On Writing

Resonant VS Thought-Provoking: What Makes for a Better Story?

IN HIS BOOK, The Golden Theme, Brian McDonald (who has taught story seminars in Pixar, Disney, and Lucas' ILM) concludes that, "Stories...

Want a Resonant Character? Give Them Their Own Groundhog Day

Have you ever had that feeling as though every single day of your life were exactly the same? That there wasn’t anything exciting...

Why Leon Is One of THE Best Examples of How to Avoid Cliche Characters

When you were creating and conceptualizing your characters, did you ever get that feeling that you’ve seen them somewhere before? You...

Why Truman Would NOT Be a Compelling Character Without This…

I totally get it. I get why you want to write. I should, because I have probably felt the same way once too. There was a time where it...

Why Without the Right Character Motivation, Gattaca Wouldn’t Be as Interesting

"Make your characters want something right away even if it’s only a glass of water." - Kurt Vonnegut It was English poet, John Donne that...

How Repeated Imagery Creates AMAZING Character Change in The Shawshank Redemption

When was the last time that you felt as though a character in a story (whether that be from a book, movie, or TV show) was one of your...

Art May Tell a Story, but Art is Not Equal to Story

An “artist” is something we like to call ourselves. There are a lot of different kinds of artists, both in terms of medium, and in terms...

Why Turning Red Actually Also Has Some Very Christian Themes

There are a lot of on-going criticisms circling about Disney Pixar’s latest movie, Turning Red. As a graduate of Literature, I just...

Freewriting My Way to Creativity

"Less than two hours left," I told myself as I scanned the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for an empty table. The place was about three minutes...