It seems that there is not a professional writer out there who is not yet tired of the question "Am I a writer?" or "How do I know I am a writer?" So much so that I felt compelled to answer the question myself. A more pressing question for me is, am I a genre … Continue reading Am I a Genre Writer?
Month: August 2015
The Four Act Plot Structure
Everyone talks about the Three Act Plot Structure. But have you ever heard about the Four Act Structure? It is the basic structure of classic Chinese poetry, and in places like Japan (probably Korea and China as well) students are encouraged to write all stories and essays based on this structure. The Four Act Structure … Continue reading The Four Act Plot Structure
The Bechdel Test
Now known as the Bechdel-Wallace test, it is a test to measure the level of gender enlightenment in any given script or manuscript. It has three criteria. 1) The story must have at least two women in it who 2) talk to each other about 3) something other than men. Needless to say, most Hollywood … Continue reading The Bechdel Test
World Building
World building is about the emotions evoked by the places, things, events and characters.
Blake Snyder Beat Sheet
And now that I have mentioned Blake Snyder, I am obligated to mention "Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet" or "BS2". Blake Snyder was a Hollywood script writer who suddenly died at age 51, one year younger than I am now. In his instructional book on screen writing Save the Cat he proposes a plotting plan based … Continue reading Blake Snyder Beat Sheet
Plagiarism Phobia
There should be a word for "a true story that nobody can believe". I've experienced a few, one of them directly related to writing. It was in 1975 in Cleveland Heights. I was 12 years old and my then best friend and I would get together in his room in the attic and write stories … Continue reading Plagiarism Phobia
The Invisible Blog
My blog received a respectable total of three views yesterday. There are two things you can do when nobody is looking. Take your pants off and do something that would be embarrassing if anyone were watching, or debase yourself in any way imaginable in order to get more people to look. You may end up … Continue reading The Invisible Blog
The Inadequate Writer
I would first like to offer my sincere congratulations to Stephanie Feldman on the publication of her first novel The Angel of Losses. She spent more than a decade struggling to write and her third book has finally been accepted for publication. She recently wrote and excellent article about her experience as an unpublished author titled Failing … Continue reading The Inadequate Writer
La Japonaise
Over dinner last night, my son told me a funny story. It was the story of the Monet exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. La Japonaise is a painting by Claude Monet of his wife Camille ‘in Japanese costume’ and a blonde wig. The Museum commissioned an authentic replica of the kimono that … Continue reading La Japonaise
Finding Your Own Voice
Peter Sellers, best known for his contribution to Blake Edwards movies like The Pink Panther, appeared as a guest on the Muppet Show one time. He was discovered in the dressing room in the process of trying to disguise as Queen Victoria. The disguise was, quite hilariously, not going well. "Don't worry," said a muppet, … Continue reading Finding Your Own Voice
Samurai Novelist 