public marks

PUBLIC MARKS from jlesage with tags Narrative & screenwriting

November 2006

Please help me find movies that end with the main character dying. | Ask MetaFilter

It's a query that garnered 135 comments and added film titles within ten days. It lets me think MetaFilter might be fun for students, to craft media-related questions that would get lots of responses, simple queries like this one.

Zen Koans - AshidaKim.com

by 4 others
zen koans help writers rethink narrative in another tradition of storytelling

The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"descriptive list which was created by Georges Polti to categorize every dramatic situation which might occur in a story or performance"; tips for screenwriters looking for ideas

Tameri Guide for Writers: Plot and Story

one page of a larger, useful site for writers; this page covers what a screenwriter thinks about to construct a spine, here called plot, or basic story idea; it is the central task for the writer

October 2006

Self Publishing Blog: 101 Resources for Self Published Writers

tips for creative folks looking for story ideas, fiction or non fiction; links to many sites that stimulate writing

Guardian Unlimited | Science | DNA discovery may crack old murder cases

news article that gives new plot device to use in crime tv scripts or detective films; new way to interpret old or poor quality DNA samles

SOS: Searching Out Stories - Story-Lovers

exhaustive list of stories, news articles that suggest stories; my favorite: "ANIMALS, BIRDS, AMPHIBIANS, FISH and INSECTS – stories, folklore and facts"

Types of Stories for the Telling

useful for writers and teachers; screenwriters will find a lot of basic story types to exploit

September 2006

The Top 50 Movie Endings of All Time : filmcritic.com

by 2 others
I teach screenwriting students to write for the ending; it economizes crafting a storyline.

August 2006

The Tangled Web of Syriana

a fun chart illustrating the plot and connections between characters of a good political film