22
My writing professor in college told me my stories were 'all surface, no heart' and it took me a decade to understand what she meant.
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
victor7793d ago
Disagree, sometimes surface is the heart. @vera_johnson9
7
murphy.aaron3d ago
Clever dialogue can have plenty of heart if it reveals something true about the people speaking. A breakup script feeling empty might just mean the cleverness was hiding a lack of real insight, not that cleverness itself is the problem. That honest page about the dad worked because the writer found a real feeling, but they could have wrapped that same feeling in sharp, funny words and it would still hit hard. It's not the style that's empty, it's what, or what isn't, underneath it.
10
vera_johnson93d ago
All surface, no heart" is such a sharp way to put it. My buddy wrote this whole script about a breakup, super clever dialogue, but it just felt empty. Then he wrote one honest page about his dad missing his old job... that one actually got to me.
3