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7 Tips for Crafting Compelling Casino Scenes in Your Writing

All About Casinos Environment plays a vital role in the narrative, and few environments can match the thrill and excitement of a casino. Many stories are set in casinos or within the world of gambling. From movies like the Ocean’s 11 franchise through to Croupier (and of course Scorsese’s Casino!) to TV shows like Sneaky Pete and CSI: Las Vegas to classic novels such as Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas, people can’t get enough of them! Crafting captivating casino scenes will not only pique your readers’ or viewers’ interest but also infuse your work with tension and depth. With… Read More »7 Tips for Crafting Compelling Casino Scenes in Your Writing

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NEW GIRL Case Study: How To Learn To Plot by Watching Sitcoms

All About New Girl New Girl was a sitcom that ran between 2011-2018. The show followed the fates of an offbeat young woman Jess (Zooey Deschanel), a teacher who is trying to get over her breakup with her boyfriend after he cheats on her. If you’re in the UK, you can find it on DisneyPlus in its entirety. Jess moves in with three young men: Nick, a Chicago-born university dropout who now works in a bar; Schmidt, an advertising executive who believes he is God’s gift to women; and Winston, a former pro basketball player who is trying to find… Read More »NEW GIRL Case Study: How To Learn To Plot by Watching Sitcoms

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An Epic Rant On Why Your Spec Script Is Doomed (Unless You Avoid This)

So, You Want Your Spec Script To Get Noticed? Writing a spec script is hard, but getting a sale for that spec script is even harder. No screenwriter’s journey is the same, plus this crazy industry is not transparent AT ALL. That’s one of the reasons I began this blog in the first place. I wanted to help writers AVOID their scripts being doomed before they even got off the starter blocks!! So what’s the number 1 problem standing in too many new writers’ way? Themselves. They doom their OWN scripts from the get-go. Yup, you read that right. Supersadface.… Read More »An Epic Rant On Why Your Spec Script Is Doomed (Unless You Avoid This)

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30 Years of Priscilla: What Can Writers Learn From This LGBTQ Classic?

All About The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert I remember the first time I saw Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. I was a closeted bisexual teen in deep denial and I saw it in the middle of the night on TV. (If I recall correctly, it was on BBC2). To say it blew me away is an understatement. I lived in Devon, in the middle of nowhere, with no sniff of even so much as a Pride parade. (The closest I got back then were the ubiquitous rainbows on cans of Lynx body spray). A few years before… Read More »30 Years of Priscilla: What Can Writers Learn From This LGBTQ Classic?

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Don’t Do It: 13 Warnings From The People Who Read Your Screenplay

#1 Warnings From Real-Life Script Readers   There’s lots of warnings on this site, because I spend a lot of time demystifying the spec pile. It’s why one of my most popular articles series is the Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make. I think Bang2writers like writing warnings so much is because as everyone knows, there’s no ‘right’ way to write a story … but reading scripts, day after day, has taught me there are multiple WRONG ways. But hey, don’t take my word for it. Check out these warnings from other script readers that aren’t me. Be sure to click… Read More »Don’t Do It: 13 Warnings From The People Who Read Your Screenplay

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10 Ways Tarot Archetypes Can Help You Write Your Story

Many thanks to writer and B2W Academy member Pamela PerryGoulardt who has written today’s post about Tarot archetypes … AND created these fantastic cards herself. Wow! I am blown away by how gorgeous the images are. The lady is a talent! Writers often ask me ‘how’ to write great characters visually, so when Pamela suggested Tarot I was all ears. Whilst I have been aware of the practice for decades, I’d never thought of using Tarot cards as a writing aid. So, over to you Pamela! Write Stories That Are Off The Charts! Tarot is a detailed system of numbers… Read More »10 Ways Tarot Archetypes Can Help You Write Your Story

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The #1 Question Writers Need To Ask Of Their Writing (Do It!!)

The Question You Need To Ask So a couple of weeks ago, I published an article, Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make On Their Page 1 Of Their Screenplays. In the article I gave two examples of (fake) screenplays that had issues. I also posted these script examples to the B2W social media, asking the Bang2writers ‘What’s wrong with THIS page 1?’ (below). Here’s what the Bangers said … ‘Not enough details about Katie – is she the protagonist? If so, what is she wearing? What music is she listening to?’ ‘Missing character descriptions’ ‘It says INT when it should be… Read More »The #1 Question Writers Need To Ask Of Their Writing (Do It!!)

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7 Writing Mistakes You Don’t Know You’re Doing

Top Writing Mistakes You don’t make these killer errors … When you’re engrossed in writing your next masterpiece, it can be easy to let your grammar, punctuation and even spelling slide. Here are the top writing errors that even experienced writers make. Ready? Let’s go … 1) Misusing Phrases and Words No matter how long a writer hones their craft, a few words and phrases consistently prove troublesome!  A common error, for example, is the phrase ‘for all intensive purposes’ when the correct expression is, ‘for all intents and purposes’ – unless your purposes are particularly intense?! Another example is… Read More »7 Writing Mistakes You Don’t Know You’re Doing

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Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make On Page 1 Of Their Screenplays

The Page 1 Test Page 1 is THE most important page in your entire screenplay. You have to start as you mean to go on. Most spec screenwriters know they have up to 10 pages to impress the script reader … but few realise it’s page 1 that really needs to rock FIRST. So, to make sure your first page doesn’t sink your chances, read on. Let’s go! 1) Starting with something DULL on page 1 Dull is in the eye of the beholder of course … but there’s plenty of pitfalls we can commit with the very first sentence… Read More »Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make On Page 1 Of Their Screenplays

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Are You Schrödinger’s Writer? Here’s How To Break Out Of This Destructive Mindset

Schrödinger’s Cat Versus Writers Schrödinger’s Cat is a thought experiment devised by the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger, which he designed to illustrate a paradox of quantum superposition. In this famous paradox, a hypothetical cat may be considered both alive and dead simultaneously because its fate is linked to a random event that may (or may not) occur. Over time, Schrodinger’s cat has been linked to any number of hypothetical situations – erroneously or not – in which something may or may not happen, concurrently or not. I found myself talking about ‘Schrodinger’s writer’ recently with a number of Bang2writers. During these… Read More »Are You Schrödinger’s Writer? Here’s How To Break Out Of This Destructive Mindset

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Top 10 Scream Queens from Movies and TV: Which Is Your Favourite?

What are Scream Queens? Typically, Scream Queens are the ultimate female character, especially in the horror or thriller genres. They are renowned for their iconic and memorable roles as the main protagonists, survivors and/or victims, or for their brave actions in the movie. Very often, they become the ‘Final Girl’ too. It’s time for another Top 10 list of fantastic female performances … So let’s break some of the most iconic Scream Queens in movie and TV history. Vote for your favourite Scream Queens in the comments — ready? Let’s go! 1) Cecilia, Immaculate Played By: Sydney Sweeny Immaculate is… Read More »Top 10 Scream Queens from Movies and TV: Which Is Your Favourite?

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1 Weird Trick To Avoid Using The Passive Voice In Your Writing

What Is The Passive Voice? The passive voice is a grammatical construction in which the subject of a sentence is acted upon by the verb, rather than performing the action itself. This results in a less direct, often more ambiguous sentence structure. This does NOT mean the passive voice is automatically ‘wrong’, but when it comes to writing fiction, it might not be desirable. But what does it look like? Here you go … Passive Voice example: The book was written by Lucy V Hay (By the way, it’s not tense-dependent. It would still be passive if it said, ‘The… Read More »1 Weird Trick To Avoid Using The Passive Voice In Your Writing

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