by Trevor Mayes | Aug 4, 2019 | Blake Snyder, My Experiences, Structure
Blake Snyder: October 3, 1957 – August 4, 2009 Ten years ago today, the world lost an amazing soul. At just 51 years of age, Blake Snyder — author, screenwriter, educator and all-round helluva guy — died unexpectedly and left everyone who knew him...
by Trevor Mayes | Jul 17, 2019 | Punctuation, Scene Headings, Writing
CUCKOO FOR COLONS I’m seeing things like this a lot lately: MONTAGE: — Gail washes dishes. — Gail does laundry. — Gail collapses on her bed. Why is there a colon after MONTAGE? NEVER put a colon after a scene heading like MONTAGE or SEQUENCE OF...
by Trevor Mayes | Jul 9, 2019 | Characters, Writing
Foot, meet hornet nest So there are a few screenwriting groups on Facebook that I belong to. In one of them, a concerned writer had posted an excerpt of a script reader’s review that said, “Why does the character need to be Asian?” The writer was...
by Trevor Mayes | Jun 17, 2019 | Proofreading, Quick Quiz, Writing
Riddle me this You know those puzzles where you’re shown a picture and told there are a bunch of things wrong with it? Well, this is the screenwriting version of that puzzle, and you get to play detective! In the following short scene, there are a number of...
by Trevor Mayes | Jun 11, 2019 | Writing
Yes, they do. Very much. For about 25% of you, this may be the most important article you’ll read this week. Writers tend to break down into four types: Those who are fastidious about their writing and take great pains to make sure everything is written...
