The Pre Pre Production Podcast

Can I ask you a few questions

He's logical. He follows rules. He uses people's names. He compliments them. He did everything the self-help books said.

And yet... everyone leaves.

You'll spend 20 minutes inside Mike's head before you realize: you're not reading about a victim. You're reading about why people cross the street when they see him coming.

A psychological character study.

Do you like to improve your writing? Try some Classical Rhetoric:

If you like that feeling when your writing improves...

Quick test: Which sounds right?

A) 'A lovely small old round blue ceramic vase'

B) 'A ceramic blue round old small lovely vase'

If you picked A, you're following a grammatical rule you didn't even know existed.

Science Fiction Fact

Final Draft?

Story Truth

Dan was watching YouTube on his television late at night, as he often did while working on his novel. His latest, favorite was a pair of amateur detectives who work for free. While watching, he jotted down phrases, concepts, big picture stuff like, “philosophy + police work” or “psychology + musicals?” or “medical + Greek classics” into the notebook on his lap. During ads he gulped down some beer and knocked his family size bag of ripple chips to the floor. But that is just fine because he soon fell asleep. As he often did at this hour, mid-episode, he had a vivid dream, The Great American Story. While dreaming, everything felt exciting, dangerous, and yet he was in control of everything. But when he awoke, a few hours later at 2am, still on his couch, TV still playing, he grabbed his pen and started to transcribe his feverish dream. He wrote quickly, wildly, while there was still a lingering reality, taking up two lines at a time in his journal. But as fast as he wrote, the details started to quickly slip away. He could jump so high that eventually he could fly but could not remember why that was important. There were women in his dream, much taller than he was, who wanted to help him, but he could not remember what they were helping him with. There was a feeling of danger, but where from he could not recall. He simply could not keep up with his own mind and the vision faded away.

Once his pen was tranquil, he found his own handwriting was illegible. Frustrated, he tossed his pen across the room. It was then that he heard an ad on YouTube.

 “Tired of losing your best ideas? Cannot write fast enough to capture the spark of creativity in your mind? Ever had a promising idea and could not find a pen and paper to write it down fast enough?”

Yes!

Dan leaned forward. The notebook fell to the floor.

The TV had many testimonials: “The first time I tried it, it kind of tickled, made me laugh, but then it just happened. I felt all those amazing ideas I had trapped in my mind, which normally I could never capture fast enough, they just poured right out of me and straight into an email to a publisher.”

That just happened to me!

Dan’s eyes squinted and focused on the ad.

“I remember in creative writing class, our teacher always said a big part of writing was sitting around and thinking through an idea, and I’ve devoted a ton of time to that part of the process, but I was never a fast typer. StoryLink solved that problem for me. Now I work as a writer at NBC.”

I sit around! I could write for NBC!

“No more messy pens! No more tendonitis from typing at the keyboard! Just pair your StoryLink to a computer, laptop, favorite software API, or even straight to your printer and you’re writing!” The ad then cut to someone dialing a phone, “Call now, supplies are limited!”

My hand always hurts after I write!

He scrambled to get his phone out of his pocket, while the ad discussed the various forms of accepted payment, “BitCoin, Stable Coin, Ethereum, direct deposit…”

Someone answered right away: “StoryLink, are you ready to unleash your creativity?”

“Yes! I am!”

“Wonderful. We just have a few screening questions to make sure you’re compatible with our interface. Is that okay?”

“Yes! Yes!”

“Wonderful. Do you currently have more creative ideas than you know what to do with?”

“What? No, not really. I’m working on my first Novel.”

“Wonderful. Do you currently have the financial means to take the necessary time off work to complete your writing project?”

“Yes, yes, I work for my father’s firm. It’s a made-up job, I don’t even go to the office anymore.”

“Wonderful. Do you agree to waive all unintended legal consequences of using StoryLink?”

“All of… Yes, yes. Of course.”

“Wonderful. You qualify for early use of our beta prototype. How would you like to pay?”

“BitCoin please.”

“That will be 1 bit coin.”

“Where do I sent it…”

“I’m sending you an email now with all the payment information.”