Now that you have your Index Cards, let’s get them up on a Story Structure Grid! If you haven’t brainstormed on Index Cards yet, that’s your first step: For the second part of the method, you’ll need: A cork board, whiteboard, wall, or a sheet of cardboard, big enough...
Great characters are great from the first moment they appear on the page or screen. We’ve all experienced that electrifying rush—the knowing that this fictional person will be with us for the rest of our lives. So how do authors and screenwriters achieve that magic?...
This month, why not celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. and work on your storytelling craft—by watching Selma? We’ve started talking about using Story Patterns (What KIND of Story is It?). In Selma, the filmmakers have chosen the structural form of a War Story and...
Happy New Year, everyone!! I’ll keep this brief, because I’ve come to believe in easing into the year instead of making frantic pages of resolutions, But how about just this one? I’m going to write on my book or script for 15 minutes a day. When I was teaching dance I...
First Chapters are a very fraught subject. Writers agonize over them. I don’t have to tell you! The pressure is enormous, isn’t it? The first chapter sells your submission and it sells your book once it’s published. It carries the whole weight of the book with it. It...
Even if you’re not a romance writer, there are very few books or scripts that don’t have love plots, at least subplots—and who doesn’t want to up their love story game? So at this romantic time of year, why not put yourself in the mood for love and in the mood to...
Happy New Year, and Happy Year of the Tiger! I’m late getting the year started—Omicron outbreak in the family over Christmas. Hope you all have managed to avoid it!But I always like to celebrate this off-beat holiday with a movie breakdown.As the classic It’s a...
Story Expo writers! It was getting late for me (in the UK!) for that second session last night and I feel like I wasn't very clear on the PLAN in Raiders of the Lost Ark. So here's a Recap of the PLAN from my ongoing online workshop, with examples from Raiders and...
Like I suspect a lot of people here, Craig and I ended up mourning the loss of the incomparable Sidney Poitier by watching In the Heat of the Night. I often reference Heat as an example in workshops, but watching it again reminded me of what a great teaching movie it...
I know, it’s SO HARD to get any writing done this time of year. I’m not putting any pressure on you, I swear! But there is something that a whole lot of us do this time of year that we can actually turn into an almost miraculous, (as it were) two-and-a-half hour...
