Author: Peggy Bechko

Yo, Writers, Peggy Bechko has a Secret for Us

secret

by Peggy Bechko

Wanna Know A Secret?

Every writer writes something bad, something downright terrible, sometime. In fact, most writers’ first drafts are really bad.

Yep, there it is out there for the world to see. It’s been a jealously guarded secret for some time. Don’t know if the writers ourselves have perpetuated the myth or those who hold writers in high esteem, but somewhere along the line writing became almost a mystical thing where folks believed great ideas, fantastic plots and amazing insights were delivered to chosen writers by a muse from heaven, dripping with heavenly dew. Not. read article

Peggy Bechko’s 3 Tips for Serious Writers

jackiechanserious

by Peggy Bechko

The catch here is that you have to be as serious about your writing work as I am.

So what ‘rules’ am I going to show you? What rigid ‘do it this way’ ideas will I present? read article

Peggy Bechko on National Novel Writing Month

nanowrimo

by Peggy Bechko

Holy crap it is Nov. and it’s that month NANOWRIMO – which affects just about everything writing whether we want to talk about that or not. Novelists to be, yes, all other writers, yes. It’s a bug that bites – a time of year that get the writer in everyone so inclined all antsy to DO something, stare at deadlines in horror and just plain fling themselves into the air with vibrating intensity – and yes that includes me.

I write novels. I write scripts. I even jumped into writing a comic book series. Am I crazy? You betcha! (pardon my use of that word, I couldn’t help myself, it’s that vibrating to distraction thing). But here’s the thing. How do I know the above? Well, as a general rule blog posts on writing get many more hits in October and November and sales of books about writing, all kinds of writing, pretty much do a spike. Come on , you can admit it, you bought a book on screenwriting, or novel writing or copywriting or did some online searches recently on writing. Yep, it’s that magical time of the year.

I hear you. You can’t help it. It’s something in the air. Maybe it’s because the year is about to end and you haven’t met your writing goals, maybe you’ve got big, scary deadlines (you should be so lucky), maybe it’s that whole Nanowrimo thing – you know National novel writing month. (And despite the ‘novel’ thing, yes, this includes you other types of writers – it’s contagious.) read article

Peggy Bechko on Dreams – Not the Night Time Kind

dreamcatcher800by Peggy Bechko

Do you have dreams? Not the kind you have at night while snoozing away, but real dreams. And I’m not talking about daydreams or fantasies. Not those thoughts about something you probably will never do or be like a multi-national CEO with a multi-million dollar golden parachute, or playing for a pro ball team, or being the first man/woman on Mars (though if those are your actual real goals and dreams, go for it!).

Most of us have those fantasies and far-away dreams at times.

But what I’m talking about is those dreams of how great life can be, dreams that keep you striving and moving forward. read article

Peggy Bechko Ponders the Prologue

This is the Audi Prologue. Cool Car, yeah?
This is the Audi Prologue. Cool Car, yeah?

by Peggy Bechko

Ya gotta start the story somewhere right? Whether screen script, TV or novel. Sometimes we can just jump right into the story following that old adage “start late and finish early”, but other times we need a little something to kick start things. It can be particularly important in Science Fiction or Fantasy or Horror to give the viewer a hint at what’s coming and engage him.

It’s a bit more straightforward with a movie. The prologue can actually be a springboard into what happens next. It’s usually something that foreshadows some element in your script that slithers throughout the main element of the story or it’s something that lets the viewer know the characters of the movies wouldn’t have been in the upcoming situation if not for this happening. Think about the latest Jurassic World. The gigantic water predator (whatever the heck its long scientific name was) leaping out of the water and devouring… foreshadows what happens later in the movie. Ponder The Sixth Sense in which the viewer sees a shooting of a psychologist before the meat of the story begins.

Now I do want to add here, since I’m writing on TV Writer, that TV is a different animal in that TV most often offers ‘teasers’ rather than full prologues. Instead of a flowing element like in a movie at the beginning it more likely to have bits showing to entice viewing – such as a shot of this or that, the arrival of main characters on the scene and into the story. HOUSE, one of my favorite shows, did it admirably with medical conditions, who’s sick, how, why, what’s House’s (or one of his doctors’) problem this week, and into the story and the scrolling titles. read article