•
Fireball XL5 - Giant Ant Invasion (Art
by Mike Noble) • Fireball XL5: Planet of Fire (Mike
Noble) • Stingray - Monster Weed Menace (Ron
Embleton) • Thunderbirds - Curse of the Elastos (Ron
Turner) • Thunderbirds - Secret of the Iceberg (Frank
Bellamy) • Lady Penelope - The Androids of London Affair (Frank
Langford) • Zero X: Prisoners of the Eye Leaves (Mike
Noble) • Captain Scarlet - Formicide (Don
Harley) • Captain Scarlet - The Beginning of the End (Jim
Watson and Mike Noble)
Robert
McKee's Story Structure Seminar is an intensive three-day course that
concentrates on screen writing. Most of the course is very applicable
to comics writing. The course is well worth the cost and comes recommended
by many people I know who have been on it.
Most seminars are in the US but
he sometimes teaches overseas. To find out if and when he'll be in your area,
contact:
Two Arts Inc
12021 Wilshire Blvd.
Suite 823
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Tel: (001) 213 312 1002.
McKee's Ten Commandments of Writing
are as follows:
ONE: Thou shalt not take
the crisis/climax out of the protagonists' hands. The anti-deus ex machina commandment.
No surprises!
TWO: Thou shalt
not make life easy for the protagonist. Nothing progresses in a story, except
through conflict. And not just physical conflict.
THREE: Thou shalt
not give exposition for strictly exposition's sake. Dramatize it. Convert exposition
to ammunition. Use it to turn the ending of a scene, to further the conflict.
FOUR: Thou shalt
not use false mystery or cheap surprise. Don't conceal anything important that
the protagonist knows. Keep us in step with him/ her.We know what s/he
knows.
FIVE: Thou shalt
respect your audience. The anti-hack commandment. Not all readers know
your character. Very important.
SIX: Thou shalt know your
world as God knows this one.The pro- research commandment.
SEVEN: Thou shalt
not complicate when complexity is better. Don't multiply the complications on
one level. Use all three: Intra-Personal, Inter-Personal, Extra-Personal
EIGHT: Thou shalt
seek the end of the line, the negation of the negation, taking characters to
the farthest reaches and depth of conflict imaginable within the story's own
realm of probability.
NINE: Thou shalt
not write on the nose. Put a sub text under every text.
TEN: Thou shalt
rewrite.
• Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee Methuen Publishing Ltd ISBN 0413715604
"Story" deciphers the guiding structural principles that animate every classical and award-winning film, ranging from "Citizen Kane" through to modern acclaimed works like "The English Patient".