Steven Barnes's Blog, page 30
March 6, 2018
Applying “Lifewriting” to Black Panther
Lifewriting is a breakthrough in conceptualizing the basic nature of writing and creative living. The intent is to teach you to apply the combined wisdom of humanity to your own life…and the wisdom you have gained in your life to the stories you create (if you are a writer).
Here’s a SPOILERIFIC view of “Black Panther” from the Lifewriting Perspective.
HERO CONFRONTED WITH A CHALLENGE: To be both a good man and a good king.
HERO REJECTS THE CHALLENGE: Ultimately, he will have to reject...
March 5, 2018
Congratulations Jordan Peele!
When GET OUT became a social phenomenon, there was discussion of its Oscar chances. I didn’t know about categories like acting (excellent) or directing (startlingly refined for a first film) but I KNEW I was looking at a superior piece of screenwriting.
ALL art is a matter of self-expression. Successful art integrates craft into this equation, as “craft” is the specific language an artist uses to communicate that sense of “who am I?” or “what is true?”
According to Jordan, he began wo...
March 3, 2018
Cracking Gridlock
Social gridlock is a frustrating thing to watch, especially when people are short-sighted enough to believe that such issues are permanent. Some things are generational: when based on beliefs or habits or perceptions or traditions stretching back into the past, it isn’t surprising that not much change can happen in a single generation, let alone voting cycle. But…if you don’t have historical perspective, that’s how it can look.
The worst are the ones where the surface conversations aren’t...
I.D.E.A.
Instinctive Designation of Energy and Attention.
In life, one way to ensure success is to learn how to apply the proper amount of energy and attention at a given moment, to match the “wave form” of focus to the task at hand. To be appropriate. To sleep when it’s time to sleep, dance when it’s time to dance, study when it’s time to study, drive when it’s time to drive. No more and no less. To be able to tune our energy and focus up and down as it is required, and be dead on. Better still, you...
March 1, 2018
Birthday thoughts
Today is my sixty-sixth birthday. I never know what will trigger one of my essays–its always about what you, my friends, discuss on the Facebook feed, or emails sent to me.
I saw a note with someone saying they were about to take an IQ test, and that if the results came in low, his life would make sense. If they came in “high” then he would declare the universe dead and meaningless. The issue seemed to be…money. He wants more money, doesn’t understand why he doesn’t have it, and is unde...
February 27, 2018
Is Anger really Fear?
“Make things as simple as possible, but no simpler”–(often attributed to Albert Einstein, but actually much older)
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A fox and a cat met in the forest, both hunted by dogs. “Don’t worry,” the fox said. “I know a hundred ways to escape those dogs.”
“Really?” the cat said, impressed. “I only know one.”
The dogs appeared and attacked. The fox was so confused trying to figure out which of his hundred techniques to use that the dogs tore him apart. The cat ran up the tree.
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February 26, 2018
Don’t Look Back
I have a pitch meeting coming up soon, and really looking forward to it. Some of you will have this chance: to go into a room full of people who are decision makers, and try to convince them to gamble a serious chunk of money on you. It isn’t just the money spent on the script, it is the entire production: bad scripts have sunk 100 million plus productions more than once.
When I started in this business, I just wanted to see my work on the big screen, but I also remember feeling that I...
February 25, 2018
Is BP better than Star Wars?
Saw a comment today, someone saying that Black Panther was better than all the Star Wars movies combined. Let’s not dive into a discussion of trying to quantify subjective evaluations, shall we? Let’s just leave it that this person ENJOYED BP more than they enjoyed all the Star Wars movies combined, or at least so much that they were moved to say that.
What I thought would be more interesting is asking: what makes a movement? Because that’s what Star Wars was. It motivated people to c...
February 24, 2018
Run, Girl, Run
“For the writers here, are there any contemporary writers who make you feel like a pretender?”
The kids in our “Author’s Club” at Sandburg Jr. High are just so cute. We teach it every other Friday at Jason’s school. After Career Day, Tananarive and I were approached by several kids who said they wanted to be writers. I remember wanting desperately to be a writer,and how much it would have meant to have a real professional sharing tips…so we set it up.
We’ve decided to publish a little...
February 23, 2018
Words, Actions, and Faith
What is more important? Words or actions?
Lifewriting is an opportunity to apply the same tools we have in life to our fiction, and the same wisdom gleaned from exposure to countless millions of stories to our lives. For instance:
In the debates about “Team Killmonger” and “Team Panther” one thing that happens is a prioritizing of what is said above what is done. He speaks revolutionary rhetoric, and has some VERY good points, no question about it: the most natural thing in the world...
