What’s Your Story

Writers’ Secret #1:
SHOW, DON’T TELL.

You remember kindergarten? We are back there now! Form mental images. Learn to think in pictures. Get your notebook out. How would you “picture write” the following scenes:

1. You are drunk.
2. You are abandoned.
3. You arrive at a foreign airport.
4. A policeman stops you for
   speeding.
5. You witness/are in an
   accident.

Hint: Describe the surroundings, the weather, your clothes, etc. Position every object /person /animal /bird /reptile, etc. around yourself. “Action” yourself with verbs, such as jump, hop, crawl, slide, slither,
enter, slump, crumble, skip, climb, run, limp, sprint, etc.

Writers’ Secret #2: HOLD UP A MAGNIFYING GLASS AND LOOK INTO IT

Answer the following questions. These questions help to find your VOICE:

1. What films, books do you like best?
2. What are your favorite genres? (thriller, drama, myth, science fiction, romance, crime, detective, fantasy, action, etc.)
3. What are your favorite positive values? Ie. Honesty, loyalty, trust, etc.
4. What negative values do you hate? Ie. Greed, arrogance, snobbery, dishonesty, betrayal, hatred, etc.

Write down your favorite movie/novel/t.v./stage main characters/heroes and explain their value system. Who are your favorite villains? Do you have a friend who betrayed you? Do you have an enemy who became your friend? Do you have a mentor in your life? Ie. Someone you can confide in and ask for advice; someone who knows you better than you know yourself.

Writers’ Secret #3: LISTEN TO YOUR “What If” INNER VOICE

What If you spent your entire life in a dull office environment and found out that the only way to advancement was to “lend out” by the hour your tiny apartment to executives and their “girlfriends”? This premise became “The Apartment.” 

What If you and your best friend were small-time bank robbers, but suddenly, with the turn-of-the-century advent of the automobile and sophisticated criminal investigators, you are now being pursued to the death by a group of determined men? This premise became “Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.” 

What If you worked on Wall St., were passed over for promotion because of gender and class background, but you had the opportunity to fake an identity for a brief moment in order to get ahead? This premise became “Working Girl.”