writing
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Question: What is the best piece of advice you have received? Answer: To me personally the best would be, “Don’t waste your time writing short stories. No one reads them.” Now, did I listen to this advice? Not for a very long time. I wouldn’t say that I regret the time I spent working on…
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Week two where I attempt to answer the big questions about what I do…
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It’s unfortunate that we don’t live in a time now where a polarizing film is a positive. Like in the ’70s, if you made a film like Straw Dogs, and half the people hate it and half the people think it’s a masterpiece, that’s viewed as cool. Now it’s not. Now if you don’t get unified…
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You can’t learn to write in college. It’s a very bad place for writers because the teachers always think they know more than you do—and they don’t. They have prejudices. They may like Henry James, but what if you don’t want to write like Henry James? They may like John Irving, for instance, who’s the…
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Working principles. A story, whether it is screenplay, novel or something I am whispering in your ear should satisfy one or both of the following conditions. They are listed in order of importance. 1) The story should entertain/titillate/engage the reader/listener/viewer. 2) The story should teach/inform/educate the reader/listener/viewer. I am sure I have stolen this almost directly from…
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It is not surprising that when you come across a tidbit someone said or wrote that is in complete agreement with what you already think, that this discovery fills you with a small amount of joy. Over the past few days I have been rereading a series of speeches that Jorge Luis Borges made (I…
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It is an odd thing to celebrate Halloween as an adult. I do not yet have a child to celebrate the holiday with. My wife is fiendishly imbued with the spirit of the day and her enthusiasm, regardless of our limited roles as candy dispensers, is certainly infectious. Each year our hopes soar as the…
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John August has a very nice site. There is a new section on his site called Workspace. Screenwriters give provide answers to questions concerning where they write and what they use to write. It is interesting and provides what I am always looking for online, whether it is about writing, filmmaking or how to change…
The Writings of John Ryan Sullivan 