THE STORY SPOT

Screenwriter Alex Epstein (of Complications Ensue fame) will be teaching a  webinar in July on one of our favorite subjects: The Hook.

Webinars, as you know, are great, accessible brush-up classes for those in the trenches as well as a low-pressure, low-cost subject intro to new writers.

Support your writing (and Alex’s writing life — full-circle, people) by signing up today.

The Hook – Get your script read!
$69.99
Saturday July 25th from noon-3pm EST / 9am-noon PST
Webinar via Topjian

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Photo credit: Jonno Witts via Flickr

Writers can often be heard grumbling about the drudgery of rewriting. Those of us who make a living from “the rewrite” are no exception. But I’m here to tell you, there are great joys to be found within those looming pages. Really.

Rewriting is the work you do on a manuscript or screenplay (or anything else) once that first tremulous blush of committing fresh words to the world has passed. It can be a general pass to see what crops up or a focused pass solely on, say, diction. It may be a combination of both. Everyone’s process is different.

The one constant is that rewriting is what makes good work, brilliant (okay, at least much, much better). Five tips to make your rewrite shine, after the jump.
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Those of you who read THE STORY SPOT regularly will know that we’re fans of screenwriter John August’s highly entertaining and informative blog. Recently, he posted a little video about tightening up the openings of your scenes. Just because it’s screenwriting-focused, doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant to you novelists and memoirists out there.

In a nutshell, the illustrious Mr. August illustrates how to get to the core action of the scene right away while adding a bit of visual color along the way. Good stuff for writers at all levels.

“Writing Better Scene Openings” at johnaugust.com (feel free to click through to his site to read his full post.)

…and you and you. Seems as if the story elves here at the SPOT have been up to their eyeballs in rewrites and new projects. So this week’s post is simply a wealth of good wishes sent out to you as we all do what we love to do best (pens still work in tanked economies so we hope you are all creating brilliance out there!)

If you are so inclined, we’d love to hear what it is you’re working on this spring. It’s a nice reminder that while production and publication fads come and go, the stories we all crave stay the very same.

Comment or Tweet back, y’all!
/djw