Fictional Skies

Vince Gilligan (via  David D. Burstein ) has three excellent  storytelling tips  for those not wanting to ruin their work by rigid long term planning. Script Quack  offers two words and great  craft insight  for those struggling to get to grips with structure. Danny Stack  touches on the  realities  involved in becoming a professional screenwriter for those looking to create a ten-year plan. Jeffry Hirschberg  shares his  11 Laws of Great Storytelling  for those wanting increase the odds of their screenplay achieving greatness. Screenwriter's Digest

“ Most aspiring screenwriters simply don’t spend enough time choosing their concept. It’s by far the most common mistake I see in spec scripts. The writer has lost the race right from the gate. Months — sometimes years — are lost trying to elevate a film idea that by its nature probably had no hope of ever becoming a movie .”  - Terry Rossio [Shrek, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Mask of Zorro]

" The pursuit of perfection often impedes improvement . " - George F. Will There is a danger with beginner writers who may feel that their first draft has to be perfect. I know because it's how I used to think. However, a first draft is not meant to be brilliant. There's no way to get a first draft right other than to get it wrong. Or some of it, at least. It's why it's called an  exploratory draft. It's where you follow your curiosity and explore ways of doing things to see how it plays out. It needs time to be left alone. It's meant to be torn apart later on. The majority of it doesn't have to make the second draft. This stage is less about quality and more on getting something down. It doesn't have to be great but it has to be something. You need to go through what doesn't work in order to find what does. The first draft is an essential part of that discovery. Rewrite Later  You only get one chance to make a good fi...

It can be tough finding the right medium to tell a story in especially when you discover a versatile concept that could work or crossover into either television, film, web, literature, stage, radio, video-game or graphic novel. How do you know what to write it as? The short answer is: you don't. Unless you're specifically: a playwright, scriptwriter, or novelist. However, if you've yet to figure that out or commit to a set course, or want to write in more than one discipline, then it's not as simple as knowing what you don't want to write. Everything is possible. You can chat to people about it or consult writing books. You can do some research consuming a mass of product looking at how others have done things with the story concept they had. Ultimately, you just have to follow your instincts and see where it takes you. The goal is to do the story concept justice - to attract a producer/company and an audience. Naturally they want their money's wo...

It's not easy embarking on any ambition but screenwriting offers the newcomer a new level of difficult. Today the aspiring markets are more flooded than ever and so competition is fierce. Anyone can write by sitting down to write but not everyone can write well. Even less are willing to put the time in to improve and do their homework. Then there's the art of selling it; and yourself. As well as facing numerous rejections and disappointments that are commonplace in the creative industries. It's a long journey that requires more than discipline, passion and resilience to survive. The Art of Dreaming To constantly dream of an ambition and desirable state of being will get us nowhere. In the beginning, this is all we had once the dream was discovered . And so, compelled and obsessed as we were we turned up to write and dream. We put in years of creative efforts in order excite, thrill, feel and escape. To role play in fictional worlds. Then we come of cre...

I'm not going to talk about the present or future James Moran and his two feature films up for release this year. No - it's about that new writer on the scene and prolific blogger, and curse word user, who had just sold his first spec script we know as 'Severance' back in 2005. James has been blogging in his writing journal for around 9 years now. This tempted me to travel back in time and see what he was like in the beginning . Although, it's not the actual beginning from when he first started writing, but from when he won the Sci-Fi Channel's Sci-Fi Shorts Competition, got his ten-minute script entry made, and got an agent. I flicked through a few more early entries from 2003 - 2005 which are interesting and quite fascinating, as he talks about the umpteenth draft of Severance, then named P45, which was becoming quite a nuisance. But what interested me and thought I would pinch and share are some great and insightful words from 2005.  So I will unless ...

For the last two weeks I've had a welcomed break from writing. Specifically, script and development work. At first, I wasn't sure how it would go but soon realised it was what I needed. It's said that you should write everyday in some capacity and we should. However, I have learnt that every once in a while it's nice to step back and have a short time out. For me, the greatest pressure in my life are the expectations I place on myself. This isn't ideal. It pays to know when you're being unreasonable but it's also healthy to push yourself at times. Like anything, it's about balance. Only now am I realising the importance on easing up and taking breaks. A valid reason to take a short break is to catch up on the things that have been piling up while you've been focused on writing. Like a cluttered space things soon stack up and can pollute your mind. It's a great way to refresh, de-clutter and recharge the batteries. During the sho...