Writing lessons from The Desolation of Smaug (part I)

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug has such a mockable title, it's not much of a surprise it didn't do well at the box office. I'd honestly had no intention of seeing it, but when there was a free screening on the campus where my hubby teaches, curiosity got the better of me. Sure, this was the most non-canonical Tolkien film in Jackson's oeuvre, but did that alone doom the film to failure?

Actually, no. I'd argue that poor storytelling is what killed the film.

The beauty of being a writer is that...