Tuesday, April 16, 2013

The HISTORY of scribbler, PART ONE (Fifth Anniversay Link-stravaganza!)


The end of this month will mark five full years since I began scribbler (originally titled “Uncelebrity” until circumstances inspired a change in format). Since that time, I have constructed over seventy articles detailing my exploration of the dark and hidden corners of screencraft. What began as a loose pile of gripes from a lowly script reader grew into a new method of approach to the cinematic narrative, ultimately leading to the publication of my first comprehensive guide on the subject Screenwriting Down to the Atoms. Today, scribbler remains the only* screenwriting blog on the web dedicated to “Progressive Theory,” with articles that push at the limits of how the craft is taught and understood by challenging old ideas, developing new models, and unearthing discoveries never previously considered.
(*the only one that I know of. And trust me, I have looked. If anyone knows of another, please send me the link. I would love to read it.)

However, one of the difficulties that comes from teaching through a blog is that blogs are by nature a very random method of communication. Like most blogs, scribbler’s monthly articles have little rhyme of reason to their choice of topic other than whatever happened to be on my mind at the time. Some topics are crucial to an understanding of the craft, while others are more trivial. Some are very well-written, while others are a bit rushed. Some articles are difficult to get anything out of unless you first read everything that has preceded it on the subject; articles which are usually buried deep in the blog’s archives. So unless one is willing to go all the way back to the first article and read them all in the order they were posted, it is hard to get the most out of this thing.

So, in recognition of my five-year anniversary I have chosen a selection of what I consider my most useful articles, grouped by subject matter below. I admit I am a little embarrassed by the number of typos and redundancies in some of my early stuff. I was never an English Major and scribbler has never been the most professionally-edited blog on the planet. Luckily, I have gotten better with time. (When I wrote Screenwriting Down to the Atoms, I edited the original manuscript six times to keep it from being blog-sloppy.) Also, some ideas proposed in my early articles turned out to be a bit primitive. Most of the original concepts have been further developed and expanded upon.

Enough self-abasement. Enjoy the articles listed below. Scribble on!

Story Structure

Story Development

Character
F@#% THE CAT! (Aug 2010)

Conflict

Writing the Scene

The “Atoms of Information” Theory

Story Types

Theme

Dialogue & Description
I H8 VAGUE (Mar 2011)

Rewriting

Writing Comedy

Stop Sucking!

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