The modern writer’s life comes complete with amazing tools engineered to make the writing process as painless as possible. Of course, the actual writing of a piece will always be fraught with difficulties, but there are several applications available now for the Apple iPad and iPhone that make managing the development stages of a work of fiction frictionless and enjoyable.

J.K. Rowling discusses the true power of imagination.

David Milch inspires.

The keys to serving up that dish best served cold.

Sometimes it’s best to have a little faith…especially if it helps you write a better story.

The possible dangers in following the rules of a revolutionary story theory.

A unique and interesting take on how to write creatively with the Dramatica theory of story.

A look at Dramatica, OneNote and MindManager and their ability to aid the writing process.

A look at how the Dramatica theory of story can help you clarify the ideas you come up with.

An interesting exploration of the similarities between deep story theory and personal productivity paradigms.

A look at David Milch’s book on writing Deadwood.

Quick thoughts on the relation between the resolves of the two principal characters.

Neat writing tools.

A good technique for making your stories less about yourself and more about the characters you are writing about.

For the longest time, I have always been the type of writer who likes everything spelled out in advance - mostly with the help of Dramatica. But lately I’ve been reconsidering this approach.

I discovered a fantastic book about generating story ideas out last night.

Review of a brand new book on screenwriting.

Dramatica can be used to write anything, novels, comic books, documentaries, whatever. It just so happens that I focus the application of the theory on what I love most - movies (and the screenplays that get them started).

Discussion regarding the use of software aimed to help you write a story.

Here is a very interesting essay on how stifling Dramatica can be to your creativity. As is usual, it doesn’t have a lot of nice things to say about the program or the theory:

In the latest issue of Creative Screenwriting (Volume 12, #5) Editor-In-Chief Den Shewman opens up with a great piece about not “thinking so much” when it comes to writing. But this goes against all that Dramatica stands for!

Struggling to get back to my own writing (after a very long bout of writer’s block), something struck me as being very beneficial about Dramatica.