors: Peter S. Beagle, Amy Berner, Abbie Bernstein, Roxanne Longstreet Conrad, Jennifer Crusie, Joy Davidson, Don DeBrandt, Laura Ann Gillman, Steven Harper, Candace Havens, K. Stoddard Hayes, Nancy Holder, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Dan Kerns, Marguerite Krause, Jacqueline Lichtenberg, Jean Lorrah, Carla Montgomery, Steven Piziks, Laura Resnick, Josepha Sherman, Michelle Sagara West, and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.

 Like Buffy, Angel uses a very high standard of writing in the scripts.  If you want to learn to write Intimate Adventure, Buffy and Angel are a good place to start studying. 

If you have them all, see our Vampire Novel shelf.   

   In 2004-5 season, they have introduced Lois Lane into Smallville -- so we have a genuine "Alternate Universe" here -- just like a piece of Superman fanfic.  

  List Price:$14.00
This is the PB.  The HC is now available.  Here is an eye-opener of a book to jar you out of writer's block. 

List Price:

$26.98

Various discounts apply here, and remember this is a super-long film.  There are 2-for offers and used copies very cheap.  Or this makes a perfect gift for your writer friends.   

No storyteller should be without the experience of seeing this film and analyzing the script.  It tackles a hot topic without hate mongering, distortions or inaccuracies.  It is history, not opinion, expanded and dramatized realistically.  People who were there recognize this reality.   

There are over 400 reviews posted and March 12, 2004, this is THE #1 DVD on amazon.  That should tell you why you as a storyteller must see this film even if you don't want to.  

Those of My Blood

by Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Killed in a car crash and buried by his fiancé 20 years before Those of My Blood, Titus Shiddehara has been forbidden by his Vampire father to reveal his existence to his human love, the woman he was to marry when he died.
 
On a mission to prevent a signal from Earth reaching an interstellar enemy, he meets her by accident. She recognizes her dead fiancé in the presence of his father, who now feels obligated to destroy her, or them both.
Can their love become trust and save Earth from certain invasion while fighting a more powerful Vampire for their lives?
Read 4 chapters free. Or

The original hardcover of this novel sells for $80 and up on amazon and at other collectors' sites. 

Here is the first trade paperback edition for a very reasonable price.

Or order direct from the publisher BenBella Books.   (no account needed)

Award-winning paranormal romance

In e-book form this book has won the LORIE as best paranormal romance (not e-book romance; romance) and the Lord Ruthven Assembly award as best vampire novel (not e-book vampire novel; vampire novel). It is also an EPPIE finalist (the EPPIE _is_ an e-book award). Now it becomes a trade paperback--and two months before its release it is already a Featured Book on Amazon.com. 

Buy with one-click on amazon here

Blood Will Tell

by Jean Lorrah

Brandy Mather is a small-town police detective looking for the connections among a series of deaths in which each corpse wears the same serene smile.

She enlists the aid of computer expert Dan Martin--but is he helping her to find the answer, or leading her away from it?

Even as she falls in love with Dan, Brandy learns more and more about his own dark secret.

Order direct from the publisher BenBella Books.