Welcome to my first podcast! During these podcasts we’ll have interviews with people in various areas of the publishing and entertainment industry, including both Christian and secular artists. I’m very excited to have Kari Burke with us on our first show. She’s a Catholic writer whose pro-life book The Life I Dreamed deals with the […]
I’ve been writing in one form or another for almost 30 years. I’d like to share some tips that I use to help me get from the blank page to a finished story. Writers Write: Writers are compelled to write. So, if you want to be a writer, write. I’ve come across a lot of […]
Platform, by Michael Hyatt, is one of the most helpful books I’ve read in a long time. It guides you throw the process of creating a compelling product and how to use proven strategies to promote that product in the numerous social media outlets available to you. The “Platform” refers to rising you above the […]
One of the benefits of having worked in the entertainment industry in a variety of different positions is knowing how to create and edit a trailer. After mulling numerous ways to use a trailer to promote the first Gabby Wells book, we decided to use the hand-held camera/docu-drama approach. This should give it a sense […]
One of the best editing advices I’ve ever heard was this… Edit your story in reverse. What does that mean? Start with the last chapter and go backwards. The early chapters have invariably been reread and edited far more than the later chapters, but, in a good novel, ever chapter has to be good. So, […]
Today is not about fireworks or hot dogs or apple pie. Like any great moment, it is about sacrifice. When this country decided to leave the restricted confines of the British empire, 56 men signed a document declaring our independence. These 56 men “mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred […]
The differences between a screenplay and a novel are equivalent to the differences between a blueprint and a finished building. Over time, screenplays have come to be structured in a very specific way so that each page equals approximately one minute of screen time. And the three act screenplay structure, where major events happen at […]
The latest incarnation of the Superman franchise, Man of Steel, does many things well and some other things poorly. The overall experience, however, is satisfying. There are **SPOILERS** in this post, so if you haven’t seen the film yet, take the necessary steps. When facing the blank page, the story tellers (David S. Goyer and […]
I believe we are all born with God’s fingerprint on our souls. What do I mean by this? I mean that, I believe God imbues every single one of us with a gift, a talent that is solely ours. For some it is artistic, such as writing, painting or performing. For others, it is mathematic, […]
There is a real feeling of something special, unique and magical happening when a moment of inspiration sparks within you. Rarely can you garner the same creative sensation one feels when you create something out of nothing, when you turn a blank page into an outline, a storyboard, a script page or a chapter of […]
My daughter, Dorothea, is my greatest creative asset. She has been by my side in the creative process since she was a young adult. She’s always been a heavy reader and a lover of movies. For example, when she was nine years old we watched Hitchcock’s The Birds. As soon as the movie was done, […]
Most of the time, television series or movies are based on novels. With Gabby Wells, it was the other way around. In 2008, we started a film company called Sonlight Pictures. As we formulated our business plan, we wanted to create a movie trilogy for the young adult audience about a teen sleuth struggling with the high […]