Interview with Ralph Roberts, Author of CELTX Open Source Scriptwriting: Beginner’s Guide

Ralph is the author of our recently published Celtx: Open Source Screenwriting Beginner's Guide which helps you write and market Hollywood-perfect movie scripts the free way!

Roberts, in his more than 30-year career, has written over 100 books along with thousands of articles and short stories. His most recently published book is Celtx: Open Source Screenwriting and he is currently writing Google App Inventor by Example, both for Packt. Ralph lives in the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina, the “Land of the Sky.”

Do visit his personal blog at
http://ralphroberts.net

Packt: Your book is published now. How does it feel to be a published author?

Ralph: Wonderful! Even though I’ve published before, each new book is still a thrill. We authors spend a lot of lonely, hard hours writing books and finally receiving that published volume in your hand makes the effort all worthwhile and gives a great sense of accomplishment. This moment of excitement never seems to lessen. I highly recommend it.

Packt: What benefits did writing a book bring to your specialist area?

Ralph: The books that most of us write for Packt come about because we are considered experts in a specific field. I find that in writing the book and explaining techniques, procedures, basic operations, etc. in a way a non-expert can both understand and use, forces me to take a closer look. If you write while keeping your reader’s lack of experience in mind, you’ll find yourself learning things too. So that’s the best benefit I get out of writing books; an even stronger grounding in the book’s subject, making the effort a win-win for both the reader and the writer, because that comes through in your writing!

Packt: Our authors usually have full-time jobs whilst writing for us. Was this the case for you and how did you approach managing your time?

Ralph: Yes, I do not write fulltime but have several businesses of my own to run, some very demanding of my time. The key is try to do something each day. I’ve taught seminars on writing for decades. I like pointing out how a minimal effort done regularly mounts up. For example, if you only wrote three pages an evening (or early in the morning, or whenever), that’s over 1,000 pages a year or a little over three complete books for Packt. We can do that, a little bit at a time, we can overcome that big old bad dragon we dread, when first starting a book and make wallets out of its hide. Getting published is easy, just write literally a little at a time.

Packt: Whilst writing your book, did you find that it overshadowed personal life in any way? How did you deal with this?

Ralph: Yes, writing a book can become an obsession. Make yourself take time out and do things you enjoy. Take a walk, watch TV, and above all spend time with your family. Writing is work but that does not mean the whole process should not be enjoyable. If you are having fun, it comes through in the book. I consider that all important, that sense of fun making it easier for the reader to learn and get value from the book.

Packt: Do you have any advice for other authors who may be interested in writing for Packt, but are still unsure?

Ralph: If I listed all the benefits you get by being published, I could (well, yes) write an entire book. If you are well -versed in a technical subject, you’ve got the hard part done already. Now, just imagine you’re explaining that subject to your Aunt Sally, who knows little about it but really wants to learn. Don’t assume she knows anything. Just explain (keeping it fun) the basics leading up to the good stuff. Not skipping the basics is the key. Do that and you can write a worthwhile book every time.

Packt: Do you have any tips for other authors, or tricks that you learnt whilst writing, that you'd like to share?

Ralph: Back to that “do a little bit every day” but if you’re hot and the words and examples are flowing, do more. However, don’t burn youself out. Stop while it’s still exciting and it will be exiting when you start your next session.

Packt: How did you find the overall experience of writing your book for Packt?

Ralph: In the early part of my first book for Packt — Celtx: Open Source Screenwriting — it took me (having worked for other publishers who did less during the writing process) a little time to adjust. Packt has several editors from the first (and tech reviewers later) helping you to master the format, cover the topics in each chapter, and so on. I came to love this — the people at Packt work hard to help us turn out good books. They make us look good. That’s why I quickly agreed to do a second book for Packt and hope to sell them a third one soon. It’s an enjoyable process writing for Packt.

Packt: During the writing process, did you come across any issues/ difficulties that affected your writing and how did you overcome these?

Ralph: Don’t write yourself into a corner. In doing the outline during the proposal process, you might put in a topic that turns out not to really work when the time comes to write about it. In that case, determine what does work, consult with your editors, and change the topic to one that both fits and you can explain to the benefit of the reader.

Packt: Was there anything interesting that happened during the writing of the book?

Ralph: Yes, there were times in writing up a feature when, to my pleasant surprise, I would say something like “Wow! I didn’t know it would do that!” You know you’re really teaching, if you’re also learning new tricks. Just try to do it faster than the students. But that’s the nice thing about writing a book, the readers do not know when you learned something.It's just "gee, that’s neat stuff and I’m glad I bought this book."

Packt: How did Packt’s Acquisition Editors help you - what kind of things did they help you with and how did they support you throughout the writing process?

Ralph: Packt has two ways of acquiring books. You can approach them with your own subject, as I did with the Celtx book and, deciding it was a good idea, the acquisitions editor made suggestions that helped me with the proposal and outline. Or, as I do now, follow Packt’s Twitter feed. They send tweets out with book subjects they’re interested in. And that’s how I sold them the Google App Inventor book, it was one they already wanted.

Packt: What projects, if any, are you working on at the moment?

Ralph: I am currently over half-finished on Google App Inventor by Example and working on other projects I hope to do for Packt. Because, while Packt has truly helpful editors and are fun to work for; they also have one of the best royalty schedules in the business. That’s the icing on the cake but it's a delicious cake throughout.

Would you like to be an author yourself? >Click here to contact us.