Shoot Your Novel: Cinematic Techniques to Supercharge Your Writing (The Writer's Toolbox Series)

Best-selling authors of every genre know the secret to hooking readers—by showing, not telling, their story. But writers are not taught how to “show” scenes in a cinematic way. Without a clear, concise, and precise method for constructing dynamic scenes, a writer will likely end up with a flat, lifeless novel.

Filmmakers, screenwriters, and movie directors utilize cinematic technique to create visual masterpieces, and novelists can too—by adapting their methods in their fiction writing.

By “shooting” your novel, you can supercharge your story!

Sol Stein, in his book Stein on Writing said, “Readers, transformed by film and TV, are used to seeing stories. The reading experience . . . is increasingly visual.” Novelists today—regardless of genre—need to learn how to write cinematically because that's what readers want!

Inside, you’ll learn:

• The real secret to “show, don’t tell” and how it’s all about “the moment”
• More than a dozen “camera shots” novelists can borrow from screenwriters and directors to create powerful, active scenes
• Instruction on how to piece camera shots together to create cinematic scene segments
• Examples from novels and screenplays showcasing each facet of cinematic technique
• How to devise a thematic image system of key shots, motifs, and images
• Ways to use colors, shapes, sounds, and angles for purposeful subliminal effect

Shooting your novel with a filmmaker’s eye will transform your good novel into a great one and will change forever the way you approach constructing your scenes. No other book gives you such deep, thorough instruction in cinematic technique for fiction writing.

Here's what some best writing instructors and best-selling authors have to say about this essential writing craft book:

“With such an extensive amount of experience in the screenwriting and filmmaking process (since childhood), it comes as no surprise that C. S .Lakin writes with a trustworthy authority and wealth of insight when it comes to the craft of building dynamic scenes within novels. The pace and flow of Shoot Your Novel makes it easy to follow and the various tips and pointers strewn throughout are succinct. Of particular note is the smart curation of novel excerpts, authors, and filmmakers she cites as examples for the tips she suggests. If you have trouble understanding some of the pointers/tips theoretically, the excerpts always make it more clear.

Having myself adapted The War of the Roses for both film and stage, I can say that I have actually used quite a few of the techniques Lakin discusses and the one I like the most is the use of portraying "daydreaming" when writing from the POV of a character, effectively blending past, present, and future in one single scene—there is a lot of this going on in The War of the Roses and it is one of the aspects of the story flow that has made the rendering of the character a success. Well worth the read!” —Warren Adler, best-selling author of The War of the Roses and Random Hearts

“With Shoot Your Novel, Susanne Lakin does something wonderful and unique. While lots of us in the business of helping writers and storytellers recommend adding vivid images to scenes, Lakin goes much further to reveal how employing the tools and techniques of movie directing, editing and cinematography will give your fiction deeper meaning and greater emotional impact. Her book is an essential tool for any serious novelist.” —Michael Hauge, Hollywood screenwriting coach, author of Writing Screenplays That Sell