Advice — expert series

In past articles, we've talked about the story elements found in most blockbuster films. But what about the obstacles that prevent us from writing a hit film? I'm referring to the misconceptions many writers carry with them that make it almost impossible for them to write a successful script. One especially egregious myth that kills writers is the idea that their script will succeed if only they get the right agent or make the right contact. We all know that thousands of scripts are written every year. So we think the answer to winning this intense competition is to get...

Mystery and detective fiction comprises a literature of questions. Who done it, of course, is the classic question. There's also what was done*? How was it done? Why was it done? An even more fundamental question, though, is this: what is a mystery? Like many seemingly simple questions, this one is remarkably difficult to answer. Every mystery reader would probably answer it differently. We can agree, however, that all mystery and detective stories involve a breach in the social order, followed by an attempt to repair that breach and restore order. The breach usually involves a crime, although it doesn't...

The television business has undergone a dramatic change in recent years. In the past, studios would lavishly spend millions of dollars on long-term development deals with TV writers referred to as 'overall deals' in the hope that during the two to four year term of such arrangements (during which the studio is paying the writer's overhead plus a salary), the writer will create a hit show for the studio. Those days are now gone -- unless of course you're Dick Wolf or David Kelley!Nowadays, a writer is typically engaged to perform the initial step of writing a pilot script, and...

In a previous column, I noted that the magic bullet for writing success is to Be Good At What You Do. If you want to be a writer, learn to write. That earlier article practically guaranteed that if you became a good writer and continued to become a better writer that the profession could not ignore you. The question you might be asking, then, is 'How do I become a good writer?' It sounds simple on paper, but in reality, is it? How do we learn? How do we improve? How do we learn to do what we don't know...

What do we mean by Plot? Simply, plot is WHAT HAPPENS in a short story, novel, play or film. No more, no less. It isn't description or dialogue, and it certainly isn't theme. In the best stories, plot grows organically out of character, rather than being imposed from above. Specifically, plot is the result of choices made by characters in a story, especially the story's protagonist, or main character. Even if action is not the most compelling feature of the story to you, the reader must always want to know -- actually NEED to know -- what happens next. Yes,...