40 years worth of TV writing experience and info, yours for the taking.
…Cuz there’s no such thing as too much info for us newbies, right? Right?
(Unless you’re as sick of everybody claiming to know everything about writing you don’t as I am, that is. Let’s see if I can slip that in here.)
Vampire – and Jesus – popularizer Anne Rice gives us the advice that back in the day our mothers would’ve clipped from a magazine and mailed to us when we were struggling through college. Except Anne’s is kind of interesting cuz…vampires! And big, big $$$! And video to boot:
Writers; we’re by necessity much more than that these days. The world of writing and everything associated with it has changed amazingly in the past few years and continues to change every day. Think about it. The internet with it’s amazing resources for writers; research at our fingertips, social media to get out there and meet our readers and promote, videos and so much more.
It’s all a bit of a whirlwind, but if you’re a writer you’re already all too aware that what it means to be a writer is changing on a daily basis. How we can be successful at it is changing even faster. You have to grab the brass ring of what our culture is throwing at us, move forward rapidly, build new skills with alacrity and stay on top of stuff you previously didn’t even know existed (well, actually you didn’t know it existed because a short time ago it didn’t!).
So here are three of those skills I mentioned above to consider:
EDITOR’S NOTE: Today is the 50th anniversary of BEWITCHED’s debut on our screens. What better way to celebrate it than to turn this space over to the World’s Foremost Authority on this show, Contributing Editor Herbie J Pilato, author of 3 definitive books on the subject – The Essential Elizabeth Montgomery, Twitch Upon A Star, and Bewitched Forever? Take it away Herbie J:
So, what makes Bewitched great – and why are we still talking about it fifty years after its original lengthy hit run on ABC (from September 17, 1964 to July 2, 1972)?
Getting into the heads of your characters, especially your protagonist’s, is the name of the game for all good fiction writing. Time now for some tips for those of you who are writing prose fiction. (But if you’re very, very smart and read closely, all you TV writing peeps will benefit as well.)
Your primary character’s point of view can only be real if you empathize and understand them inside and out. You want your reader to see the story through the eyes of your character.
We get to know our characters by asking them questions . . . like you would a new acquaintance or perhaps a new family member you’ve never met. So what kind of questions can you ask that will give you the understanding you need to get to know your primary characters?
by Peggy BechkoWriters, at least fiction writers, pretty much live in a world of make-believe. We live in worlds of our own creation and in that living attempt to make those worlds real to everyone else; readers, listeners, watchers.
But it’s not as simple as sitting around spinning tales. Don’t we wish. There’s a whole lot that goes into writing a story and one aspect of that is research. No you can’t skip it.
Getting facts straight brings believability. If your setting is in the 1920’s Chicago you better know what you’re talking about to get the mood set and not flush readers and watchers right out of their ‘suspension of disbelief’ mode. Yes that goes for Sci Fi and Fantasy as well – get some facts in there that will make your ‘way out of our experience’ world more real. If you trim unreality with reality you bring belief and immersion.