Screenwriter Subscription Box Unboxing & Review [Across the Page] 

Woot! Woot! She back!! Video idea/suggestions: How to write effective betrayals (or conspiracies) within a plot, Writing for Graphic Novels (self-contained visual stories, not serialized comics), How to avoid self-inserts and mary sues.

I'd love to see more regular content from you! A couple of videos/series ideas: *Writer-oriented book reviews: Recommend and review a novel or short story pointing out the things the writer excelled at, and the things us writer could learn/should pay attention to while writing the piece. * Self-editing tips and recommendations *In-depth look on writing elements (I don't mean extensive videos. Rather, short videos covering a very specific writing element and analyzed from a specific example from a famous novel. Basing the material around how an author you liked handled it in their work.) *Writer-oriented book club (this one's a bit more ambitious, but think a series of videos spanning a month or a couple of months, going over a novel chapter by chapter, and pointing out writing elements and themes as we read along. Something like what CBG19's did for her Dune Club, but for writers) Lastly, whenever you get around to doing another writing video series, I'd like to see one about handling/incorporating subplots on an existing manuscript. I've seen little information about it out there.

Didnt skip the ad, gotta give you some love

These are a few topics I'd love to hear your advice on: short story structure; differences between writing short stories and novels; writing a series; and breaking down the acts. You have videos about the turning points, but not the acts themselves.

I'm a Creative Writing teacher. I use your videos a lot in my class and they have proved to be an invaluable resource for my 8th Graders. You are appreciated!

If you're up for it, my students would definitely benefit from a video about the methodology you use for providing feedback to writers about their narratives. I assume you do multiple readings. What do you focus on during your first read through? Your second? What do you prioritize? As much as possible, I try to empower my students by providing them with the skills necessary to improve the work of their classmates. Sometimes, when they are in small groups helping each other with their short stories, they can find the process to be a bit overwhelming (much more so than when they work in groups on their poetry). I know my students for one would love to hear you break down your process. Hopefully, other writers out there will find this to be helpful too.

EB! She's back! Oh, I love the hair :^)

Never apologize for being a nerd. Neh. Ver. We create this world.

If you're able, I'd say videos year round! But really, I'll take what I can get. :) I really enjoy your input. It has helped my writing immensely.

Your timing is amazing. You said that writing a screenplay for a novel helps the novelist to visualize scenes and make them more vivid in the novel. Over the past two months, I've been narrating and illustrating a movie version of my as-yet-unpublished novel; and, thus far, it has encouraged me to make improvements in two scenes. It'll probably help with other scenes. I look forward to each batch of your videos. I find them very helpful in improving my work.

The newest arc in the Ellen Brock saga: the side part. Looking forward to seeing where this new story goes!

The box is such a cool and interesting concept, but I feel like $40 a month is too much for just: a book which would cost around $10, a DVD when the majority of people Stream their movies these days, and a screenplay which you can easily find and read online for free. The box definitely needs some sort of Writing Lesson theme that goes with it each month and worksheets, tools etc that run through the dissection of the screenplay

You did a great job of going the extra mile to thoroughly review the materials instead of just blindly recommending the subscription box. I would love to see more videos from you on any topic.

I am so glad this channel isn't dead.

I love it! Nice selection! I love Andy Weir!

I hope you post more videos soon. You have no idea how helpful your channel has been for me. Thank you.

I was literally just rewatching all your other videos and wishing you’d upload again when this video popped up.

I'm new to the channel, but I've been watching some of your old videos and your look has really evolved nicely. Thank you for your advice and information.

Why didn't I get a notification for this omg!!! Please keep posting Ellen you're amazing!

Videos year round, and specific and nuanced! You have a unique way of presenting information that is quick and interesting and jam packed with information which means that you can easily pick a topic and go to town with it and we will be completely engaged :) As a amateur editor, I would absolutely love to see more videos with an editing slant, but I have loved everything I've seen by you so I'll happily watch watch you talk about writing about plants if that's what you want to talk about :)

Go ahead, get specific and nuanced. Also, book reviews. But book reviews geared to writers with clear demonstrations of mechanics and topics you’ve covered before.

I agree about the box, having more writer centered content. Seeing you hold up the small interview was a kibosh for me. For future videos, I would love to see a series of "How to Plot Your Novel FAST" videos with writing prompt generated ideas, but perhaps going further into the process. Maybe each video could be a stage in the process, initial ideas and paragraphs, then a video with questions and development challenges and a new paragraph, then one with more questions and an outline, then a final one reviewing a more lengthy summary. Another idea could be editorial notes on published work you've read, presenting a broad outline and adjustments you may have recommended and why - though, maybe that's rude as a professional editor. lol No matter what, your channel is a treasure of knowledge. Thank you for sharing. 😀

Yay!! Ellen's back! great vid

I'm a struggling comicbook creator and your videos help me as I'm more of an artist than a writer. keep up the great work!

Super glad to see you back.

I like weekly content spread out over the year- hands on stuff - take a chapter review - layer different editorial lens

I'd be interested in hearing you dissect and critique more novels.

I would love to see more videos breaking down the acts for a novel and also, advice about length for different genres, word count, pages and what not. Love to have you back and yes girl, post away all year long!

Welcome Back! Looking forward to more great content! Love your advice💚

Congratulations on the success of your channel. Really impressed with your work.

When you didn't upload for so long I was so worried. Your boot camp series and other tips have helped me so much. My process is getting better so thank you so much for being amazing. I can't wait for more content from you.❤️ Edit: I missed this upload, so I'm going to sub to the notifications. You are awesome. :)

Finally, You’re back 🥳✨✨ I missed you so much .. And your videos 🤗 I waited for you so long ..

I am a novelist/screenwriter, and I only really started understanding structure through screenwriting and I love the idea of this box; I would use it if it were within my budget.

So glad you're back, Ellen!! Love your hair! Please, please upload year-round. What a great 1st for that subscription box.

So glad you’re back! More writing videos! Please and thank you.

Welcome back! 1) Didn't know this was a summer thing for you. Year-round would be cool cuz ur pretty cool and I like ur content, but - live your life. I have no requests. 2) Love the hair. Looks awesome 3) You could look to other tubers for content and see if there's anything that hasn't been said, or things you feel/think differently about, or etc. I watched a half dozen "mistakes new writers make" videos before I found one with something new - and very helpful.

Ellen! It'll be great to have you back! Truthfully, I've binged a lot of writing videos, so it's hard to say what topic I haven't seen covered already. But a particular thing I'm thinking of recently, is how to write original fiction (to any possible degree). I wouldn't mind if you went in-depth on this topic. How many years do writers have left till we are commonly accused of plagiarism, unjustly so because it isn't intentional? Will copyright laws have to be changed in the near future, so that authors only have time-limited copyrights? What future is there for originality in fiction considering a maximum of 100K words per novel? Do we have to write series in the future, where the original plot point doesn't occur until book sixteen? ;) I am myself writing something I'm confident has some degree of originality. But that is only because I could do a PhD on the main topic of my story. And I'm writing a screenplay, by the way! :) I intend to write a film trilogy.

OMG.....it's been sooooo looooong!

We love you videos Ellen. Thank you👍

That's super interesting! In my graduate writing program, we learned structure for screenwriting before we learned structure for novels. It would be very cool to compare novels and their screenplay adaptations side by side, and the little bonus stuff seems fun!

Great to see you back. I love your videos.

Love your channel so much! You have such great insight!

Write the screenplay. I wanna see your movie. Good to see you back, hope u upload more!

Welcome back!!!!!! Happy to see you 🙂

Great video, Ellen. This box is an interesting concept. I'm not a screenwriter, but I can definitely see the benefits of looking at the script and seeing how they actually write the darn script. Plus, you get the book and the movie, which I absolutely loved? You can't lose. Another video idea is how to effectively write a series. Specifically, if you have the main antagonist in the first book who is going to be the main antagonist in the rest of the series, how do you have a satisfying conclusion? If the main antagonist doesn't die, how can the protagonist win and beat the antagonist and still have the antagonist still remain as the antagonist throughout the series? But beyond that, just some general tips on how to write a series. Glad you're back!

I LOVE YOU ELLEN!

Thank you for this video. I was thinking about this sub box :)

Your channel is very informative and entertaining. You have a very pleasant voice. I loved the episode when you gave your dog screen time. I an so old that my work was reviewed by James Dickey.

She said it she said it she said it "happy writing guys."

Welcome back Teacher :-) Your're the best!

Please do specific and nuanced videos for higher level writers, I'd love to give those a watch.

I am delighted to see You back! @ upload the whole year: Yes please! Why? Your videos stand out for the clarity, in which You present an isolated aspect of the writing process. Building on that, Id' like make a suggestion: "Difficult literature" observed with Your "simple" tools, not for "complete analysis" but, to see, what can be achieved with these (not so simple, after all) tools. I envisage, that this approach could yield results, for people, who were either scared away, or got lost, when they had to approach, Authors like Kafka, with all bells and wistles.

Fun video! And a neat subscription concept. I agree that some additional commentary would have been a nice touch. There are lots of possible directions an extra essay could have taken. Weir originally self-published his book, which is usually said to be the kiss of death for any hope of being traditionally published; that wasn’t the case here. So is the conventional wisdom wrong? It’s also interesting (to me, anyway) that neither Weir nor the studio making the movie adaptation felt the need to give the marooned hero a love interest to add pathos and heighten the stakes. Was that a mistake? Discuss. For new videos, how about a series on short stories or flash fiction? I’m finding it’s fun to write smaller things as a break from the long-form novel-writing.

Great vid. I would love to hear your advice on building a series and maybe some genre/niche specific courses (contemporary romance)

I just submitted a couple of screenplays to the Austin Film Festival...I can't wait to watch this later. (I have to go to work now.)

Hey Ellen! I love your channel, I've been watching the last few months and have just subscribed! I would to see a video about how book marketing works in the traditional publishing route

Video Suggestion: How and when to write humor in your novel. Different types of humor and what types to write in different genres. With examples!

Welcome back Ellen

So glad to see you

Do specific stuff, show examples to illustrate info on writing that needs to be reinforced. Deb Dixon's book, Goal, Motivation and Conflict is a good guide. In it she uses well known stories to illustrate ideas and concepts necessary for writing well. Telling about the craft aspect and then showing it by way of a universal example is the best way to share an idea. Dixon uses the Wizard of OZ to illustrate much of theses ideas. More show to reinforce craft items we all need hammered deeper into our minds would be good for you to do. BTW, you hair in the first part was nice.

Praise Ellen Brock!

Ellen where in the H - E Double Hockey sticks have you been ...your info is great !

welcome back!

2:03 I would love a more In-depth video on writing your novel as a screenplay first. I'm currently planning to write my novel's first draft as a screen play for this very reason. I'm a visual thinker so screenplays are somewhat more straightforward for me.

Great video. Perhaps you could do book reviews and dissect the novel pointing out things you would change/edit. It would be a good way to see how the theory works in practice.

Hi Ellen, great video! It's probably not a service for me, but at least it has some cool goodies. Onto Video Topic Suggestions: I have run into a situation where I wanted to use a character as an instigating plot device. Kind of like a prologue, introduction, or chapter 1. At the end of the chapter, this character dies and sets the events in motion for what happens next. For example: A drug kingpin is introduced then killed in the beginning chapter. As a result, a power vacuum starts and all the other gangs now want control of the kingpin's turf. The question is, how far should an author go to flesh out a character whose sole purpose is to incite the conflict?

OMG When I discovered your channel a few weeks ago, I didn't really expect to see any new videos from you ever again ... just shows you how wrong a girl can be. Welcome back, Ellen

Hey, You're back! Hi there.

The autograph was really clear.

Just saw this video and I hope you come back. I love your chanel and your great advices.

It might be cool to see a walkthrough of your whole editing process on an actual novel you're editing (with permission from the client). Thanks for the awesome videos!

I really enjoy your content, so more frequent posting would be great. I know you already did a series on plot points, but how about a video which looks at some of the different plotting methods, how they differ, and some of the benefits of each one? Since there seems to be a lot of different ways out there. Or perhaps some advice on how to take an idea and develop it to the plotting stage?

Hi. Wanted to thank you for doing so many videos on creative writing. It’s helped me so much!🙂. If I was at a point to afford your mentoring services, I would. But as it is, I must listen to your vids instead. A publisher, Wild Rose Press, has shown interest in my work for a couple years and has taken time to critique my work with detailed responses. Although other publishers have expressed interest then encouraged me to resubmit after I’ve improved, Wild Rose gave me direction. Keeping my fingers crossed that they’ll be interested in a novel they are considering now. Thanks for your time. Your videos are awesome. AB - Xorlac.

It'd be nice to see a video about the do's and don'ts for an Epilogue.

My favorite part of this video was your constructive criticism, and on a related note I'd like to see more videos analyzing what works about a piece of media and what you think could bring it to the next level. Feel free to be nuanced!

Please make more videos! 😍

Oops, looks like AcrossThePage is out of business. BTW, love your channel...and miss newer postings.

Ellen, I hope you see my comment. I have been to professional courses with professional published writers. Yet, I found your videos more useful. I am amazed how a young lady knows so much. You are an amazing woman. I have saved your details and when my novel is complete I would be honoured to contact you to be my editor if you will have me. Thank you so much for all the effort you put in. I wish you a wonderful future. Ruby xx

Woho!! New content =)

What book would you consider the most exciting to adapt into a screenplay? Could you talk a bit about knowing when your novel is ready for publishing? Whether you are a pantser or an outliner, there are still doubts. Is there a point that tweaking a story can ruin it? I guess it's a question of overconfidence and querying too soon, or underconfidence and sitting on it for too long.

YES!

I don't think you've done a video on third-person limited POV yet, especially pertaining to switching characters depending on the scene or chapter. I'd definitely be interested in what you have to say about that because it's what I tend to default to.

Any thoughts on writing software, particularly Storyist, Ulysses, and Scrivener? I'm leaning towards Storyist as Scrivener saves to Dropbox which I don't use. I was told to look at Ulysses for it's markdown support, but I haven't any experience with markdown. Will writing software matter when working with an editor?

What books would you recommend on the craft of writing? I do have E B White’s book “The element of Style” and a few more, would you also recommend getting Writer’s Market books, say for Literary agents, or publishing or short story? Thanks for the content on your channel, it’s most informative and easy to understand.

Ellen I'm paperless, or try to be, are there any alternatives that might suit?

I need advice on how to write an ensemble book. Each idea of mine always has at least 6 main characters plus several secondary ones and seems to span at least 5 years or more. Also how to find out the genre of you books.

Miss you!

Just found your channel, great stuff. Will there be more?

Video idea: causes and solutions for writers who always end up rushing the third act. I have a problem with that

I’d like to see examples that include internal conflict-it can be hard to see how structure advice applies to stories about internal conflict when all of the examples are from stories with external conflict. Thanks! 🙂

WOOHOOOO

Great vid, Ellen!!! Are you still doing Novel Boot camp?

Hello Ellen, I was wondering what your price would be to edit a novel

Hi Helan, First I would like to thank you for all your helpful videos. I am a huge fan. I have a question about head hopping. I am writing a novel in third person mainly from the protagonists perspective, but want to tell the other characters backstories(there are 4) from their perspective so it feels less distant. Is this acceptable or would it be too jarring to the reader? I would greatly appreciate a response if you have the time. Thank you, Tom.

Hey Ellen! I've a query and I need you to clear it. I'm an aspiring writer and I'm finding it hard to "when to do what in a novel?", how can one build a web of setting-descriptions, conversations and character descriptions in a particular chapter? It would be a great help if you answer.

Given that there are similarities between reviewing and editing, the style and quality of this review reflect on the perception of you as an editor.

What about doing reviews of current books? Yeah, yeah, it's not very imaginative, but you can't go wrong. You could even add a twist: review how current books handle some of the things you've already taught. Now this, I imagine, is the tough part for you: _cover the books that execute the rules poorly, also._ As with knowing what to do, knowing *not* to do is critical. Also, knowing how some writers *effectively* break the rules will be helpful to intermediate writers.

""Experience breeds, Time and Tide in Space."

nice

👏👏👏👏