“

We don’t care about money.

All I want to do is make bet­ter sushi.

I do the same thing over and over, bit by bit.

There is always a year­ning to achieve more.

I’ll con­ti­nue to climb, trying to reach the top, but no one knows where the top is.

Even at my age, after deca­des of work, I don’t think I’ve achie­ved perfection.

But I feel ecs­ta­tic all day… I love making sushi.

That’s the spi­rit of the sho­ku­nin.

When to quit? The job you’ve wor­ked so hard for?

I’ve never once hated this job.

I fell in love with my work and gave my life to it.

Even though I’m 85 years old, I don’t feel like retiring.

That’s how I feel.

”

– From Jiro Dreams of Sushi, via a beautiful email from Hugh MacLeod on falling in love with your work (via wearethedigitalkids)

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1. You admire a character for trying more than for their successes. 
2. You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different. 
3. Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite. 
4. Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___. 
5. Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free. 
6. What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal? 
7. Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
8.  Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time. 
9. When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up. 
10. Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it. 
11. Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone. 
12. Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself. 
13. Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience. 
14. Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it. 
15. If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations. 
16. What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against. 
17. No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later. 
18. You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining. 
19. Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating. 
20. Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like? 
21. You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way? 
22. What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

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tb-cont:

起死回生
(Literally) Wake from death and return to life 
(Meaning) To come out of a desperate situation 
and make a strong comeback.

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