Category Archives: Writing Lessons

Mar 19 2 comments
Raymond Chandler, Writing Lessons

When In Doubt – Writing Lesson #8

Here is another in my ongoing series of Writing Lessons.  I think I will go to 10 and then the series will be complete.  Any good lessons you can think of that I should consider for the final 2?

Writing Lesson #8 - Man with a Gun

What does a man coming through a door with a gun do for a story?  

It causes anticipation.  If you are in doubt about the direction of your story it is likely due to you yourself having lost that anticipation of what is going to happen.  So, gun or not, door or not, make something that will cause you feel anticipation about the future of the story and you can guarantee your readers will feel it too. 

It causes mortal fear.  If you are in doubt about issues you are really dealing with in your story add in the fear of death and it will clarify your thinking on your reasons for writing the story.  It will also clarify the course of the story for the reader.

It causes anger.  Someone is about to violate one of the prime tenets of civilization, respecting other people’s right to their life.  What is causing this person to reach that point in life?  Or what is causing the person to protect others from that threat?

It causes humor.  Nothing is more absurd than seeing a man or woman out of their comfort zone.  Put the gun in the hand of a pageant queen or a elitist intellectual who has never seen a gun before and it could get pretty funny.

It obviously doesn’t have to be a man with a gun. But when it doubt, think about what might reignite anticipation, fear, anger or humor in yourself and the reader and you will be well on your way to clarifying your doubting thoughts.

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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who last fired a gun while skeet shooting as a teenager.

Quote by Raymond Chandler, 1888 – 1959, American Novelist and Screenwriter

Feb 24 2 comments
The Oscars, Writing Lessons

What’s in a Script? – Oscar Week #4 – Best Screenplay

It’s the final day of Oscar Week at the NDD!  

Is your script too short or too long?

I love a good script in a movie. I hate a bad script. Makes me crazy to have to listen to stilted or overly flowery speech that has nothing to do with who the actors in the movie are pretending to be.  This year there were a number of great scripts up for Best Screenplay.

Best Adapted Screenplay

While we were watching ‘The Descendants’ I kept turning to my wife and saying ‘this script is REALLY good’ (in a whisper so as not to bother the other movie goers, don’t worry). I probably bothered her but I had to tell someone how great it was. It’s easily my choice for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Hugo is a close second but could reach the pitch perfect depiction of the characters that I saw in The Descendant’s script.

The Ides of March and Moneyball were ok, but didn’t stand out in my mind.

I didn’t see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Best Original Screenplay

Here’s something funny.  A silent movie, ‘The Artist’,  is up for best original screenplay. What’s up with that?  The truth is, it had a great screenplay!  As a matter of fact I am choosing it as my best. How can that be? Because a screenplay is not about how many words, it’s about how well suited the words are. It is also, in this case, about the body language, facial expressions and action.

Bridesmaid – uh…no. Sorry. Not anywhere near.

Margin Call – Good, had a lot of intense discussions in it, but also had a lot of mundane and forgettable parts.

Midnight in Paris – Actually not as good as I was hoping.  Whiny Woody Allen replacement Owen Wilson made it hard to like the movie and his lines were all stock Woody Allen schtick.  The famous characters from the past had too many cliche lines that turned them into caricatures of themselves.

I didn’t see ‘A Separation‘.

Jan 16 0 comments
Stanley Schmidt, Writing Lessons

Writing Lesson #7 – Style and Substance

Another in my occasional series on writing.

Writing Lesson #7 - Substance

Writing Lesson #7 zazzle_print
Writing Lesson #7 – Classroom posters by The Napkin Dad

Have you ever been on a movie set? If you have you know how fake the whole thing is.  Beautiful buildings, looking solid in marble and brick are in fact wood facades with painted on brick and marble.  Luscious landscaping with exotic plants turn out to be plastic and fake.  Actresses in ornate costumes turn out to have old t-shirts and shorts on underneath, not the sexy lingerie the outer garment suggests.

Writing is similar.  All the stylistic hoops you jump through won’t be of value unless there is a real story underneath. Something of substance that is worth the reader spending their time paying attention.

Pay attention to that and all the style you want can be added on. Ignore it and all the style in the world won’t overcome the emptiness.

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who types left handed.

Quote by Stanley Schmidt, 1944- not dead yet, American science fiction author

Nov 14 4 comments
William Safire, Writing Lessons

Writing Lesson #6 – Exaggeration

exaggeration

Writing Lesson #6 zazzle_print
Writing Lesson #6 education posters by The Napkin Dad

When my daughters were young they started a running joke with me.  It was because of my tendency to exaggerate in my story telling or explanations.  For example, I might be explaining something about sports and say, ‘Joe Blow was the GREATEST catcher who ever lived.’  or if I was talking about history I would say, ‘General YadaYada was the MOST brilliant war tactician ever!’  They started expecting my superlatives and would crack up or roll their eyes when they came.  My eldest, Rebekah, was adamant that I see the movie ‘The Big Fish’ when it came out because it was about a father who was a giant story teller, exaggerating the stories to absurd lengths.  Now, of course, I NEVER did that. But she thought it would be fun for me to see the movie anyway.. uh huh.

All that is pretty much in good fun – no harm, no foul.  There is value in clarifying and refining an experience in story telling so it has more power.  But going farther than that, as we have seen in recent years with reporters exaggerating events or authors exaggerating their memoirs, can lead to a real lack of trust and believability on the part of the audience, not to mention a career destruction.

So, crystalize it so it sparkles but don’t forget the story plainly told still needs to be able to grab the reader’s attention.  Move too far away from that in your story line and word crafting and you might lose the essence of what makes your story great in the first place.

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily

Quote by William Safire, 1929-2009, American writer, columnist and speechwriter

Oct 13 0 comments
William Safire, Writing Lessons

Writing Lesson #5

Is it a problem that I am interrupting ‘Problem Week’ to post something different?
Writing Lesson #5 zazzle_print
Writing Lesson #5 Poster by The Napkin Dad.  Perfect for the classroom!
I am not a great writer.  I get my grammar wrong, my sentence structure is sometimes caddywumpus and I definitely do not know proper punctuation.  But I do know metaphors and analogies pretty well and it’s one of my great pleasures in life to read, hear or come up with good ones.  But just as pleasurable is when I hear, read or come up with really bad ones. 

Why is it so great to hear something so bad? Because it’s as if the world suddenly became an absurdist Looney Tunes cartoon with funny looking people and fractured language right in front of my eyes.  I like things that make no sense whatsoever but still point to something that makes sense.

Most importantly, it makes me laugh and I like that.

 

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily

 

Quote is my variation on one by William Safire

 

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