Category: Resources

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

Do Your Characters Make the Best 1st Impression They Can?

Nathan Bransford, one of TVWriter™’s favorite writers – and writing consultants – is here with spot on advice about how all of us hope filled wordsmiths can “nail every character’s first impression.”

Yes, Nathan is talking about writing prose fiction, but TV and film characters need all the help they can get in order to appear real, yeah?

by Nathan Bransford

You know that old saw “you never get a second chance to make a first impression?” I don’t know how much it really matters in real life, but it absolutely matters in books.

The way you introduce a character will leave an indelible imprint for your reader. Hopefully. If you nail it. read article

John Ostrander: The Usefulness of Memory Lapses

by John Ostrander

I have now coasted past my 70th birthday and have acquired the rights of geezerhood, one of which is a variable memory. I forget things. Not everything nor am I making claims to senility (yet). But sometimes some things drop out and that isn’t necessarily bad.

I suspect I acquired both this trait and outlook from my mother. Every year she would re-read Death Comes For the Archbishop by Willa Cather and at the time I didn’t understand that. Why re-read a book when there are so many out there she had not yet opened? She told me that, due to lapsing memory, she didn’t always remember the plot and so had the pleasure of discovering the story anew. I have since discovered that pleasure for myself. It’s not simply re-reading books that I like but forgetting some the plot details. Mysteries work well with this; for example, I have read every Nero Wolfe mystery that Rex Stout ever wrote (and a few that he didn’t) and I am currently re-reading them. With some (not all), I have forgotten who-dun-it and that’s okay.

The real pleasure is not in the unravelling of the mystery but in time spent with the characters, especially Nero Wolfe and his assistant, Archie Goodwin. I’ve really come back for the interplay between them. The resolution to the mystery – indeed, of most mysteries – is very secondary for me compared to that interplay. I would argue that’s true for most mysteries; when Arthur Conan Doyle introduced us to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in A Study In Scarlet, we’re not deeply interested in who the killer is but in how Holmes catches him. I would argue that Doyle’s deepest interest also is not in the killer although he spends a great deal of time in the killer’s backstory. The identity of the murderer and the workings of the plot are there to drive the story and to give us an excuse to visit with our friends, the main characters.  read article

How to choose an agent

The TV (and film) writing agency situation remains in flux, with the biggest agencies refusing to budge from the positions that started the whole mess, and as a consequence the WGA has been doing all it can to help writers represent themselves safely and knowledgeably.

Eventually, things will sort themselves out, but until that time “due diligence” is the order of the day. Know all you can about the talent agency biz people! Learn how to tell good agents from bad, if for no other reason than to make sure you are the best agent for yourself that you can be.

Here at TVWriter™ we believe the following article is a good place to start your education. read article

16 Boring Adjectives & What Writers Should Use Instead

Grammarcheck.Net continues its battle against boring writing. Are you ready to join in?

read article

12 Truths I Learned from Life and Writing

Anne Lamott does it all. She writes novels and nonfiction, speaks her progressive mind in public and private, and on the side she teaches the writing craft. We’re thrilled to be able to present her perspective.

by Anne Lamott

My seven-year-old grandson sleeps just down the hall from me, and he wakes up a lot of mornings and he says, “You know, this could be the best day ever.” And other times, in the middle of the night, he calls out in a tremulous voice, “Nana, will you ever get sick and die?”

I think this pretty much says it for me and for most of the people I know, that we’re a mixed grill of happy anticipation and dread. So I sat down a few days before my 61st birthday,and I decided to compile a list of everything I know for sure. There’s so little truth in the popular culture, and it’s good to be sure of a few things. read article