Today while I was riding the bus, the second most interesting thing was the guy who got on drunk at 11AM and who harrassed a bunch of 10-12yr old children who got on after him. He kept me from reading my book about writing screenplays by talking to me about how much he likes IFC.
But then there were the kids. I assume they were part of some class, possibly on a field trip or something. 20+ kids, like I said, all around 10-11 years old, got on the bus with what appeared to be one adult supervisor. They played along with the drunk guy for a while, talking about sports and whatnot, until he started getting extra-creepy and they moved to the other end of the bus one by one.
Near the end of my ride, the kids closest to me were asking me what I was reading. Syd Field’s Screenplay, a long-trusted guide for people who want to write screenplays, which I do. They asked me if I’d made any movies and I admitted that I have not, but plan on it. I explained the difference between a writer and a director. I mentioned that I had written a couple novels, though none have been published in print yet, Forlorn is available online. They wanted to know what it was about… but as those of you who have read it know, that’s hard to say. So I described it as best I could.
This was the most interesting thing that happened on the bus today; the kids were not only interested in my novel, they asked what website it was on so they could go read it. I gave them a card as I hurried off the bus at my stop, and this message goes out to the kids on the bus. Thanks for being interested. The novel is over here. Know that you have helped further inspire me to do whatever is necessary to get my books published.
I recommend The Screenwriter’s Bible by David Trottier, if you haven’t heard of it already.