Movie Oasis

I'd love to tell you I was book-gorger in my younger years. That I passed on Friday night parties or girly sleepovers where my girlfriends and I pulled out our clipboards and played Rate-the-Cutest-Guy Game. Or that I fell head-over-heels for the newest YA male character in a hot New York Times Bestseller.

I didn't, and I wasn't.

Stories were still my passion, though. But it was through MOVIES.

My best guy friend and I watched a ton. We were like Dawson's Creek, only without the creek. We lived next door to each other and spend umpteen hours watching old movies.

By nature, I'm a visual person. As a former makeup artist and painter, I see everything in colors, textures, and patterns. It's just my way. Stories spread out on the silver screen feed my visual hunger.

Back then, I'd be drawn into setting and character development without even knowing it. Then my secret opinions and observations would rev up. I was interested in the inner workings of the film, how it was threaded, formulated, and eventually presented. Without knowing it, I was becoming a critiquer, not a critic. There's a difference.

I wanted to learn the roadways of each story, and eventually realized I wanted to tell stories, too. By examining each scene and segment of films, I learned those inner workings and also how I would have handled maybe the dialog of a scene or a certain setting differently. Way back then, I was exploring the inner storyteller within me. (That's pretty cool!)

So the next time you're feeling down about your writing or the whole writing game is getting you down, rent one of your favorite movies. Sit back with a warm blanket and cuddle up with that virtual story. Let all your senses be tantalized and...inspired.

Sometimes that's all it takes for your writing to be reborn.


What was your favorite film as a high school student? What about it, do you realize now, drew you in?