"How to Write a Great Script with Final Draft 9" is not a typical computer book tutorial. Flip open any computer book and you'll typically see a thick tome crammed with information about every possible feature of a program in exhaustive detail. Such comprehensive detail makes most computer books about as exciting to read as a dictionary. Nobody really wants to learn how to use any particular program. What people really want to learn is how to get specific results from using a particular program. Chances are good that your goal in life isn't to learn how to use Final Draft 9. Instead, you probably really want to learn how to write the best screenplay possible with the least amount of hassle. To achieve that goal, you want to use Final Draft 9 as a tool to achieve your dream of writing a screenplay that you can sell. That's why this book won't teach you how to become a Final Draft 9 expert. What this book will teach you is how to plan, organize, and write a screenplay using Final Draft 9 as a tool to make your task easier. Notice the huge difference? You want to be a screenwriter, not a Final Draft 9 computer expert. This book won't overwhelm you by teaching every possible feature in Final Draft 9. Instead, this book will teach you the more useful features of Final Draft 9 to make you a more effective screenwriter. Once you learn the most common commands of Final Draft 9, you'll have the confidence to learn the more advanced features that the program offers. Not only will you learn how to use Final Draft's most common features, but you'll also learn why to use them and how they can help you organize and write a more effective screenplay. To use Final Draft most effectively, you need to know how to develop a story. Having a great screenwriting program like Final Draft 9 is fine, but if you don't know what to write, then you won't be able to take advantage of Final Draft 9's writing, formatting, and editing features. Although Final Draft works as an excellent screenplay formatting word processor, that's actually the last feature you want to use. Where most people go wrong is that they focus first on writing their screenplay without knowing what to write or taking time to organize their ideas before they write. Think of screenwriting like planning a vacation. You could just show up at the airport and hop on any plane, but chances are good it won't take you where you want to go. Likewise if you start writing a script without any planning, you'll likely waste time writing an rambling and incoherent screenplay. At this point, formatting your screenplay perfectly means nothing if it's not structured to tell a compelling story in the first place. So this book will teach you how to write screenplays using Final Draft 9 as a tool. If you want to learn how to become a better screenwriter and use Final Draft 9 to help you achieve your ultimate goal of selling a screenplay, then this is the book for you. Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1: Getting Ideas Chapter 2: Picking a Theme Chapter 3: The Story Title Chapter 4: The Major Characters Chapter 5: The Hero and Villain Chapter 6: The Mentor, the Allies, and the Henchmen Chapter 7: The Four Acts of a Screenplay Chapter 8: Creating and Manipulating Scenes Chapter 9: Understanding the Elements of a Screenplay Chapter 10: Working with Scenes Chapter 11: Making Dialogue Come to Life Chapter 12: Editing a Screenplay Chapter 13: Printing and Sharing a Screenplay Final Words
About the Author: In addition to running the screenwriting blog The 15-Minute Movie Method (www.15minutemoviemethod.com), Wallace Wang has also written several dozen books including "Microsoft Office For Dummies" and "Breaking Into Acting For Dummies." When not writing screenplays, he also performs stand-up comedy, having appeared on television comedy shows such as A&E's "Evening at the Improv" as well as performing in Las Vegas. The 15-Minute Movie Method are a set of guidelines for structuring a story that he has developed after watching hundreds of movies. Using the story structure from such classic films as "Star Wars," "Die Hard," "The Hunger Games," and "Harold and Maude," he has created a method for helping aspiring screenwriters design their screenplay properly from the start by focusing on the story foundation first. When not writing screenplays and doing stand-up comedy, he runs several other websites including The Electronic Author (http: //www.electronicauthor.com) where he provides tips for creating interactive e-books, and his own personal website (http: //www.wallacewang.com) where he provides advice that he wishes he had learned much earlier in life than he did. He also runs a cat enthusiast site called Cat Daily News (http: //catdailynews.com) in memory of his four cats: Bo, Scraps, Tasha, and Nuit, who brought so many hours of entertainment and anxiety to his life over the years.