Pixar’s Rule #20
Exercise: take the building blocks of
a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
Practice makes perfect. First you break the story down. Map out all of the sections of the story. Then find and choose the parts that just do
not work for you. Every story has great
parts, thing you just love, pick those out.
Keep them. Then rework the bad
scenes or plots that don’t work. Or a
movie you just don’t see that it has a plot.
Now comes the fun part. You get to put your own spin on this bad
story. Give the story a new voice. Make sure it is going someplace and make that
an awesome place. Then go to the next
scene that ‘just wasn’t workin’ for ya.’
Rewrite it. Make it better. Then move on.
In the end, take all those ‘blocks’ and use them to
build a story you would want to see at the movies. Then, work on them just a bit more. Make this the story you would watch over and
over again. And then you have a great
final project.
Exercise builds a good body (or body of work). The
final product has taken you through a process.
You were able to be objective, since it was not your own work. It is tons easier to ‘fix’ someone else’s
work because you don’t love it. You can
see the flaws. I think this is why every
writer needs to have a good critique group or beta reader. You possibly need to go through a
professional editor. You get to hear the
opinions of someone who isn’t so invested in the project. Make sure you surround yourself with honest,
not too brutally honest, people who will really let you know what they
think. You need an outside eye to help
you build the perfect story.
Does writing take practice? Should you join a critique group?
Also, all of you should
check out the posts from my blogging friends who are doing this challenge with
me! The first posts go up today. Links to Kate Brauning, Talynn Lynn, Mary Pat,
and Alex Yuschik’s blogs are located on the side bar.
We’d love to see comments
on our post and share anything you enjoy.
Thank you for reading!
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