Writing Into Your Arc

Phil - Hopefully this isn't a bad place and time to mention that I enjoyed James McBride's book "Miracle at St. Anna" very much and I hope Spike Lee's film does well this weekend.

The book was incredible. It was really hard to put down after the first page or so.

http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-St-Anna-James-McBride/dp/15732 ...

Actually, these principles apply not just to filmmakers, but to people of faith who are trying to communicate through any medium. The most effective communicators over time have been those who are skilled story tellers, whether at a live gathering, on the silver screen, on radio, television, print, and even the Internet.

A story teller speaks with the audience. Too often, Christian media speaks at the audience.

We in the Christian media industry need to humble ourselves and admit we're not doing all that great a job in communicating, even though we have been granted custody of a great story, a big arc like the one that Mann refers to.

Perhaps the future belongs to those who make a story the focus, instead of a personality?

Effectively and creatively communicating fascinating and captivating stories - seems to me like that's the future. Or irrelevance. Our call.

Thanks for the link. I'm a screenwriter and making my story arcs and scenes count is something I spend a lot of my time pondering on and trying to craft. A book that been quite useful for me is "How to Craft Short Screenplays That Connect" by Claudia Hunter Johnson.