We live in a extraordinary age where most people in the world can gain access to knowledge and information easily. You no longer have to necessarily take classes, or go to night courses, to get training for many skills, including writing. Writing classes never hurt and I still recommend them, but much knowledge can be [...]
Every writer needs inspiration. I’m known for getting mine as a voyeur at my Panera office. However it is you get inspired, there are tools that can help you organize your ideas and keep them at your fingertips for easy reference. 1. Inspiration Software: Inspiration makes it easy to create webs, idea maps, mind maps, concept [...]
For those who’ve followed my writing on Balls of Steel, you know how I love crawling into my characters’ heads. This week, I want to share with you a FREE download to help you find plot points that fit with your characters’ story arcs! Get your FREE Structure Grid of Character Development and Plot as [...]
Writer’s Blocks 4 is a really cool program designed for all writers that need help shaping their ideas into a coherent structure. If you’re a writer whose organizational style involves the use of index cards, sticky notes or jotting your ideas randomly in a notepad, then read on. Whether you write books, movie scripts, research [...]
Persona is a great little program for either Windows or Mac computers, making it simple to create characters for novels, plays, scripts or any writing project, for that matter. It is straightforward and easy to use. You simply fill in blanks with information such as name, height, age, hair and eye color. There are 16 preset [...]
Happy Monday! The start of a week can be much like the start of a script. I can play on the rewrite playground forever, but starting a project is always the most difficult part for me. Over the years, I’ve asked my writer friends for advice on tools to help me not only get past my [...]
One of the biggest problems a script writer has is keeping track of all the elements in the story. Think about it; there are usually multiple characters, several locations, and if that weren’t enough, there needs to be a convincing arc for each character to follow as the story progresses. What should happen and where? [...]
To celebrate the launch of Jen Grisanti’s new column Story Structure, I’m sharing my top picks for screenwriting structure and writing style products at The Writers Store: 1. The Screenwriter’s Bible by Dave Trottier – Dave’s book was one of my very first screenwriting resources, and is still one I turn to when I have [...]
The process of starting a screenplay can be very difficult to say the least. When writing a story you have to keep track of events, characters, locations and slip in things like character quirks and attitudes. Organization can be daunting for people like me who can’t keep track of their keys and sneakers. There are [...]
