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Q & A with Paula Sheridan of Page Turner Awards

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Paula Sheridan is an award-winning entrepreneur and the award-winning author of The People’s Book Prize for her debut novel, The Grotto’s Secret, written under her pen name Paula Wynne. Harbouring a near-obsessive love of learning the craft of writing, Paula has been scribbling down the stuff in her head ever since she can remember.

Paula came up with the idea for the Page Turner Awards when she won The People’s Book Prize in 2017 and received her award from Sir Frederick Forsyth at a glittering awards ceremony in London.

When she’s not day-dreaming up plots for new historical thrillers while walking her Springer Spaniel in the Andalusian countryside, she’s helping Indie Authors to achieve their dream of seeing the novels in a reader’s hands, through her reading community on Book Luver. Paula also blogs about writing techniques and reviews writing books on Writing Goals.

What’s the last thing you read/watched you considered to be exceptionally well-written?

Last night I watched The Book Thief and the book has been on my reading list for ages so after watching the excellent film adaptation of the novel, I will definitely get the book and read it. I’ve also recently watched some cultural films from Australia and India with heart-warming stories and it brings back my mission on Page Turner Awards, which is to reach out to writers across all cultures, religions and interests, simply because they will have amazing stories to tell.

How’d you get your start in the industry?

My first book was published by Wiley. It was a non-fiction book called Pimp My Site. After that I published fiction novels and since then I’ve been learning more about screenwriting. I was also very lucky to win a Director’s Course through Screen South, which inspired me to continue my quest for learning more about writing screenplays. My debut novel, The Grotto’s Secret, won The People’s Book Prize which inspired me to set up Page Turner Awards.

Is recognizing good writing something you think can be taught or learned?

Yes, absolutely! For many years I’ve had an obsession with learning writing techniques and I’ve read hundreds of excellent writing guides, so many that I eventually started WritingGoals.com to showcase all the great writing guides which help writers to improve their craft of writing.

What do you consider the components of a good story?

Lots of elements make up a good story. For the first few pages, the character must hook the reader so they are compelled to continue reading. Beautiful prose is another good element and good writing is easy to spot. It shows the reader, or in the case of a judge on Page Turner Awards, that the writer has honed their craft. At the same time, it takes them deeper into the story. So, compelling characters with a great hook get readers and judges of a screenplay contest to want to know more about the story.

What are some of the most common writing mistakes you see?

Lots of grammatical errors, which are really easy to fix. For example, a writer can use a self-editing software, such as ProWritingAid, to help them spot these pesky gremlins which creep so easily into a piece of writing. You can take a free trial here.

What story tropes are you just tired of seeing?

Zombies! There was a stage where everyone and their aunt wanted to write a zombie story, but soon that will morph into writing about viruses and pandemics, if that hasn’t already happened!

What are some key rules/guidelines every writer should know? 

-We only accept the first ten pages. 

-Film producers and readers in a film production company normally would know by the first ten pages if they want to read further and if they are engaged with the story up to that point. 

-The same goes for literary agent and publishers. They also know very quickly if the story will make the grade. They can also tell if the writer has just thrown something together or if they have put precious time into the story’s first pages.

-Writers should know their premise or logline, and hone and tone it. This is to give the judges a good idea of what the story is all about and how it shows conflict and growth for the character in the story.

-We’re not concerned with spacing and formatting because our judges are looking for story and character and the words they read. Spacing and formatting comes when the agent or publisher asks to see more of the work.

-Screenplay entries, on the other hand, are very different. They need to be submitted in the industry standard format for the film producers to see the story as a screenplay script.

Have you ever read a script or manuscript where you thought “This writer gets it”? If so, what were the reasons why?

We had lots of entries last year where our editor, who was doing feedback, came back to us telling us that one writer in particular was very good and could write exceptionally well. Other judges had similar experiences and as a result, three writers won a literary agent to represent them, five writers won a publishing contract, six writers won a writing mentorship and thirteen independent authors won an audiobook production. We are thrilled with these fantastic successes from our inaugural awards.

Seeing as how you run a writing contest, what are the benefits for writers and screenwriters to enter the Page Turner Awards competition?

The benefits to screenwriters is that they will have the opportunity to put their scripts in front of our judging panel, who are all actively looking for scripts to option and produce. Thus, screenwriters will have the opportunity to get their work optioned for film if any of the judges like the writing. The same goes for the Writing Awards, where literary agents and publishers may want to publish the work if they like it. Success stories from 2020 include three writers won literary representation, six writers won a writing mentorship, five writers won a publishing contract, and thirteen independent authors won an audiobook production.

How can people find out more about you and the services you provide?

They need to go to https://pageturnerawards.com and follow the steps under our menu – Enter. It’s all done online so they will be asked to register an account, which will then send you an email to verify it. Then you can log in and follow the steps to submit your writing.

The early bird discount for Page Turner Awards ends this Sunday (28 Feb), so you can register now, and then have until the end of May to submit your script.

Readers of this blog are more than familiar with my love/appreciation of pie. What’s your favorite kind?

If you mean a baked pie, I can’t resist a pecan nut pie. Just thinking of it now makes my mouth water and I want to stop typing and go and bake one!

No small feat using another medium to be a writer-at-large

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HG Wells
The man responsible for tales of time travel, alien invasions, and assorted mad scientists, just to name a few…

After a gap of several years, I recently had the opportunity to reconnect in person with a respected colleague who has had more than their fair share of experience dealing with writers of all shapes, sizes, and levels of talent.

This person used to deal a lot with screenwriters, but now deals primarily with writers of manuscripts. Over the course of our conversation, I was asked about my scripts and my writing (What do I like to write? What genres are the scripts I have now? What kind of stories am I working on?)

As has been documented here before, my genre of choice is definitely adventure, along with hyphens connecting them to other genres (i.e. western-adventure, pulp sci-fi adventure, etc).

I gave a quick thumbnail sketch/five-second elevator pitch for the two completed and the one currently in revision mode.

You’d be harder pressed to find a stronger advocate for using your already-existing material as a springboard to jump into other mediums – primarily books and/or graphic novels.

It was their opinion that all three sounded like very original and fun ideas, which would make each a prime candidate for attracting attention. And this person has also been following the blog for quite a while, so their opinion is also that my writing is pretty solid. They cited examples of writers they knew who’d foregone the traditional route of trying to get in with one of the high-profile publishing houses and done it all themselves, each achieving respectable levels of success. Nothing to break the bank, but still some impressive numbers.

“A script is more or less an outline for a novel. And even though you’re not limited by page numbers, it still takes talent to create a novel,” I was told. “Your stories are original and unique, which makes them prime candidates for this. At least think about it.”

Believe me, I am.

My success in trying to get these scripts through to reps and production companies has been practically non-existent at best, yet I persist. I’m sure I’ll continue along that avenue, but this new alternative is definitely food for thought.

I’ve been told by more than a few people that my writing is very visual (which you would think would make it ideal for film), and that it really moves. In the past, I’ve entertained and even at times partially investigated the notion of applying my scripts to a graphic novel format (a great match), but am also not averse to trying my hand at converting it to pure prose.

I’ve no intention of stopping writing scripts. I like it too much. But I also like the pure act of writing by itself, so for the time being, all this talk about working in other formats is nothing more than speculation and conjecture.

But in some ways, still worth considering.

Cole Porter had it right*

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Way back when I was first starting out and learning the basics of writing a script, one of the initial lessons was all about what went into a slugline.

I was told the following:

INT. or EXT. LOCATION – DAY or NIGHT

And that’s it. Pretty straightforward. While the first two are pretty much set in stone, some writers opt to modify the last one a bit. “AFTERNOON” or “EVENING”. Seems alright.

Some, myself included, take it one step further – “LATER” or “MOMENTS LATER”. I’ve encountered a few writers who have issue with these. “How MUCH later?” “How many moments?” Understandable.

All that being said, lately I’ve seen more than a few scripts that have a mix of the standards as listed above, along with an assortment of the totally unexpected. Such as “20 MINUTES LATER” or “SAME”.

Oh, come on. Really?

I’m sure these writers have their reasons for doing this, but to me it says “Rules be damned! I’m doing it my way! No matter how wrong it looks!” Maybe they’re planning on filming it themselves? Even if that’s the case, wouldn’t you want the script to look as professional as possible?

To me, this is just wrong.

I don’t see how they think this can possibly work. If you want to intentionally show the passage of time, then it needs to be SHOWN within the context of the scene. A clock face, Xs on a calendar, a cavalcade of holiday decorations.

The way I understand it, the slugline is all about WHERE and WHEN a scene takes place. It involves setting the scene as part of telling the story, along with what the production crew needs to help show it. I don’t believe the WHEN has to be that specific. But again, it’s all about showing.

I’m very intrigued to see if other writers have seen this, and your thoughts about it. Yes? No? It’s their script, so they can do what they want?

*If you actually understand this, I suspect you’re of a certain age, or at least appreciate certain types of music.