What’s new in technology that would interest a broad audience? I ask myself that question the first weekend of each month when I sit down to write “Virtual Valley,” a column for Direct Magazine (formerly Visalia Direct magazine), a publication of DMI Agency that is a newspaper insert and direct mailing. After writing the…
Tag: writing
We should stop telling students and emerging writers that the passive voice is some sort of mortal sin in texts. It is not. Sometimes, the passive voice offers the best way to control what a reader perceives as important. Consider the following reasons to use passive voice: 1. Technical manuals.…
An email exchange brought something into focus that I want to stress to all screenwriters and novelists hoping to pitch a film, series, or novel. A story needs to be unusual, yet obvious. The audience should anticipate some, but not all, of the conflicts and the outline of the story…
“I’m making a movie about a young filmmaker.” “My new play is about a struggling playwright in New York City.” “I’ve written a great book about a romance writer.” And then we have… “My new screenplay is about a playwright….” STOP IT. Please. Stop writing about being a writer and…
“This story is a movie. That other story needs to be a novel.” One of my pet peeves is the common assumption among writers that particular types of stories are best suited to a single medium. This assumption belies either a lack of skill or a lack of understanding and…
“I have been working on the screenplay for 10 years.” Few screenwriters and playwrights earn a living, and even fewer do so with only one or two produced works. To make writing a career, you must be receiving residuals and royalties from a larger collection of works that are being…
When someone casually states, as if revealing a deep and universal truth, that writing is a (take your pick) business or art form or craft, I shake my head and attempt to move far away from the wise sage and the lecture that is about to begin. What is meant…
Beat sheets, outlines, storyboard, and other tools help me organize my thoughts when writing. Too many writers stick with word processors as their sole “digital tools” when many other great applications exist — and “applications” for various applications, too. How can you use a spreadsheet to write? And why might…
As I finished the draft of a short play, a colleague sent me a message asking how many new manuscripts or adaptations I have written in the last twelve months or so. It seems best to list them: Billie’s Girlfriend, written in early 2014 and submitted to Acting Out! Pittsburgh…
“This is an engaging read, but can you revise it to sound more academic?” Most of us want to read writing I describe as demonstrating the Five Cs: clear, concise, compelling, correct, and complete. I tell my students and creative writing seminars to resist overwriting. Avoid affected academic prose, with…