Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

Rob Parnell Does anyone actually read articles anymore? I'm not sure. I know from my own experience that when I'm surfing the Net, I generally don't sit and read articles all the way through. For most of us the purpose of surfing is get information quickly. And reading off a screen can be tiring. So we tend to skim. Surfing is actually a good word for it. We rarely dive in and explore the sea of information available. We ride the surface of it, soaking in the spray, barely getting our feet wet... Okay, enough of this metaphor! Scientists have proven that we don't actually read words anyway. What we do is recognize phrases - collections of words - that create mental images in our minds. It's those images that we use to absorb the information we need. Not the words at all. Hence the need for quick bites of info - the way news is reported nowadays, in pulses designed to hook us, but rarely do. Mainly because those pulses are so effective, we don't feel the need to ...

Rob Parnell I can't remember who said it but a writer once pointed out that nobody will ever miss something you didn't write. People don't walk around wishing they can find the genius they are unaware of, or the book that hasn't been written yet. It's the harshest reality a writer must face. That nobody really cares whether you finish your novel or magnum opus - or whether you even work on it at all. A book is nothing until it's published - and even then, given current trends, it's unlikely to set the world on fire or sell more than a few copies. Writers must find their own reasons to write - and be self motivated enough to continue without anything but selfish reasons to finish what they start. As Dorothea Brande said in "Becoming a Writer", writers create their own emergencies. They have to, because nobody else really gives a damn. It's funny. I was rereading a little of Stephen King's "On Writing" this week and I noticed someth...

Rob Parnell When writing fiction, writers are forced to consider the protagonist and his or her agenda. We need to ask what our hero's goals are and where they want to end up as people. Now usually, there is an antagonist whose desire to thwart the hero's goals is at least as strong, if not stronger than the hero's. But what about writers themselves? Who is their main antagonist? Alas - usually themselves. When it comes to writing, there's that little guy inside your head who wants to criticize - endlessly. His voice reminds you constantly that you have no special talent, that your writing is average at best, and that you should never, ever show your work to anyone because, well, it's crap. Helpful little fella. And to think, he lives inside of us! Suppressing the inner critic is a necessary part of the writing process. If we couldn't silence the little rascal, we'd never write anything. Indeed many writers get stuck on page one because they can't ignore...

Rob Parnell It's weird to me that I still get asked, probably three or four times a week, how does a writer get published? My suspicion is that, given the Internet age, young writers especially assume there is some quick and easy solution out there - some secret that need only be discovered - and that the answer can't be so obvious. Because the answer is obvious - and it's the same as it was ten years ago, fifty, one hundred, two hundred years ago. You have to submit your manuscripts to publishers. That's it. No secret. No magic formula. No way around it. And still the most preferred method of submission is off line - snail mail, real world paper, envelopes and stamps. There's a reason for this: namely copyright. Publishers prefer a paper trail and the trouble with email submissions is that a) they tend to get lost, deleted and / or overlooked and b) having a writer's manuscript on their hard drive can expose a publisher to accusations of plagiarism if the write...

Rob Parnell When we launched The Hollywood Connection last Monday, we got a slew of questions from new subscribers to this fabulous - dare I say - unique opportunity. I felt it was important for Doc himself to answer those questions himself. Here they are: Question 1: Why the anonymity, Doc? I'd really like to know who you are. Doc: I understand your wanting to know. I would too. But while developing projects, anonymity is the producer's best friend. It's important to control the time and place when a project is announced. I'm currently working on projects in both Australia and Los Angeles and would like to keep as low a profile as possible; it's for this reason that I'm unable to give you more information. Question 2: Can you give me a clue? Any films / movie stars / projects you can actually name? I just need something, Doc. Doc: Producers are traditionally very quiet about the projects they are working on. If we feel that an idea has merit we want the time an...

Rob Parnell I bought some software last night to help us constructing stories. In the help file I found a useful note on the four questions we need to ask ourselves about a story before we start writing. These questions help clarify our idea and also let us know whether we have a story that is compelling enough to start work on. Many ideas falter at this stage - which can useful because doubt can alert you to the weaknesses in an idea and to stop you from pursuing a story that may lose impetus half way through. We all know there's nothing worse than starting a story, then running out of steam when it seems to go nowhere or end up in a hole. Getting stuck during the writing of a story is no fun at all. However, answering the following questions can also help you solidify an idea into a story worth telling. Question One: Who is your main character? Often we may be tempted to think that it's a combination of characters that make a story interesting. True - but usually not from the...

Rob Parnell Do you spend this time of year thinking about all the things you HAVEN'T done? I do. Take this morning - I woke up dreaming about a fiction project I'd forgotten I started a couple of years ago. What is wrong with me, I thought. I never seem to stop and congratulate myself over the things I have done - only punish myself for projects left undone. Is this just me - or is this part of the human condition? Are we destined to forever yearn for completion? To regard ourselves and our goals as neverending works in progress? I suppose so. I read some Wayne W Dyer recently - actually his book, The Power of Intention, a terrific read by the way. His theory is that at the center of things - from the molecules (more correctly called quarks) that make up matter, to the force that runs the Universe - there is an inherent property within all things called 'intention'. His idea is that this 'God' force is what makes everything and everyone move towards its/their de...