I was a novelist before I was a screenwriter. And, like most novelists, I firmly believed the book was always (well, okay, almost always) better. So why write screenplays? I found my answer when I had an idea I was convinced was going to be a novel. It had a great protagonist and an interesting…
Category: Topics
Analysis: Moana (2016)
Moana has been on my mind recently thanks to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s adorable video singing his rap to his one-year-old. Like most kid’s movies, Moana’s structure is impeccable. And, like most musicals, some of the nine story structure checkpoints even get their own song! Here’s how this movie breaks down: Act 1 Hook The…
Guest Post: Applying 3-Act Structure to a Picture Book
I would like to sincerely thank Steve and Dani for giving me the opportunity to share my experience writing Sade: We’re Moving to Canada! on this blog, and to provide a free copy of the book to the Writing Academy community. I have been writing on and off since I was a kid. I describe…
Guest Post: My Indie Journey
I’m an indie. It’s not a decision I made lightly, but in the end, I chose the independent publishing route. It’s my path. I’ve called myself type A, or a control freak, or whatever the latest jargon is, but basically, I like to do things myself. I’m also impatient. That said, I know two things:…
Guest Post: Challenges with Writing & Illustrating My Second Children’s Book, Breathe, Mustard, Breathe!
I would like to extend an appreciation to Dani and Steve Alcorn for allowing me to share a free copy of my second book, Breathe, Mustard, Breathe! with the excellent Writing Academy community, as well as a few key lessons I learned in writing and illustrating my second book. Breathe, Mustard, Breathe! simply teaches our…
Free (and Lower-Cost) Alternatives to Final Draft
Formatting a screenplay is A LOT of work. Theoretically, I suppose you could do it in a word processor, but it would take ten times as long and drive you crazy. That means screenwriters rely on software to do the heavy lifting so we can focus our energy on the important parts (you know, character…
Staging is Murder: A Student Success Story
by Grace Topping Today marks the launch of my mystery, Staging is Murder. It’s been a long road to publication, and I honestly don’t think I would have succeeded without Steve Alcorn’s course on mystery writing. It gave me a solid foundation on which to build. Without that foundation, I probably would have given up….
Lessons Learned: Writing & Illustrating an Amazon Best-Selling Children’s Picture Book
To begin, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dani Alcorn for inviting me to write a guest blog post for Writing Academy. My debut children’s picture book, Nobody Loves Mustard, unexpectedly became: An Amazon Best Selling New Release A Number 1 Best Seller (Top 100 Free) A Number 1 Best Seller (Top…
Advanced Twitter
Since my last post about Twitter I’ve learned A LOT! Hashtags Hashtags make the Twitter-world go round. A hashtag is something that “tags” a post. It’s preceded by the pound symbol (#) and cannot include any spaces. You can search for hashtags on Twitter and also use them to help people find you. I’ve added…
Thinking Like an Entrepreneur
You need an email list of potential customers to market your book(s) to. Surprised? You probably assumed email lists were just for businesses. But you are a business now! (PS That’s true even if you’re planning to go the traditional publishing route – agents and publishers will be very interested in you if you already…