Category: SandBox

Story ideas & writing.

“Quiet Power”

Scott J Mulvaney Leave a comment
I  just finished the first draft of a TV Pilot, and while I was pounding away; focusing on the flow and tuning out the cacophony of weekly horrors; I became obsessed with the idea of ‘Quiet Power’ (QP). It started when one of my characters whispered directly to me: ‘Quiet Power builds unity, Raw Power destroys trust. One is a celebration of life, the other a glorification of death.’ Which lead me to the sublime thought at the heart of this post, that we are all immensely powerful beings.

T his week we’re going to ‘feel the power,’ explore how we use it, and discuss the ‘types’ of power and how they work through us to ‘Drive the Green Fuse‘ as Dylan Thomas brilliantly put it. So let’s empty our minds of any preconceived notions, and hit the switch – it’s time to power on!

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What's in a Story

What’s in a Story?

Scott J Mulvaney Leave a comment
A hhh story. Like most of us, I grew up thinking stories were what you read or watched, and thought of them as entertainment, a fun way to pass the time. As the only child of ‘busy’ adults, I devoured them and developed an urge to scribble my own, without realizing – until much later – that my creative muse was giving me a tool to know myself, and with that knowing, decipher the story of everything.

E verywhere you look, corporate story engines are influencing billions of people and raking in trillions of dollars in the process; crowding our devices like an aggressive gaggle of garrulous Carny Hawkers desperate to sell us everything from toothpaste, to ideology, to hookups. My goal here is  to play through all that noise, and help you understand & master the universal ‘What’s’ in every story – because these ‘What’s,’ are at the heart of your own high-powered story engine.

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The Ultimate Writer’s* Toolkit – Chapter 2

Scott J Mulvaney Leave a comment
W elcome back scribblers! I’m in between drafts, and was inspired to jump into The UWT C2 while the perspiration & inspiration are fresh. I just had a call with a dear friend and I marveled at her tenacity, and willingness to move past the ‘E’ and into the ‘CC’ – the ‘E’ being Ego, and the ‘CC’ Connected Creativity. If you’ve been perusing my posts, you may be growing weary of hearing me expound on the many juicy delights of getting out of your own way, so I decided to go really, really big, and show you how to re-purpose ego by using ‘Presence’ to expand your Ultimate Scribbler’s Toolkit!

B ut Scott! You just said we have to move past the ‘E,’ absolutely correct! But moving past it, doesn’t mean that it evaporates like a bad dream. Ego, when applied properly, is a scribbler’s delight. How? Well, I hate to annoy the enlightened souls out there, but stripping the world of ego, also strips it of conflict, and conflict my dear scribblers, is the lifeblood of all fiction. Without it we would sit around the maypole in blissful satiety, singing ‘Kumbaya’ ’till the cows came home. So today we’re going to put ego in it’s proper place and practice using it the way it was intended, to help us build powerful stories.

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Writer's toolkit

The Ultimate Writer’s* Toolkit – Chapter One

Scott J Mulvaney Leave a comment
W hen I lived in Los Angeles, I would often run into Ray Bradbury, a creative genius if there ever was one, and we’d talk about writing, movies and all things phantasmic. He was a joy to know; passionate, focused, relaxed, and extremely generous with his time and creative attentions, and one of those great souls who believed in the power of art to expand consciousness, while having fun in the bargain. Ray’s freebooting imaginative spirit inspired this article, and I feel him looking over my shoulder as I write this, so “Ray, this one’s for you!”

The greatest thing about writing is that there are NO RULES! And the most terrifying thing about writing is that there are NO RULES! My dearest South Philly wise woman, Maryanne, called writers (and artists) ‘Scribblers,’ which I like a whole lot better than the more formal and emotionally charged title of ‘Writer.’ So let’s be scribblers together and adopt the following motto: “Use Tools, Not Rules,” and open up this wordsmith’s toolkit for a look-see. Continue reading “The Ultimate Writer’s* Toolkit – Chapter One”

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