“Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.” – Salvador Dali, Born May 11, 1904. Originality is overrated. Sure, you don’t want to be a copycat. But you don’t have to be a creative genius, either. Some other famous mucky-muck once said something like “the secret of creativity is hiding your sources”. I […]
“The fact is, you don’t know what directing is until the sun is setting and you’ve got to get five shots and you’re only going to get two.” – David Fincher, Born May 10, 1962. One good thing I learned in art school is that a hard deadline is remarkably inspirational. You learn to make
Sunset Is Your Daily Deadline, So Make Hay While it Shines Read More »
“The metaphor is perhaps one of man’s most fruitful potentialities. Its efficacy verges on magic, and it seems a tool for creation which God forgot inside one of His creatures when He made him.” – Jose Ortega y Gasset, Born May 9, 1883. Persuasive writers are basically in the business of manipulating minds through metaphor.
Metaphors Make Manipulation Manageable Read More »
“When you stand alone and sell yourself, you can’t please everyone. But when you’re different, you can last.” – Don Rickles, Born May 8, 1926. There is no flavor that every tongue will find appealing. Hell, not even every taste bud on the same tongue will like every flavor it touches. But there are flavors
When Your Persona Is Your Product, You Must Give It a Flavor No One Else Has Read More »
“Never write anything that does not give you great pleasure. Emotion is easily transferred from the writer to the reader.” – Joseph Joubert, Born May 7, 1754. Maybe Joe here was only intending to write things that gave people pleasure. In which case, I would agree with the first part of his statement. But is
Write From a Place of Emotional Truth, and Transfer That Emotion to Your Reader Read More »
“Give me a laundry-list and I’ll set it to music.” – Gioachino Rossini, Born Feb. 29, 1792. I hate hearing people say they have nothing to write about or nothing to say. Take a thing. Any thing you find. Scroll way down your news feed. Click “random” on Wikipedia. Then, connect it to your core
Pumping Up Reader Brains With Metaphorical Muscle Read More »
