I really enjoyed hosting our recent zalon with the novelist and screenwriter Emma Jane Unsworth. It’s only the second online event I’ve run and I’m still a bit nervous of zoom, however I’m always a wee bit nervous before doing any event but I needn’t have worried! Emma was such an enthusiastic and convivial guest and generously shared a wealth of writing tips. Plus we had a wonderful audience too of about 80 people who after the first part of the talk took part in an excellent Q&A session.
Our fab guest Emma Jane Unsworth talking us through plotting & story arcs!
Emma started out working as a journalist in Manchester for newspapers and magazines to support herself while trying to write fiction. She did an MA in Novel Writing at Manchester University (which she highly recommends), but said it was hard to finish a novel while working at a day job. It was only when print media began to decline and with it the offer of voluntary redundancy that it enabled Emma a six month grace period to finish her novel. Unfortunately “professional heartbreak” ensued when her agent couldn’t sell the novel. Emma dusted herself off and kept going, “traditional publishing is not the be all and end all.” Happily she found a champion in her former GCSE school teacher who, convinced of Emma’s talent, formed a small publishing company at home and published her first book. So Emma was published in a small way and with that support she worked to publicise the book and did lots of readings in local libraries. The book won a prize and attracted the attention of the publishing industry and interest in her next book, Animals. A publisher claimed exclusive rights to the novel and it went on to be optioned for film by the producer Sarah Brocklehurst. Emma was offered the opportunity to write the script and, despite no screenwriting experience, she leapt at the chance. Emma said it was something she’d always wanted to do especially considering the kind of fiction she enjoys writing; visual, episodic with lots of scenes and set pieces. She also loves dialogue and carries a ready made soundtrack for her stories in her head!
It was a cheering introduction to our topic but there was more to come. The producer Sarah Brocklehurst helped Emma secure financial support via Creative England which champions emerging artists, specifically writers who have written in other forms and want to write a screenplay. The deal came with a mentor, Angeli Macfarlane, a development producer at Film London. Later in the process film director Sophie Hyde came on board. Emma said all three women were brilliant at story and structure and fought her corner to keep to the book’s original vision.
Emma said the process of adapting her novel to film was a big learning curve and helped her discover a lot about herself as a writer. The first task was to unpack the novel, which takes six to eight hours to read, and turn it into a film that takes one and half hours to watch. With her mentor’s help, Emma had to ask “how do we smash this book apart and keep it true? What is the heart of the story?” You need to break certain things in a book to make a film and she discovered that while she’s not precious about structure, plot or story, she cares very much about character and voice. What shone through, as Emma described the experience of working in both forms and with her collaborators and mentors, was her inspirational can-do attitude and the sense of confidence nurtured by that support. It was so heartening to hear!
Emma flagged up a few common pitfalls that novelists get wrong when adapting novels into a screenplay:
Voiceovers: Naff alert! Filmmakers recoil at voiceovers. Use them sparingly if at all and only useful if used as a counterpoint to the action (for exceptional examples think of the TV show, Peepshow, or the film, Trainspotting)
Dealing with the past and time: its much easier in fiction to move the reader about in time with devices like flashbacks. Emma emphasised that film likes everything to be active and to happen in the present. The challenge in film is how to show an entire history of the characters in one shot (a cliched but quick example is to use polaroids or show a character sporting a different hairstyle).
It’s often said that screenplays written by those from other disciplines pack too many words onto the page. A screenplay needs to be economical, sparse and brisk. It can’t afford to be dense. The scenes need to work in sequence. Three things need to be accomplished in a scene; character development, leading on to the next scene and story.
Movie poster for Animals, Cornerstone Films.
Emma usually begins a novel with a character in an emotional dilemma. She’ll have a sense of the beginning and the end but finds the middle tough. In the planning stages she recommended The Seven Basic Plots to giddy-up a saggy middle. Try breaking the book down into acts: draw a story arc and mark your first turning point and a final crisis point and in between figure out the mid point. Screenwriting has taught her to ask: what are the turning points, “the tent poles that hold the story up and how are you going to space those?” Think about what kind of book you are writing. How do you want your various points of the book to feel and what’s the emotional trajectory of your character. What do they need to learn and where does that come into play? Working with an editor is key for Emma and she highlighted the value of another pair of eyes. If you’ve finished your novel and taken it as far as you can and you haven’t got an editor yet, Emma suggested finding and independent editor (see her recommendations below).
We talked about how a really good story always comes from a central truth, a point from someone’s heart. Emma’s stories always come from experiences or worries in her life but by the time it’s been fictionalised, she’s cleared emotional distance from the story’s original impulse. It was such a great conversation - Emma’s enthusiasm and joy for storytelling was infectious - thank you to Emma and to our brilliant Words Away crowd for jumping in with great questions too.
Next time I’ll be taking to Aussie writer Charlotte Wood on Saturday 4th July at 10am here in the UK which is 7pm Sydney time: Writing Relationships: exploring character and place. Super excited about this as you might already know. Charlotte’s new novel The Weekend is being published here in the UK on June 24th. It’s been shortlisted for lots of prestigious awards in Australia and rightly so. If you haven’t already had a chance, do check out her writing podcasts and the resources for writers page on her website.
I’m delighted that the Zalons are proving to be popular and thank you for all your support. I’m making plans for going forward with more dates and details to follow soon.
Thanks for reading!
Kellie x
Links and References:
Emma Jane Unsworth, MA Novel Writing: Manchester University, Animals, the film, Cornerstone Films, BFI: British Film Institute, Sarah Brocklehurst: film producer, Angeli Macfarlane, development producer: Film London, Emerging Talent Fund: Creative England, Sophie Hyde: film director, Trainspotting, Peep Show, The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker, Normal People, Phillip Roth, Stephen King.
And as promised here are Emma Jane Unsworth’s recommendations for writing/editing services, “I'd highly recommend both of them for good value and thoughtful, professional feedback.”
theunstoppableauthor.com: “This is a friend of mine, Nicola Mostyn, who has published two novels and also does reports for Faber Academy (but cheaper here on her own site!). She's really lovely and supportive and has also published a book called Seven Creative Gremlins full of good advice.”
Luke Brown: “a novelist who also teaches Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University, also offers freelance writing services and is employed by many big publishers as a freelance editor. He actually copy-edited Adults for the Borough Press!”