Are you trying to make it as a movie writer? Are you trying to separate the great from the clickbait?
A movie writer, as you can imagine, is someone who writes about movies. Not to be confused with screenwriters, who are actually writing movies.
Anyway, on this special episode of the Now Conspiring podcast, Maria decided to take the reins as host and address what it takes to make it as someone who, well, writes about movies.
We’ll talk about tips, tricks, and little-known secrets to avoiding the most dreaded of article types: clickbait.
And we’ll also discuss how we’ve gotten to where we are as bloggers, as well as all of the mistakes we’ve made along the way.
[SIDE NOTE: The movie for the image above is James Franco playing Allen Ginsberg in 2010’s Howl. For whatever reason, he was the first person I thought of when putting this podcast together. Go figure.]
Hey everyone! Welcome to The Pixar Detective, a serial novel I put together based on thePixar Theory. The following is a fictional story that explains the theory that all of the Pixar movies are connected and exist within the same universe, using original characters and artwork. The story answers a lot of questions you may have about this theory, but through its own ongoing narrative.
The story originally launched in April, and we’ve recently completed Part 1!
It is available as an iBook on iTunes, which you can check out here. If you can’t use iBooks, you can also download the PDF version.
Once you’re finished, check back to our Table of Contents, where we’ll be continuing the story through Part 2. A new chapter is released every two weeks on Tuesdays. And please be sure to leave your feedback in the comments for us to read through. Enjoy!
PREVIOUSLY, ON THE PIXAR DETECTIVE.
In their continued search for Mary, our heroes found themselves within the secretive (and dangerous) government facility known as the Hexagon. But Stevin and his new friend, the monster known as Mr. Sumner, have been captured by the facility’s head madman, the Maestro.
Meanwhile, Wallaby decided to go his own way by sneaking into the Hexagon by himself. Unfortunately, he was discovered by the strange, seemingly unstable agent known as Flo. With a few strategic lies, Wallaby convinced Flo that he is also an agent, and she agreed to escort him inside.
Also inside the facility is the mysterious “super” known as Sadie. A girl who has the power of “Dominion.” But what is this power and why is she important? We’re about to find out.
Use the prompt on the sidebar to subscribe for updates or just follow me and Kayla on Twitter to stay connected – @JonNegroni – @KaylaTheSavage
I’m writing this as I ride a bus on my way to a bookstore in San Francisco, where I’ll be picking up my own copy of Creativity Inc.
The book is written by Ed Catmull, who you may know as Pixar’s current President, along with Amy Wallace.
It’s a book about creative leadership, or to be more specific, creating an environment that allows people to create. And maybe not just create, but be incredibly creative. You can imagine why Catmull has the authority to write such a book, considering he’s been in charge of one of the most creative companies in the world (and not only when it comes to movies).
You can click the image to purchase the book for yourself and/or read reviews.
So I’m pretty excited to get my hands on the book, as I’m sure it will provide valuable insights into how I can foster a creative environment for myself. Which is why I’m writing this post and titling it “Creativity Winks.”
Because I certainly can’t lend anything as credible or even profound as Catmull or anyone else in Pixar’s leadership. But before I inundate myself with the wisdom of the experts, I do want to share with you my takeaway about what it means to be creative.
And that’s just it right there. Being creative is missing the point entirely. Everyone is creative, especially about things they care about. Some people try to say that “creativity” is being inspiring when it comes to a topic they aren’t passionate about. But that’s definitely not it either (they’re just confusing skill and empathy with originality).
Creativity winks at us. Our minds (depending on who you are) flash brilliant moments of incredible originality almost routinely. It’s just up to us to play those moments out. Or save them for later.
That moment when a catchy tune gets caught in my head – and I realize I’m the one who thought it up – is a “wink” of creativity that will be lost forever in a matter of minutes. Unless I take out my phone and record my humming. A few days later, I’m figuring out the chords for a new ukulele song I’m writing (yes, this is a true story).
Creativity also winks at me when I write fiction. Some of you may follow along with my serial novel, The Pixar Detective, and I’ve been asked routinely how I come up with the story and characters on such a consistent, uninterrupted basis.
Well I’m certain that if I tried to write an entire chapter of The Pixar Detective in one sitting, I’d produce something that isn’t my best work. And that’s because it takes time for flashes of creativity to arrive. For some of us, it can take hours, days, or even weeks.
What I’ve found, though, is that the frequency in which these “winks” arrive is progressively increased as we apply those ideas when they do come.
In other words: the more you create, the more creative you will become. It’s a simple, but hopelessly ignored concept.
So creativity winks at us. And I’ve learned from experience that some of the most brilliant ideas we can come up with are as fleeting as they are wonderful. But if you take the time to write them down and play them out, you’ll immediately set yourself apart.
Thanks for reading! You can subscribe to this blog by email via the prompt on the sidebar. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@JonNegroni). I’ll follow you back if you say something witty and awesome.
Work isn’t a four letter word. Sure, it has four distinct letters, but it’s anything but crass in the world of constant sales, marketing, prestige and (you guessed it) money.
People want work from you. More honestly, you expect work from everyone else. From the moment you step on a sidewalk or start using a public road to the instant you click on a webpage that manages to load, you expect all of the pieces to fall into place for you.
In a way, this a fantastic thing to appreciate – a world where we can expect instant gratification from so many facets of life.
Yet we hate to work. That is obvious. Slogans like “Work Smarter, not Harder” are sadly famous for motivating us to take shortcuts over doing things the right way.
Don’t get me wrong; using a hammer to build a house is better than your thumbs. That is an example of working hard and smart.
What I mean is that you can’t build meaningful things without work.
Too often, good folks will email me asking for shortcuts. They want my help to find tips and tricks to bypassing the work that is necessary for them to gain credibility in their given field.
It’s alright to ask, but before you do, can you honestly say that your work is good enough to show up on Wall Street Journal or The New Yorker?
But that’s what we (myself included) want. Shortcuts to success. We think we deserve it because we have nominal talent that has been validated by a handful of barely impressive people.
Real work doesn’t look like that. It looks like a construction project. We’re consistently building something that we are hoping will resemble a complete, finished product. We’ll make mistakes along the way. The house we’re building may have to be a duplex, and that extra bathroom may take up too much square footage.
Most times, however, the house we’re building can turn into a mansion.
When I started building jonnegroni(dot)com, I imagined it as a comfy apartment that would be big enough for me and some good friends. Thanks to some impressive readers and a weird attitude my parents brought me up with, it turned into something bigger and better.
I’m a believer that no vision is big enough, and if your goal is to build something larger than life, I’m the last person to discourage you. Just know that a big vision requires blueprints, strong hands, and maybe even a team.
Thanks for reading! You can subscribe to this blog by email via the prompt on the sidebar. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@JonNegroni). I’ll follow you back if you say something witty and awesome.
What makes a website inspiring? Is it the way it’s laid out? Is it how the site allows you to interact with it and gain value from it? Is it simply based on colors and codes that you find tasteful?
An unfortunate side effect of writing multiple blog posts a day is that you lose track of where your portfolio is going.
I chose that word because it can mean a lot of things; for example: You lose track of what kinds of articles you “should” be writing. You also forget to promote and share posts with your friends and followers because hey, who wants to be annoying?
For the past few months, I’ve been experimenting with an up-and-coming writing platform called Draft.
It’s a nifty application that you can use on your desktop to compose anything from blog articles to technical copy. And guess what? It has made my writing tangibly better. I even have evidence.
An unfortunate side effect of writing multiple blog posts a day is that you lose track of where your portfolio is going.
For the past few months, I’ve been experimenting with an up-and-coming writing platform called