40 years worth of TV writing experience and info, yours for the taking.
A lot goes into naming character, I know, I’ve named a lot. Worse than naming a kid though to tell the truth I’m not so sure a lot of parents put a whole lot of thought into what they name their kids. I mean I remember a friend from high school who was named Stewart Stuart. I mean come on!
But I digress.
You do know who Nabokov is, right?
Guy who wrote Lolita?
Lolita, yeah. And a bunch of other stuff that now would be categorized as “literary fiction” but back in the day was just “fiction.”
One of the web’s most thoughtful writers writes about fiction on her way cool Wordstrumpet.Com blog:
Novel writing is much on my mind these days. If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know that my debut novel, Emma Jean’s Bad Behavior, is due out February 12. Not only that, but next week I’ll be in Nashville to talk to a local writer’s group and give a workshop about Scene and Structure in fiction. And, to top it all off, I will be once again offering my teleclass, Get Your Novel Written Now, in March (though early-bird registration is open).
So, yeah, novel writing is on my mind, big time. And as I proof the final copy for Emma Jean, as well as continue to work on my next novel, I’m reminded of what it takes to actually write a novel. Which, let it be known, is a lot. Even though its about the most fun you can have, ever, it is a lot. But the actual writing of every novel has a starting point.
Snatched from WritingClasses.Com, which in turn seems to have dug them out of Cameron Crowe’s book Conversations with Wilder.
We kinda like WritingClasses’ version better because it’s, you know, shorter:
- The audience is fickle.
- Grab ‘em by the throat and never let ‘em go.
- Develop a clean line of action for your leading character.
- Know where you’re going.
- The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.
- If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.
- A tip from Lubitsch: Let the audience add up two plus two. They’ll love you forever.
- In doing voice-overs, be careful not to describe what the audience already sees. Add to what they’re seeing.
- The event that occurs at the second act curtain triggers the end of the movie.
- The third act must build, build, build in tempo and action until the last event, and then—that’s it. Don’t hang around.
From Peggy’s BlogSpot, you know, blog:
We do a lot of wandering in this blog about writing, writers, the craft of writing, websites for writers; pretty much anything writing related. This time around we’re going to get back to some basics and those basics apply to pretty much all writing.