Celebrating Independent Authors
Writing is a lot like fishing, both of which I enjoy very much. Both are hard work. And a lot of times you get skunked. But if you keep trying, eventually you catch something. I have always been drawn to activities that require far more effort than they offer reward. I don’t know why this is. Masochism? Low self esteem? Perhaps I’m a bit of a simpleton.
I can’t speak for other writers. But when I write, it’s with the big screen in mind. When I’m writing a novel, I’m actually picturing it as a movie. So, it was only a matter of time before I started learning the art of writing screenplays.
My first screenplay was for a Walt Disney internship. I wrote a story about a writer. How novel! Anyway, I didn’t get the internship. But, I did get launched into a whole new writing direction. I have written over ten screenplays now and I can’t say that my journey is the best way to go about getting there, but it makes all the sense in the world.
Where to Look
It seemed like nothing I wrote was ever going to be made. I couldn’t get past the gatekeepers to save my life. Breaking into the industry as far as I’ve been able to get simply landed on my lap from a producer out of Maryland. He has a contract with a cable network and was seeking a writer to make a movie out of his concept. Continue reading “The Fun of Writing Screenplays by Michael Allen”
Author David Antrobus says that what sets his style apart is his flagrant disregard for any sense of decorum or discipline whatsoever. He says his writing is more Capote than Cormac—more Houellebecq than Hemingway. He also went on to say it is the literary equivalent of Casablanca-meets-Spinal Tap. Knowing David as I do, I’d have to agree with that assessment. I’m just not sure what it means.
By way of example, when I ask David where he finds his inspiration, he says, “Life, movies, (comic) books, music, the internet, the inside of fortune cookies… and by that, I mean the actual inside of fortune cookies and not the little scrap of paper with the fortune on it. Hey, don’t look at me like that; they’re very smooth and almost always a pleasing shade of brown.” They are, aren’t they? Continue reading “Meet the Author: David Antrobus”
I majored in Creative Writing. Not because I like writing – because I like Ferraris and fast women. Majoring in Creative Writing in San Francisco was one of the smartest things I have ever done. We drank wine during class. We took lots of smoke breaks. We were passionate and in love with writing and reading and the sheer bliss of it all. I met a lot of great writers. And I met some crappy ones, too.
I am going to make a huge generalization here. That’s how I roll. Most of the good writers I knew looked like your average citizen. But there was always one or two kids…kids who actually wore berets and smoked those short foreign cigarettes. Kids who wore scarves when it was warm. Kids who carried notebooks everywhere and tried to sit in conspicuous spots and look like they had existential jock itch. Man, they annoyed me. And they never seemed to produce much actual writing. Continue reading “What a writer looks like…”