How Would You Sing A Song With A Broken Heart?

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The Walking Dead

Who is the Walking Dead?

  The Walking Dead is a TV horror drama developed by Fran Darabont. The original series came for a comic book series of the same name. It started in Oct 31, 2010, on the cable channel AMC in the USA and right now it is is in its fourth season.

  It is simply the best in it own genre. The Walking Dead is original, has its own brand and perfectly differentiate from other genres in TV. There is no other TV drama that could capture 16.1 million viewers for its fourth season premiere to become the most watched drama series telecast in basic cable history.

  What Does The Walking Dead do?  The Walking Dead entertains people by presenting a TV show in which two kind of human beings are in constant battle and their skills, either in one side or the other, are really important to make the human race survive: The dead and alive. Who is going to win? On one hand, the vast majority of dead people whose purpose is to eat and transform humans into walking dead. On the other hand, the humans alive will need to use their thinking skills to survive the dead crowd with no loss. A battle between intelligence in alive people vs majority in dead people… who is going to win?

  Why Does it matter?  AMC’s passion is the entertainment business and this company realizes that being in the top is to create a TV show with wonderful settings and plots where the story gets our attention. This is the reason AMC initially invested 3.5 million per episode to add extras, special effects and filming outdoors which is more expressive than in a indoor studio.

 The Walking Dead matters because is a unique TV story. It is interesting by selecting a theme never brought to the TV sets. It is also thrilling when the walking dead or the crowd move with all those special effects and amazing make up to get a human alive.

 It matters because at the end, the only purpose of every creation and product is to get the attention of public to get our mission accomplished.

      References

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead_(TV_series)

http://www.omg-facts.com/Fun+Facts/The-Walking-Dead-Has-A-2-8-Million-Dolla/56246?lp=1

Source

Storytelling Challenge: Character Motivation

“Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water,” Kurt Vonnegut said in his Eight Basics of Creative Writing.

A lot goes into developing relatable characters. You have to figure out how they look and behave. You have to have a sense of their back story. But perhaps the most important thing that ties all the character development together is why. Why do they do what they do? What motivates them?

Just like real people, your characters will be motivated by different things. For the story you’re telling, choose one thing to focus on.

You likely won’t mention it outright, but the motivation you pick will be driving your character’s actions and decisions throughout the story.

Developing Characters Through Motivation

When your characters aren’t fully developed yet, giving them something to strive for is a fantastic way to begin developing them.

How would they go about achieving that goal? What risks would they take? And why do they want what they want in the first place?

You can easily start a story by taking a character, giving them a goal and watching them trying to reach it. Of course, the problem is that there will be obstacles along the way.

Take the example from the beginning of the post: a character that wants a glass of water. That should be simple enough, shouldn’t it?

They go to the kitchen and take a glass from the cupboard over the sink. The tap sputters when turned on, and no water comes out. Weird.

The character goes to check the stopcock, the water is on. Did they forget to pay the bill? Perhaps there was an incident down the road, and emergency works are going on.

From here, the story can go anywhere from Jason Bourne-style spy thriller to a silly dispute with a neighbour-style comedy. All we started with was a character wanting a glass of water.

The Challenge

Join us this week and spend an hour or more writing a story where the protagonist wants something. Pick a goal or some kind of motivation and use it to develop the character as you work on the story.

If other characters will be working against the protagonist, what motivates them? Why do they stand in the way of the protagonist’s achieving their goal?

Here are a few examples of character motivation:

security — the character’s security is being threatened

success/recognition — the character working hard to achieve something

acceptance — the character wants to fit in

love/friendship — the character is looking for new friends or a partner

Join the challenge

Como diria, en una noche estrellada En un camino solitario... Las palabras A aquel amor Que le hace suspirar Con un sello propio Muy de suyo Para denotar esos sentimientos Que surgen Entre la noche bella y oscura

DESCRIBING THE PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES OF CHARACTERS:

Body

descriptors; ample, athletic, barrel-chested, beefy, blocky, bony, brawny, buff, burly, chubby, chiseled, coltish, curvy, fat, fit, herculean, hulking, lanky, lean, long, long-legged, lush, medium build, muscular, narrow, overweight, plump, pot-bellied, pudgy, round, skeletal, skinny, slender, slim, stocky, strong, stout, strong, taut, toned, wide.

Eyebrows

descriptors; bushy, dark, faint, furry, long, plucked, raised, seductive, shaved, short, sleek, sparse, thin, unruly.

shape; arched, diagonal, peaked, round, s-shaped, straight.

Ears

shape; attached lobe, broad lobe, narrow, pointed, round, square, sticking-out.

Eyes

colour; albino, blue (azure, baby blue, caribbean blue, cobalt, ice blue, light blue, midnight, ocean blue, sky blue, steel blue, storm blue,) brown (amber, dark brown, chestnut, chocolate, ebony, gold, hazel, honey, light brown, mocha, pale gold, sable, sepia, teakwood, topaz, whiskey,) gray (concrete gray, marble, misty gray, raincloud, satin gray, smoky, sterling, sugar gray), green (aquamarine, emerald, evergreen, forest green, jade green, leaf green, olive, moss green, sea green, teal, vale).

descriptors; bedroom, bright, cat-like, dull, glittering, red-rimmed, sharp, small, squinty, sunken, sparkling, teary.

positioning/shape; almond, close-set, cross, deep-set, downturned, heavy-lidded, hooded, monolid, round, slanted, upturned, wide-set.

Face

descriptors; angular, cat-like, hallow, sculpted, sharp, wolfish.

shape; chubby, diamond, heart-shaped, long, narrow, oblong, oval, rectangle, round, square, thin, triangle.

Facial Hair

beard; chin curtain, classic, circle, ducktail, dutch, french fork, garibaldi, goatee, hipster, neckbeard, old dutch, spade, stubble, verdi, winter.

clean-shaven

moustache; anchor, brush, english, fu manchu, handlebar, hooked, horseshoe, imperial, lampshade, mistletoe, pencil, toothbrush, walrus.

sideburns; chin strap, mutton chops.

Hair

colour; blonde (ash blonde, golden blonde, beige, honey, platinum blonde, reddish blonde, strawberry-blonde, sunflower blonde,) brown (amber, butterscotch, caramel, champagne, cool brown, golden brown, chocolate, cinnamon, mahogany,) red (apricot, auburn, copper, ginger, titain-haired,), black (expresso, inky-black, jet black, raven, soft black) grey (charcoal gray, salt-and-pepper, silver, steel gray,), white (bleached, snow-white).

descriptors; bedhead, dull, dry, fine, full, layered, limp, messy, neat, oily, shaggy, shinny, slick, smooth, spiky, tangled, thick, thin, thinning, tousled, wispy, wild, windblown.

length; ankle length, bald, buzzed, collar length, ear length, floor length, hip length, mid-back length, neck length, shaved, shoulder length, waist length.

type; beach waves, bushy, curly, frizzy, natural, permed, puffy, ringlets, spiral, straight, thick, thin, wavy.

Hands; calloused, clammy, delicate, elegant, large, plump, rough, small, smooth, square, sturdy, strong.

Fingernails; acrylic, bitten, chipped, curved, claw-like, dirty, fake, grimy, long, manicured, painted, peeling, pointed, ragged, short, uneven.

Fingers; arthritic, cold, elegant, fat, greasy, knobby, slender, stubby.

Lips/Mouth

colour (lipstick); brown (caramel, coffee, nude, nutmeg,) pink (deep rose, fuchsia, magenta, pale peach, raspberry, rose, ) purple (black cherry, plum, violet, wine,) red (deep red, ruby.)

descriptors; chapped, cracked, dry, full, glossy, lush, narrow, pierced, scabby, small, soft, split, swollen, thin, uneven, wide, wrinkled.

shape; bottom-heavy, bow-turned, cupid’s bow, downturned, oval, pouty, rosebud, sharp, top-heavy.

Nose

descriptors; broad, broken, crooked, dainty, droopy, hooked, long, narrow, pointed, raised, round, short, strong, stubby, thin, turned-up, wide.

shape; button, flared, grecian, hawk, roman.

Skin

descriptors; blemished, bruised, chalky, clear, dewy, dimpled, dirty, dry, flaky, flawless, freckled, glowing, hairy, itchy, lined, oily, pimply, rashy, rough, sagging, satiny, scarred, scratched, smooth, splotchy, spotted, tattooed, uneven, wrinkly.

complexion; black, bronzed, brown, dark, fair, ivory, light, medium, olive, pale, peach, porcelain, rosy, tan, white.

WEBSITES FOR WRITERS {masterpost}

E.A. Deverell - FREE worksheets (characters, world building, narrator, etc.) and paid courses;

NotionByRach - FREEBIES (workbook, notion template, games, challenges, etc.);

Hiveword - Helps to research any topic to write about (has other resources, too);

BetaBooks - Share your draft with your beta reader (can be more than one), and see where they stopped reading, their comments, etc.;

Charlotte Dillon - Research links;

Writing realistic injuries - The title is pretty self-explanatory: while writing about an injury, take a look at this useful website;

One Stop for Writers - You guys... this website has literally everything we need: a) Description thesaurus collection, b) Character builder, c) Story maps, d) Scene maps & timelines, e) World building surveys, f) Worksheets, f) Tutorials, and much more! Although it has a paid plan ($90/year | $50/6 months | $9/month), you can still get a 2-week FREE trial;

One Stop for Writers Roadmap - It has many tips for you, divided into three different topics: a) How to plan a story, b) How to write a story, c) How to revise a story. The best thing about this? It's FREE!

Story Structure Database - The Story Structure Database is an archive of books and movies, recording all their major plot points;

National Centre for Writing - FREE worksheets and writing courses. Has also paid courses;

Penguin Random House - Has some writing contests and great opportunities;

Crime Reads - Get inspired before writing a crime scene;

The Creative Academy for Writers - "Writers helping writers along every step of the path to publication." It's FREE and has ZOOM writing rooms;

Reedsy - "A trusted place to learn how to successfully publish your book" It has many tips, and tools (generators), contests, prompts lists, etc. FREE;

QueryTracker - Find agents for your books (personally, I've never used this before, but I thought I should feature it here);

Pacemaker - Track your goals (example: Write 50K words - then, everytime you write, you track the number of the words, and it will make a graphic for you with your progress). It's FREE but has a paid plan;

Save the Cat! - The blog of the most known storytelling method. You can find posts, sheets, a software (student discount - 70%), and other things;

I hope this is helpful for you!

☕️ buy me a coffee! ☕️

Writing Tips

Maintaining Motivation to Write

❀

➼ if you’re bored writing a part & want to move on to another scene… imagine how bored your readers must be

➝ keep it interesting and meaningful ; write every scene like it will be your favorite

➼ if you’re stuck on a scene — skip it

➝ use placeholders and come back to it when motivation strikes

➝ personally, I do something like: {ENTER: battle scene} and then I’ll list details, lines, or dialogue I want to include so I don’t lose my ideas

➼ if you’re stuck on where to go with a scene — delete the last line and reroute

➝ keep your last line saved somewhere or in brackets — never actually delete anything, but this can help broaden your perspective and encourage creativity

➼ if you’re stuck on a character name — use placeholders

➝ I love to research my names intensely; I’ll spend way too long researching that I’ll forget what I wanted to start writing ; plus once I get attached to a name I am reluctant to change it, even if I think of a better one

➝ so I’ll temporarily replace the name with something like: [A] or [Villain] or [King]

➼ if you don’t have motivation to write an entire excerpt, write a sentence for each of the five senses in the scene

➝ touch, sight, hearing, taste, smell

➝ having these details can help immerse yourself back into the scene when you’re ready to write it

Music is one of the other key elements from Coca Cola to create its own brand. The stories around the music are families together, joy, love, Christmas time, dreams, Santa Claus, and all of the other key values that we already talked about. The same values, the same stories will be presented in every aspect of advertisement, marketing promotions, ads, brochures and commercials. Coca Cola stays Focused Focused and Focused. In this sense, the company creates its own brand and differentiate from the other competitors. Stay focused, focused, and focused is a key element of branding, according to Marty Neumeier.

Mastery Journal: Entertainment Industry Professional

Business Storytelling & Brand Development has taught me to look the business world from another perspective. It is not a simple thing to be out there among businesses trying to get the attention from customers, because we know we need our customers to probe that we have something to give to them that is unique, special, created with our own hands, and really has a meaning for us.

How do we survive among all the businesses that are out there selling the same product? How do we convince the customer that our product is good, is worth the try, and has a unique value?

Business Storytelling and Brand Development has the answer. You start by researching, researching and researching; the same way as Marty Neumeier said about The Brand Gap in Focus, Focus, Focus. Research and focus are the two elements directly related to improve your sales, and secure customers to your product.

However, selling is not only about research and focus, but also strategy.

How do you want your product to look for? What kinds of feelings do you want to inspire in customers when looking for your product or service? Does your product have emotional power to call the customers? 

Brand Development is the answer, and Storytelling is the best tool you can use to improve the presence of your product in the market. The product will not sell by itself, if there is not a cool image of it either verbally or visually. Visually is the way to sell because it involves all of our senses, how the product looks, and what the logo means, what the tagline says about the brand. Does the product inspire you? Does the product make you extend your hand to grab it from the shelf?

However, it is not only how the product looks on the outside, but also how the corporate culture represents that image. Does the company deliver a passion for the product; do they create a strong vision and mission as Zappos does with its tagline “Delivering happiness”? That product that is outside deliver a “unique statement” that stands out from the crowd and the other businesses? Does that corporate company know why they are there? What is the challenge? What is their objective? What is their brand promise, and finally, do they answer three basic questions: Who are you? What do you do? and Why does it matter?

When the company answers all those questions, we know that it is on its way to success, and starts to built a good foundation to stand out from the crowd.