A writer friend once told me if you’re writing a sad scene and it doesn’t make you cry, you’re not doing it right. If you’re writing a humorous passage and it doesn’t make you laugh, you’re not doing it right. Wise words. I would add, if you’re writing suspense and you’re not anxious, you’re not…
Odds are your writing is never going to be made into a screenplay and filmed by a Hollywood producer, requiring you to give a 5-minute acceptance speech at the Oscars. However, thinking cinematically by creating a screenplay outline will help you focus and organize your writing. A screenplay describes characters, scenes, and action—all essential elements…
A passion for word games and puzzles can serve as a bridge to creative and expository writing. Letters and sounds are the building-blocks of words. Words form sentences and sentences convey meaning to inform readers, evoke emotions, and stimulate thinking. Working crosswords, playing scrabble, and completing word search exercises can pay dividends. Even the taking…
A popular feature which once appeared in daily newspapers was “Ripley’s Believe It or Not.” In an inked box about six-inches-square, interesting facts from around the globe were illustrated and summarized in succinct captions. The series still appears in a select group of newspapers. An example is shown above. (Copyrighted 2014 by Ripley Entertainment, Inc.)…
When it comes to the concept of head-hopping, I have a cartoonist’s advantage. Working in multiple panels, I can draw two characters, provide an accumulating dialogue as the story advances one panel at a time, and supply my characters with exaggerated facial expressions and body language to communicate outward emotions and inner thoughts. I can…