How Google Inspires Writers

Syd Field's classic Three Act Structure

I was listening to some Public Image Ltd. and writing a blog about Cameron Crowe when I decided to take a detour and read Syd Field's Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting. Well, yes. You don't know this about me, but I love to read about the craft of screenwriting. Check out the graphic above -- Syd is known for his three-act structure. (You would do well to learn it.) I was inspired to read the text by an Internet search engine. See, Google has been reading my email and gathering information about me when I run searches. That's fine, you can snoop if you like. Writers are always snooping on people, listening to their conversations, stealing turns-of-phrases which sound not only clever to the ear, but look pleasant on the page. I had never read this seminal book by Field and I knew that I could always come back to the Crowe blog because well, I am in charge here. I try to be in charge, but there are times when I am swept by inspiration to new directions. Today's distraction was provided by the Internets premier search.

Snoops.

Google, or "Big Brother," had suggested this particular Syd Field text after spying on me as I wrote an email to a friend about a screenplay that I was writing. (Yes, I have multiple projects, I told you this. I'm not a put-my-eggs-all-in-one-basket writer.) My colleague had encouraged me to release the caged tiger -- as she referred to the project.  I smiled, I knew it was a large scale project that I could manage to rein in, if I had a  plan. I needed help. 

I didn't click on the advertisement because I wouldn't give Google the satisfaction. I merely headed over to the Cleveland Public Library website and ordered the text. It arrived days later and I was surprised by what I discovered on the opening pages of the first chapter, "What is a Screenplay?".

Page 17

Well, Mr. Field, you have my attention. Joseph Mankiewicz, and Fitzgerald in one paragraph!

Page 17

Joan Crawford never starred in a Fitzgerald script -- Joseph Mankiewicz rewrote it.

My favorite author, F. Scott Fitzgerald was a bust as a screenwriter. Writing skill in one medium apparently doesn't translate to another one. While in Hollywood, Fitzgerald wrote to make money and according to Field, to seek redemption. He died without getting that redemption. Syd Field writes: "Talent is God's gift; either you've got it or not. But writing is a personal responsibility; either you do it or you don't." (Page 14) Well, Fitzgerald was talented and it was well-known that his lifestyle had ruined what was a brilliant career -- he had failed in that personal responsibility that Field's what was talking about in his text.

Page 16

Acquiring Field's book was a stroke of genius by Google. I doubt they knew about my affinity for Fitzgerald; but wait, they do provide the platform for this blog. Google brought together Fitzgerald and Wilder! Maybe snooping on me was a good thing. Here's something you don't know about me: I believe that the intersection of Billy Wilder, Joseph L. Mankiewicz and  F. Scott Fitzgerald was divinely orchestrated. 

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Every Beginning Has A Start

Author F. Scott Fitzgerald

My start began with a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I was only three years old. Or maybe I started reading it by the time I was five years old. I think it was Tender Is The Night or was it This Side of Paradise? The first book was a gift from my father who had purchased it from the Salvation Army Goodwill store, which was located across from our house.

I remember being fascinated by the words on the page. A colleague at work said that he couldn't remember reading at such an early age, let alone reading Fitzgerald. I never said that I understood the big words, however, I said that the book transformed my life. I knew that I wanted to be a writer. My life had purpose.

I began a quest to find out as much as I could about Mr. Fitzgerald. I grew old enough to venture to the Glenville branch of the Cleveland Public Library on Parkwood Drive, and there I would browse the stacks to find the Fitzgerald books. My hands ran across the spines of books by men and women that I had never read. I would sit at the large wooden table and run my fingers across the words on the pages. This is what I wanted to do -- make words magically appear upon the page of a book.

Soon, I was confronted with a big question: How do I become a writer? I decided to read more about Fitzgerald. I read all of the novels and the short story collections so that I could become familiar with his characters and his style. I watched the film renditions of his books and found them always missing something. I became a student of the Roaring Twenties, and dreamed of lecturing on the authors of that period in a collegiate setting. However, I still didn't know how to become an author.

Interior of the Glenville Library

In the months and weeks to come, I hope to share more about my journey to become an author. At least now, you know something about my start--it began with F. Scott Fitzgerald.