Mark Kamibaya

Can I add something @Daeus? It’s about overviews. Or summaries. Or telling (instead of showing). After reading Showing & Telling: Learn How to Show & When to Tell for Powerful & Balanced Writing by Laurie Alberts I believe that summaries is rather essential to stories. I know that contradicts “show don’t tell” but hear me out.

You need to use…[Read more]

Hey @jess, Here’s the deal. The #1 thing when brainstorming a story is to accept all ideas and then reject 80% of them. The reason why you have to reject 80% of them is because half are cliches and the other half won’t work. We live in a cliche-ridden world and we’re bound to copy them. But always remember that no idea is too crazy (even if it is…[Read more]

@kate-flournoy I’m just reiterating what this big name director guy said. I forgot his name (does that make him not a big name director?), but he was like, “Try to get people who actually want to act, to act. It’s a better opportunity for both them and you.” Or something to that extent. Well, I guess if you can’t do it the easy way . . . <cue evil…[Read more]

For doing “movies” I suggest not being an actor yourself. You should be the one holding the camera because you know exactly how you want to movie to look like. Also, try to get friends who are actually interested in acting or movies. They usually are easier to work with.

A logline is basically getting to the base of your story by writing your whole concept in two sentences. It’s like an elevator pitch. In those two sentences you have to describe the initial situation, the character, objective, opponent, and the stakes.

You can get movie scripts at IMSDB (Internet Movie Script Database). @kate-flournoy

Of course this is for your whole novel. The outline is slightly pliable, though so don’t let it constrict you.

Also, outlining helps @Alia

Hope it helps, @Alia

Check out this infograph

Yup! Cliches live in the trash in my house

Nice . . . he sounds like another Ezra Wilkinson. But of course he can’t be. Because he’s a platypus.

Here’s my two cents worth @kate-flournoy.

I love dialogue. Scripts are basically all dialogue. So get good in dialogue? I’m not an expert, but that’s what I’ve heard. Um . . . read Save the Cat. Or if you don’t want to spend money then check out the beat sheets on the website.

Read script-writing books. Read scripts. A lot of them. It takes a…[Read more]

I love dialogue. Scripts are basically all dialogue. So get good in dialogue? I’m not an expert, but that’s what I’ve heard. Um . . . read Save the Cat. Or if you don’t want to spend money then check out the beat sheets on the website. Read script-writing books. Read scripts. A lot of them. It takes a while to get used to (if you love books), but…[Read more]

Well, I by no means consider myself an expert in dialogue, but I love it. A lot. I’m the guy who reads scripts of movies before watching the actual movies. I’m the guy that believes that the life of the story is the dialogue. You can have a awesome story, but if the dialogue is sparse or stupid then your story is a dead one. I’m the guy whose…[Read more]

Well, @Daeus outlining is all about character development and theme ties into all of that. A story is stupid if it doesn’t have some kind of character arc. Even Indiana Jones has a type of character arc (not slamming on Indy just saying he is kind of flat. As in unchanging. Not dynamic. But he does have a character arc).

When you outline, it…[Read more]