Steven Pressfield's Blog, page 84

Write For A Star

Today’s post will be the last in our series featuring lessons learned from a 20-year look-back at The Legend of Bagger Vance. Today is also the final day of our Black Irish Christmas Special. I will stop blabbing about it forever!
Write for a star. That had been a mantra of mine for at least ten
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My Overnight Success

There’s a story about the Oscar-winning actor Walter Matthau. A younger thespian is bemoaning his own struggle in show biz. “Mr. Matthau, I’m just looking for that one big break!”
In the story Matthau laughs. “Kid,” he says. “It’s not the one big break. It’s the fifty big breaks.”
Here’s what I wrote a few weeks ago,
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The Authentic Swing, Part Two

Continuing our examination of the idea that certain stories have conceptual premises. What is a conceptual premise? And how does it work in a dramatic narrative?
[P.S. Don't forget this year's Black Irish Christmas Special, featuring the brand-new, leather-bound, signed and numbered (only 2500 available) 20th Anniversary edition of The Legend of Bagger Vance.]
One fascinating aspect
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The Authentic Swing

[Continuing our look back at The Legend of Bagger Vance, seeking writers' lessons and insights on the book's 20th anniversary. P.S. Don't forget this year's Black Irish Christmas Special, featuring the brand-new, leather-bound, signed and numbered (only 2500 available) anniversary edition of Bagger Vance.]
Sometimes a story—particularly fantasy, historical or sci-fi—needs a conceptual Premise. By that
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Steal Without Shame, Part Two

[Don't forget to check out the Great Black Irish Christmas Sale, featuring the brand-new, leather-bound, signed and numbered edition of The Legend of Bagger Vance.]
Continuing our 20th-anniversary look-back at the writing of The Legend of Bagger Vance:
We were talking last week about stealing the structure of works we admire. I was confessing that, for Bagger,
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Steal Without Shame

Today marks (more or less) the 20th anniversary of The Legend of Bagger Vance, the first book I ever got published (after almost thirty years of trying)—and, in its brand-new, leather-bound incarnation, the centerpiece of this year’s Christmas Special at Black Irish Books. The video below is me telling all about this one-time-only Holiday Gift
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Ranger Up Leads the Way

Nick Palmisciano was earning a quarter million a year when he learned he was being promoted — a promotion that would add another hundred thousand or so to his income.
The promotion announcement landed on a Friday. The following Monday he gave his notice.
“I knew that if I took that promotion, the golden handcuffs were being
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How High is High?

Back again to the subject of Personal Culture. What are the aspects of this beast?
First is Level of Aspiration. “How high are we aiming?”
Last year’s NBA champs were the San Antonio Spurs. Two up-and-coming teams from that season are the L.A. Clippers and the Golden State Warriors. Both squads are young and loaded with stars.
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Thinking Like a Writer

[Join www.storygrid.com to read more of Shawn’s Stuff]
We all know this story, or some variation of it.
Back in the wilderness days, a mountain man pulls fish out of a creek bed, one after the other with seemingly little effort.  He’s made a bunch of traps out of brush and twigs and has set them in
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The Jack Lord Rule

Remember Jack Lord? He played Steve McGarrett on the original Hawaii Five-O.
Jack Lord had a rule for himself as a character. The rule was: “I don’t ask questions. I answer them.”
I learned this from my friend Ernie Pintoff, who directed a gaggle of Hawaii Five-Os back in the day. According to Ernie, every time a
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