I am going to write a legal thriller about the first simian appointed to the Supreme Court, and I shall call it FIRST MONKEY IN OCTOBER.
Writing with the end in mind. Or not.
As a writer, it’s reassuring to hear Vince Gilligan say he didn’t know how Breaking Bad was going to end, other than that Walter White would die.
Script problems
When the movie description includes “Amazingly, the old man has become the defacto leader of the gang,” something went wrong with the script somewhere.
Story held hostage
The next time I submit a story, I will include a note demanding payment, or else I start killing adverbs.
From beyond the grave…
Writers have a rare power not given to anyone else: we can bore people long after we are dead.
~ Sinclair Lewis
“Kill your darlings…”
In keeping with the writing advice to kill your darlings, I am going to write a sequel to Peter Pan where the whole Darling family dies.
“NO! NOT WENDY!” Peter Pan wails.
Yes, Peter. ALL the Darlings.
The surprise ending? It was Tinker Bell who did it.
Lost and found
I just saw the question “Where will you find your next story?”
Under the tip of my pen, was my first thought.
An American… WRITER in London?
I am now imagining something like An American Werewolf in London, but with writers.
Two men are hiking in the countryside. They’re attacked by a werewriter. One dies, and comes back as a ghost to warn the survivor to kill himself.
“You’ve got to do it, David! Kill yourself, or more characters will die!”
David, of course, does NOT kill himself, instead choosing to follow the old writing advice to “kill your darlings.”
Ghostwriting
I tried ghostwriting once. Consensus was that the characters were haunting, but you could see right through the plots.
Dialogue
A line of dialogue is not clear enough if you need to explain how it’s said.
~ Elmore Leonard