And while dollars have little to do with it, the fiction writer should be asking the same question any capable film producer would ask: Is this scene truly necessary? It is the kind of thinking that, put into practice, results… — Les Standiford Copy Share Image
“It’s like you’ve been in a terrible accident and had your arm amputated,” she told him. “After a while, the pain goes away, and eventually you even learn to get along without your arm. Some days you’re sad that you’re missing your arm, and some days you’re angry about it, and some days you’re okay. But, no matter what, no… — Les Standiford Copy Share
“Society.” John Forster, who would one day become Dickens’s great friend, adviser, editor, and first biographer, wrote in the Examiner that Dickens had excelled… — Les Standiford Copy Share Image
Maybe it's because we as writers are alone so often, are so attuned to listening to the run of our own thoughts, that we find it more natural to write down the thoughts rather than the deeds of our characters. But speaking as a teacher who has spent some twenty years slogging through manuscripts where thoughts and exposition pile up… — Les Standiford Copy Share
And while dollars have little to do with it, the fiction writer should be asking the same question any capable film producer would ask:… — Les Standiford Copy Share Image
Never open your story with a character thinking, I advise my students. As a further precaution, don’t put a character in a room alone – create a friend, a bystander, a genie, for God’s sake, any sentient creature with whom your main character can converse, perhaps argue or, better yet, engage in some action. If a person is out and… — Les Standiford Copy Share
“That's easy," Russell said. "Because everybody else in this here place is crooked as a dog's hind leg. ...” — Les Standiford Copy Share Image
“Permanent construction of the sort Flagler was referring to would not come cheaply, however. Early in 1910, Flagler wrote to John Carrere, designer of… — Les Standiford Copy Share Image
“The more a man learns, Dickens said, “the better, gentler, kinder man he must become. When he knows how much great minds have suffered… — Les Standiford Copy Share Image
“Daniel Maclise (whose 1839 oil of Dickens hangs today at the National Portrait Gallery).” — Les Standiford Copy Share Image
There are vast differences between scripts and stories, of course. Few fiction writers would want to give up the opportunity to explore how the… — Les Standiford Copy Share Image
