Saw this blog, The Lie Most Frequently Told in Hollywood, and it really got me thinking. It’s a reminder that if someone likes your work, they will want to work with you fairly quickly. Otherwise, they are lukewarm, or on the fence. And no one likes that. So pitch your best story possible and it better be great. That goes for friends/peers reviewing your stuff. If they aren’t blown away, then back to revisions.
Mary Sue Test and Other Generators
I like to go through the Mary Sue litmus test every once in a while. Helps a lot to keep my main character grounded. I just did a run through and scored a 12. The key is to be completely honest, even if you don’t–ahem– like it.
And while there, I ran into a bunch of other handy/useful links:
Each Character Needs an Independent Problem
I’m starting a rewriting phase. And I came across this, which I think is rather good advice, so I’m flagging it.
Taken from http://scriptshadow.net/amateur-smackdown-script-2-monster-mash/
Make sure each character has a problem independent of the story. In other words, if none of these crazy mummies and zombies had showed up, would your characters still have an issue they had to overcome? The answer should be yes. Here, Will is trying to get Sandra. That’s his problem he needs to solve. It’s not done very well because Sandra appears to already like him. But the idea behind it is good. Try to do this for EVERY character. Give them a problem independent of the story. That way, parallel to solving the giant overall goal, they’re trying to conquer these smaller more personal goals.
Color as Meaning
In order for your site to be 508 compliant, it must pass a set of rigorous and, to be honest, subjective set of guidelines. One of the more interesting ones is it cannot convey color as meaning.
The actual guidline in lawyer-speak: Color coding shall not be used as the only means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element.
What does that mean? Basically it boils down to this: each page must be understood even if it was black and white. Persons with visual impairments must be able to understand the content. ‘Follow the red text to find the answer’ with instructions in red is forbidden. The easiest way to know if you pass is to print each pages (yes, each page) and test if it is understood void of any color.
A pain? Yes. Tedious? Yes. But if you want to pass, you have to manually check.
Sonoma Skydiving
- My first tandem jump
Here I am skydiving for the first time in Sonoma Valley, California.