Category: Resources

40 years worth of TV writing experience and info, yours for the taking.

Polish Your Prose

Whoa, yet another article filled with writing tips…cuz we’re kind of into this now. As they used to say on one of TVWriter™’s favorite sitcoms that you’ve never heard of (on account of it was on BBC and now is no more), “Bear with, bear with.”

So, bear with:

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Hmm, maybe not the best visual metaphor we could have chosen. And yet— Sorry!

by Nephele Tempest

Regardless where you stand with your current writing project, the time will come when you need to edit. I don’t mean rework your plot, heighten dramatic tension, or beef up your protagonist’s motivations. Rather I’m referring to that nitty gritty editorial process of looking at your work word by word, sentence by sentence, and examining the language you’ve used. Do your descriptions dance on the page? Have any clichés snuck into the mix? If you had to read aloud in front of an audience, would you find yourself running out of breath? read article

Peggy Bechko: 5 Tips for Aspiring Writers

aspiring

by Peggy Bechko

Aspiring Writer? Well for starters I’d stop ‘aspiring’. If you’re writing you’re a writer. I’ve said it before so pay attention, I’m going to offer a few tips to those writers out there who are about to break into publishing and who are determined to keep on writing.

And speaking of determined to keep on, here’s the first tip.

Get used to rejection. Probably a lot of it. Not the best ‘holiday’ news, but there you are. Or, think about self publishing. BUT, and it’s a big but, if you go the self-publishing route, make sure that book is damn near perfect before you toss it out there via one of the publishing platforms like Amazon, Smashwords or some other. It’s always important, but even more important on the first go. If people read your book and find it loaded with typos and disjointed sentences, believe me they aren’t going to go for book number two. And even if it’s a great first book, it’s probably not going to do too well – unless you have a lot of promotional savvy and a good helping of luck. read article

How to Create Characters

Today is “Writing Tip Day” at TVWriter™ for no particular reason other than why not have a Writing Tip Day? And we’re starting off with characterization tips from one of our favorite writer/director/blogger types who has no idea in the world that we exist, the Highly Esteemed Ken Levine (of CHEERS and FRASIER and stuff like that). Don’t forget to read Ken’s blog!

by Ken Levine

jerry_mahoney_controls_02I love when Friday Questions become entire posts.  Here’s one.

Max Davis wonders: read article

munchman: The “New Writer’s Handbook” is Chock Full of Stuff You Need to Know…

by munchman

newwritershandbookcapture…Expressed a tad more eloquently cuz its contributors include some of the best writers in the writing biz.

Accurately subtitled “A Practical Anthology of Best Advice for Your Craft & Career,” this book, published in 2008 (okay, so I’m a little late to the party; at least I got there!) has very good advice indeed from writers including Lisa Firke, Shannon Hale Tess Gerritsen, Ira Glass, Tom Sant, Barbara O’Conner, Tim Patterson, Leo Babauta, and many more prose specialists and includes sections on creativity and motivation, the craft of writing, business savvy, and just plain literary thoughts. (I ignored the literary thoughts thing, but that’s, you know, how the munchman, um, munches.)

One of my favorite chapters is called “Great Faith. Great Doubt. Great Effort.” In it, writer Rhonda Abrams gets right to the heart of things: read article

Peggy Bechko: Tune In And Turn Off

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by Peggy Bechko

Hey, you, writer person out there. Do you have a routine? You know, stuff you do as a matter of course? Stuff you do every day to get your writing done, polished and out there?

Don’t give me that look, and don’t give me the ‘free spirit’ route. You need a routine. One for your writing that encompasses not only the actual writing, but exercise, research, learning, maybe meditation; whatever gets you going and keeps you going. A scattered approach has rarely gotten anyone anywhere. Really. And I take the ‘rarely’ back. It doesn’t work. Period.

Develop a routine and stick to it. No cheating (well hardly any cheating – we all cheat once in a while). If you value what you do and what your goals are, establish a routine. I’m not going to tell you again. read article