Gonna pile on to the compliments here Tony. Your newsletter gives more clarity than a stack of scriptwriting "How-To's", with a real-time, real "industry" techniques that are so relevant and helpful for anyone approaching this as an outsider. Keep it up, please.
I'm currently catching up on all your newsletters and they are all little gems of information. Like real nuts and bolts, applicable suggestions of how to improve a sluggish scene or how to get a handle on the current market. The "language game" - excellent, just excellent. I can relate to the first draft approach even though mine might not be as well-articulated as yours. That magic, that pulse, only comes when your free to explore it, get lost in it, with an uncluttered mind that only comes before multiple drafts, at least for me. That's when I usually find the tingle you're speaking of. Great stuff!
OK, this language game stuff is fantastic. If Masterclass filled its episodes with practical, evocative stuff like this instead of mainly variations on "believe in yourself," it would actually be worth the price of admission.
I just want to ask about one thing:
"...the language game of religious conversion or emotional self-denial can become the focus of the scene. The important exposition can still get across, but now it's riding along with the more interesting character-based dialogue."
You've said elsewhere that a scene should basically be about one thing. Does that mean that you see the religious conversion as the *one thing* of the drug deal scene, even if it's not really central to the scene's exposition? Or is the religious conversion as "focus of the scene" something different from the "one thing the scene's about"? Sort of like misdirection in magic--the FOCUS of the trick not being what's actually happening.
I would say that *dramatically* in the moment the religious conversion would be what the scene is about, but the sleight-of-hand is that you would then slip whatever necessary exposition/information you need under that dramatic cover. So yeah, misdirection. It's one of the best things that I learned from writing mysteries of the week on LONGMIRE: you want your clues and key info for solving the mystery to get out there, but NOT as a clue or as key info. Misdirection is the key...
This is really good, easy to understand advice on writing characters that pop. Thank you!
Gonna pile on to the compliments here Tony. Your newsletter gives more clarity than a stack of scriptwriting "How-To's", with a real-time, real "industry" techniques that are so relevant and helpful for anyone approaching this as an outsider. Keep it up, please.
I'm currently catching up on all your newsletters and they are all little gems of information. Like real nuts and bolts, applicable suggestions of how to improve a sluggish scene or how to get a handle on the current market. The "language game" - excellent, just excellent. I can relate to the first draft approach even though mine might not be as well-articulated as yours. That magic, that pulse, only comes when your free to explore it, get lost in it, with an uncluttered mind that only comes before multiple drafts, at least for me. That's when I usually find the tingle you're speaking of. Great stuff!
OK, this language game stuff is fantastic. If Masterclass filled its episodes with practical, evocative stuff like this instead of mainly variations on "believe in yourself," it would actually be worth the price of admission.
I just want to ask about one thing:
"...the language game of religious conversion or emotional self-denial can become the focus of the scene. The important exposition can still get across, but now it's riding along with the more interesting character-based dialogue."
You've said elsewhere that a scene should basically be about one thing. Does that mean that you see the religious conversion as the *one thing* of the drug deal scene, even if it's not really central to the scene's exposition? Or is the religious conversion as "focus of the scene" something different from the "one thing the scene's about"? Sort of like misdirection in magic--the FOCUS of the trick not being what's actually happening.
I would say that *dramatically* in the moment the religious conversion would be what the scene is about, but the sleight-of-hand is that you would then slip whatever necessary exposition/information you need under that dramatic cover. So yeah, misdirection. It's one of the best things that I learned from writing mysteries of the week on LONGMIRE: you want your clues and key info for solving the mystery to get out there, but NOT as a clue or as key info. Misdirection is the key...
I can't believe this is free. Refreshing insight here. Thank you for sharing.