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Top 10 Screenwriting Tips Introduction to Screenwriting How to become a screenwriter. Over the last quarter century I’ve stumbled and lurched my way to some understanding of the screenwriter’s craft. As our AFTRS Graduate Certificate of Screenwriting students begin their journey, I thought I’d share the 10 things I wish I’d know when I started out. 1. Why people go to the movies If you’re making films to be viewed by the cinema-going public, it would seem pretty obvious that you should seek to understand why people go the movies, wouldn’t it?

Not to me. I scratched around for about 6 years and had already written several very poor drafts of my first screenplay without ever contemplating this fundamental question. Fortunately, the inspirational UCLA English Professor, Lynn Batten, forced me to address the question – well, not so much about movies but about stories and myths in general. “What people are seeking is the feeling of being alive. They want to be moved, guys. Learn more about why people go to the movies 2. 3. McKee is treated like a screenwriting God. 4. 5. 6. 7. How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method | eHow.com - StumbleUpon.

73 Ways to Become a Better Writer | Copyblogger - StumbleUpon. National Novel Writing Month - StumbleUpon. Eight Secrets Which Writers Won't Tell You — Aliventures - StumbleUpon. Image from Flickr by Lazurite This is not particularly relevant to the post, but I’m getting an awful lot of comments telling me, often a little snarkily, “it’s ‘THAT’ not ‘WHICH’”.

The “don’t use which for restrictive clauses” rule comes (as far as I can tell) from Strunk and White. Plenty of authors, including Austen, have used “which” exactly as I use it in the title. It’s very commonly used like this here in England, so I’m guessing my comments are coming from US readers. There was never a period in the history of English when “which” at the beginning of a restrictive relative clause was an error. I thought about putting “that” in the title – but I like the sound of “which” between “secrets” and “writers”. And with that out of the way, enjoy the post! A few years ago, I’d look at published writers and think that they were somehow different from me.

They were real writers. I’m going to go through eight secrets. Secret #1: Writing is Hard The truth is, though, that writing is hard. How To Steal Like An Artist (And 9 Other Things Nobody Told Me) - Austin Kleon - StumbleUpon. Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 Buy the book: Amazon | B&N | More… Here’s what a few folks have said about it: “Brilliant and real and true.” —Rosanne Cash“Filled with well-formed advice that applies to nearly any kind of work.” Read an excerpt below… Tags: steal like an artist. The Writing Process: From Idea To Print - StumbleUpon.

25 Things You Should Know About Character - StumbleUpon. Previous iterations of the “25 Things” series: 25 Things Every Writer Should Know 25 Things You Should Know About Storytelling And now… Here you’ll find the many things I believe — at this moment! — about characters: 1. Without character, you have nothing. 2. A great character can be the line between narrative life and story death. 3. Don’t believe that all those other aspects are separate from the character. 4. The audience will do anything to spend time with a great character. 5. It is critical to know what a character wants from the start. 6. It doesn’t matter if we “like” your character, or in the parlance of junior high whether we even “like-like” your character. 7. It is critical to smack the audience in the crotchal region with an undeniable reason to give a fuck. 8.

You must prove this thesis: “This character is worth the audience’s time.” 9. Don’t let the character be a dingleberry stuck to the ass of a toad as he floats downriver on a bumpy log. 10. 11. 12. 13. The law of threes.