Hello gentle reader,
As promised today I am mixing work and pleasure, in the sense that I’m going to talk about writing and handsome actors. See, I am a huge movie fan and I often go and see movies for the actor I happen to fancy. Sometimes the movie is great. Sometimes it is terrible and all I can do is stare at the awesomeness that is the main actor and forget about the movie itself. Whatever the case, I always learn something about writing. Thus let me share below a few nuggets of wisdom learned from various movies (in chronological order)… or you can just scroll down and stare at the pretty pictures.
Movie: Gladiator (2000)
Actor: Russell Crowe
What I learned about writing: Never underestimate the narrative power of the good old “Hero’s Journey”. If you put a new spin on it, there’s no reason why your hero shouldn’t get a call, meet a mentor, go through some trials, defeat the bad guy and finish his journey transformed.
Movie: Alexander (2004)
Actor: Jared Leto
What I learned about writing: Don’t be afraid to be a bit ambitious and to go for epicness. Some stories need it.
Movie: Tristan and Isolde (2006)
Actor: Henry Cavill
What I learned about writing: Do not make your villain/secondary character more interesting, more handsome, more complex than your hero. Because then, your reader will fancy him more than the hero. And that can be a problem.
Movie: Mr Brooks (2007)
Actor: Kevin Costner
What I learned about writing: it is perfectly acceptable to have a villain as your main character, as long as you show him in all his complexity.
Movie: Valhalla Rising (2009)
Actor: Mads Mikkelsen
What I learned about writing: having a disabled main character can make your story intriguing and more original. In this example, the hero is one-eyed and mute. Yet he is fascinating.
Movie: Centurion (2010)
Actor: Michael Fassbender
What I learned about writing: Michael Fassbender is awesome. Wait, that’s not a writing lesson. Here is the lesson: even if you have a large cast, make sure all the characters have their own “arc” and storyline. The more the reader feels he knows them, the more he is likely to care.
Movie: Anonymous (2011)
Actor: Jamie Campbell Bower
What I learned about writing: Done artfully, it can be very moving and narratively powerful to portray a character from his youth to his death and to span 80 years of history.
Movie: The Eagle (2011)
Actor: Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell
What I learned about writing: Nothing will make your reader care more about your main character than showing him with a best friend.
Have you learned any writing lessons from watching movies? If, yes, which ones? Feel free to leave me a comment below!
Ha, what a great post! Completley agree with Mads, I would see anything he is in because he’s so handsome
I LOVE Gladiator. One of my all time favorite movies 🙂 A movie I learned from was Legend directed by Ridley Scott (also a favorite). It really taught you that characters, no matter their apparent lack of strength, can overcome anything when they need too. Fun post!
Totally love this post! *cleans up drool* Gladiator is my epic fave because, well, Russell of course. And the fighting. And Djimon isn’t bad either. I think movies have a great deal to teach us about how to write well-crafted stories–what works, what to avoid, how to improve our dialogue, build our worlds, and definitely how to give our characters depth. Thanks, Eve!
Hey EM. This is brilliant. I love the point about Henry Cavill. Totally agree and its a great point.
I must admit, I tried to focus on what you were saying but there were too many pretty pictures 😀
This is a good way to start a new day !!! lol! and I realise that I miss a movie with Channing Tatum!
Eye candy, epic movies, all tied up with writing tips. What more can we ask for. You go girl!
Errm, yet another huge Gladiator fan over here! I loved everything about this post, so I won’t even start. EVERYTHING. Ahhh!
I learned that my movie list is sadly lacking these movies. The only one I’ve seen is The Eagle! Great tips!
Thanks for all the nice feedback guys! I’m glad you all enjoyed the post, I had fun writing it 🙂