Month: July 2016
Here’s an exercise to drive you crazy: Ask yourself, “What is the theme of my life?” I suggest this for two reasons. First, because it’s so hard for us as writers to grasp the idea of “theme.” What the hell is it anyway? How is it different from “subject?” From “concept?” An exercise like this (aside from being fairly mind-bending) is a great way to get a sense of exactly what “theme” means. My second reason is because I was watching the documentary about Tony Robbins last night, “I Am Not Your Guru.” I only got to watch…
Read More“Hello,” worked for Jerry Maguire, helping him win back his girl. For pitching, if someone says, “You had me at hello,” it means you’ve won a place in the trashcan instead of in that person’s heart. The pitch below is an example of a recent “Hello/Hi” pitch sent to Steve. It’s followed by a mark-up pointing out areas to avoid if you find yourself making similar pitches one of these days. Hi, My name is Xxx Xxx and I am the social media manager of Xxx Competition. Established in 2012, we are one of the fastest growing Xxx competitions and…
Read MoreCall this post “Dudeology #3,” as we continue our exploration of The Big Lebowski, with an eye specifically to the writing of first drafts. We were talking in a couple of previous posts about the preparatory questions a writer asks himself or herself before the first word of a first draft goes onto paper. For me, the first two are: “What genre am I writing in?” “What’s the story’s spine, i.e. its ‘narrative highway’ from Act One through Act Two to Act Three?” The third question for me is, “What’s the theme? What is my story about?” Which brings…
Read MoreHere we are, getting set to plunge in on our first draft. But what do we do before that? We said a couple of weeks ago that our first question to ourselves, pre-pre-first draft, should be: “What’s the genre?” Okay, great. Let’s say that we’ve done that. We know our genre. Our story, we’ve determined, is a sci-fi action-adventure. Or maybe it’s a love story. Or a Western combined with a supernatural thriller. Good enough. We’ve got that covered. What’s next? For our answer, let’s refer back to Paul (“Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull”) Schrader’s excellent guidelines for pitching: …
Read MoreThere’s a scene in Fredrik Backman’s book My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry when Elsa, the main character, recalls a piece of advice from her grandmother: Granny always said: “Don’t kick the shit, it’ll go all over the place!” Why should this advice matter to you? While Granny never out and out says it in the book, the unsaid yin to the yang of her advice would likely be: Hug the sh*t. Sh*t in this context is anything that gets in the way of what we want to do, anything unexpected that pops up and has us exclaiming…
Read MoreWe were talking last week about The Big Lebowski being a film in the Private Eye genre. But what really makes Lebowski so inventive and so interesting is it’s a mixed genre. It’s a Slacker/Stoner tale (like Dazed and Confused, Go, Clerks, or any Cheech and Chong movie) conceived, structured, and executed as a Detective Story. What does this mean for you and me as writers? It means that mixing genres is one of the most canny and fun tricks we can pull to come up with something new and fresh and exciting. Mix the Private Detective genre with…
Read MoreFREE MINI COURSE
Start with this War of Art [27-minute] mini-course. It's free. The course's five audio lessons will ground you in the principles and characteristics of the artist's inner battle.