by Joe Bunting |
1. Write.
2. Keep writing.
3. Whenever you think about it, write.
5. If you’re angry, write anyway.
6. If you’re feeling insecure, write anyway.
7. If you’re depressed and think no one cares about you or your writing, write anyway.
4. Don’t work for hours on the perfect zinger to respond with. Work on your writing.
8. If they convince you that you’re not a real writer, write anyway.
9. If you need to delete their comment, do it. Then go and write.
10. It doesn’t matter what they said or why they said it or who they are. It only matters that you write. So get to work.
by Joe Bunting |
It’s New Year’s Eve. I was thinking about the end of the movie When Harry Met Sally. You know the scene (well, unless you haven’t seen it, in which case, spoiler alert!)—Harry is racing to meet Sally and tell her how he feels as the clock ticks towards midnight on New Year’s Eve.
The countdown to the new year, the airport chase scene, the race to the altar. All of these so-called clichés don’t have to be avoided entirely. (After all, the urgency in the examples I listed helps to heighten the drama.) You just have to know how to use them in a fresh way. Here’s how:
by Joe Bunting |
My family and I went to see Les Misérables the day after Christmas. My dad said, “It was probably the best film I’ve ever seen,” and while I may not go that far, it certainly had me (and three-quarters of the theater) dripping with tears more than once.
I want to write a story like Les Misérables. Not a musical, but a story so powerful, so captivating, that it could move people in the same way.
If you’d like to write a story as powerful as Les Misérables, I’ve put together this list of five observations about what made the story so powerful, and how writers can emulate it.
by Joe Bunting |
Doesn’t the best writing come from the heart; something experienced in real life? The writing that speaks directly to the reader and gets them involved in the event and the circumstances taking place? After all, the most spread advice of ‘Write what you know’ has a firm standing for a good reason. If this is so, what happens with all those writers who feel they don’t have a significant real life story to tell, assured their lives are boring and not worthy enough to show?
by Joe Bunting |
I’ve been in San Francisco with my family this weekend. Needless to say we’re having a great time.
While San Francisco is a relatively young city, it has a storied history regarding the arts. Notably for writers, it was the home of the literary movement known as the Beat Generation in the 1950s.
The Beats included writers like poets William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg and novelists Jack Keruoac and Neal Cassady. Their motto was liberty of expression and their style has influenced writers for the last 60 years.
