Our weekly-ish newsletter about things that are interesting to writers.
Inneresting
Not every movie or show gets a reunion reboot or legacy sequel. Sometimes we can feel the influence of the past, but with an additional twist. These are the spiritual successors. They may not always be obvious in what stories they owe a debt to, but you feel the connection.
Inneresting
Likeability. The idea that there's some objective sense of whether or not this person is someone you could be friends with/grab a beer with/watch for 90 minutes on a screen without getting annoyed. It's not just a measurement of morality, because there are plenty
Inneresting
We touched on coincidences in storytelling with this week's rebroadcast of John's blog on Spider-Man 3, so let's take a broader look at coincidences both in fiction and how people experience them in the real world. Lisa M.P. Munoz interviews Christian Rominger about
Inneresting
In 2007, John came back from a screening of Spider-Man 3 and used his reactions to point to the hurdles a writer can throw in their story's path when relying too heavily on coincidence.
Inneresting
InĀ 2009, John answered a question about how to choose between the different stories competing for your attention, and gave an example of one time he didnāt need to choose just one. I know you have addressed this type of question to a certain extent, but I was left
Inneresting
This weekās rebroadcast comes from 2007 with 3 tips on how to quickly define a characterās personality in your screenplay. Just how early can you tell a script isnāt going to work? To me, itās as the first few characters are introduced. If character introductions are
Inneresting
This weekās rebroadcast collects posts fromĀ 2006Ā andĀ 2012Ā to consider how selling a script isnāt a guarantee, and why writing a film that never gets made is still work worthy of compensation. Youāve said that āmost scripts donāt become movies, and a hundred things could
Inneresting
This weekās rebroadcast includes a post fromĀ 2007Ā and a downloadable PDF version of the key points (suitable for hanging up where you write). Spend a few years as a screenwriter, and writing a scene becomes an almost unconscious process. Itās like driving a car. Most of us
Inneresting
This weekās rebroadcast brings together a few posts about structure, and reasons to consider that thereās not only one way to plan out a story. How do you know when the story has good bones? Iām a 28-year old writer with a very old problem. I do
Inneresting
If spoilers make you want to nope on out of hereā¦ Thatās fine. You should see Nope before you read this. āRight here, you are going to witness an absolute spectacle.ā The engine driving Jordan Peele's Nope is powered by people trying to exploit an unexplained organism
Inneresting
This weekās rebroadcast comes from 2010, with thoughts on how to make sure a story with a low-budget doesnāt also wind up with low energy. One of my frustrations with independent film ā and in particular, micro-indies of the past few years ā is a lack of narrative ambition. Flip
Inneresting
When helping to build Mad Max: Fury Roadās character arcs for Max and Furiosa, screenwriter Nico Lathouris saw how three chases could bind the characters together: āThe first chase brings the Road Warrior [Max] and the Praetorian [Furiosa] together, the second chase manacles them together in mutual obligation, and