Johnny Depp teaches EVERYTHING you need to know about writing...

Writers. We get to play Cyrano de Bergerac for the world. If we do it very well, that world may grow beyond just our family and friends. We can woo a million Roxanne's (or Rocky's) from the comfort of our duct-taped office chairs.

Someday people may quote your romantic lines to their sweethearts. You might even earn enough to get a nicer chair. How to start? Where to begin?

Saying you are a great writer and never bothering to read, is like saying you are a great chef, but never bothering to eat. Reading the classics gives you a great handle on what makes a classic story.

100 Best Novels

I took a great course: Write To Act, given by Screenwriter/Author/Actor Peter DeAnello. His unique approach is enlightening. His secret is to start from The Monologue. If you can write a great monologue, you can build a book, screenplay, or house around it. Every great movie has a great KEY monologue tucked inside of it. Look for them! It's fun!

Taking a class from someone who's been there and done that is KEY to improving your own writing skills. Also great to have many people (with many perspectives) read your stuff and give you honest feedback.

"The Monologue: From Mystery to Mastery" - See Link Below

Just live together for awhile first. Seriously. This is coming from someone who wrote an entire manuscript, and re-wrote, and re-wrote it. Be willing to rip your stuff to shreds (figuratively) in order to rebuild and make it better. As Peter used to quote time and time again, "The art of writing is re-writing."

The whole time I was writing my first book, I kept mentally referring to a scene from the movie "Secret Window" in which Johnny Depp's character (novel writer Mort Rainey) deletes a paragraph freshly written on his dusty laptop. I did love the sound of his fingers on the keyboard. But the writing wasn't good. He wasn't married to it.

"No bad writing" became my mantra. Even if I thought my writing was good, I would often listen to some harsh criticisms. If it hurt my feelings initially, it was worth it to make the writing better. It's good to think like that. Note: It can be helpful to keep old drafts for ideas that might better serve a future piece. That way you don't feel like you've lost anything. It's kind of like those exes I have stuffed in an old cedar chest in the basement. They may come in handy someday.

The final product is more important than my ego - or my emotions. If the piece is to work for large audiences, it has to be something that many people can relate to. Maybe I really care about the character in the story that reminds me of my mean Aunt Anita - but after the 50th page of venting about her back-stabbing ways, my readers (if they're still with me) might be getting bored.

Some of your best ideas for stories come when you are not staring at a computer screen, pulling your hair out and counting your hangnails. Like good ol' Mort (who claims he doesn't smoke) as a writer, you can get "burnnnnned" out. If those great lines just aren't coming, there's nothing like fresh air and sunshine to regenerate your imagination. Get out of the rut. Take a stroll into town. See what happens...

Johnny makes it sound so necessary, and even possibly a pleasant experience for the bully...

As Robin Williams says through the character of the big blue lovable Genie in Aladdin, "Beeeee Yourself!"

My favorite example of this, in writing terms, is found within Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women." Jo, the writer of the March family, wanted to make a living at her chosen craft, so she spun wild imaginative tales of horror for the local paper. When she met a kind professor, though he admired her talent for sending shivers down the spine, he also saw deeper into her soul. He encouraged her to write from her heart, to write about the things that touched her most deeply. Her book, "My Beth," a loving tribute to her sister, was later born.

In the movies, stories of success can go all-too-smoothly and leave us thinking, "yeah, right! That could never happen to me."

I like to muse on the fact, that behind that fantastical movie, there was a writer who probably thought that could never happen to her either. But somewhere deep down inside she had hope - or there wouldn't have been a book - to be made into a movie - for us to sit and watch in disbelief!

Be true to yourself. Write from your passion. Take needed breaks; you can sometimes come up with your BEST ideas during down time. Don't be married to each line. It's okay to flirt with other ideas! And hungrily devour GOOD books!

I've just inspired myself to go watch "Secret Window" again tonight.