TIPS FOR WRITERS
Self-confidence increases when you continue to act (in this case, write) with no regard for your insecurities.
TIPS FOR NOVELISTS
Dramatic fiction, by suspending our disbelief, gives the impression of reality--what Aristotle, in his Poetics, described as an "imitation" of action that may not be "strictly true" but is "more philosophical than history" because it is true in a poetic, or universal, sense.
Seven tips for marketing your romantic comedy script
1. Professional presentation is essential.
2. Use proper format for a submission script, (not a shooting script).
3. Keep the length under 120 pages.
4. Stick with the feature film arena.
6. Recent romantic comedies are sharp and intelligent, reflecting a contemporary lifestyle with contemporary obstacles while expanding the "rules" and limitations of the genre.
7. A "spec" script is still the strongest way to approach producers.
2. Use proper format for a submission script, (not a shooting script).
3. Keep the length under 120 pages.
4. Stick with the feature film arena.
6. Recent romantic comedies are sharp and intelligent, reflecting a contemporary lifestyle with contemporary obstacles while expanding the "rules" and limitations of the genre.
7. A "spec" script is still the strongest way to approach producers.
TIPS FOR NOVELISTS
Follow The Chicago Manual of Style, fourteenth edition and Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, tenth edition.
TIPS FOR WRITERS
Feel challenged because you'll always feel challenged by this endlessly challenging craft.
TIPS FOR SCREENWRITERS
The audience wants the Hero to take on an opponent who is more powerful and successful than the hero.
TIP FOR WRITERS
Feel challenged because you'll always feel challenged by this endlessly challenging craft.
Excerpt from Michael Maxen's article, "How to Manufacture a Best Seller"
The hero is an expert. The villain is an expert. You must watch all of the villainy over the shoulder of the villain.
The hero has a team of experts in various fields behind him.
Two or more on the team must fall in love.
Two or more on the team must die.
The villain must turn his attentions from his initial goal to the team.
The villain and the hero must live to do battle again in the sequel.
All deaths must proceed from the individual to the group: i.e., never say that the bomb exploded and 15,000 people were killed. Start with "Jamie and Suzy were walking in the park with their grandmother when the earth opened up."
If you get bogged down, just kill somebody.
Published in the New York Times Magazine on March 1, 1998.
The hero has a team of experts in various fields behind him.
Two or more on the team must fall in love.
Two or more on the team must die.
The villain must turn his attentions from his initial goal to the team.
The villain and the hero must live to do battle again in the sequel.
All deaths must proceed from the individual to the group: i.e., never say that the bomb exploded and 15,000 people were killed. Start with "Jamie and Suzy were walking in the park with their grandmother when the earth opened up."
If you get bogged down, just kill somebody.
Published in the New York Times Magazine on March 1, 1998.
TIP FOR THE SCREENWRITER
The audience wants the Hero to struggle to overcome increasingly more difficult obstacles.
TIP FOR THE NOVELIST
Dramatic fiction, by suspending our disbelief, gives the impression of reality--what Aristotle, in his Poetics, described as an "imitation" of action that may not be "strictly true" but is "more philosophical than history" because it is true in a poetic, or universal, sense.
TIP FOR THE SCREENWRITER
Moviegoers want the Hero to believe in (and act according to) the basic set of values that they believe in.
TIP FOR WRITERS
When things get tough, take a vacation. (Never decide to abandon your project when you're tired.)
NOVEL REVISION
It’s finding the emotional door you have to go through. You have to find a way, an angle in on the characters, so that your emotional dope, your limits, concerns, needs and hopes at that moment can be expressed through the vehicle of the made-up story. And then you have to shape the story as entertainment so other people can feel that same emotion.—Stephen King
TIP FOR SCREENWRITERS: SCREENPLAYS
The audience wants the Hero to be forced to struggle, change, and become a better, happier, and more successful person. The audience wants the Hero to exhibit a sense of humor. The audience wants the Hero to have bigger-than-life dreams and desires.
MOVIES
Best five movies I saw in October:
Secretariat
The Social Network
Lust/Caution
An Education
It's Complicated
Secretariat
The Social Network
Lust/Caution
An Education
It's Complicated
THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN
During the interminable bus, taxi, and tube rides--and much of the 11-hour flight back to LA, finished reading one of the best books I've read in ages: Simon Winchester's THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN, "A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary." Highly recommend it for its elegant writing, intriguing subject matter, and literary arcane.
TIP FOR NOVELISTS
Never sit down to write without knowing what you’re going to write before you sit down.
More Tales From The Script
For all who are considering the screenwriting career, I highly recommend “Tales from the Script,” featuring interviews with favorite screenwriters Dennis Palumbo, Paul Schrader, Ron Shelton, Shane Black, Ron Shusett, Frank Darabont, William Goldman, Larry Cohen, Stephen Susco, John Carpenter, Guinevere Turner…. “Amadeus” took 46 drafts! There’s no end to better. Respect for the process. John Carpenter: “Stop bitching—stop whining—and move on.” “A career is broken only if the artist allows it to be broken.” All agree that, “Right now it’s the strangest it’s ever been”—and it’s even stranger now in the “Post-content era.” I would call this well done doc a “reality pill” for sure.
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