First Chapter competition, deadline midnight tonight

 The deadline is midnight tonight for the Retreat West First Chapter competition, details below:

It's deadline day! It's your last chance to submit to our annual First Chapter Competition, which is being judged by Sam Jordison of Galley Beggar Press. The winners get detailed feedback on their novel openings, synopsis and submission cover letter from award-winning indie publishers. You have until 1 minute to midnight UK time to send your novel opening to be in with a chance. Submit your chapter here. We're looking forward to reading all of the entries and you never know you could join our previous winners and shortlistees and get a publishing contract. Laura Laakso and Diana Cambridge both got picked up by indie press, Louise Walters Books, after being shortlisted in this competition. If you're writing much shorter stories, our latest Monthly Micro Fiction Competition prompt is going live tomorrow so keep an eye on the website. Don't forget check out our new online community as we have got a brilliant calendar of events planned to help you take your flash, short story and novel writing to the next level. There's already lots of people there too having great conversations! Happy writing! With love from all of us at Retreat West x     Copyright © 2021 Retreat West, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Retreat West Apartment 3735 Chynoweth House Trevissome Park Truro, Cornwall TR4 8UN United Kingdom

Robert McKee Seminars

 With details of the upcoming Robert McKee courses:

 

"Nothing moves forward in a story except through conflict." - ROBERT MCKEE

 

Master the Levels of Conflict

 

 

Do you want to learn how to harness the power of meaningful conflict in your story? Robert covers the forces of antagonism and the levels of conflict in the following webinar from 2020 (now available On Demand for a limited time):

 

The Principle of Antagonism Part 5 of the 2020 Spring Webinar Series Learn how to push your characters to the limit of human experience. Available until March 31, 2021   Webinar Details »

 

 

 

 

"Stories hold conflict and contrast, highs and lows, life and death, and the human struggle and all kinds of things." - DAVID LYNCH Academy Award-Winning Writer & Filmmaker BLUE VELVET / TWIN PEAKS

 

The World According to Writers

 

 

Conflict is more than an aesthetic principle; it is the soul of story.

 

Story is metaphor for life, and to be alive is to be in perpetual conflict. As Jean-Paul Sartre expressed it, the essence of reality is scarcity. There isn’t enough of anything to go around. Not enough food, love, justice, peace and never, ever enough time.

 

Writers who cannot grasp the truth of our transitory existence, who have been misled by the comforts of the modern world, who believe that life is easy once you know how to play the game, give conflict a false inflection. Their stories are either a glut of meaningless and absurdly violent struggles, or absent of any meaningful conflict.

 

Works of art are born from the conflict of life.

 

An artist intent on creating works of lasting quality comes to realize that life isn’t about subtle adjustments, or hyper-conflicts. Life is about the ultimate questions of finding love and self-worth, of bringing serenity to inner chaos, of the titanic social inequities everywhere around us, of time running out.

 

Life is conflict. Your job as a writer is to decide where and how to orchestrate this struggle.

 

 

 

Conquer the Conflict of Story with Robert McKee Online.

 

"Robert is a force! In person or streaming. The series was very useful to me - worth every penny and definitely valuable and motivating!" - Kim Murdock (Love Story Webinar Attendee)

 

Recordings of McKee’s 2020 webinars are now available to view on demand! Sign up now and gain instant access to the webinars and follow-up Q&A sessions until March 31st, 2021. Webinar attendees wishing to regain access to recordings, or looking to register for a new series, are eligible for a discount. Contact Luke (luke@storylogue.com) for more details.

 

View Online Courses »

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Complication vs. Complexity

 

Robert McKee teaches the different ways a writer can use conflict to either complicate the life of their protagonist, or create a truly complex story.

 

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A Message from Our Friends at Scriptapalooza

 

 

23rd Annual Scriptapalooza Screenplay Competition Contacts. Meetings. Introductions. Producers. Agents. Over $50K in prizes. Everything you expect and get with Scriptapalooza.

 

The Facts: All the reading is done by producers/managers/agents We promote and pitch the TOP 100 writers for a full year $10K Grand Prize 54 writers have sold or optioned their script 165 writers have been hired to write on film or TV

 

Deadline: February 1

 

Learn More »

 

 

 

The McKee Collection

 

STORY: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting McKee expands on the concepts he teaches in his legendary 3-day seminars, providing readers with the most comprehensive, integrated explanation of the craft of writing for the page, stage, and screen.

 

 

STORYNOMICS: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World Robert McKee translates the lessons of storytelling in business into economic and leadership success, equipping you to use your story talent in the corporate world.

 

 

DIALOGUE: The Art of Verbal Action for the Page, Stage, and Screen McKee illustrates the strategies and techniques of dialogue, applying a framework of incisive thinking to instruct the prospective writer on how to craft artful, impactful speech.

 

 

 

McKee Seminars | Two Arts, Inc. PO Box 681 Sherman, Connecticut 06784 United States (928) 204-2323

 

"Thou shalt research." - ROBERT MCKEE

 

Robert McKee's 2020 In Review

 

 

All of McKee's 2020 Spring, Summer, and Fall webinar series are now available to stream On Demand for a limited time. Returning webinar attendees looking to register for a new series, or wishing to regain access and review a series they already attended, are eligible for a discount. Contact Luke (luke@storylogue.com) for more details. You can now gain instant access to recordings of the following webinar series until March 31st, 2021:

 

Spring Program Webinar Series   Series Details »   Comedy Webinar Series   Series Details »

 

Story Craft Webinar Series   Series Details »   Love Story Webinar Series   Series Details »

 

 

 

 

"I think young writers should get other degrees first, social sciences, arts degrees or even business degrees. What you learn is research skills, a necessity because a lot of writing is about trying to find information." - IRVINE WELSH Novelist & Playwright TRAINSPOTTING / FILTH

 

Why You Never Start with "Fade In"

 

 

The key to writing a truly unique story is research, taking the time and effort to acquire knowledge. Generally, a story excels based on research of three types...

 

First, ask yourself "What do I know from personal experience that resonates with my characters' lives?" Explore your past, relive it, then write it down. In your head it’s only memory, but written down it becomes working knowledge.

 

Secondly, ask "What would it be like to live my character's life day by day?" While memory gives us chunks of life, imagination takes fragments of experience that seem unrelated, then finds hidden connections and merges them into a whole. A working imagination is research.

 

Finally, suppose for a moment you're writing in the genre of Domestic Drama. No matter how many families you live in, how many you observe, or how vivid your imagination, your knowledge on the nature of family is limited to the finite circle of your experience. But if you read respected factual works (anthropological, social, psychological studies, etc.) on the subject of family life, you will expand that circle globally.

 

Too often we close novels or exit theaters bored by an ending that was obvious, or disgruntled because we’ve seen those characters and scenes 1000 times before.

 

Before rushing to type "Fade In," ask yourself if your story is ready. Originality is about thoroughness, not shortcuts. Writers need research to feed the beasts of imagination and invention.

 

 

 

Learn to create works of original beauty with McKee Online.

 

"I joined the spring webinar series and it was groundbreaking for me in every way. What a privilege - I literally felt like I was sitting by the desk of a master, just taking it all in!" - Jane Olander (Spring & Fall Webinar Program Attendee)

 

Join Us Online »

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Much Research is Enough?

 

Robert McKee discusses how to balance your time between writing and research, and why you should be wary of using research as procrastination.

 

Watch Video »

 

 

 

The McKee Collection

 

 

Read More »   Read More »   Read More »

 

 

 

McKee Seminars | Two Arts, Inc. PO Box 681 Sherman, Connecticut 06784 United States (928) 204-2323