I Repost Cause I Must

I never intend to repost items from other blogs, but when I run across a post that just screams at me that this is something I must remember, something I must tell others about,  . . . well then I must repost.

I seem to repost a lot from The Kill Zone, and there is a distinct and clear reason why . . . they write some good stuff over on that site. Today P.J. Parrish has a terrific little article called Are Rules Made to Be Broken on breaking rules and following rules. When is it okay to break rules, when should one follow rules. The article is terribly insightful . . . who knew that Picasso had painted the first painting? (go read the article to find out what that means).

That being said, she winds up the column with a numbered list of rules from Emma Coats a storyboard artist with Pixar. There are 22 rules, I liked the following three the most:

Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.

I have yet to do this with the novel I'm presently writing. I'm glad I read this. Immediately I'm going to start chewing on and digesting the ending so that I know where I'm going.

What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don't succeed? Stack the odds against them.

This harkens back to the post I wrote the other day on challenges and hurdles for a protagonist to overcome that play such a big part in writing (here). I like the idea of "stakes" much more than just "hurdles" or "challenges." Stakes inherently imply that there are challenges right? I think so.

 Here's an exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How would you rearrange them into what you DO like.

Why have I never heard of this exercise? What a terrific idea! I was recently asked as a part of the blog tour I'm currently in about what movie have I seen that is better than the book. I skipped the question. I couldn't immediately think of one. I would have much rather been confronted with a question of "How would you have changed the worst movie you've ever seen into something better?" I can't wait to try this and I bet I reference the Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics website when I do so.

Again, so much going on that is good over at The Kill Zone and so much worthwhile in that article. Well worth the three or five minutes it takes to read it.