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Jurgen Wolff

London most of the time, Southern California some of the time

Interests: Books, theatre, films, drawing and painting, cartooning, animation, conversation, travel, photography, fitness, marketing, graphic design.

Recent Activity

I'm an info addict. Are you?

Science proved what we probably suspected all along: you can get addicted to information in the same way you can get addicted to junk food. ScienceDaily reports: "A new study by researchers at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business has... Continue reading

Posted Jun 25, 2019 at Time to Write

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The Writing Payoff You May Not Be Expecting

We tend to think the payoff for writing a book is getting it into the hands of readers, and the payoff for writing screenplays is seeing your work on a screen, small or large. That's not wrong, especially if you're... Continue reading

Posted Jun 24, 2019 at Time to Write

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The scourge of dishonest writing

When I was a student of Danny Simon (Neil's brother and a very successful TV writer) one of his maxims was, "Don't go for the joke!" This may seem like strange advice from a comedy writer, but what he meant... Continue reading

Posted Jun 23, 2019 at Time to Write

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You DO have time to write!

There’s no question about it, even though technology was supposed to make life easier and give us more time, the demands on us are escalating. Making the time to do something that is important to you, like writing the screenplay... Continue reading

Posted Jun 20, 2019 at Time to Write

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Writers (and others): Watch your language!

On your road to success as a screenwriter, you’re going to have to convince a lot of people that what you’re doing is worthwhile. The same is true for almost any other profession. If you're a screenwriter, how you speak... Continue reading

Posted Jun 17, 2019 at Time to Write

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Sneaky hybrid movie: Rolling Thunder's little white lies

Martin Scorses's film of a Bob Dylan concert, "Rolling Thunder Revue," looks like a typical music documentary, but as Indiewire points out, it's not. Fictional characters are mixed in with real people in order to provide context...and also just for... Continue reading

Posted Jun 14, 2019 at Time to Write

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Can you tell your screenplay story in six words?

Screenwriter Scott Meyers suggests boiling the story of your screenplay down into six words. If you can't do that, he says, you don't have a story. Sometimes I really resist the idea that everything should be simple, but he has... Continue reading

Posted Jun 10, 2019 at Time to Write

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Screenwriters (and others): Reject Rejection!

Getting rejected is a normal part of every screenwriter's life but it can make it difficult to stay motivated. Fortunately, cognitive therapy offers a lot of useful tools for making sure we don't let rejection affect us negatively. Here are... Continue reading

Posted Jun 9, 2019 at Time to Write

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Does truth matter in inspirational stories?

I received an email today that featured an inspiration story: A marine biologist puts a shark in a big tank with smaller fish. The shark eats the fish. Then the marine biologist puts a plexiglass barrier between the shark and... Continue reading

Posted Jun 8, 2019 at Time to Write

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Piracy on ISSUU

ISSUU is a site where you can access a huge number of books and magazines. The problem is that many of them have been uploaded without the authorization of the author or publisher. What do the people posting your book... Continue reading

Posted Apr 22, 2019 at Time to Write

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Unleash your Creativity by Writing from Within

Drawing from Within: Unleashing Your Creative Potential is a book by Nick Meglin that has a lot of great thoughts about drawing that apply equally to writing: "We make the mistake of looking outside ourselves for validation of what is,... Continue reading

Posted Apr 21, 2019 at Time to Write

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If you're having trouble creating a character, try the Fellini method

How do you get to know your characters well enough to feel confident writing what they do and say? The great director Federico Fellini had a particular method. He said, "Some people get a quick handle on things by means... Continue reading

Posted Apr 16, 2019 at Time to Write

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Will your screenplay or novel be a hit?

It's easy to expend a lot of energy worrying about whether what you're working on will be a success. I've done it and I'm sure I'll do it again, but it's wasted energy. It can even lead to writer's block.... Continue reading

Posted Apr 15, 2019 at Time to Write

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My Favorite Brainstorming Method

My favorite brainstorming method is combining the thing I want to get ideas for and random words. THE FORCED ASSOCIATION METHOD Here's how to do it: First generate a list of whatever words pop into your mind as you go... Continue reading

Posted Apr 11, 2019 at Time to Write

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What's the best place to write?

The best place to write is wherever you feel most inspired and productive, but there's a good case for trying writing or brainstorming in your nearest nice park. According to Science Daily: "Taking at least 20 minutes out of your... Continue reading

Posted Apr 5, 2019 at Time to Write

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Screenplays: add to characters with subtle symbols

There are lots of ways to make a screenplay character three-dimensional, and one is using symbols. Of course if the symbols are too on the nose they can detract, but here's an example of a subtle one: Actor Paul Scheer... Continue reading

Posted Apr 4, 2019 at Time to Write

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The Very Real Danger of Stories

We love stories. Even false ones. Sometimes especially false ones. As great as that is for writers of fiction, it can be dangerous in real life. THE STORY Case in point: a video spread via Twitter in which a man... Continue reading

Posted Mar 16, 2019 at Time to Write

1

Is Your Idea Any Good?

You've probably had the experience of suddenly having a seemingly great idea pop up in the middle of the night, while you're in the shower, or just walking down the street. Eureka! This idea is going to make you a... Continue reading

Posted Mar 14, 2019 at Time to Write

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That Exposition -- It's Naked!

"Beautiful Boy" was a well-acted and generally well-made film that earned Amazon Studios some critical plaudits but didn't do too well at the box office. With an estimated budget of $25 million, its worldwide earnings were just over $8 million.... Continue reading

Posted Mar 4, 2019 at Time to Write

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Want to read the Oscar-nominated screenplays?

It's always interesting to read the screenplays of the Oscar-nominated films. For writers, I think it's especially useful to read the script first. When you see the film, compare how you imagined it with how it was executed. The Slate... Continue reading

Posted Feb 18, 2019 at Time to Write

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Happy New Year!

2018 was a rough year for a lot of people, but optimism at the start of a New Year is always the triumph of hope over experience-- which is as it should be! You never know, maybe this year we'll... Continue reading

Posted Dec 31, 2018 at Time to Write

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Writing "improvised" dialogue

Can you write dialogue that sounds improvised? Should you? Eric Roth, co-writer of the current version of "A Star is Born," talks about how he abandoned his usual approach to writing dialogue: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/eric-roth-having-mindset-writing-a-star-is-born-1161322 I saw the film recently, and I... Continue reading

Posted Nov 18, 2018 at Time to Write

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Put our prejudices to use in your fiction

Our prejudices--our tendency to pre-judge people--can be pernicious in real life, but you can use it to your advantage when creating characters for your fiction. A study at the University of Texas at Dallas found that our first impression of... Continue reading

Posted Nov 3, 2018 at Time to Write

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Plagiarism is rife on Amazon, featuring the amazing (fake?) Dr/Nurse/Radiologist Ben Moore

Beware if your book is successful on Amazon, it may become the target of very well organized plagiarists. Fitness expert Ari Whitten described how he was ripped off within a very short time of the release of his book on... Continue reading

Posted Oct 20, 2018 at Time to Write

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The Most Unexpected Romance

You know how it goes in romance novels or movies: They hear about each other and they mock each other. But then they meet. They realize they were wrong. They fall in love! Familiar, yet fresh each time because the... Continue reading

Posted Sep 30, 2018 at Time to Write

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