Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That Is And What You Can Do About It
It’s not just two people screwing, see? We’ve added a second dimension. And when the husband discovers what his old lady’s up to, we’ve advanced the story!” Holy cow, another bulls-eye! This second principle, I could see, could also be applied to all kinds of situations in mainstream features.
Steven Pressfield • Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That Is And What You Can Do About It
Never write me a sex scene where nothing happens but the sex. Always have something else going on at the same time.
Steven Pressfield • Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That Is And What You Can Do About It
Rewrite that fist fight and make the story turn. Musicals. Every song should advance the story. Flashbacks. Every digression must bring in something new that propels the narrative forward.
Steven Pressfield • Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That Is And What You Can Do About It
would invert Melville’s concept. I don’t think you hate the whale. I think you love it. The whale is your unwritten book, your unsung song, your calling as an artist. You die grappling with this thing, lashed to it, battling it even as it takes you under. But your death is not a mortal death. You die instead the artist’s death, which leads to resur
... See moreSteven Pressfield • Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That Is And What You Can Do About It
The #1 question that writers ask themselves: “I’ve got a million ideas. How do I know which one to work on?” Answer: Write your White Whale. Which idea, of all those swimming inside your brain, are you compelled to pursue the way Ahab was driven to hunt Moby Dick? Here’s how you know—you’re scared to death of it.
Steven Pressfield • Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That Is And What You Can Do About It
The artist enters the Void with nothing and comes back with something. Her skill is to turn off the self-censor. Her skill is to jump off the cliff. Her skill is to believe.
Steven Pressfield • Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That Is And What You Can Do About It
The sphere of the artist is the mind. His currency is imagination. He asks (how can he not?), “Where do ideas come from?”
Steven Pressfield • Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That Is And What You Can Do About It
The War of Art employed all the storytelling principles of fiction and movies, as well as a number of ideas from advertising. It had a concept and a theme. It employed three-act structure. It had a hero and a villain, a narrative device, a voice. It had an inciting incident and an All Is Lost moment and it paid off on-theme. In other words, like ot
... See moreSteven Pressfield • Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: Why That Is And What You Can Do About It
Narrative device is supremely important in self-help. You, the writer, are the reader. The reader will hear you and listen to you only to the extent that she knows you know what you’re talking about and that you are there only to help.