Here’s what motivated you to write in 2021 (Part 3)
For over eight years, Richard Beynon, co-founder of All About Writing and designer and facilitator of our Creative Writing Course, the Hero’s Journey course, our screenwriting courses, and more, has motivated you with his Monday musings on writing, inspiration, and stories.
To date, Richard has written more than 400 Monday Motivations – which means that if you read one a day, it would take you over a year to get through them. Plus, you’d probably know almost everything there is to know about being a good writer.
We’ve rounded up the top 15 Monday Motivation blogs that you loved the most this year. Click here for part one, here for part two, and here to read the full archive.
11. A LOVE LETTER IN THE RIVER GREAT OUSE
The marina in which our houseboat is anchored is connected via a channel to the River Great Ouse. In these covid-raddled months, when rain, wind and ice allow, Trish and I launch our inflatable kayak from our deck. It takes just a minute or so to make our way out onto the river. Then we can choose either to turn left and paddle a mile or so downstream to Cardington lock, or right, and paddle a mile or so upriver to the town lock… [more]
12. 2021 AS A HERO’S JOURNEY
Christopher Vogler wrote a book called The Writer’s Journey, which introduces writers of all stamps – but particularly screenwriters – to the mysteries of The Hero’s Journey, Joseph Campbell’s analysis of the “monomyth” that, he argues, underlies all stories.
As his title suggests, Vogler wrote his book specifically as a guide to writers. But he overlooked a small point; and that is, that the writer’s quest to write a book, or a short story, or a screenplay, is itself a Hero’s Journey…[more]
13. IT’S MY DREAM, AND I’M PROUD OF IT
It seems to have snowed. Snow lies in drifts along the road. Our car is parked up on the grassy verge, close behind another. Trish has fallen behind. Perhaps she’s paying for parking. Crunching through a thin crust of snow on the grass, I open the passenger door and get in out of the cold.
I’m surprised by the fact that the car’s engine is purring. Could we have left it running to avoid it seizing up in the cold? … [more]
14. PROVOKE YOUR READER’S CURIOSITY
Covid has provided us with a real-life example of something critical to every form of creative writing. It has shown us how, when things stop happening, time becomes muddled and we lose direction. So, in story, when scenes lack a dramatic imperative, the reader loses concentration, grows bored, and decides to do something more rewarding.
You know what I mean about covid. Whether or not you’re in some form of lockdown now, you’ll remember those weeks during which it was difficult to recall what day it was, or what you did yesterday, or when last you made a significant decision…[more]
15. MASTER TIME TO SERVE YOUR DRAMATIC NEEDS
You’re the Time Master, able to manipulate it with ease. You can put your foot on the accelerator and speed it up, whizzing past temporal landmarks in a blur; or you can apply the brakes and slow to the crawl, during which nanoseconds pass by with all the deliberation of snails on a stroll. You put this mastery to use for dramatic reasons, of course. You skip lightly down the long straight because there’s nothing really there to detain you or snag your interest. But on the corners, on that serpentine chicane where so many drivers before you have come adrift, you slow down…[more]
