Category Archives: Drama and movies

Name Dropping

Hamlet is often portrayed as a man dressed in medieval finery with a skull cradled in his hand. Many people assume that Hamlet recited his fateful soliloquy “To be or not to be…” as he stared at the skull. That’s … Continue reading

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Allusions

The man awoke in an unrecognized ancient building. He attempts to leave, only to find doors lock and windows barred. Then, he discovers other people inside as bewildered as he is. They are all being held as prisoners. The only … Continue reading

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Collaborating with Other Authors

How do multiple writers work together to produce a work superior to their individual abilities?  With a great deal of struggling. Despite the idea that synergy, or combining abilities of people in groups, to produce better ideas than individuals most … Continue reading

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Woman on a tightrope

Recently the movie Not Okay hit a nerve by using “Unlikeable female protagonist” as one of the content warnings for its rating. What did the likability of the main character have to do with identifying the appropriate audience for this … Continue reading

Posted in Characters, Drama and movies, Laughter and humor, Optimism and Pessimism, Self confidence, Writer's resource | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Star Words

Creating a good plot is one of the most difficult parts of writing. A perfectly plotted story is going to be snatched up by readers, but so far we seem to have only produced one of these plots that most … Continue reading

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The Most Memorable Kind of Hero

Is this true that a memorable hero of incredible wisdom and strength can only show full worth when pitted against an incredibly powerful villain?.  The similarities between villains and heroes are often noted in fiction. So how does an author … Continue reading

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The Sports Hero’s Journey

When advised to base stories on the hero’s journey, I realized that the “monomyth model” constructed plots based on a large sampling of Greek mythology. I’ve always had a suspicion that these myths were based on real people. The characters … Continue reading

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Sports Lit

While watching a recent bone crunching pro-football game on TV, I saw a player dive into a fracas and come up with the fumbled football. He took off for his goal, running for the sidelines to avoid being pummeled by … Continue reading

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Dystopian Entertainment

The plethora of dystopian novels that involve putting teens into deadly trials has begun to disturb me. Starting with Hunger Games, which was similar to a YA version of the Running Man, the stories read like athletic competitions run amok. … Continue reading

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Please make me think

Science fiction in films was once an outlet to comment on society, often with a critical view, such as Fahrenheit 451 and Silent Running. As recently as ten years ago I was intrigued by the British Science Fiction film, Moon, … Continue reading

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