May 24, 2015 Emma Coat's writing tips: I found Emma Coats writing tips in the Great American Pitchfest e-newsletter. I then looked her up, and it's on her blog too:
22 #storybasics I’ve picked up in my time at Pixar
I tweeted these forever ago, but the internet just noticed and I figure I should probably at least put them on my blog. I’m glad people are finding them useful.
Here they are, a mix of things learned from directors & coworkers at Pixar, listening to writers & directors talk about their craft, and via trial and error in the making of my own films.
#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
#2: You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.
#3: Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
#5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
#8: Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
#9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
#10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
#14: Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
#15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
#16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
#17: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on - it’ll come back around to be useful later.
#18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
#20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d'you rearrange them into what you DO like?
#21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
#22: What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.
You can find more stuff I talk about on twitter as @lawnrocket - film and storytelling mostly. I try to keep the what-I-ate-for-lunch posts to a minimum.
Tracy's writing tips: I have learned a lot as I write.
Sympathetic characters: I was writing a scene, and then I remembered it was kind of done on Alias. There was a scene where Sydney gets into a fight and stabs a masked guy with a knife. Then she unmasks him and sees it's someone that she knows and loves.
Sydney is still a sympathetic character even after killing someone because it was in self- defense. The audience knows she would have never have killed him if she knew who he was.
When 2 characters fall in love, they have to transform each other: I got this tip from the Edmonton Public Library writer-in- residence Conni Massing back in 2010. First she read some of The Vertex Fighter.
Then she read my script Garret which was like Fighter. In Garret, there was more of a love story. The audience has to root for the relationship.
Hacker movies: I did try to write a bit about it. There are a lot of hacker movies out there.
Hackers:
Swordfish:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo:
Blackhat:
Jun. 29, 2015 Successful bloggers:
1. Diablo Cody: She started a blog and then she wrote the movie Juno.
2. Kelly Oxford: She started a Twitter feed and then wrote a book.
I put up an article about her on my blog:
3. Neil Parischilla: He created a blog called 1000 Awesome Things. Then he put up a book called The Book of Awesome.
Dec. 20, 2015 "That lesbian- blogger hoax: smut or the messy start of a new art?": I cut out this article by Kathryn Borel in the Globe and Mail on Jun. 18, 2011.
I actually wrote about this before:
Here's the whole Borel article:
Before his resignation, followers of Internet-generated scandals were granted a merciful reprieve this week from imagining what lies beneath the cottony confines of Anthony Weiner's underpants. The distraction took the shape of a hot lesbian blogger in Syria who allegedly had been arrested. The blog, A Gay Girl in Damascus, turned out to be a hoax. Its author, Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari, was fabricated by 40-year-old Tom MacMaster, a straight, white man from Georgia, living in Scotland.
Cue the outrage: No one likes to be tricked, especially the 100th time. Blogging hoaxes are as old as the Web, but the media are like the rest of us: easily titillated, with a lazy taste for low-hanging fruit. Sometimes they won't bother to verify if a courageous lesbian activist in a war zone is in fact a middle-aged man who may or may not be typing into the ether while wearing a pair of flesh-coloured pantyhose and gleefully eating flayed oranges.
Outrage has a pesky tendency to masquerade as constructive discussion while actually strangling it. Did Mr. MacMaster lie, cause pain and damage the cause of gays and lesbians in Syria? Yes, yes and probably. Is he a sociopath, or an amateur fiction writer who accidentally hit the blogging jackpot? Maybe both.
But to flip it for a moment: Let's not forget that Mr. MacMaster had a sizable readership who identified and empathized with his character, her stories and her struggle. "We read to know that we are not alone," said C.S. Lewis (at least as played by Anthony Hopkins in Shadowlands). In the first creative life of A Gay Girl in Damascus, there was an author who was working hard to forge a three-dimensional character who was not based on stereotypes about either the Middle East or the gay community.
Whatever his motivations, Amina was believable enough to take on a kind of life, sustained by stories that made her relatable and enlightening. And in her audience, was there not a contingent that tracked the stories of Amina for comfort and to see parts of themselves, parts they were perhaps too fearful to show to their family and friends? And how much thought had you given before now to the real plight of homosexuals in Syria? On my end, not a hell of a lot.
There are innumerable examples of fiction's ability to outstrip fact in vividly illuminating reality. Filmmaker Werner Herzog freely admits to injecting fictional scenes into his documentaries to create "ecstatic truth." These scripted scenes do not compromise the non-fiction narrative; they open up a kind of vortex that pulls the viewer into the heart of the truth. Francis Bacon sums it up neatly: "Truth is hard to tell; it sometimes needs fiction to make it plausible."
Mr. Herzog aside, any time a non-fiction writer announces that every bit of their story is factual, don't we all have the urge to yell j'accuse? Creating a cohesive narrative itself is a lie. It's a fundamental human urge that allows us to cope with the stupid messy nonsense of existence.
The problem here is that we don't yet have a sophisticated set of metrics with which to analyze the utility or benefits of this kind of fiction. Our comfort levels vary based on the case, the nature of the lie and our own specific psychic makeups. Judith Miller's false reports on Iraq's weapons programs - that's an easy one to categorize. It gets trickier with the J.T. Leroys and the James Freys. And then there are the bursts of insight that come to us via Sacha Baron Cohen's clowning in Borat. Or the Coen brothers' fib that Fargo was based on a true story, testing the limits of the suspension of disbelief.
This is not to say Mr. MacMaster should be forgiven for the people he hurt, frightened or put in harm's way. But it is conceivable that in the future we'll look back at these hoaxes as some kind of new art form, even if this particular one was coming from a pervert prankster writer in Scotland who may or may not have been wearing flesh-coloured pantyhose while typing into the ether, giggling like Tom Hulce in Amadeus, while the juice from those oranges dribbles down his chin.
Feb. 20, 2016 Uppercase magazine: I was reading the Edmonton Journal's book reviews section and found out about this magazine:
"UPPERCASE publishes books and magazines for the creative and curious: products that spark the imagination and inspire creativity. The eponymous magazine was founded in 2009 by publisher, editor and designer Janine Vangool who continues to wear pretty much every hat imaginable. The quarterly print magazine is loved by thousands of subscribers around the world. Truly an independent magazine, UPPERCASE is supported by its readers through subscriptions."
Home
Jun. 10, 2017 "Creative theft": Today I found this article by Leanne Italie in the Edmonton Journal. She interviews David Sedaris:
Q As a teenager, what were you thinking you’d do?
A I wanted to be a visual artist, but I realized I was more affected by what I read than by what I saw. I would go to a show at a museum and look at a painting and say, ‘Oh I wish I owned that,’ and that would be the end of my relationship with a painting. With a short story I would read or with an author I would discover I could be haunted. It would affect my mood and affect the way that I saw the world. I thought, wow, it would be amazing to be able to do that.
https://www.pressreader.com/canada/ottawa-citizen/20170610/282454233968819
My week:
Jun. 13, 2017 World of Dance: I saw the promo for this new show: NBC's new dance competition series "World of Dance" is led by a judging team of extraordinary dance superstars - Jennifer Lopez (who also serves as an executive producer), Derek Hough, NE-YO and host/mentor Jenna Dewan Tatum. The 10-episode series from Universal Television Alternative Studio and Nuyorican Productions will give dancers the platform to showcase their talents and the opportunity to receive a life-altering grand prize of $1 million. In partnership with preeminent global dance brand World of Dance, the series brings the world's elite dancers together to compete in epic battles of artistry, precision and athleticism. Solo dancers will compete against duos and crews in an unlimited range of dance, including hip-hop, popping, locking, tap, ballet, break dancing, ballroom, stomping and more.
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Monday, June 19, 2017
Emma Coat's writing tips/ "That lesbian- blogger hoax"
Monday, June 5, 2017
"Mr. Right or Mr. Rich?"/ "For me, writing is really an agony"
Sept. 13, 2016 "Mr. Right or Mr. Rich?": I cut out this article by Joanna Goodman in the Globe and Mail on May. 30, 2012:
"For me, writing is really an agony": I cut out this article by Alexandra Fuller in the Globe and Mail on Feb. 21, 2015:
It’s always a delight to stumble upon a chick-lit novel that is smart, well-crafted and witty. Such is the case with Kim Izzo’s The Jane Austen Marriage Manual, a debut novel that brings class to the genre.
I’m not going to lie. At first I was skeptical of the premise: A single, 40-year-old woman goes on a mission to prove that she, and others like her, can “make a good marriage” in modern times. In other words, she throws her scruples out the window and sets off on a mercenary mission to marry for money. But in the spirit of the Jane Austen novels from which this story is inspired, I decided to keep an open mind and set my skepticism aside.
I’m glad I did. When we are first introduced to Kate Shaw, she is an acting beauty editor for a fashion magazine and living at home with her mother and grandmother. In rapid-fire succession, Kate loses her job, her beloved grandmother dies and her mother’s gambling debt forces them to sell their family home. In the bleak landscape of the recession, Kate finds herself jobless and homeless.
This is where the reader is asked to suspend belief: In the perfect storm of Kate’s grief, poverty and midlife crisis, she accepts a freelance assignment inspired by her heroine, Jane Austen, and sets out to answer the question of whether it is possible in this day and age to marry well.
But not only does Kate intend to write the article, she intends to live it as well. In her delusion, she hatches a plan to prove that a 40-year-old woman can find a husband for the sole purpose of financial security, and in so doing, solve her own family’s financial crisis.
It is at this point that Kate’s principles, independence and integrity are suddenly supplanted by those of an unrecognizable, calculating gold-digger.
To her credit, Izzo’s writing is so breezy and engaging, I was happy to buy in. Lady Kate (as she’s now known, thanks to the title her best friends bought her for her 40th birthday) travels from New York to St. Moritz and London, chasing and being chased by a cast of male characters ranging from the repugnant to the ravishing, seamlessly infiltrating the high society to which her future rich husband belongs.
Once Kate’s in Europe, the story really hits its stride. Izzo has either done her research or is well acquainted with the polo crowd. Her observations are wry and often hilarious, and the narrative flows briskly, as though Kate is an old friend confiding in us about her adventures traipsing across Switzerland.
She quickly hones in on Scott Madewell, a wealthy, attractive older man, but there’s a glitch in her plan in the form of sexy, antagonistic Griff Saunderson. (Didn’t see that one coming!) Kate is so focused on becoming Scott’s wife, she ignores the obvious mutual attraction with Griff, and the reader is left in suspense as to whether Kate will choose “Mr. Right or Mr. Rich.”
Kate is a mostly likeable character; she’s smart, self-deprecating and determined. In spite of her book’s few clichés and the inevitable neat and tidy “happily ever after,” Izzo has mastered structure and pace, and the result is an enjoyable, entertaining ode to Pride and Prejudice.
Love or money, that is the question. Original? Who cares? The point is, we do care about which man Kate is going to choose and whether, indeed, “happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.”
"For me, writing is really an agony": I cut out this article by Alexandra Fuller in the Globe and Mail on Feb. 21, 2015:
Alexandra Fuller is the author of several acclaimed works of non-fiction, including the memoirs Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood and Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness. Her latest book, Leaving Before the Rains Come, which was published last month, details the collapse of her marriage and her relationship with her father. Born in England and raised in southern Africa, Fuller studied at Acadia University in Nova Scotia and has lived in Wyoming since 1994.
Why did you write your new book?
I look around and pay attention to what around me is not being talked about, and then I talk about it with as much humour and honesty as I can. All my books have been that way. So this latest book is the story of arriving at my mid-40s with two children nearly grown, with another child under 10, and of my looking back to a childhood in Zambia and Zimbabwe for answers at how best to cope with the solitary confinement of a 20-year-long marriage in stalemate.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
I am not sure this is advice, so much as a philosophy. My father once said to me, “The problem with most people is that they want to be alive for as long as possible without having an idea whatsoever how to live.” So I suppose it sent me on a mission to figure out how to live, which in turn took me to the philosophers and thinkers, and ultimately to those impulsive radical sages who move societies toward greater environmental and social justice.
Like Subcomandante Marcos of Mexico’s Zapatista movement who gave us this easy direction: “Abajo y a la izquierda está el corazón.” (“The heart lies below and to the left.”)
Like Subcomandante Marcos of Mexico’s Zapatista movement who gave us this easy direction: “Abajo y a la izquierda está el corazón.” (“The heart lies below and to the left.”)
What question do you wish people would ask about your work (that they don’t ask)?
For me, writing is really an agony. I feel as if I have a huge, luminous idea that has the potential to be really profound, and then when I set it down on paper, I find the power of the idea has been hugely weakened in the process of transmission. So I might spend hours – sometimes days – crafting a single sentence, and yet very few people ever ask about that. Mostly I would like people to ask other writers about the craft of their writing, so we could learn from one another. We ask movie directors why they chose to use certain lights and angles and speeds of film, but most of the time we ignore the craft of a writer.
What scares you as a writer, and why?
I think I am like most writers – that one day I will wake up and find that the essentially mysterious inspiration will have left me, and I won’t know how to say what it is I want to say at all. And then once you have splattered the page with a few ideas, and sentences, and a story is starting to take shape, I am always terrified I won’t have the stamina to carry on.
The only process that comes close to the process of writing a whole book, in my experience, is childbirth. There is this moment when you think you can’t possibly labour for another moment and that, paradoxically is when you have to push hardest. I guess I am always a bit frightened that the day will come when I don’t have it in me to push all the way to the end.
The only process that comes close to the process of writing a whole book, in my experience, is childbirth. There is this moment when you think you can’t possibly labour for another moment and that, paradoxically is when you have to push hardest. I guess I am always a bit frightened that the day will come when I don’t have it in me to push all the way to the end.
Which book do you think is under-appreciated?
Artful by Ali Smith.
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