Merce Cardus's Blog, page 49
March 10, 2016
LinkFest ~ Best Reads on Writing, Screenwriting & Self-Publishing: Excellence
WRITING
Scene Structure: Cinematic Scene Openings for Novelists, Live Write Thrive | Tweet
To set the stage for a scene,You only need a few moments to show the reader where the new scene is taking place. But rather than use dull narrative, we’ve seen how powerful it is to filter the shot through your POV character’s eyes. It’s not only great to show scenes through your character’s eyes but to use emotionally-packed descriptive words that can add power to your story. Sensory details work...
March 9, 2016
Why Cheap Experiments Are Worth More than Good Ideas
Ideas are the wrong unit of measurement for innovation, says Mi
chael Schrage, author of The Innovator’s Hypothesis. This is because so many ostensibly “good ideas” are a drain on capital that eventually end up going nowhere. Instead of investing in ideas, Schrage recommends reframing them as testable hypotheses that can be run in a fast, simple, cheap business experiment. It’s out of these that firms and innovators acquire the most value.
By far the most controversial thing I wrote in the b...
The Luck Factor: How To Maximize Your Chance Opportunities
The Luck Factor: Four Simple Principles That Will Change Your Luck And You
r Life helps us understand why people are lucky and unlucky.
The power of luck
Luck exerts a dramatic influence over our lives. A few seconds of bad fortune can unravel years of striving, while a moment of good luck can lead to success and happiness. Luck has the power to transform the improbable into the possible; to make the difference between life and death, reward and ruin, happiness and despair.
John Woods, a sen...
March 8, 2016
Where Do Characters Come From?
Yann Martel, author of Life Of Pi, never bases his characters on real people—they’re always a vehicle for something he wants to express.
Question:Where do your characters come from?
Yann Martel: I don’t dwell on character, honestly, they’re vehicles. I think of… it’s funny, I’m stumped when I ask that, because, you know, I think more of plot, setting, theme, and from all those, somehow the characters arise. So my characters are never based on real characters, for example, they are always a...
Hypocrisy vs Morality: Why No One Should Throw Stones
Have you ever wondered why a trumpeter of family values would suddenly turn around and cheat on his wife? Why jealousy would send an otherwise level-hea
ded person into a violent rage? What could drive a person to blow a family fortune at the blackjack tables?
Or have you ever pondered what might make Mr. Right leave his beloved at the altar, why hypocrisy seems to be rampant, or even why, every once in awhile, even you are secretly tempted, to lie, cheat, or steal (or, conversely, help someo...
March 7, 2016
Making Friends Is Hard — Leonard Nimoy Taught Me How
Shatner is one of the most prolific artists of the day, conquering the worlds of acting, writing, and recording. He has meanwhile established himself as a cultural icon. His passion for work, however, has come at a certain cost. Growing up, he didn’t understand that making friendships was an essential and natural part of adolescence. His friendship with Star Trek co-star Leonard Nimoy changed all that. Lasting for 50 years, the “brotherly love” between the two is memorialized in Shatner’s ne...
Why Is The Touch So Effective When Flirting?
In 59 Seconds, he fights back, bringing together the diverse scientific adv
ice that can help you change your life in under a minute, and guides you toward becoming more decisive, more imaginative, more engaged, and altogether more happy.
How much we desire and treasure an object depends, in part, on how easy it is to obtain.
A jar crammed full of cookies suggests that the contents are plentiful. In contrast, a nearly empty jar suggests that the contents are scarce, and therefore significantl...
March 6, 2016
There Are Two Kinds of Passion: One You Should Follow, One You Shouldn’t
Passion is essential. It’s what drives us to manifest our skills and
talents, creating real change in the world. But not all passions are created equal, says cognitive psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman, author of Wired to Create.
Understanding the difference between “harmonious passion” and “obsessive passion” —one is driven by intrinsic reward; the other, extrinsic — will help guide us toward making truly fulfilling choices. And once we put effort into the right kind of passion, says Kaufman...
How To Have A Good Day
In How to Have a Good Day, economist and former McKinsey partner Caroline Webb shows readers how to use recent findings from behavioral economics, psychology, and neurosci
ence to transform our approach to everyday working life.
1. Setting intentional direction direction for your day
An excellent way to reinforce your positive intentions, strangely enough, is to make sure you spend a little time on the negatives. By this, I mean thinking honestly about what’s likely to get in the way of achie...
March 3, 2016
LinkFest ~ Best Reads on Writing, Screenwriting & Self-Publishing: Everything In Life Is Writable
WRITING
Scene Structure: Endings–Inevitable or Unpredictable?, Live Write Thrive | Tweet
It’s okay for readers to know what is going to happen (boy gets girl;Frodo destroys the ring), but they don’t know how.You want enough surprises and twists that the reader is thrilled, but you don’t want them throwing that book across the room upset that your ending makes no sense.
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Making time for writing? 7 Simple but powerful productivity tips, Writ...
