Inneresting 59
issue 59
July 9th, 2021
Writing concise, purposeful descriptions
Write LA lists some pointers to get you thinking about what to include and avoid in your scene description.
Jenna Moreci talks through tips for writing physical descriptions of characters.
Verlyn Klinkenborg’s Several Short Sentences about Writing includes suggestions for strengthening your prose, like:
One way to keep sentences short is to keep the space between them as empty as possible.
I don’t mean the space between the period at the end of one sentence and the first word of the next.
I mean the space between the period and the subject of the next sentence.
That space often gets filled with unnecessary words.
Most sentences need no preamble—or postlude.
Scene description examples to study
John shares his screen as he walks through punching up scene description.
In episode 206 of Scriptnotes, John and Craig read and analyze examples of scene description from scripts to films including Aliens, Ocean’s 11, and WALL-E.
Considering the source of descriptions and details
Alexis Nowicki identified herself as the unwitting inspiration for a character in the viral short story Cat Person, highlighting the complications and dangers of using a stranger’s life as the basis for a fictional work.
Forcing Action in Highland 2
If you’re writing action in your script in a way that doesn’t register with Highland’s syntax reading, like a montage, there’s an easy fix!
It’s literally the exclamation point !
Add an exclmation point to the beginning of a word or sentence and Highland will know you want to force this to read as an action line.
You can check out John’s blog for an example of how to used Forced Action to format a montage, or take a look at our Knowledge Base to get the most out of Highland 2!
Other Cool Things
Need to make a random selection? Try Fluky, a randomizer that lets you spin a wheel once you’ve customized your inputs.
Matt Birchler explains what 4K resolution means when you see it advertised with different products and services.
Chipmunks on 16 speed. Standout tracks from this experiment include “Bette Davis Eyes” and “Heaven is a Place on Earth.”
And that’s what’s inneresting this week!
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