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.