Script Magic: Subconscious Techniques to Conquer Writer's Block

Hi, I'm a screenwriter, story consultant, and former studio executive and I have found Script Magic helpful and entertaining. I'm at a place in my writing where I need lots of creative stimulus and the exercises and the breezy writing style were right for me. Sometimes you have to trick yourself into avoiding cliches or into opening up the deeper, truer sources of good work, and the book was good at giving some concrete ways to do that. This will become a classic for screenwriters but the creative way of thinking about writing will be useful for any form of storytelling. There's also a lot of practical info about the business end and some common sense about how you integrate writing into your life. It's worth reading just to shake yourself up!

"Script Magic" is an amazingly fun and easy way to let your creativity run free. After reading and trying Marisa D'Vari's techniques you'll be chomping at the bit to put pen to paper or fingers on keys. I recently sold a screenplay and became a member of the Writers Guild. I wish I had this book a year ago, I'd have probably sold three by now. You'll never think about writing the same way again.

As the writer of several award-winning screenplays, I try to devour every screenplay book that comes on the market. Unfortunately, too many books on screenwriting concern themselves with format and structure. Well, geez, there are computer programs that can do that for you now. When I read Script Magic, I said to myself, "Finally! Someone GETS it! A book that helps me be CREATIVE, which is the reason I got into the crazy mess in the first place!" Buy this book, and start enjoying life again!

There's a truck load of books out there that deal with the nuts and bolts of writing: editing, plotting, grammar. This book is about creativity, about those mysterious leaps the right brain makes to come up with a good story, the kind of story that makes readers turn the pages. The exercises in this book REALLY work: mind mapping completely changed the way I approach major characters. It really helps me get in touch with the character's history, and it works much better than a dry biographical approach. I'd recommend this book to anyone serious about their writing, not just screen writers.

Although I've been writing professionally for 19 years, screenplays are virgin territory for me. D'Vari demystifies the process of writing a Hollywood-worthy screenplay so that anyone can get started right away. Bonuses: Lots of creativity exercises and a nice overview of what producers and screen stars are looking for.