Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Just a Quickie

A friend just showed me this list and i wanted to keep track of it.  i should make a writing pinterest board.  but i'm off to do some house hunting so i can't drown in that pool of inactivity right now.

  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 very 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.
Source:
http://boingboing.net/2013/03/07/pixars-22-rules-of-stor.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+(Boing+Boing)

There's also another site she showed me... i'm gonna have to refind that one too cuz as i remember i have a blog post to write about it...

Saturday, March 9, 2013

A Photo Poem

I bought this wonderful skinny Spam notebook some time ago and it has remained empty.  a feat of nature...

Just the other day i took it to work, to finally fill it with the minisule ideas and fragmentary conversations that occur to me throughout the day.


Catagorized, organized, color coded.
 

 
It is no secret that i am a lover of all things post-it
 
 
And  based on the contents of my work purse, a true hater of trees...
 
 
A notebook for the Books I've Read
 

 And the Lists I Make
 


 
And the The Book of Abigale
 
 

Stored carefully within my favorite bag, from my favorite move
 


... and this is the rest of the crap i keep in there.

The End