Larry Atlas on the Inspiration for South Eight

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. 

Today’s guest for the WHAT is Larry Atlas, author of South Eight, the story of a young doctor’s collision with the demands and contradictions of modern acute care medicine, both its power and failings, and the moral questions it ultimately provokes.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

My background as a writer was entirely in plays and screenplays, exactly zero in prose fiction. So when, quite by accident (honest, it’s true!) I found myself working in a hospital first as a nurse, and then within a few years as a nurse practitioner hospitalist, my initial thought was to write something for the stage. In fact, I tried that twice, and within pages knew that it wasn’t going to work. What I wanted to write, the internal experience of treating hospital patients, could only work as a novel. That was a starting point, a hospitalist physician, in the heart of that world, his experience of it, and of the patients and co-workers.

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

I set out thinking of South Eight as “literary fiction,” but built a plot around events and a patient from the central character’s past, how they intersect with the main character’s present position, the power the current position.

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

Well, this is my first novel, but as with plays and screenplays, I was surprised by how the story did actually, in important ways, assume a life of its own. I remember reading somewhere, about playwriting, that the characters will tell you how the story should unfold. I think that was true here. Also, I love mysteries and thrillers, so perhaps it was natural that I’d incorporate those elements as I wrote.

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

Often. On any given day there’re a dozen possibilities in the news, or someone will tell me a story they’ve heard that has interesting twists, possibilities. The question always is, will it hold up, will it hold one’s interest the next day, a week later, a month. And if it does, will it have enough “room” for expansion into a complete work, whatever the form.

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

Well, in my case I’m still working in medicine — can I say active sideline in medicine? — which takes a lot of time and energy. So, the question is, do I have a story, a single story, that is so compelling that I simply have to find the time and energy, to write it. One can have a lot of ideas percolating, as you say, but having that one that comes to a boil in a sense, chooses itself.

I have 6 cats and a Dalmatian (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting?

I have a four-year-old black Labrador who comes into my writing space and lies on the blue couch there. Once in a while she’ll bring me her ball to remind me it’s time to take a break.

Larry Atlas is a former Drill Sergeant who served in the Army. After his service, he attended Bennington College, earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees before declining admission to medical school —and moving to New York to begin a successful career as an actor, playwright, and screenwriter. Among his produced plays are Total Abandon and the award-winning Yield of the Long Bond which premiered at the Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles. He worked on multiple studio film projects including Sleepless in Seattle. He conceived and implemented the first nationwide online actors’ casting service, and then later co-invented and patented the first navigable nonlinear video architecture. Larry lives in upstate New York with actor-turned-therapist Ann Matthews, and their dog Ruby.

Save the Cat! Writes for TV! - Enter To Win!

Have you ever considered writing for TV?

It’s a distinct skill set, and slightly different than writing a novel, or even a screenplay. A TV series is the long game—the series itself needs an arc, or course. But so does each season, each episode, and each character. Sound like a lot of work? It is. But there’s a tried and true method that can be applied to writing for television.

First, what is Save the Cat!®? 

Save the Cat! provides writers the resources they need to develop their screenplays and novels based on a series of best-selling books, primarily written by Blake Snyder (1957- 2009). Blake’s method is based on 10 distinctive genres and his 15 story beats (the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet). Our books, workshops, story structure software, apps, and story coaching teach you everything you need to unlock the fundamentals and mechanics of plot and character transformation. 

Find out more about Save the Cat! by visiting their webpage at https://savethecat.com/

About the Save the Cat! Writes for TV

Blake Snyder's Save the Cat!, the world's top-selling story method for filmmakers and novelists, introduces The Last Book on Creating Binge-Worthy Content You'll Ever Need. 

Screenwriter Jamie Nash takes up Snyder's torch to lay out a step-by-step approach using Blake's principles for both new and experienced writers, including:

  • How to write and structure a compelling TV pilot that can launch both your series and your TV writing career

  • All the nuances, tricks, and techniques of pilot-writing: the Opening Pitch, the Guided Tour, the Whiff of Change, and more

  • The 8 Save the Cat! TV Franchise Types that will improve your story and your pitch

  • The not-so-secret TV Pitch Template that turns your TV series into the necessary read-over-lunch industry document

  • a how-to in creating layered characters who are driven by complex internal struggles

  • Beat sheets of the pilots of Barry, Ozark, Grey's Anatomy, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, What We Do in the Shadows, Black-ish, The Mandalorian, This Is Us, Law and Order: SVU and more to help you crack your story.

Create your binge-worthy TV series with Save the Cat! Writes for TV.

Purchase a copy of this book on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Or save it to your GoodReads reading list.

From Film to Book: A Screenwriter Talks Novel Adaptation

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Today's guest on the podcast is William Schreiber, William’s novel, Someone to Watch Over, won the 2019 Rising Star award from the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. The novel is based on his original screenplay, which has won or been nominated for many awards, including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Nicholls Fellowship in screenwriting.

Listen to the Episode Now!