No Doubt
As a writer, there’s lots of stuff you’ll doubt. On that list will be doubts … if your story works if the structure is sound if the plot/content is coherent if the characters are compelling if the prose is engaging if anybody will like it if everybody (who likes it) is humouring you if you’re any good. There’s other stuff. But that’s a shortlist. You try to control as much of it as you can. You do this through revision, by getting opinions from alpha readers, and – most of all – by being honest with yourself. Doubt’s a good thing, though. Well, in some ways at least. It forces…
A Little Writing Housekeeping
Throughout my life as a writer I’ve alternated my focus between prose and screenwriting. Both share some similar precepts (structure, plotting, character arcs, etc.), but also have differences that delineate them as different beasts. Just because you have experience in one doesn’t mean you’ll be able to execute the other. I had this conversation with somebody on Twitter recently: books are a cerebral journey, while screenwriting is a visual journey. In a book, we can sit inside a character’s head and explore what they’re thinking, how they’re feeling, and things (such as circumstances, events, and memories) that shape their decision-making. In a film, you can’t sit inside somebody’s head (unless…