Stories, Parables & Movie Scripts Basic screenplay writing excerpted from HOW TO SUCCEED IN HOLLYWOOD (WITHOUT LOSING YOUR SOUL) Part V The Premise

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A great story goes somewhere. It tells us something. That something is a premise. A poor story wanders about, gets lost and bores an audience. In a baseball game, the team with the most runs wins. You watch the game to see if the team that you like can get the most runs and win the game. Imagine how boring baseball would be if there was nothing to win: if “games” were like practice sessions where players just hit and fielded balls without a clear purpose. No one would want to pay to watch. A premise says, “To win, I…

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Pace Yourself: Part 1

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Historical Post by Gail Gaymer Martin Today is the first part of Pace Yourself: Keeping Pace in Fiction. Pacing – What is it? Pacing is moving the characters from the opening situation through various growing conflicts to the resolution in a logical, realistic manner that shows character growth and, in Christian fiction, provides faith grow. Pacing is the speed at which action in the story moves and the reader gains information. Most people assume “pacing” means the book is too slow, and that is very possible. But the pacing can also be too fast if it rushes the conflicts and…

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Sometimes It’s How You Frame It

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Greetings and Happy New Year! Maureen Pratt here with my monthly CAN blog on the craft of writing. Today, I'm going to offer one technique to help you find the right angle and tone for your story. Sometimes, fine-tuning these so that your intent is clear and your storytelling is compelling isn't a matter of vocabulary or sentence structure, or even pacing or flow. Sometimes, it's how you frame your story that gives it its best final form. Recently, I took two lovely watercolors to a frame shop. I'd purchased them awhile ago, and never liked the plain frames they'd…

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“Brilliance in a bottle”

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Hello! And a very Merry Christmas to you! Maureen Pratt here for my monthly blog which, this year, just happens to fall a couple of days after one of my favorite holidays – you guessed it – Christmas! What I especially love about Christmas is that we get to bring out many of our dearly-held traditions. Whether it’s in baking, decorating, music, or Scripture study “what was old is new again” as we celebrate the Season. How does this relate to writing? Well, it reminds me that sometimes I miss “old” traditions of the authorial kind. Writing long-hand, for example,…

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YOUR PLOT DRAGS? FIX IT.

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Happy friday from Michigan where we're enjoy lovely weather and my flower garden is flourishing. Welcome to the CAN blog from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailgaymermartin.com  If you enjoy my website and blogs, you can subscribe in the right sidebar and if you'd like my monthly newsletter, you can subscribe in the right sidebar too. Now down to business. Authors don’t always realize their plot drags until they step back and take a fresh look. It’s always good to give your story a rest for a week or two, if you have time to spare, and then read with new…

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READING AND WRITING THE FINE PRINT

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                                           Greetings! Maureen Pratt here with my latest CAN blog post about the craft of writing. Today, I thought I'd steer clear of the "big picture" – that is, the major aspects of writing that we so often focus on in our work – plot and character arcs, basic personal attributes, action points. Instead, I thought I'd "sweat the small stuff" and talk about the importance of seeking, seeing and writing about the "fine print," those details that can truly make a huge difference between a piece that is okay from one that is, "Oh! Hey! [That really strikes home/makes this a…

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