What’s Your ‘Vision’ For Your Story?

The third question I ask on the Questionnaire given to my story coaching clients, after genre and voice, is just that. Half of the writers presented with that question can’t answer it.  They either email me about it, asking what this means, or they answer this way: “I don’t know what you mean by vision.” […]

The Real Skinny on Conflict: Five Links and a Sample Chapter from “Story Physics”

Since we’ve been all over this subject lately, I think this is timely.  A reader contacted me about going deeper into an exploration of the differences between IDEA… CONCEPT… and PREMISE.  The differences are huge, and critically important in context to story development.  And yet, in casual conversation – even among agents and editors – the lines […]

A Webinar, Three Spiffs, and a Promise

Social media platforms are not the only ones where you can stream your meetings online. With LiveWebinar you can broadcast webinars and trainings with external media sources as factor for smart meters business to have the best connections. Connection to the world has never been so easy to achieve to . Broadcast your conferences, trainings, […]

“Side Effects” (deconstruction #4) – The Debatable First Plot Point

(NOTE: this post is loaded with links that will take you back to basic introductions to the story structure concepts being referenced here… I encourage you to go there if you’re new to, or foggy about, any of these terms.) Relative to my last post, my wife said, “You sound like a whiny little bitch.” Some of […]

In Lieu of… the Q1 StoryFix Newsletter

Wherein we catch up on Storyfix-related stuff. THE OLD NEWSLETTER Over 4000 of you have subscribed to my quarterly newsletter.  About two dozen of you are confused about the difference between these newsletters and the twice-weekly (roughly) posts on this site. The newsletter is for news.  A round up the latest , some media referrals, […]

“Side Effects” (deconstruction #3): The Story Milestones… and Beat Sheet

I’ve complied the entire story into what, in the movie biz, is called a “scene log,” but for other/all writers, it’s actually something else, something we can all use. It’s a BEAT SHEET.  In fact, this scene log from “Side Effects” could double for — and therefore become a model for — a beat sheet, […]

A Quick Case Study in Concept

We interrupt our deconstruction series (“Side Effects”) to present this short case study.   It’s an example of a well-meaning writer with a story idea that he presents as his Dramatic Concept… but leaves some dramatic cards on the table in doing so.  This is a very common misstep… over half of the stories I coach […]

“Side Effects” (Deconstruction #2) – Putting Concept to Work In the Narrative… Even Before You Write it.

This is the second in a multi-part series dissecting, discussing and mining gold from “Side Effects,” the current film by Stephen Soderbergh, written by Scott Z. Burns.  Click HERE to read Part 1, then hurry back to stay with us… we’re going hard and fast. Click HERE to see the TRAILER for the film… you’ll […]