Writing

Making Connections by Making Art and Making Art that Makes Connections

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Most of the creatives I know instinctively want an audience. When they think about why, the immediate answers of “someone who likes my work” or “someone who buys my stuff” are natural. I mean, what’s not to like about emotional and financial validation? Bring forth the audience! But building an audience is hard. In fact, it’s something of a slog — a seemingly Sisyphean slog (which I’m experiencing first-hand as I try and build an audience for…

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Writing

Screenwriting & the Perils of Pitch Fests

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

If you’re a regular listener of Scriptnotes, you’ll know that the hosts (especially Craig Mazin) have little time for screenwriting “gurus.” So you probably won’t be surprised by the this article by Stephen Galloway that was in The Hollywood Reporter earlier this week all about the high cost and non-return of many a “pitch fest” held in New York and L.A.

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Various and Sundry

Delia Derbyshire and the Doctor Who Theme

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I know I’m not the only one who grew up collecting movie and TV soundtracks… and the opening themes of many works retain an almost Pavlovian response on me (and I’ve also tested this on my kids in the name of parent science: the Fraggle Rock theme still works). So naturally, I thought of the memorable Doctor Who theme what with the current sweepstakes I’m participating in (as Jabberwocky Audio Theater). Josh Jones over at…

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Various and Sundry

Building an Audience or why I’m happy if some of you sign up for a sweepstakes…

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

One of the biggest things an indie writer needs to do is to build their audience. Furiously hard-working scribe and publisher Russell Nohelty has been trying to figure out ways to do that — and share what he knows. You may remember me talking about him and his efforts to help you sell your soul last year. Well, fast forward to this year and my main outlet of writing is, of course, Jabberwocky Audio Theater.…

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Writing

@#$% yeah I’m going to post about Harlan Ellison

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Harlan Ellison, a writer with a more than active imagination and an activist for writers, died peacefully in his sleep yesterday. he was 84. You can see write-ups in Variety and the Los Angeles Times. A brief, but excellent remembrance is from Mark Evanier, who knew him for almost 50 years. I think he put it best when he said: Harlan was a writer who made other writers proud to be writers. He goes on to……

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Various and Sundry

Jobs Expanding to fit the Pointlessness

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

If you’ve wondered what the point of some jobs are — and if, in fact, there seem to be more jobs out there trying to “maximize innovative enterprise solutions” or just “realize value,” you’re not alone. What’s worse is realizing you might be in one of those positions and then pondering what you can possibly do within the confines of that meaninglessness. (Though I suppose some people long for that.) Over at the Washington Post, Jena…

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Various and Sundry Writing

Friday Night Fights

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

In case the various posts on Star Trek or my mentions of writing a space opera radio show hadn’t clued you in already, my geek quotient is reasonably high. So yes, not only am I aware of Dungeons & Dragons, I have played Dungeons & Dragons and, in fact, have served as a Dungeon Master. As far as I’m concerned, that’s not a bad thing for writers or storytellers in general (see also these pieces on…

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