Make it Dramatic
“Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.” – Alfred Hitchcock Story moves as the result of complications that arise, not […]
Everything You Need to Know is Within
“If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.” – Billy Wilder The purpose […]
Act One: Maintaining Tension
“A writer writes not because he is educated but because he is driven by the need to communicate. Behind the need to […]
The End of the Story Informs the Beginning
In Steven Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he states: “Begin with the end in mind.” For first-time writers, […]
Shedding the Idea for Truth in Writing
It’s not just first-time novelists or screenwriters that struggle with getting their story from the imagination to the page. Every writer struggles […]
Writing Act Three: Our Hero Accepts the Reality of Their Situation
It can be frightening and exhilarating to realize that our story is bigger than we are, that in fact, it does not […]
Writing Despite Fear of Criticism
In 2017, Gustavo Dudamel became the youngest conductor of a major orchestra of his time. I remember an L.A. Times journalist urged […]
Finding Your Writing Voice
I work with many first-time novelists, screenwriters, and memoirists, and the question of voice always comes up. “Do you think I have […]
The Real Meaning of “Write What You Know”
Write what you know. We’ve heard this so often. But what does it mean? Does it mean that if I am a […]
Writing Prose
“Prose is architecture, not interior design.” – Ernest Hemingway Our words are in service to our story. When we get too flashy with […]
Story Structure as an Experiential Model
There is a structure to the universe. From the smallest atom to the forces that move the planets, there is a universal […]
Story Structure
Story structure is often taught by story analysts as plot, but it is really the DNA of our protagonist’s internal journey to […]
The Lens Through Which You See Your Story
“I find that when I am working I become like an antenna, and suddenly everything relates to my screenplay: a mentioned recipe, […]
The Courage to be Specific in Writing
Humans are full of paradoxes. We only love to the extent that we hate. We are constantly changing our minds, constantly renegotiating […]
The Desire to Write
Whether it is conscious or not, the desire to write is connected to the desire to evolve, to untangle the lie that […]
Building a Body of Work
I remember one day over twenty years ago when I was bellyaching to a friend of mine about how nobody was buying […]
Ten Suggestions for Writing
Below are ten writing suggestions for anyone who is setting out to craft a novel, memoir, or screenplay. Some are obvious, while […]
The Protagonist’s Experience
Regardless of the medium, your reader is not interested in what your character is feeling. Seriously. In fact, if you tell your […]
