The Comic Muse » creative writing

Syd Field, Screenwriting, and Three-Act Structure

Sun, 01 Dec 2013 03:09:20 +0000

Only the immature artist scoffs at the demands of form. “Free verse,” quipped Robert Frost, is like “playing tennis without a net.” There is a reason why the films of Terence Malick, as brilliantly associative as they are, tax our patience. Syd Field died on the 17th of this month. He was, along with Robert […]

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Writing High Comedy in an Age of Irony

Thu, 28 Nov 2013 14:00:56 +0000

This is Part 1 of a talk I gave last week (November 20, 2013), to the Annapolis Chapter of the Maryland Writer’s Association. What a delightful evening I had with this group!

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Character Wants and Character Needs

Daniel McInerny — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 21:07:07 +0000

Create memorable characters for your stories with the help of the distinction between character wants and internal character needs. Our discussion on today's The Comic Muse Podcast. In this podcast you will learn about the most basic question a writer needs to answer in order to develop a compelling character why what a character wants is not always exactly what a character needs how a character's internal need is connected to your story's Controlling Idea Works discussed in this podcast: Flannery O'Connor's essay "Writing Short Stories" in her collection of essays, Mystery and Manners. David Corbett's The Art of Character. Character Wants and Character Needs 3

Action is Character

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:25:04 +0000

Celebrated crime author David Corbett has a wonderful post over on Joanna Penn’s blog about writing character and especially how character is revealed by action. Check it out. It’s one of the best pieces on character I’ve seen. I’ll leave it to you to enjoy Corbett’s entire post, but I’ll at least set out for […]

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Ideas and Stories

Daniel McInerny — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 17:31:29 +0000

"Storytelling is the creative demonstration of truth. A story is the living proof of an idea, the conversion of an idea to action." --Robert McKee, Story In this edition of The Comic Muse Podcast we talk about the "soul" of story or what Robert McKee calls the Controlling Idea. In this podcast you will learn about the supreme importance of a strong, clear idea to the success of your story the basic equation of a good story idea: VALUE + CAUSE the necessity of integrating your idea into the "body" of your story Books discussed in this podcast: Robert McKee, Story David Lodge, The Art of Fiction Flannery O'Connor, Mystery and Manners Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby Ideas and Stories

“Don’t Call an Ambulance. It’s Only an Artistic Coma!”

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:02:33 +0000

I love reading biographies of authors. I love reading most about the period of their early struggle (and, frankly, I often lose interest after the author achieves success). Just last night I dipped back into the early chapters of Robert McCrum’s magnificent Wodehouse: A Life. “The quality of [Wodehouse’s] life as a freelancer was solitary […]

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Failure to Launch

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:25:31 +0000

So you check the email one more time, or consult your planner or glance at the newspaper. Anything but confront the page in the notebook or the document on the laptop where you will actually have to go to work. Why don’t you plunge in? Why do you hesitate? You say you want to write […]

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The Problem of the Next Line

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:49:19 +0000

Back to the question of planning versus plunging. Here is a YouTube clip from an interview with playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard in which he discusses his play, Arcadia. Watch the clip from the beginning to 2:04, where Stoppard discusses the genesis of the play. Then pay attention again from 2:58 and following, where he […]

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250 Words Every Fifteen Minutes

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:13:51 +0000

It’s interesting. When I put the thoughts from my last post in front of the folks in the Writer’s Café at Kindle Boards, I received, from more than one writer, a very strong reaction I had not expected. One said that people who focus on their artistic temperament are really only playing at being writers. […]

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Your Artistic Temperament, Or, How Is It Possible You Still Have Friends?

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 21:02:50 +0000

Imagine the following: A writer deep into the second act of his magnum opus who realizes that he hasn’t brushed his teeth in a week. Or talked to his children. Or stepped outside long enough to check the mail. Or eaten anything not made with high fructose corn syrup. Or a writer who spends months […]

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