As a wannabe writer for some 30 years and having only minimal luck I have spent a lot of money on writing books designed to make me a writer. I always told myself as the song goes, "I'm just an old chunk of coal, but I'm gonna be a diamond someday." Though I have had some successes, I would have to say that I have not had nearly as many as I would have liked. I recently got a book -- one that I did not buy, but which I won in a contest -- that I wish I had picked up years ago ... which now that I think about it would not have happened because the book is only a couple of years old.
It's called Storyline and its premise is that we write better when we incorporate our own emotions into the material that we write. It's kind of like Stanislovski's The Method only it's for writers. (My apologies to Mr. Stanislovski because I'm not sure I spelled his name correctly.) The book is a combination of explanation and exercises, and it puts a lot of emphasis on the logline and writing loglines for the turning points in your life. I am halfway through the first exercise and I've written more-- and more emotionally-- in it than I have for a long time.
The exercise goes like this. Pick five moments in your life. Moments when your whole world turns upside down and list them. I wrote, as a couple of examples, about the time when my grandmother died and when a friend killed himself. After you list the moments, write down the emotions you remember from the experience. Then think of a character in a screenplay or book or story you've written who is feeling the same way. As I said, I have done some very cathartic writing on this exercise, and I'm not even halfway finished with it. I give it a two thumbs up.
It's called Storyline and its premise is that we write better when we incorporate our own emotions into the material that we write. It's kind of like Stanislovski's The Method only it's for writers. (My apologies to Mr. Stanislovski because I'm not sure I spelled his name correctly.) The book is a combination of explanation and exercises, and it puts a lot of emphasis on the logline and writing loglines for the turning points in your life. I am halfway through the first exercise and I've written more-- and more emotionally-- in it than I have for a long time.
The exercise goes like this. Pick five moments in your life. Moments when your whole world turns upside down and list them. I wrote, as a couple of examples, about the time when my grandmother died and when a friend killed himself. After you list the moments, write down the emotions you remember from the experience. Then think of a character in a screenplay or book or story you've written who is feeling the same way. As I said, I have done some very cathartic writing on this exercise, and I'm not even halfway finished with it. I give it a two thumbs up.
I might pick that book up. Hello! Never been to your site before. Great post. Thanks.
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