Note 288 – Do you get writing ideas from watching films?

Image via Wikipedia

I am not much of a television watcher myself, and often find it a waste of my time (unless it’s a ‘feel good’ film or romantic comedy!).  On the other hand, my partner loves watching films and from the many he records, we occasionally find one that we can watch together.  Having a few hours this afternoon to devote to ‘family time’ the girls and I looked at our weekend list (that we have recently started preparing on a Saturday morning) and ‘watch a film together’ was an entry written by one of them. 

So, we all sat down to watch Rango, the animated film starring Johnny Depp.  I found it very funny at the beginning and made a mental note to use today’s blog to post about ‘getting ideas from films’.  I can’t tell you how the film ended because I fell asleep, the girls got bored, the film got turned off and my partner is still asleep on the settee now (maybe we’ll carry on the family time later).

Anyway, the bizarre thing was that just before typing this up, I opened a blog post from one of my favourite fellow bloggers Vikki – A View outside and found that she was writing about having a DVD fest yesterday, and although she didn’t get much writing done because of it, she’s calling it ‘research’ (brilliant idea Vikki!). 

The other bizarre things was that Vikki was inspired by an article she had read yesterday from the site Write it Done.  The particular post she was referring to was written by Angela Ackerman (a guest blogger on the site) and the quote Vikki used from it (which I think is great too) is “When you’re looking for opportunities to learn, don’t forget the movies. So much can be gleaned by watching films to see what makes them work”.  (I might not get so bored watching television from now on). 

So, thank you Vikki for providing the content for this blog today even though you didn’t know you did.  I still enjoy reading your posts every day – keep up the good work.  I’ve also decided to subscribe to Write it Done and as a thank you I’m going to be sent their free ebook ‘The (nearly) ultimate guide to better writing’.  I think this has been a good day all round!

Until tomorrow…

Sandra 
Freelance Writer
www.sandramadeira.com

Image from Wikipedia: author Film_Comici.png: FRacco