Professor Sorkin, Part 1

So this showed up on Facebook a few weeks ago...

I had literally just typed the words "Sorkin is a writing genius" in this blog. 

And I was struggling with motivation as I transitioned to Act 3 of Lio and Lamb.

The ad seemed fortuitous.

After consulting the board (i.e. running the idea of taking Sorkin's class past my mother), I decided to sign up. 

Here's a link to the pitch.

I'm so glad that I did. It's like a light turned on in my head as I listened to the first few lessons. Was he sharing anything that I didn't know? Not really. Did I need to hear it? Yes. 

So the foundation of Sorkin's approach is to focus each scene on intention and obstacle. What does the character want? What stands in his or her way? Duh. Aha!

It's like someone has pointed out that the sky is blue. Duh. And then you start to really look at the sky, and you see all the vibrant and varied shades of blue. Aha!

Now those two questions are forefront in my mind. I've been watching television and movies differently. I've been reading novels differently. And I've approached the composition of each new scene/chapter in Lio and Lamb differently.