John August

Resources

La escritura profesional y el auge de los amateurs

International, Resources, Writing Process

Daniel Castro has the first part of my essay, [“Professional Writing and the Age of the Amateur,”](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2006/professional-writing-and-the-rise-of-the-amateur) translated into Spanish at [his site](http://guionistaenchamberi.blogspot.com/). He volunteered, and I wasn’t going to say no.

Decidí que mi conferencia de esta noche no fuera estrictamente sobre la escritura de guiones sino sobre escritura en general. Todos los que estáis en esta sala sois escritores. Podéis escribir guiones o trabajos de documentación. Desde luego, todos escribís correos electrónicos. Todos sois escritores profesionales en algún campo.

It’s strange reading one’s words in another language. My Spanish is good enough that I have no trouble understanding it, but if I were to attempt to do the translation myself, it would be embarrassing for all concerned. So, many thanks to Daniel.

Creative Commons LicenseBy the way, this essay and most of the material on this site (other than the scripts) are covered by a [Creative Commons](http://creativecommons.org/) license, which allows you to use this information for non-commercial purposes as long as (a) you give me credit, and (b) you agree to share your derivative works in the same manner. So if you feel like translating anything you see here in Polish or Mongolian ([ahem](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2005/mongolian-characters-speaking-chinese)), by all means feel free. I’d just appreciate a link back to the original version.

No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!

Genres, Resources

james bond
Following in the spirit of the earlier article about how difficult it is to [destroy the world](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2005/to-do-destroy-the-world), here’s Peter Anspach’s [Evil Overlord List](http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html), a useful checklist of good advice for any super-villains you may be writing.

As you go through the list, it’s alarming how many uber-villains manage to fall into the same traps. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Here’s just a sampling of the wisdom the thinking-ahead madman can apply:

  1. My ventilation ducts will be too small to crawl through.
  2. When I’ve captured my adversary and he says, “Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?” I’ll say, “No.” And shoot him. No, on second thought I’ll shoot him then say “No.”
  3. One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation.
  4. If an attractive young couple enters my realm, I will carefully monitor their activities. If I find they are happy and affectionate, I will ignore them. However if circumstances have forced them together against their will and they spend all their time bickering and criticizing each other except during the intermittent occasions when they are saving each others’ lives at which point there are hints of sexual tension, I will immediately order their execution.

Check out the other 100 or so [here](http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html).

Screenwriter makes, saves a million dollars

Film Industry, Resources

The [Wordplayer](http://wordplayer.com) site has a [good anecdote](http://www.wordplayer.com/forums/scriptsarc05/index.cgi?read=40628) about why it’s important for screenwriters to stay active throughout production:

I’m on the set less than a minute and I see Miss Improvise, in costume, her makeup being touched up, all ready for the first master shot.

She’s supposed to be dead. Dead for at least twenty pages.

Definitely worth a read. Check it out [here](http://www.wordplayer.com/forums/scriptsarc05/index.cgi?read=40628).

Google cheat sheet

Resources

Everyone knows how to Google, but there are some special functions that can really help when you need specific information on, say, **atheist penguins.** (Yes, that was my attempt at a [Google Whack](http://googlewhack.com). No, it didn’t work.)

Google has a great [cheat sheet](http://www.google.com/help/cheatsheet.html) with hints for finding just what you need. If you have a few minutes to kill, it’s worth taking a look and trying out some of the less-common helper-terms. In particular, I find the **info:** and **site:** delimiters useful.