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7 Writing Tips from Your Favorite Films (PHOTOS)

Posted: 05/18/11 09:48 AM ET
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Good writers don't just write well, they carry with them skills crucial to success in college and career. What college or employer wouldn't want someone who excelled in critical thinking, communications, creativity, research, persistence, attention to detail, logic, and follow through? All these skills you learn to master when you learn to write.

The writing process is remarkably similar to filmmaking: both writers and filmmakers need to plan their work, commit their project to film or paper and edit and polish their work until it measures up as both enlightenment and entertainment. Which means you can learn much of the art and craft of writing at the local multiplex.

"Everything You Need to Write Great Essays You Can Learn from Watching Movies" teaches the process of writing by relating it to a topic that is trendy, fun and and never more than a DVD or multiplex away. Although an essay will never be mistaken for a feature film, it can tell its story in pictures, only those pictures were developed by words. Both viewers of movies and readers of essays want to be grabbed from the beginning and transported through a story, whether that's Toy Story 3 or a logical journey from thesis to conclusion. Writing must grab readers' attention and send them on a journey of images. Just like in the movies.

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In "Avatar," James Cameron used photography and digital technology to bring his story to life. In your essay, you'll use words. Choosing descriptive verbs and adjectives that appeal to your reader's visual sense is the single best way to improve your writing. You'll make an impression on your reader that's out of this world.
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Good writers don't just write well, they carry with them skills crucial to success in college and career. What college or employer wouldn't want someone who excelled in critical thinking, communicatio...
Good writers don't just write well, they carry with them skills crucial to success in college and career. What college or employer wouldn't want someone who excelled in critical thinking, communicatio...
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PSommers
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05:35 PM on 05/22/2011
For years I've worked with students to help them write their college essays; wish I would have had this resource. Students will relate to these movie tips and I'll have fun!
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Jay Mitchell
24 Fans
08:23 PM on 05/21/2011
Great tips. How can I order the book?
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jaydouglas
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01:44 PM on 05/22/2011
Publication date is July 5th but I believe you can preorder it now on Amazon.
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Steven Bolson
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03:45 AM on 05/21/2011
It is refreshing to know that there is someone out there who is in touch with relating writing to a visual experience. Anyone who reads novels does so because as they read they draw mental pictures and even film like play in their mind's eye, and yes, thanks to the creative style of a good writer. That this has value outside of writing for entertainment has long been disconnected within the minds of students aspiring to professional careers other than literature or filmmaking. And yet it is only logical that an entertaining dissertation will gain the advantage over a drab factual presentation. If you want zest in your life, then incorporate that into your writing. Perfect. I couldn't agree more.
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baxtron
tek phlarpt
287 Fans
10:04 AM on 05/18/2011
Tip 8, write a novel. Most filmmakers will copy that novel if it is good writing.
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