30 Days With Aristotle And Me

The Famous Greek Philosopher Helps Me Finish My Screenplay…In One Month?

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Entries from November 19th, 2009

Day Ten – Replotting

November 19th, 2009 · No Comments · Bradbury, Calliope, Day Ten - Replotting

My cat, Bradbury, is to me what Calliope was to the ancient Greeks -  my Muse. For the record, Bradbury is a Scottish Fold, a somewhat rare breed known for being quirky, adorable, and extremely affectionate. With his round face, sad eyes, and nearly ear-less noggin, Brad (named after my favorite author, Ray Bradbury) is […]

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Day Nine – Writing

November 18th, 2009 · No Comments · 3x5 Scene Cards, Day Nine - Writing, Folk-Metal, Tyr

It took a band like Tyr, a folk-metal band from the Faroe Islands, to shake off the cobwebs. Although I love Classical music, sometimes Chopin’s piano concertos and nocturnes are like a sedative and I feel my wits dulling. At such times, not even Dave Brubeck’s mind-blowing album Time Out isn’t radical enough to yank […]

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Day Eight – Breakthrough!

November 17th, 2009 · No Comments · Act II, Day Eight - Breakthrough, Eluveitie

It took a bit of listening to some butt-kicking folk metal (Eluveitie’s excellent Evocation I), but I think I solved a problem that has plagued me for the past 2-3 days. As I wrote earlier, my Act II consists of many flashbacks, stories that are taken from the series of books on which the entire […]

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Day Seven – Thinking

November 16th, 2009 · No Comments · Aristotle's Poetics for Screenwriters, Day Seven - Thinking

I’ve read one chapter per day from Tierno’s book Aristotle’s Poetics for Screenwriters. Some of what I’ve gleaned is new to me despite my years of writing and reading dozens of screenwriting books. Perhaps the biggest tidbit I’ve learned is this: “The perfect Plot, accordingly, must have a single, and not (as some tell us) […]

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Day Six – Don’t Ask

November 15th, 2009 · No Comments · Day Six - Don't Ask

I mean it.

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Day Five – Walking

November 14th, 2009 · No Comments · Ace In the Hole, Billy Wilder, Day Five - Walking, Myrath, Solving Creative Problems

Two things came up today that sidetracked my writing. 1. The gorgeous weather. West Michigan isn’t known for a whole lot of gorgeous weather, at least not at this time of year. So my wife and I spent nearly four hours outside walking around – hiking in the woods, walking the rail trails, and just […]

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Day Four – Writing

November 13th, 2009 · No Comments · Chopin, Day Four - Writing, Dick Van Dyke Show

Spent the bulk of today listening to Chopin, editing Act I (which I wrote a few months ago and really love…and love to tinker with to make even better), and forging ahead into Act II. I’m on target to meet my goal of five pages today. However, I wasted a lot of time e-mailing and […]

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Day Three – Writing

November 12th, 2009 · No Comments · Day Three - Writing, Marillion

“So here I am once more” are the words that open Marillion’s classic 1983 album Script For a Jester’s Tear. Likewise, here I am, once more, sitting at Panera Bread. My laptop is in front of me. I’m back to writing Act II. I love writing screenplays. They’re the perfect marriage of brevity and bombast. […]

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Day Two – Schedule

November 11th, 2009 · No Comments · 30-Day Screenwriting Schedule, Adaptation, Camel, Children's Books, Chopin, Day Two - Schedule, Half Light Soundtrack, Hemingway, Music, Progressive Rock, Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

You know what the hardest part is about writing screenplays? It’s not getting ideas, which come to me so often that my To-Write list now stretches well into the next decade. It’s not learning the craft of screenwriting, which I’ll admit took me 3-4 years, hundreds of dollars in screenwriting books – and an equal […]

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Day One – Set Up

November 10th, 2009 · No Comments · Day One - Set Up

Today starts a whirlwind race-to-the-finish to complete a screenplay within 30 days. Okay, so it’s not a screenplay I started today and will finish in a month. It’s a screenplay that I started a while ago and intend to finish within a month – by December 9, 2009. This web site will be a record […]

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