Comments on PaulCornell.com: The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Ten. 40 Things about Wr...

Thanks, that's exactly how I feel about it. If...

2012-01-04T08:16:20.888Z

Thanks, that's exactly how I feel about it. If I start feeling 'you're awful, that was awful', now I just think 'ahh, I've missed something'.

Point number 11 has removed the need for me to try...

2012-01-03T14:36:01.223Z

Point number 11 has removed the need for me to try and write a post about this very thing. For me, that's when I knew I was developing a real instinct, as on a deep level I was detecting that something was wrong in places I would have stumbled through regardless a few years before. The trick has been to recognise it early enough, and not let it drag me down into a "maybe I can't be a writer after all" silliness spiral.

Great list x

Ter: I'm sure you're right about the US sp...

2011-12-24T14:30:00.985Z

Ter: I'm sure you're right about the US spec script thing, and I think that's the grass being greener, I kind of feel the opposite. Aliette: and a Merry Christmas to you and yours! Viv: great stuff, glad to help. Rol: thank you! Ian: thanks very much. John Freeman was very helpful to me too, back in the day. Silver: let us know how that goes. Blarkon: for all we know, he is.

Warren Ellis would make an awesome Santa.

2011-12-24T05:52:24.185Z

Warren Ellis would make an awesome Santa.

So basically what your saying here is something li...

2011-12-23T19:21:13.428Z

So basically what your saying here is something like: If I punch myself in the face a lot, I'm sure to get published.

Alrighty. It's a different path than my usual self-flagellation, but I'll give it a go.

Paul: some great points there. Only really writte...

2011-12-23T19:06:20.271Z

Paul: some great points there.

Only really written professionally the once back in 2006. It was for Star Trek Magazine and John Freeman was the editor.

I was basically doing an interview feature, but I wound up selling about three stories, which wound up spread over two issues.

One was a big interview with a few folks that had successfully sold scripts to Paramount for Star Trek: DS9.

The other two were 500 word articles highlighting convention appearances of two well known Star Trek actors.

The advice and instructions that John Freeman gave me when he'd looked over my original drafts for all of these things were really helpful and instructive. I really enjoyed that process. I mean one of the articles I did was 2,500 words. John asked me if I could reduce it to 1,500 words. My initial reaction was wow. But somehow I managed to do it by being more economical with words and thought, "Wow, that was fun." I got it down a bit under 1,500 words.

In the final article John wound up putting 150 words from my original draft back in as a sideways note of sorts to accompany to article.

I was so proud of the final piece. I got multiple copies and gave them to all my friends and relatives.

So not fiction. Basically prose I guess, but in the form of features and interviews.

I'm personally terrified of trying to write fiction because I worry about putting the voices to my characters and such.

Ask me to write a big action scene and I'll give you a pretty impressive and descriptive car chase or sword fight. I can describe a sunset with very little effort.

It's bringing voice to my characters and dealing with their stuff and how they interact with each other that holds me back.

I'd really like to have a go at writing a graphic novel. Would love to have that experience of collaborating with an artist on a story. I'd find that to be a lot of work, but lots of fun.

I love to be involved in collaborative things.

Anyway, that's pretty much all I have to say on it.

So with that lot and because I don't think I will have to much time to post until after.

I hope you and your readers and everyone else that takes part in your blog have a very Merry Christmas and a brilliant 2012.

To close with thanks for Action, Demon Knights and Stormwatch. I've really enjoyed most of what you have done in comics this year. Though admittedly I did find the first issue of Demon Knights to be a little slow to get going, but stuck with it and was rewarded. Loved your last issue with the whole merlin bit btw.

That could well be the best blogpost I've read...

2011-12-23T15:25:41.365Z

That could well be the best blogpost I've read all year. Thank you.

Great advice Paul. It hadn't clicked that in...

2011-12-23T13:15:49.833Z

Great advice Paul.

It hadn't clicked that instead of asking my beta readers to "let me know what you think", I should instead say, "tell me what's wrong with it." Lesson 832 learned, and absorbed for all time (I worry I'm turning into those floating brains from Futurama when it comes to writing advice).

Awesome post, thanks! (and hope you and your fami...

2011-12-23T12:47:05.672Z

Awesome post, thanks!
(and hope you and your family have a wonderful Xmas and New Year)

I just tried to laugh "Kill him at once!"...

2011-12-23T11:37:42.500Z

I just tried to laugh "Kill him at once!" and I pulled something.

Something important.

But seriously, thank you for this. You helped clarify some things for me while confirming other things. It's nice to know the places where I'm not so far off!

However, I think it's important to note the differences in the way TV works in the UK vs the US since your blog is international in its scope! :) Particularly w/#28 & #29. Formatting and length for spec scripts in the US is taken very seriously, and you HAVE to do it in Final Draft. Your script will be dismissed, otherwise.

I love the fact that the BBC has the BBC Writers Room on their site, where new writers can submit original scripts. The fact that they WANT original scripts boggles my mind, because in the US, you HAVE to write spec scripts of already existing shows to apply to the TV writing fellowships that exist to allow people to break in. However, that is changing, and it's more common now to have "one spec and one pilot" to shop around.

But it seems like UK TV actually respects writers more. :) Is that true, or is this a case of the grass being greener on the other side of The Pond?

Thanks, all. Lynne: I think you missed that I appr...

2011-12-23T07:51:12.242Z

Thanks, all. Lynne: I think you missed that I approve my blog comments, and I missed you having two goes, sorry! Rob: I think that's a very common syndrome, actually. Good luck! Browncoat: that all sounds like good sense. Good luck. Muc: I hope you're enjoying your work. Brian: absolutely, the first time is always hard, no matter where you're coming from. Andrew: I think it's close enough to true in standard operational conditions for the warning to be more important than the (hmm, possible) exceptions.

This is a great post. Thanks!

2011-12-23T03:37:08.030Z

This is a great post. Thanks!

#34 isn't universally true. Writer Beware has...

2011-12-23T01:29:42.791Z

#34 isn't universally true.

Writer Beware has a rather involved page on independent editors, how to identify scammers, when hiring your own editor makes sense, and how to select and hire the right independent editor if you really need one.

Another excellent post, Paul. Thank you. Matt Ba...

2011-12-22T22:54:25.092Z

Another excellent post, Paul.

Thank you.

Matt Badham

That was absolutely great. I spent the whole time ...

2011-12-22T22:22:26.859Z

That was absolutely great. I spent the whole time I was reading it either nodding vigorously in agreement or thinking "oh, I never thought about that."

I write strictly for fun, and have no illusions about being any good, but I would like to be the best I can be, and I have a feeling that this will help a lot.

Speaking as an editor, thanks so much for #4. Of c...

2011-12-22T19:53:40.101Z

Speaking as an editor, thanks so much for #4. Of course, there are good editors and bad editors, and a good editor should be aware of the reaction a new writer is going to have, and be able to soften the blow as much as possible -- without actually avoiding any criticism, because then you're not doing the job.
You can't ever avoid it altogether -- the first time I wrote for publication, after many years as an editor, I thought I'd be ready for the editorial comments, and I really, really wasn't. If I had any advantage at all, it was that I was able to recognize the stages of anger, denial, bargaining, etc, and move through them to acceptance pretty quickly without getting stuck.

Thank you for putting all that together,! As fan f...

2011-12-22T19:49:49.957Z

Thank you for putting all that together,! As fan fic writer who absolutely does this just for fun and has no desire whatsoever to get punched in the face metaphorically or otherwise, I still really enjoyed this post.

I like writing posts and books and such because I enjoy seeing how people's minds work and how they write. It's such an interesting process, and often I learn things to apply to my own hobby.

It sounds as though Mr. Ellis is going to have a very happy holiday indeed.

I would not presume to ask you or any other profes...

2011-12-22T19:17:43.043Z

I would not presume to ask you or any other professional writer to read my manuscript. I really don't understand the logic of people who do. Its not your job to read, you get paid to write.

This year I actually started writing and after two complete rewrites, have a novel manuscript. It is currently being read by someone who will tear it apart,finding all the bad grammar, plot holes and dodgy dialogue that I have missed. Then I can start on my third re-write.

Whoa! Absolutely superb! I'm very, very guil...

2011-12-22T18:26:47.492Z

Whoa!

Absolutely superb!

I'm very, very guilty of 28 and 29. Incredibly incredibly hung up on getting the rudiments right. To the extent that I was reading a Russell T Davies script, the other day, and noticed that my margins were in a different place (and my dialogue a lot narrower) and spent the best part of half an hour rewiring OpenOffice so my script matched his.

15, too, is gonna absolutely throw me. I am horrendously length-phobic with scenes. If I see a scene of my script's spilling onto a second page, I want to cut away as soon as possible. I've spent most of today condensing a ten page intro down to four. And while writing is rewriting, and the new version is better, the line between rewriting and meddling is, ah, a little blurred.

I'm going to try and take it on though. ALL of it. I might even print it out. Best blog-o'-Christmas yet!

Totally inspiring and necessarily sobering all at ...

2011-12-22T18:12:41.204Z

Totally inspiring and necessarily sobering all at the same time.

Which is exactly - exactly - what I for one really needed to read.

Thank you. It's much appreciated :)

I bet all the young people get that cartoon.

2011-12-22T18:04:33.232Z

I bet all the young people get that cartoon.

Excellent - all 40. Thank you for posting them. ...

2011-12-22T18:03:55.071Z

Excellent - all 40. Thank you for posting them.

I like the start at the beginning tip - Graham Greene used to do something similar. He said he read back each day as far as remained relevant to what he was writing at the time.

Charles Harris
www.screen-lab.co.uk

I discuss #19 a lot on panels as an editor. Bein...

2011-12-22T17:54:03.779Z

I discuss #19 a lot on panels as an editor.

Being able to acheive NICE and ON TIME means that you have a better chance of additional opportunities to get to GOOD if you aren't quite there yet (either this time or later).

Everyone can achieve NICE with a very little effort. And I've never seen it hurt anyone's career. I can't say that the reverse is true.

I talk about #19 a lot on panels as an editor. It ...

2011-12-22T17:48:44.074Z

I talk about #19 a lot on panels as an editor. It becomes particularly important for those initial chances--when you get that first opportunity, being NICE and ON TIME will a) leave the door open for more opportunities and b) make me much more likely to want to work closely with you to get you to GOOD if you aren't quite there yet.

Thanks, Paul!

2011-12-22T17:08:07.157Z

Thanks, Paul!