Advice

Horror is transgressive art. It seeks to show the darker side of human nature in all its ugliness. Using the medium of film, we explore themes that are considered off-limits to other genres. Our explorations of the dark underbelly of life can give the audience a cathartic experience as well as us, the writers. People pay money to get scared. From the haunted house tour to the horror movie, the experience of being scared is what we're in the business of selling. We can write some of the most gruesome, terrifying scenes and audience-goers will plop down their hard-earned money...

Read the rest of the series: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 6 Some historians and anthropologists believe that the earliest art was created while under the influence of mind-altering substances. Well, duh. Artists, by their very nature, are a breed apart and have access to brilliant worlds but dimly perceived by what Hogwarts-trained magicians would call 'muggles.' Art, by its very nature, is the translation and transmission to others of perceptions of those numinous worlds through various media - petroglyphs, music, dance, drama, novels, movies, games, etc. Yet how can you the artist possibly transmit the...

Throughout my 18 years of screenwriting I have read and analyzed thousands of scripts from writers of all levels, including screenplays from my students at Buffalo State College, Cornell University, Syracuse University's Newhouse School, and R.I.T.'s School of Film and Animation.During this time, I discovered 11 Laws of Great Storytelling - trends that tend to exist in many of the most memorable stories of all time. Of course, creating unforgettable heroes and villains is an integral part of all the Laws and should always be in the forefront of your mind as a writer.So while it is impossible to have...

When I was a young aspiring writer, I had a strong aversion to the use of "said" in a story. My justification was that it was blah. It was uninspired. It was pedestrian. Why use "said," I rationalized, when there were so many other words in the English language that were way more expressive? Throughout high school composition classes, my characters squeaked, pontificated, reflected, mused and accused. As if that weren't enough to spice up their conversations with one another, I was also generous in my deployment of adverbs. After all, who's going to make for a scarier villain: the...

Read the rest of the series: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 5; Part 6 Archetypes are very in, very cool, very now. That's great. There are lots of fine books, seminars, and consultants to help you understand the various and sundry archetypes. That's great, too. But now, are you and your characters ready for the next step up? Are you ready for the ArchePaths? You may now be saying, "Good grief! I just want to write my stories, I don't want to have to deal with all this theory and patterns and craft stuff." Ah, but that's where...