writing Archives - Page 2 of 2

Shiny New Website

By Sean Cameron | August 30, 2014

It might not look it since I used the same theme, but you are looking at a brand new website. I’ve gone from the free wordpress.com to hosting my own site at hostgator using wordpress software. What does that mean? Well, it means I have to do more work and play around with the sites features. But it also means I get to play around with the site features! Using wordpress as software puts me in control, and that means I and use widgets and plug-ins to show off all sorts of stuff.

So what’s actually new? I’m all set up to show off my new book Catchee Monkey but I’ve also done the leg work for adding more books in the future. You’ll notice there is a progress bar on the right detailing the word counts of the various books I’ve got in development. I saw this feature on Hugh Howey’s website and knew that I had to have it immediately – then about 3 months later I got around to doing it. And I put samples of my scripts online as well should anyone want a look (Psst, he means you Mr. Hollywood Producer).

Feel free to take a look around. There are links to older stuff I’ve written in OTHER WRITINGS, the new ABOUT page will also be the text I use in my upcoming book. I’ve launched a newsletter to keep people in the know when a new book is available. And there’s a little hello to anyone that pirated my book, presumptuous of me to assume I’ve made something worth stealing, I know.

Basically, this is a long way of saying, look at the shiny new stuff.

Trey Parker’s Writing Tips

By Sean Cameron | May 19, 2014

Most of my writing has been in the form of screenplays so when transitioning into novel-writing it’s difficult to gage what skills, tips and tricks transfer to the novel format. Usually the answer is: if it’s simple it works.

No advice I’ve seen has been as simple, and impressive, as Trey Parker’s “therefore” strategy.

In 2011 Parker and his writing partner Matt Stone did a guest lecture at N.Y.U where he explained how to tie a bunch of comedy beats together into a decent story.

The video is not embeddable so watch it here.

Parker said, “What should happen between every beat you’ve written down is either the word ‘therefore’ or ‘but’. What I’m saying is, you come up with an idea, like, this happens and then this happens. No, no, no. It should be, this happens, and therefore, this happens, but this happens, therefore this happens.”

It’s simple advice that really gets to the heart of why a scene is happening, to set up a conflict or complication. It ensures a story is a chain of events where each scene causes the next scene or makes things harder for the character.

This advice has been public since 2011 but I forget it all the time. Now I’m putting it here for myself, and anyone else that wants it. As I write on Scrivener I use a scene template for each new story beat at the top of the scene I’ve included: “Therefore/But”. Hopefully that will keep this handy tip at the forefront of my mind when writing story beats.

Second Quarter Goals

By Sean Cameron | April 15, 2014

After two weeks I have settled on what goals I want to accomplish in the second quarter of 2014.
From April 1st to June 30th I will have completed the following:

– FUN GOAL: Take the fancy DSLR camera out and take photos for fun on 3 occasion

I enjoyed the FUN GOAL on Friday by taking the camera out to the Heritage Square Museum in Pasadena. Here’s a shot:

– 12 blog posts right here on this site (minimum 50 words)

– Update Production Schedule for novel series and include a prospective budget

– Write a 4th draft of Catchee Monkey: Rex & Eddie 1

– Write a sales blurb for book cover/product description of Catchee Monkey

– Complete book cover for Catchee Monkey (both digital and print editions)

– Write second draft of Rex & Eddie 2 (minimum 35,000 words)

In the last quarter I achieved 4 out of 5 goals and stating them in public was a big motivation to get them complete so here are 7 goals. One of which is the fun photo goal, because I need to be reminded to play.

An Invocation… for myself

By Sean Cameron | February 9, 2014

I’m making a promise to myself, an invocation. I want to achieve some goals between now and March 31st. When I feel down, or when I just need a kick up an arse, I will watch the embedded Ze Frank video. It works every time.

So here it goes. By March 31st at 7pm I will have achieved the following:

– I will have finished a second draft of my comedy mystery novella. It will be at least 20,000 words long.

I will have sent the 2nd draft to 3 beta readers for notes.

– I will have finished a first draft of the sequel novella. It will also be at least 20,000 words long.

– I will post 7 blog of at least 50 words each (after this one). Ideally one a week.

– I will be able to touch my toes with my hands without bending my knees.