• How I Would've Done It,  Inside Entertainment

    How I Would’ve Done It: The New Trilogy

    In case it’s not evident, I’m a huge pop culture nerd. Growing up as a teen in the 1980s and aspiring to write, I had a writing bucket list – and, tragically, it still exists today. I’d love to write features for DC superheroes, such as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman; I’d love to write a James Bond movie; I would love to create a Star Trek series; and I would love to write a Star Wars movie. (Even more tragically, this is not a comprehensive list.) In the early 1990s, I wrote some of this as fan fiction. I probably actually wrote too much, given I had no avenues…

  • Life of the Mind

    Character Development

    One of the most important things for me in story is character development. Measuring development can done by asking (and answering) these three simple questions. Where does the character begin the story? What is the journey the character takes? Where does the character end the story? This is one of the reasons I loathe so many of the blockbusters nowadays. Characters don’t develop. They just are. I’ll use the new Star Wars Trilogy as an example. This new series has polarised fans. I find it boring because the protagonist is complete when she is handed to us. Although she opens the story as a scavenger, she is a crack pilot…