Exploring Tales and the Art of Telling
Outlining will not save your bacon—it will just help you make the bacon in the first place. Every form of writing will have its own outlining standard (novels, articles, dissertations, screenplays, etc.). And within each category of writing, every writer will have his or… Continue Reading “Outlining and Bacon”
What happens when lead characters have children? Obviously children can be compelling lead characters in literature and film. Just look at some of the most popular, longstanding works we know: The Chronicles of Narnia Harry Potter Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn Charlotte’s Web Anne… Continue Reading “Children as Props”
Have you ever had to pitch an idea to someone? Of course you have. We pitch ideas to other people all the time, whether we realize it or not. Whether you get what you want out of it is a whole separate question. Authors… Continue Reading “The Power of the Pitch”
As someone whose parents usually knew best, I have to wonder why cinema often depicts parents as stupid. In fact, this bothered my parents quite a bit. I remember many a movie that my dad paused in order to explain to six-year-old Shiloh and… Continue Reading “Parents aren’t that Stupid”
Unless you’re used to watching foreign films or you have a hearing impairment, you probably don’t find much use for subtitles. Neither do I—unless, of course, I’m watching a historical drama set in 1800s lower-class England, where everyone has a thick Cockney accent. Then… Continue Reading “A Comedy of Subtitles”