Four steps to starting a compelling script
People often ask how to get ideas. Of course ideas are all around. What they mean is where do you find ideas you know will work. Ideas that will stay alive and grow. Nothing is…
creativity
Stuck? A simple way to get your work moving.
Here’s a deceptively simple method for literally getting your work to move forwards – but don’t be fooled. Like many simple ideas it can be profoundly useful. It works for all kinds of screenwriting, and…
Writing successfully in a recession
I’m thinking a good deal about creativity at the moment, as I prepare for the launch of my next novel. In particular I’m aware that these are difficult times to let yourself go and be…
How to get writing by getting nasty
What links Tom Waits, suicide and the Klu Klux Klan? They’ve all come up in a recent podcast I was listening to about creativity, writing and the mental games we play. The more I write,…
Writers’ Resolutions
Have you made a New Year’s Resolution? To start that script? Or finish it? To start selling the novel you finished? To get proper feedback? To write more? Or less? Do you really think you’re…
Planning to write over the holidays? Here’s a Christmas tip.
Many writers put aside time to write over the holidays. It can be a great idea, and it can also be a quick way to get writers block! The problem is that squeezing all your…
Ways to be a Great Writer: #3
Today we have an attribute that I didn’t recognise for a long time. When great artists of all kinds are discussed we usually get a load of blah about originality and spontaneity as if great…
The 21st Century Screenplay
One of my all-time favourite screenwriting books has been Linda Aronson’s Screenwriting Updated – and now she’s updated it! The 21st Century Screenplay adds 50% more. The breadth is enormous – from the psychology of…