Category: Resources

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Peggy Bechko Ponders Character Development

Pondering-Questions

by Peggy Bechko

Characters and character development, we all think a lot about it and them. The people who populate your script or novel must be real. They must have flaws as well as commendable attributes.

I think we all know the parable of The One You Feed. If you don’t, here it is:

An old grandfather told his grandson: “My son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all. One is evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, and resentment. The other is good. It is joy, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy, and bravery.” read article

How to Write Better Dialog

The following article concentrates on dialog in video games, but the discussion is valid for all media. Yes, even TV writers can learn from gamers. Craft is universal, just like creativity itself:

masseffect

HOW TO WRITE GOOD DIALOGUE: COURTESY OF MASS EFFECT

Here’s a question for you. You’re reading a book and the pace starts to drag, but you’re still curious to know what happens next. What do you do? The answer for me is obvious: you skip to the next section of dialogue. Good dialogue takes the story forward and shows character. Good dialogue crackles on the page. A confrontational exchange can be like two boxers slugging it out, trading punch and counter-punch. But what makes “good” dialogue, and more importantly how do you write it?

’m going to try to answer those questions by looking at a series of computer games calledMass Effect. Many of you will be familiar with them already, but for those of you who aren’t, bear with me. For the purposes of this article, all you need to know about the games is that they have lots of dialogue, and that you get to choose (to a degree) what your character says, and therefore what sort of character he or she is. read article

Discovered: Agatha Christie’s Whodunnit Template

No one has ever written mystery stories more interesting and difficult for the reader to solve than Agatha Christie. But don’t let that get you down because guess what. As of this week – right now – the mystery of how she did it has been uncovered. And with enough patience, we can all do it too.

Maybe:

by Haroon Siddique

agathachristieequationFor almost 100 years, Agatha Christie has beguiled readers with her much-loved mysteries. But now a panel of experts claims to have worked out how to answer the perennial question: whodunnit? read article

Stephen King On Screenwriting? Really? Hmm…

The King

By Lesley J. Vos

“Oh, no! Him. Again…”

If it was the first thought that came to your mind after reading the title, you should continue reading the article by all means. read article

Leesa Dean on Shooting Yourself in the Foot

bullet-in-footAdventures in Digital Series Land – Chapter 110
by Leesa Dean

Been working like a psycho, trying to bang out these mini-episodes and it’s been tough.  Wanna have 35 in the can before I return to final animation production on the new series—hopefully within 2 1/2 weeks. It’s a lot.

Meanwhile, in the midst of all of this, I spoke with a friend whose script recently made it into the first round of a prestigious competition.  She wrote about it on Facebook and when I congratulated her, she minimized the achievement. That mini act of self-deprecation stopped me in my tracks and I thought I’d write about it. Mostly cause it’s something I used to do all the time. Until recently.

Why? Three reasons: read article