Advice

"The first draft of everything is shit." -Ernest Hemingway Hemingway, charming as ever, was correct. Everybody's first draft is shit. Even his. Yours too! You have to rewrite and rewrite and rewrite until you nail it. Then you stop. The good news is, you can fix just about anything. It only takes elbow grease and time. "I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter." -James A. Michener "Hear hear!" -William M. Akers After your idea, rewriting is the single most important thing. If you've got a good idea, no matter how lousy your first draft is, you...

You're not a New York Times bestselling author. You don't have a publicist. And your Amazon sales numbers are awful. Should you quit writing books?Absolutely not.No matter what kind of book you've written (or plan to write) there are many ways to reach your audience. Each of the DIY tools listed here are low or no-cost, and each of them works in its own way. One or more may be perfect for you.Fifteen ideas might seem overwhelming, but remember that you only need to do one thing at a time. As one clicks and then another, you'll soon be reaching...

Read the rest of the series: Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6 Conscious Media is nothing new. Initiates of the ancient and modern Mystery Schools have always crafted stories that carry universal truths dressed up in a particular way for a particular time and culture. That's why you can even have such a thing as comparative mythology - there are consistent similarities in stories and characters whether on weathered temple walls, in spiritual disciplines, initiatory systems, the Kabala, Masonry, Mithraicism, mystic Christianity, Tarot, alchemy, etc. This extant wealth of ancient media does not mean we don't...

I read thousands of proposals a year for my Roy W. Dean film grants. I know what wins grants and what turns judges off quickly. Getting it right can be a piece of cake. Documentary film funding starts with a well-written, organized proposal. It outlines your film's story, background, and need. It also outlines the approach, structure and style in four to eight pages of dynamite passion. Getting started may seem like the hard part, when really, it is the best part. Just write page after page of your vision for the film. Don't worry if you only need a...

You're considering a move into writing for animation. After all, you've always liked animation; you have a feel for fantasy - talking animals, stuff that flies - and maybe you already have a background in live-action writing which should give you a head start, right? Well, yes and no. The fact is, animation is more than just talking animals, and much of what makes it work is not obvious on the surface. There are a number of key components which lie at the heart of animation and one of the most important is its special relationship with action. This relationship...