Writer Unboxed

This summer, Therese and I let our brain cells take a break to go see the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Our writers’ minds got to working on how director Gore Verbinski and crew took a classic genre movie, updated it, and made this unlikely story a box-office juggernaut. Therese and I loved the […]

Screenwriter Michael Hauge is a genius. I realized this as I sat listening to him speak in a group of wide-eyed, slack-jawed and furiously scribbling writers this past Saturday. He used fresh terminology and concepts, and my God, everything he said made spine-tingling sense. Hauge’s session was, hands down, the most enlightening and informative two […]

Satine works at the Moulin Rouge. Known as the Sparkling Diamond, she is the most beautiful, the most talented and the most sought after courtesan there.
The Terminator was sent back in time on a mission. He is the most tenacious, the most single-minded and the most destructive killing machine on Earth.
Vito Corleone is the most […]

Scenario 1: Bugs Bunny is hanging around in the forest and runs into Elmer Fudd. It’s the first day of Rabbit Season.
Scenario 2: Harry Potter dons his invisibility cloak, takes about ten steps in any given direction, then hears someone whispering about whatever it is he needs to know.
Scenario 3: Luke, I am your father.
Scenario […]

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on movies, but I was relaxing in front of the tube-o-brain-death the other night and stumbled across the great classic flick, Gone with the Wind. It’s difficult to bypass such a film, so I didn’t try. Instead, I noticed something I’d never noticed before about the movie’s structure–particularly […]

All good things come to an end. As it was with Peter Jackson’s gripping interpretation of JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, so too with the lessons we pulled out for writers of genre fiction. Jackson and crew are the ultimate unboxed thinkers, and we are but his humble admirers.
We hoped you enjoyed our […]

Yesterday we posted Part Three of our article (co-written with author Elena Greene) on lessons writers could draw from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies. I’m too lazy to link the trackbacks, but a simple scroll will get you to Parts One, Two, and Three.
Sigh. As I revisit the lessons, I grow nostalgic for […]

Therese, Kathleen and their writer buddy Elena Greene had their article, Lessons from The Lord of the Rings published last November, and now they’re freeing it to share with the world (in part because Writer’s Digest doesn’t take reprints - bah).
But don’t start reading the article in the middle, my preciousesss, because we’re already up […]

Yesterday we posted Part One of our published article LESSONS FROM LORD OF THE RINGS (co-written with author Elena Greene). Today we post the second part of our article. Warning: though hard-cord nerdiness is helpful when reading the following, it is not essential. Good writing transcendes the genres.
3. Tap into sources of inner conflict to […]

Therese and Kathleen readily embrace their “inner nerd” when it comes to The Lord of the Rings. They, along with fellow nerd and writer buddy Elena Greene, even wrote an article about Peter Jackson’s movie version of the story, focusing on choices he made that all writers can learn from. The following is the first […]

Yesterday, Kathleen and Therese dished–and disagreed–about the effectiveness of Peter Jackson’s remade classic, King Kong. Here’s part two of their roaring debate.
Therese: What did you think about the authenticity aspect of the film?
Kathleen: One thing PJ and co. do really well is set a mood. The music, the Depression-era culture, the rust-bucket boat…it was spot […]

Therese and Kathleen are both nerds extraordinaire when it comes to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. In fact, they crafted an article (along with co-nerd, Elena Greene) about writerly lessons that can be derived from the film, and the article was published last November in the romance association’s craft magazine, the RWR. So when […]