Ideas About Ideas

Ideas About Ideas

Do you believe in Carl Jung’s collective unconscious? To summarise, he believed we share a common inheritance of instincts, memories and archetypes. I think of it as a universally available lending library. It makes sense, but accepting that or not, where do you...
The Small Stuff

The Small Stuff

Full of Angst Don’t sweat it, unless you’re a writer, then the small stuff becomes the devil in the detail. I’ll explain later, first I want to talk about stress. Writers are plagued by doubt and angst. Find me one who isn’t. Writers’ insecurity is magnified by our...
Fighting Yer Demons

Fighting Yer Demons

On the nose? They’ll punch yer lights out If you are so unsubtle as to mention fighting yer demons, or his, or hers, or theirs. Screenwriters, don’t, please. Not unless you are strictly within a supernatural, vampire or fantasy genre, and safely enclosed...
Ten Animation Movies With Heart

Ten Animation Movies With Heart

Genre-Rama Since I’m working on an adventure comedy animation story right now, I thought I’d collect ten animation movies with heart that inspire my writing. I love genre movies. They often take a bad rap. I don’t think the term ‘B Movie’ is officially used any more,...
Story structure, plotting and free flow

Story structure, plotting and free flow

Screenwriters and novelists, it’s not easy to turn out a good tale. A writer will get more criticism over story structure, plotting and free flow, than any other components. Why is structure so hard? I put the question to screenwriters, and unleashed a river of...