Skip to content

psychology

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

Share this:

Why Obsessing Over Theme Will Make You Ruin Your Story

“I’ve got something to say” Your script or novel’s theme IS important, but you don’t want to ruin your story by obsessing over it. This is because theme refers to the meaning behind the story, not the story itself. This means you need to concentrate on craft first, THEN theme. Look, writer’s voice is important. We’ve all seen various pro writers, prodcos, agents and publishers going on about this. It would seem like putting theme under the spotlight then is a similar no-brainer. Except everybody’s forgotten these important things: Theme is all about individuals making meaning from a story This… Read More »Why Obsessing Over Theme Will Make You Ruin Your Story

Share this:

Best of 3: Great Books To Help The Beginner Screenwriter Get Started

Want to Get Started With Screenwriting? This one is for all the beginner screenwriters out there! Screenwriting is a challenging process, especially if you’re new to it. Even if you’ve already outlined your screenplay, it can be difficult to translate your ideas into words. These hurdles can extend to writing specific types of screenplays, too, such as adaptation. For beginners, the best way to solve these challenges is to establish a firm knowledge of the basics. There’s no better way to do that than reading books written by experts who know what they’re doing AND how to explain it. Why… Read More »Best of 3: Great Books To Help The Beginner Screenwriter Get Started

Share this:

5 Reasons Writers Should Be Entrepreneurs

Writers As Entrepreneurs Entrepeneurs are people who set up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit. Whilst many writers are also producers, publishers or business owners as well, I am not necessarily talking about financial risks in this post. Instead, I believe ALL writers should be entrepreneurs in terms of their investment in their writing. This may be financial but is more likely to be an investment of time and learning.  So if you’re ready to embrace the entrepreneurial spirit as a writer, read on … Let’s go! 1) Entrepreneurs Know Their Market No… Read More »5 Reasons Writers Should Be Entrepreneurs

Share this:

How To Go Viral On TikTok: Promoting Your Writing Without Lip Syncing or Dancing

How To Go Viral on TikTok If you’re thinking about TikTok to promote yourself or your writing, you’re already on the ball. More people watch TikTok for news than the BBC or the New York Times! Some creators have gone from just starting out, to ‘Top 10 Viewed’ in just a year. But how do you go from zero to viral, trending and/or most viewed on TikTok? Start with understanding the algorithm. Think EIC = Engagement, Interest, and Creation. So many people are afraid of words like data and algorithm and think you need to be an expert to get… Read More »How To Go Viral On TikTok: Promoting Your Writing Without Lip Syncing or Dancing

Share this:

Master Your Mindset As A Writer With 6 Powerful Japanese Productivity Techniques

Mindset Is Everything I’ve written many times on this site that a writer’s mindset is everything. Being a writer is difficult, whether that means: getting words on the page making submissions and dealing with rejection networking and creating relationships creating your writer platform or persevering in the face of adversity like financial struggles This means you have to cultivate a writer’s mindset that helps with this varied list of duties! So I was super-interested in this infographic Custom Writing sent me recently. I hadn’t heard of most of the names here, though I realised I was familiar with some of… Read More »Master Your Mindset As A Writer With 6 Powerful Japanese Productivity Techniques

Share this:

How To Write A Psychological Thriller (By An Author Who’s Written 7 Of Them — And Counting!)

Writing A Psychological Thriller If you want to write a psychological thriller, you’ve come to the right place! I’ve written a stack of these types of book, such as: The Other Twin – This psychological thriller is about a young woman who believes her sister was murdered. This is because the dead girl left behind a blog that throws suspicion on pretty much everyone they know, including the protagonist’s ex-boyfriend and even their own parents. Do No Harm – In this book, a couple get married … but her ex-husband and the father of her son stalks them in order… Read More »How To Write A Psychological Thriller (By An Author Who’s Written 7 Of Them — And Counting!)

Share this:

Is Your Writing Falling Foul of ‘Moral Perfectionism’? Find Out Here

‘I Don’t Want To Get It Wrong’ Is your writing suffering from ‘moral perfectionism’? The reason I ask is that I’ve noticed a huge uptick in the writers I work with worried about ‘getting it wrong’. What ‘wrong’ means can depend, but usually relates to the depiction of marginalised characters and communities. A writer will feel stressed and even frozen by fear at seeming like an ‘over-privileged asshole’. This may relate to … Male writers writing female leads White people writing BIPOC characters Straight writers writing LGBTQ characters Able-bodied writers writing disabled characters More affluent writers writing about poverty and/or… Read More »Is Your Writing Falling Foul of ‘Moral Perfectionism’? Find Out Here

Share this:

No, Your Characters DON’T Have To Change In Your Novel Or Screenplay. Here’s Why

Do Characters ‘Have’ To Change? In any conversation online about characterisation, it’s never long before somebody pops up proclaiming characters HAVE to change. They may even insist that a character who doesn’t change has ‘no arc’. Calling the department of WRONG! No, characters do NOT have to change. I can’t stress this enough. In fact, sometimes it’s desirable they DON’T change. Have I blown your mind? If I have, I’m not surprised. Writing gurus – especially in screenwriting circles – have been SO didactic about this topic in the last thirty or forty years. As a result, generations of writers… Read More »No, Your Characters DON’T Have To Change In Your Novel Or Screenplay. Here’s Why

Share this:

Why The T-Rex Is The Best Female Lead, Ever (Yeah I’m Not Joking)

All Hail The T-Rex From Jurassic Park Over Christmas I was noodling around Facebook when I came across this fun meme (right, below) depicting Mothra, the Xenomorph Queen and the T-Rex as ‘inspiring female characters’. Cue a million nerds like me all LIKING the pic (because, obviously). But when I looked at the thread underneath it was full of … ‘Oh hardy ha, this can’t be true, very funny’ etc etc. Except I’m DEADLY serious when I say the T-Rex is one of the best, most well-written monsters in creature feature history. YUP you read that right and NOPE I am… Read More »Why The T-Rex Is The Best Female Lead, Ever (Yeah I’m Not Joking)

Share this:

Top 10 Writers’ Resolutions for 2024 Writing Success

Your Writing Resolutions For The New Year So 2024 is around the corner … did you achieve everything you envisaged in 2023? I hate this question. There’s never any ‘right’ answer. If you didn’t, then it makes you feel bad. If you did, it invariably never feels ENOUGH. This is why I choose the following 10 resolutions, year on year. The resolutions are achievable and don’t require lots of equipment, money or time. I can do them, bit by bit and add to my writing craft and career as I do so. Low stakes cumulative build-up — what’s not to… Read More »Top 10 Writers’ Resolutions for 2024 Writing Success

Share this:

Actors Are Not Meat Puppets: 5 Versatile Roles Played by Ryan Gosling

All Hail The Goz Ryan Gosling is a name that needs no introduction. He’s become an icon of versatility and talent in the world of Hollywood. From his heart-melting performances in romantic dramas to his intense portrayals of complex and even violent characters, Gosling has proved time and again that he can effortlessly slip into any role with ease. When I’m working with screenwriters – and sometimes authors who want to adapt their books – it frequently becomes clear they think actors are meat puppets. But this is not even close: actors bring our words to life and have interpretations… Read More »Actors Are Not Meat Puppets: 5 Versatile Roles Played by Ryan Gosling

Share this: