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Nov

16

To Biz or Not To Biz?

Posted by : E.v.R. | On : November 16, 2007

Category: Creative Process, Intellectual Property

That is the question. How do you see yourself as a writer? Are you merely a laborer for someone else? Are you just a hobbyist? Or do you see your writing as a business?

I ask because it seems that every writer will have a viewpoint on industry and events, much like the writer strike in Hollywood. It appears that outlook depends on how you view your own role as a writer.

Do you see yourself as crafting intellectual property for someone else to profit from? Do you create it just for fun, for yourself? Or do you see your writing ability as a business opportunity?

To biz or not to biz?

Nov

13

Jotting Down The Chaos

Posted by : E.v.R. | On : November 13, 2007

Category: Creative Process

This fall is turning out to be a crazy time for me, as it may be for you. Things in both my personal and professional life are quite busy. On top of this, there are a large number of movies and video games coming out, many of which constitute research – laugh if you want. On top of this I’m trying to write a screenplay, in addition to getting things in order for the holidays.

The chaos level is high. I’ve noticed when this happens that really crazy ideas or inspiration will suddenly crop up at the most inappropriate time, such as when I’m doing something else I can’t break away from. You can’t schedule creativity. At times like this, even if you could schedule it, there’s no room in the schedule.

I don’t know if it’s a wicked irony of the creative mind, but ideas just seem to pop out one after another when I have the least amount of time to pay attention to them. This makes writing notes, or scribbling in the Moleskine that much more important.

I know it’s crazy, but you should really take a moment to write these things down. I find some of the better ideas come out during this particular brand of chaos, so jot them down.

Nov

10

Kring Admits Heroes Stumbled

Posted by : E.v.R. | On : November 10, 2007

Category: Creative Process, Television

There’s a fascinating interview with Heroes creator Tim Kring on the Entertainment Weekly site. In it Kring admits they made mistakes with season two, which many fans have been complaining about.

It’s funny because people don’t remember the first season having a slow build up, but it did. I’ve been willing to cut the creators a little slack in season two because I thought they were repeating the pace of season one. Turns out I was right;

”We assumed the audience wanted season 1 — a buildup of intrigue about these characters and the discovery of their powers. We taught [them] to expect a certain kind of storytelling. They wanted adrenaline. We made a mistake.”

Bless the information age. Can anyone imagine a TV show creator making an admission like this thirty years ago? This has been spreading around the web. What I think is most fascinating about this article is how everyone can learn from it. I’d say this applies to novels too. If you’ve got a slow introduction to the first novel in a series, there’s no reason to repeat that slow introduction for the second novel.

These are core lessons about crafting any kind of series, whether it be TV, movies, novels, comics, or games.