Category Archives: Weekly Writing Lesson

One of my students asked me a great question last night: she said that she finds her characters’ dialogue to be on the nose. There was no subtext in her writing. If you find that in writing these scenes your … Continue reading →

Weekly writing assignment: Last week someone wrote me a question that I didn’t have time to reply to and now I can’t find it in my inbox. I can’t remember the person’s name and all my gmail searches are in … Continue reading →

writing assignment, Feb 22, 2011 Penelope Wants: to find the collection of diamonds that she knows her boss is hiding somewhere in his apartment Because: she would have the money she needs to take her child and leave an abusive … Continue reading →

WEEKLY WRITING ASSIGNMENT: Feb 15, 2011 Hi folks, I just re-read last week’s assignment and I see that it was confusing. My bad. I wrote it while jet-lagged and overworked. While I apologize, I’m quite sure that it isn’t the … Continue reading →

What’s at stake if your character gets or doesn’t get what they want? The stakes are the consequences of your scene. If what’s at stake is your character finding fresher fruit for lunch, we’re not that invested. If what’s at … Continue reading →

This week’s writing assignment: Samantha wants: to figure out if Will is her father and decide if she wants to reveal her identity and have contact with him. Because: She’s been fatherless since she was three. And now, a series … Continue reading →

This week we have a scene that would typically be entirely inter-personal. Boy wants his mother to meet his boyfriend, but mother disapproves and refuses to meet him. When all obstacles are inter-personal, you run the risk of writing melodramatic … Continue reading →

In the past two weeks I wrote assignments that entirely relied on internal obstacles. This week, let’s write a scene in which we have all three types of obstacles hurling at our hapless character. Shall we review what the three … Continue reading →

If last week’s assignment didn’t snap-crackle-pop as easily as the previous ones, it’s because it was a very challenging assignment. Scenes in which all of the obstacles are internal are the most difficult to write. Shall we practice some more? … Continue reading →

This week, let’s talk about the fact that there are three different types of obstacles.

When Ted had to get Rose flowers at 3am, despite the rain, with a dead phone and a wheelchair, the obstacles were all external. The environment … Continue reading →