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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