A one-of-a-kind guide to help writers translate their literary talents to the big screen. This is a book for all writers, be they published or unpublished, novelists or journalists, who want to write for the movies. Meg Wolitzer, who has transformed herself from novelist to novelist/screenwriter, shows writers how they, too, can use their grasp of story, language, and character to write great screenplays. Wolitzer discusses those aspects of screenwriting that can stymie even the most seasoned of writers. Her topics include: * getting started * the essential three-act structure * how writers can use what they already know about writing * why write a treatment and how to do it * how to write visually instead of verbally * creating for the market Wolitzer also advises on shedding obstructive writing habits and adapting one's own work and the work of others for the big screen. Level-headed, encouraging, and always delightful, Fitzgerald Did It is a must for every writer's bookshelf. "If you try to write a screenplay, as I do, and you don't know what you're doing, as I don't, you have to read this book, as I have. Repeatedly." --Cathleen Schine, author of The Love Letter and The Evolution of Jane
From two extraordinary authors comes a moving, exuberant, laugh-out-loud novel about friendship and family, told entirely in emails and letters. Avery Bloom, who's bookish, intense, and afraid of many things, particularly deep water, lives in New York City. Bett Devlin, who's fearless, outgoing, and loves all animals as well as the ocean, lives in California. What they have in common is that they are both twelve years old, and are both being raised by single, gay dads. When their dads fall in love, Bett and Avery are sent, against their will, to the same sleepaway camp. Their dads hope that they will find common ground and become friends--and possibly, one day, even sisters. But things soon go off the rails for the girls (and for their dads too), and they find themselves on a summer adventure that neither of them could have predicted. Now that they can't imagine life without each other, will the two girls (who sometimes call themselves Night Owl and Dogfish) figure out a way to be a family?