Writing, reviews and essays
Quentin Tarantino was a guest on the Joe Rogan podcast. They covered many subjects. One of them was his belief that the ’80s was one of the worst decades for film. Now, as a child who grew up on Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Robocop, Terminator, Return of the Jedi, Die Hard, and Predator, to … Continue reading Quentin Tarantino on likeable heroes (How is he dead wrong?)
Let's do a summary of the killer 5 act structure. Photo by Askar Abayev on Pexels.com Word of warning, this will get technical, and there will be numbers. Here’s how I break down my stories as percentages. I use this framework for short and long stories, blog posts, tweets, heck, even Instagram captions.First Act-22%Second Act-22%Third … Continue reading Killer 5 Act structure (putting it all together)
Here we are at crafting killer endings. The final step. Photo by Ana Arantes on Pexels.com Act 5 can be deceptively simple. First, you're summing up the story for your audience, and then you're getting the heck out of there. Act 5 is the punchline. You gotta keep it short and snappy. A few can … Continue reading Killer endings (and how you can craft them)
I'm making my way through The Sopranos for the first time. Paulie Walnuts might be my favourite character. In the first season, when he kills a guy because he's worried about poison ivy? Forget about it. Favourite character-wise, it's a tie between him and Tony's mother. I'm in the second season, and the mother is … Continue reading Paulie Walnuts and fantastic writing (The Sopranos)
Here you are, with your hero in Act 4, a series of choices. What are they going to choose? Quit or keep going? Stay true to themselves or keep up the lie? Are they going to live or die? Your hero has had their moment of realisation in Act 3, and now they are ready … Continue reading A series of choices (plus a secret bonus)