I hope the snow hasn’t been too rough, wherever you are. For me it’s been a mixed blessing, allowing me to recover from my recent surgery without missing too many school days (thank you snow days) … while tempting me to go outside and move some of that white stuff. (I haven’t; don’t worry, I won’t). One of the things I thought I might be able to do while I was recovering was working on that million dollar novel or screenplay. Needless to say, I don’t have a novel or screenplay that I was working on, and worst of all, I really don’t have any idea how to prepare such a long work.
Despite all my years of teaching, and teaching writing in particular, I have never tried to write any kind of long creative work. Maybe I stick to essays, short stories and poetry, because they are so relatively easy to write. With so much time on my hands, however, I wanted to find a tool that might be able to help me write something like a play or novel.
Anyone can use a word processor, I suppose, to properly format a play or novel. What I was looking for was some software that could cut down some of that tedious work. I also wanted something that wasn’t going to be too complicated to use, and most of all, I wanted something that wasn’t going to cost too much … free would be preferable.
I started as usual, by googling a phrase, in this case, “screen-writing tools”. I scanned through the recommendations, and then used CNET’s reviews to narrow down my options. Finally, I settled upon Celtx, because it had a CNET review, a Wikipedia entry with reliable external links and references, and best of all, it was a free download recognized as virus free by CNET and by my McAfee Site Advisor.
I must report that I have only started playing around with Celtx, and already I have learned a great deal. I really like the sample works provided, even though they are not complete. There is a sample of a film, audio and theater scripts which give the user some idea about how to use some of the many features included in the software. According to the Wikipedia entry, “Celtx uses an industry standard screenwriting editor typical for screenplays, stageplays, AV scripts, comic books or radio plays.” I can imagine creative writing students and film students using this software to improve their own scripts.
Now that I’ve found a new tool to use, I just have to get together that million dollar idea. I’ll let you know if I come up with anything. Until then, I thank you again for stopping by, and hope you find something worth exploring.
Copyright © henry toromoreno, 2010. All rights reserved.
Thinkers Link 