Write your first book—or your best book yet—
using the storytelling tricks of your favorite movies
First Chapters
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...
Nanowrimo Now What?
You did Nanowrimo! Huzzah!! Or maybe you didn’t, but whether you did it through Nanowrimo or not, you now have a rough draft—maybe a very, very, very rough draft— of your book or script. Huzzah!!' So now what? First of all, Take a break. If at all possible, when...
The Writer’s Journey: The Descent
In Greek mythology, the Hero’s journey into the Underworld is called katabasis. Writers take that journey all the time. You could say that every time we turn on our laptops to write, every time we enter the worlds of our books, we are entering the Underworld: the...
Nanowrimo 2022 series and more
YES, I am doing my usual prompts for Nanowrimo! You can find them and lots of other non-Nano posts on the Screenwriting Tricks for Authors Substack main page. Nanowrimo prompts: Act I Questions and Prompts Elements of Act II:1 overview Act II Part I...
What sells a book to TV / the movies? Case study: SLOW HORSES
The answer is— a million things. But very, very often, the first person to say yes to a book and pass it up the line for studio consideration is the reader, or story analyst. After college, before I sold my first film script, I worked as a reader for a mini-major...
Nanowrimo Now What? – Top Ten Things I Know About Editing
So you did Nanowrimo! Huzzah!! Or maybe you didn’t, but whether you did it through Nanowrimo or not, you now have a rough draft—maybe a very, very, very rough draft— of your book or script. Huzzah!! So now what? First of all, I hope you’ve had a good long break. If at...
Ten Romantic Movies – to help you write your love story!
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...
Groundhog Day for Groundhog Day
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 worksheets
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...
What KIND of Story is It?
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...
