Published author, ghostwriter, novelist, poet, comma maximalist. I teach you powerful rhetorical tricks to improve your writing and get paid online.

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James Carran

Be proud of rejection.

Rejection means you actually tried.

Most people don't get that far.

Craftsman Writer. Published author, ghostwriter, novelist, poet, comma maximalist. I teach you powerful rhetorical tricks to improve your writing and get paid online.

Procrastination is the most expensive vice

The job of a ghostwriter:

Put the client's message in the client's words.

But better than they could.

Writing well makes you:

- richer
- smarter
- more efficient
- more persuasive
- more employable

Invest in your writing.

Great writers are great observers

You can't write well until you learn to see things for how they are.

How I write:

1. Stare out the window for 50 minutes
2. Write like a madman for 10 minutes
3. Repeat

Tens of thousands of ancestors
One sperm out of millions
One short life

And you're just scrolling social media?

The writer's urge to change the world without even leaving your house

The best way to learn writing is

*drumroll*

Write.

Stop looking for shortcuts.

Learn:

- Focus
- Writing
- Persuasion
- Psychology
- Sales

And you will be unstoppable

Noone with the life you want is boasting about it on social media.

Writing well is about thinking well.

The words are secondary.

It's better to write for 20 minutes every day than 8 hours every few months.

Next time you feel discouraged remember Stephen King was rejected 30 times before he sold a book

Boring people read tweets

Brilliant people read books

Sylvester Stallone wrote the script for Rocky while he was homeless and couldn't afford to eat.

But you still think you've got "too much else going on" to write?

If you had an unlimited supply of one thing, what would it be?

Ernest Hemingway once said:

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."

When I was in LA I got tired of not getting hired as a TV writer for other people's shows.  I decided to make my own show.  To do that you have to get a pilot purchased, made, and picked up.  Beau Bridges had read my script and was interested in playing the main character.  He invited me to his house to talk about it.  He offered me toast in the kitchen with homemade orange marmalade from the trees in his back yard. 

So I am sitting there munching on toast and Mr. Bridges starts talking.

(can't really bring myself to call him Beau)

"I loved your script.  Great writing. I can totally see it.  I do have a couple of suggestions that might make it easier to sell."

Ok, what this means is he won't be attached to it unless I agree to the changes he wants.  Totally normal when you are a beginning writer.  You have zero leverage.  You must be willing to compromise to get things sold in the beginning I am told.  There are other ways to get things made but I wasn't going that route.

"So you know that I am deeply involved in charities right?"

"Of course!"

No clue what he was shilling for, but all actors have some pet projects they like. He then goes into this long diatribe about saving the whales. I am not sure if he did the movie Free Willy because he was already into whales or the movie "whale radicalized" him.  

Then he starts talking about his work with Los Angeles street gangs etc.

The pilot "NGO: Kyoga" took place in a land locked fictional country with two warlords fighting over the control of a city the NGO is launching in.  I can really work with this gang angle, and its probably why he liked the script, because there are two fighting gangs already in it.  The whales were going to be a problem.

"One hundred percent Mr. Bridges." I said, still unwilling to call him Beau. "We can work whatever you want into the gang angle since that's almost the entire plot." 

"What about the whales?" he asked.

"That's going to be tough since the story takes place in a land locked country in Africa."

"I know.  That is why I want you to move locations to Los Angeles."

Cue the sad face music.  He REALLY wanted those whales in there.  It was at this point I looked down at my marmalade toast and started to question the contents of what I was eating.  I briefly considered the possibility that I had been drugged and he was trolling me until I passed out so I could be sacrificed to Moloch.

Alas, it was just marmalade.  He was serious.  It was then I knew I would have to keep being a lawyer.  Kept writing though.  Eventually escaped the law.

taplio

The Battle

James Carran

Wade Skalsky ┃ The Understory Bard

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taplio

The Battle

James Carran

Wade Skalsky ┃ The Understory Bard

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}James Carran's LinkedIn Performance

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