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10 Top Tips About Bad Reviews

On Bad Reviews All writers suffer bad reviews. If you’ve got one or more from readers, viewers or places you’ve submitted (such as film festivals, agents, publishers, or elsewhere) you will know this heartache. You’re hurt, confused and probably can’t stop obsessing about them. Those bad reviews may be all you can think about, even at the expense of the good ones. This is NORMAL. Our stories are our babies. We’ve spent oodles of our time on them. We’ve probably made all kinds of sacrifices to get them written, submitted, published or produced. Supersadface. So how to deal with these… Read More »10 Top Tips About Bad Reviews

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In JOKER, The Big Lesson Is There Is No Point

What’s The Point If you’ve seen JOKER (or even if you haven’t), you will be aware of the trillion articles, thinkpieces, tweets, statuses etc arguing about its point. I don’t think it’s unfair to say the reaction of the storytelling blogosphere and social media has been profoundly negative … Yet at the same time the movie has also reached dizzying heights of critical acclaim, also generating $290m in its first week. So what gives? Myself, I’ve never been a fan of the Joker as a character. As far as I’m concerned, he’s the poster boy for the stigmatising ‘psycho-killer’ trope in… Read More »In JOKER, The Big Lesson Is There Is No Point

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Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make With Mental Health

All About Mental Health in Writing Good mental health is key in writing … not just for us as creatives, either! As writers we also need to represent mental health in authentic and meaningful ways in our writing too, as I described in my previous article on How To Challenge Stigma In Your Writing. So I’m delighted to welcome junior psychiatrist and author Rosie Claverton with some big NO-NOs and pitfalls to avoid in your scripts and novels. Over to you, Rosie … Mental Health Representations As we talk more about mental health, depictions of people with mental health problems… Read More »Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make With Mental Health

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Writers, Everyone Hates Us On Social Media. Here’s Why …

Social Media Hate If you spend a lot of time on social media like I do, you’ll have noticed a LOT of writers blotting their copybooks lately with their potential friends and followers. Here’s what’s happened to me lately, in just the past 2 or 3 weeks: Facebook Fiends. Writers may send me Friend requests. That’s obviously fine, but within SECONDS of accepting their request, they may send another asking me to LIKE their page. (Plus the really persistent ones will send a private message as well). Facebook Fiends #2. Writers on Facebook may ‘tag’ me from their timeline, especially into… Read More »Writers, Everyone Hates Us On Social Media. Here’s Why …

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Top 5 Tips To Deal With Writer Burn Out

All About Burn Out So with not one, but TWO of my novels to edit recently (not to mention various other deadlines, including my IFS students’ end projects), I have been feeling the BITE of burn out lately. So, when Rachel Jackson got in touch with me to share some ideas on how to combat this feeling, I was all ears!! I particularly like her points 3 and 5. Enjoy! What Is Writer Burn Out? Burn out is silent and sneaky. It creeps up on people when they least expect it. Stress levels slowly begin to rise … Before you… Read More »Top 5 Tips To Deal With Writer Burn Out

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Top 10 Rules Writers Love To Hate

Love to Hate Writing Rules? Me Too! Okay, okay I love to hate writing rules as every Bang2writer knows … But there ARE phrases and adages that seem to pop up, over and over. So I decided to put 10 under the microscope and work out if they’re TRUE or FALSE. Do you agree … do you love to hate these rules too?? Let us know in the comments. Let’s go … 1) Show, Don’t Tell First, the biggie. I love to hate this one because As I’ve written before, this has become a feedback ‘catch all‘  – writers can’t even… Read More »Top 10 Rules Writers Love To Hate

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8 Stages Writers Go Through Writing A First Draft

So, I’ve been working with a LOT of writers on their first drafts these past few months, both via mentoring schemes like LondonSWF’s Talent Campus, but also with individual writers (if you want to do this too, drop me a line, spots go fast). It’s fair to say pretty much ALL writers struggle with first drafts! Now writers may ENJOY the freedom of the first draft, but new writers and more seasoned types may struggle with plotting in particular. Even pro writers have their own issues … I’ve noticed in the last couple of years character motivation can be a… Read More »8 Stages Writers Go Through Writing A First Draft

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Top 10 Killer Words That Make Readers Switch Off

When you’re reading all day, every day, for work AND for pleasure you tend to notice how *certain things* slip by (maybe?) unchallenged, even into produced and published works. So here’s B2W’s official top 10 of the words that MOST make me, “WTF??” when I see them, again and again and again … Enjoy! 1) Obviously This is a huge screenwriting no-no in scene description, but I see it pretty much every day, usually describing something we’re supposed to be seeing on screen that pertains to the plot in some way. I’ve noticed too this has started to slip into… Read More »Top 10 Killer Words That Make Readers Switch Off

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5 Tips For Screenwriters To Find A Producer (And 3 More On Why You’re Failing)

Find Out How It Works So I don’t have to go far on internet-land before I find one of these guys: WRITER: Tell me how to get a producer??? ME: Sure. Come up with a great concept, make sure you know your audience. WRITER: ERM, YOU DIDN’T TELL ME ANYTHING! ME: Le sigh. OK, find out what is possible for what £££, then you’re more likely to hit the mark. WRITER: Fuck that. That’s the producer’s job. ME: OMFG, fine. Start networking, create some relationships. Find them that way. WRITER: WTAF??? But I only want to write!!! So this is… Read More »5 Tips For Screenwriters To Find A Producer (And 3 More On Why You’re Failing)

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3 Reasons You Are NOT Your Writing

Writing. It’s part of us, we give it life; we sweat and bleed it out on to the page, regardless of *what* we’re writing, screenplay or novel. Some even liken the writing and editing process to giving birth (though I have to say, giving birth is distinctly more painful in my experience; as is parenthood itself, but moving on). So it’s not difficult to see why so many writers believe they ARE their writing …. Especially (but not limited to) the unproduced and unpublished. I will confess, even I find it a romantic and appealing notion; perhaps even a reward… Read More »3 Reasons You Are NOT Your Writing

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4 Reasons It’s All About Entertainment, Not Theory

‎We are writers and makers. We all know this, but it would seem we mix up our PERSONAL responses as audience members and our writerly responses far too often when thinking about what works – or doesn’t work – on screen … And a result, end up like THIS: So here’s a round up of 4 arguments that seemingly NEVER go away, especially on Twitter, plus my counter arguments on how it’s probably not as simple as we all think! But more importantly, how we should be thinking ENTERTAINMENT, if we want to reach audiences and make that all-important connection… Read More »4 Reasons It’s All About Entertainment, Not Theory

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6 Ways YOU’RE Stopping Your Own Writing Success

You’re Stopping You NEWSFLASH – someone is stopping your writing success and it’s not who you think it is … It’s you! True story. When it comes to writing, forget those mythical “gate keepers” who won’t give you a chance … A writer can be his or her OWN worst enemy. Here’s 6 ways I’ve seen – and been! – it: 1) You’re scaring everybody off This is the thing. How you present yourself – especially online, but also networking in real life – is how people will decide whether they CAN work with you. So if you leave this… Read More »6 Ways YOU’RE Stopping Your Own Writing Success

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