Whether you are new to writing or have been around the block a few times, you've probably heard the writers' mantra: "Show, don't tell." Unfortunately, most how-to books don't do a very good job of explaining exactly how to go about showing rather than telling.

Holly Lisle recently created a terrific little video demonstrating the "show, don't tell" maxim in action. She walks viewers through the process using before-and-after examples to improve a sample piece of writing. If you enjoy this video, check out her Writer Crash Test site for more videos about writing.

There's something exciting about getting a gun for your birthday. Cold, hard steel molded into a sleek and deadly form. What's not to like?

Some women prefer clothes and jewelry. I am not one of those women.

For my birthday, Larry hooked me up with the perfect gun for concealed carrying — a Ruger LCP, ultra-light and compact enough to slip into a pocket.

I already own an H&K USP Compact .40 pistol, which I love and would recommend to anyone, but it's a bit too heavy to carry every day. It's also too bulky to conceal easily, especially here in hot, sunny Florida where a jacket or overcoat would look conspicuous. I wanted something smaller and lighter, and the LCP is a perfect fit.

I'm not a weapons fanatic and not a violent person by any means, but the time I've spent practicing at the firing range has helped me gain a better understanding of firearm safety and usage, which in turn gives me a stronger foundation for writing stories with gun-toting characters.

Over the past couple of years, Larry and I have unintentionally established a tradition of giving weapons to each other for every holiday. On Valentine's Day, ASP expandable batons. On our anniversary, Urban Pal knives. For Christmas for him two years ago, a Rock River Arms LAR-15 rifle. For my birthday last week, the Ruger LCP.

I was dreading my birthday but it turned out rather nice. We held two separate birthday gatherings, one with his family and one with mine. My sister indulged my Lost obsession with the gift of a Dharma Initiative t-shirt. (If you don't know what the Dharma Initiative is, rent the first season of Lost on DVD and start watching now. You won't regret it.)

By the end of the second gathering, I had landed $150 in Barnes & Noble and Amazon gift cards, all of which I've already cashed in for a hefty stack of books to keep myself occupied during the holiday weekend.

Every writer has her own style and approaches writing differently. Some write in an office while others write at the corner coffee shop. Some have time to write non-stop for hours each day, while others can squeeze in only an hour here and there. Some have a strict routine while others take up their pen on a whim.

No matter what your style, applying discipline to your writing habits can go a long way toward improving your writing. While some might say following a routine squelches creativity and prevents the writer from fully succumbing to the muse, the evidence says otherwise. The top writers in the world — best-selling authors and screenwriters alike — consistently mention the routines they adhere to in order to get their words down on paper.

Getting the words on paper is what makes the difference between just saying you're a writer and actually being a successful writer.

The key to adopting a disciplined approach to writing is to start small. Sure, everyone wants to turn out twenty perfect pages per day, but it isn't likely to happen that way at first. Setting your goal that high will only lead to disappointment. A little discipline goes a long way, and it's much more motivating to work up to producing more words each day as time progresses than it is to find you're unable to meet your initial goal.

Start by giving yourself a requirement of only one page per day. Resolve to write at least three days per week. Make it not just a goal but a requirement. Stephen King forced himself to maintain a strict daily page count, and look where he is today.

Why discipline yourself by adhering to daily page counts or word counts instead of simply giving yourself the requirement to write for a certain length of time per day? One hour per day? Two hours? Because you'd be amazed at how much time you can kill while staring at a blank page. Make it a goal to write for one hour per day and you'll find out just how quickly an hour can pass without a single keystroke, but make it your goal to write one page per day and you'll find you have the urge to put something down on paper to fill that page.

Once you've decided on your minimum word or page count, you'll just sit down and write, right? If only it were that simple.

Having the discipline to write one page per day is an accomplishment in itself, but what should you write about? For many of us, the motivation to sit down and write doesn't always strike at the same time the ideas hit home. How to merge the two is another challenge altogether.

If you find yourself staring at that blank page with no ideas within your grasp, try journaling or random-topic writing. The Writing Fix website offers a random topic generator, available for free at the click of a mouse. Try clicking your way to a new idea. If you write fantasy or science fiction, check out the Fantasybits topic list for writing prompts.

Invest in a pocket-sized notebook for jotting down your ideas whenever you're out and about. Whether you're on the subway or in the checkout line at the grocery store, use your notebook to capture those fleeting thoughts. Write about character traits you'd like to incorporate in your stories. Make notes about possible story titles as you think of them, regardless of whether or not you have stories to go with them. Refer back to your notebook during those times when you're unable to meet that one-page-per-day quota without a little added inspiration.

For those who need additional prompting, try enrolling in a creative writing course at your local college or university. Most community colleges offer courses for a very reasonable price. Having a weekly homework assignment hanging over your head may be just the push you need to put that pen to paper. If enrolling in a college course isn't a viable option for you, join a local writers' group or an online critique group where you can receive encouragement from other writers in the same situation.

Remember, start small and build upward from there. One page per day will soon grow into two, three, and maybe even ten pages per day, and before you know it you'll be holding a completed manuscript or screenplay in your hands.

Clustering is a simple brainstorming method you can use in a variety of ways. Its biggest benefit is that it helps you push past your analytical mind and reach into your subconscious mind for ideas that resonate on a deeper level. A single clustering session can produce dozens of great ideas.

In The New Diary, where I first encountered the technique a few years ago, author Tristine Rainer presents clustering as a journaling method for personal transformation. In the How To Think Sideways course, we used clustering to explore ourselves via a process that generated a wealth of material to mine later for story ideas.

The potential applications for clustering are numerous, but today I'm going to describe how I've been using the technique to develop realistic characters with depth.

Clustering is similar to mind-mapping. You begin with a central theme or a single idea and write it in the middle of the page. Then you branch outward, adding related words or phrases as they pop into your mind, and drawing lines to connect any related items.

How to Use This Technique for Character Development

I'll explain the process first, and then I'll walk through an example with images to demonstrate how the character cluster evolves.

I've found clustering works best if I already have a general idea of my character's occupation or have at least one or two basic personality traits in mind before I begin the exercise.

I start by placing the character's name or initials in the center of the page, and then I add branches related to any personality traits I've already decided the character should have. I also add branches related to the character's occupation or important events from his/her past.

For each item I add to the cluster, I ask myself questions: Why does the character have this trait? What event prompted him/her to be this way? How did the character end up in this occupation? How did this event from the character's past affect him/her? How did it change him/her?

As you answer your own questions, you'll add new ideas to the cluster. What you'll quickly notice is how important events from the character's past give rise to personality traits. It works in reverse as well. You'll find yourself adding new personality traits and then creating a backstory to explain how the character acquired those traits.

Let's say you've decided your character is a workaholic. Ask yourself why she's a workaholic, and add the answers to your cluster.

- Is she a workaholic because she loves her job so much she wants to spend every waking moment involved in that field? (And if so, what aspect of the field most interests her? Why? How did she get involved in it?)

- Is she a workaholic because she has difficulty making friends and turns to her job to fill her spare time instead? (And if that's the case, why does she have difficulty making friends? What events in her past prompted this difficulty?)

- Is she a workaholic because she's trying to make a name for herself in her field? (And if so, why is success so important to her? Does she have to work harder than others for recognition? Why?)

If you don't already have a few personality traits in mind, start with the basics. Is your character shy, outgoing, stubborn, patient, impatient, happy, sad, intelligent, dull, witty, lonely, needy, nurturing, loyal, protective, jealous, confident?

Add a few traits to the cluster, and then ask yourself how and why the character acquired those traits. Be sure to ask yourself whether the character is aware that he possesses a particular trait. The answer to that question can have a big impact on your character's personality.

What are your character's biggest fears? Strengths? Weaknesses?

What are your character's hobbies? How did he become interested or involved in a particular hobby? Why does he enjoy it? What does it offer him?

Does your character have any unique or unusual skills? How did he acquire them? How do they affect his daily life and his behavior?

What do you know about your character's past? His childhood? His family? His culture? Add those details to your cluster, and then ask yourself how your character's past contributed to who he is today.

With each new detail you add to your cluster, consider how that information connects to the rest of the information. You'll begin to see how your character's personality and background are tightly interwoven.

You may end up with words or concepts that don't seem at all related to the central theme. Allow one word to lead to another and let your mind follow the path those words create, regardless of where that path takes you. It doesn't matter whether or not your logical mind thinks a particular word is relevant to the character. Write it down anyway. It might become relevant later.

Character Cluster Example

Here is an example of the beginnings of a character cluster. We'll start with a character's name in the center. I'll use "Jack Smith" for this example. We'll make our character a doctor. We don't need to know yet what kind of doctor Jack is. For now, we'll just keep things simple and explore our options. Something else in our cluster might lead to ideas about a specific field of medicine.

I'll add a couple of personality traits: Jack is a workaholic, likes challenges, and has trouble connecting with women. He's also lonely. We'll throw in a hobby — hiking/backpacking — and then we're ready to start asking some questions about Jack.

Here's what our cluster looks like so far*:

This is where things get interesting. Pick an item from the cluster and ask yourself questions about why that item is there.

Let's take "doctor" for starters. What motivated Jack to become a doctor? Maybe his mother died of a terminal illness when he was young and he decided someday he would find the cure for whatever killed her. Now we have even more to work with, because that detail resonates with some of the other items in our cluster. Perhaps Jack has trouble connecting with women because he had no mother around during his childhood, or maybe it's because he's afraid of making a connection and then losing another woman he loves.

We can tie his loneliness to his trouble connecting with women, and to the fact that he is a workaholic and spends most of his time alone in a lab. Let's assume he hasn't found the cure yet and is still desperately searching for it even though his mother passed away long ago.

Let's add those items to our cluster and make the connections*:

Now we can take a look at some of the other items in our cluster. Jack's hobby is hiking/backpacking, and since we also know Jack likes challenges, let's assume he prefers to hike in exotic or even dangerous locales and enjoys tackling rough trails most people wouldn't dare attempt. He probably likes to push himself, to overachieve. We can use all those details to explore other aspects of Jack's life — aspects that could potentially generate story ideas.

Maybe during his trips to other countries he also spends time volunteering his medical services as part of a program like Doctors Without Borders. Perhaps he took up backpacking as a hobby because he heard a rumor about a rare plant curing the disease that killed his mother and the plant can only be found deep in the jungle. Or maybe he simply enjoys exploring the quiet woods on his own, a hobby prompted by his difficulty connecting with other people.

The important thing is to dig deep, to delve below the surface and discover what makes him tick. Keep asking yourself those questions. You'll discover new layers of your character's personality, and in the end you'll have a realistic, three-dimensional character instead of a cardboard cutout.

* The cluster maps shown in these images were created with a free mind-mapping software program called Cayra.

Writing visually is not only about crafting words that flow smoothly and evoke vivid imagery. It is also about not including words that detract from that imagery or interrupt the flow. The screenwriter's goal is to create a script in which the writing flows so smoothly the reader becomes part of the story, watching it from within.

Here are some problems aspiring screenwriters should avoid when writing a spec script:

"We hear" or "We see"

Phrases such as "We hear" and "We see" should never appear in a spec script. They momentarily force readers outside the story. You want the reader to become so involved in your story she forgets the rest of the world exists. You want readers to live and breathe your story as they read it.

The imagery evoked by your words should drive what we're seeing or hearing as readers. Phrases like "We see" and "We hear" make the reader feel as if he or she is part of an external audience, not part of the story itself. Instead of reinforcing the idea the reader is immersed in a powerful story, those phrases do nothing but remind her she's holding a script.

Camera directions such as “PAN” and “CLOSE UP”

Avoid the use of camera directions to describe shots in a spec script. Once your script becomes a film in production, camera angles and shots will become the responsibility of the director and the director of photography.

As a screenwriter, your responsibility is to craft words that trigger the desired imagery so those individual "shots" move naturally through the reader's mind.

When writing a script, screenwriters have a very vivid mental picture of the images they are trying to convey. Most of us think in film, meaning we imagine our story unfolding as a series of images or visual scenes. The best way for a writer to direct the script is to format the description in such a way the shots appear to separate themselves. This is called the White Space technique. With the correct use of this technique, you can pace your script and divide each image as if it were its own shot.

As you write your script, imagine where you would change the camera angle or shot. At that point, begin a new paragraph of description. Keep your paragraphs shorter for a rapidly paced scene and slightly longer (but still only a few sentences!) to maintain a slower paced scene. For more detail on the best ways to use the White Space technique in your script, check out the article conveniently titled White Space.

Beginning and ending each page with (CONTINUED)

At one time, screenwriters were required to begin and end each page with the (CONTINUED) notation to indicate, obviously, the script continued onto the next page. Later, the (CONTINUED) at the top of the page was ditched but the one at the bottom of the page was retained. In the past decade, the use of (CONTINUED) at either the top or bottom of the page has been almost entirely abandoned. It is no longer a requirement and is sometimes viewed as more of a nuisance than anything else.

The main reason you shouldn't bother to include (CONTINUED) at the top and bottom of each page is that it wastes a significant amount of space. It requires two lines at the top of the page and another two lines at the bottom. In a 90-page script, those extra four lines per page can amount to several pages of wasted space. In a screenplay, space is a precious commodity that definitely should not be wasted. And, as Denny Martin Flinn notes in his book, How NOT to Write a Screenplay, "Anyone reading your screenplay who doesn't know he's supposed to turn the page is a numskull."

POV (indicating the camera's point of view)

POV is a camera direction, not a writing technique. Do not use a POV notation unless the imagery seen from one character's point of view is distinctly different from the rest of the scene and, more importantly, that difference is integral to the plot.

The scene below provides an example of an inappropriate use of the POV technique.

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In the above example, the image of the children running under the table is part of the overall scene. A shot of the children crawling under the table could be taken from any of several different camera angles and does not specifically require John’s POV. The POV is not integral to the storyline and is not separate from the rest of the kitchen scene, so it is not necessary.

Always remember, camera angles are the realm of the director and the director of photography, not the writer. There is no need to forfeit two lines of space in your screenplay for an unnecessary camera direction.

Transitions such as “CUT TO” and “DISSOLVE TO”

Spelling out transitions is another technique reserved for a shooting script. You should not use transitions in your spec script.

A transition indicates the movement from one scene to the next. This event is already indicated by the use of a slugline defining the new location and time of day. Since the new slugline has already made the reader aware of the shift from one scene to the next, the transition simply takes up space, and space is a precious commodity in a script.

I've heard many writers attempt to justify their use of transitions… "I wanted to let the reader feel the intensity of the scene by cutting it off with a CUT TO," or, "I wanted to let the reader know time had passed by using a DISSOLVE TO."

Your story and the quality of your writing, not your transition, should cause the reader to feel the intensity of the scene. If your story isn't already intense, no amount of CUT TO's is going to make it that way. CUT TO's are only going to interrupt the smooth flow of your words and cause the reader's eyes to jump across the page.

When the script is put into production, the director and editor will determine which type of transition is used, and their decisions will be noted in the shooting script.

Capitalization of specific words to draw attention

In the 80's and 90's, the use of capitalization throughout a script in order to draw attention to specific words became trendy — so trendy, in fact, some writers tended to capitalize fifteen or more words per page, not even including the appropriate capitalization of sluglines, first-appearance character names, and dialogue headers.

Writers capitalize words in this manner with the intent to force a more vivid image into the reader's mind, but using capitalization doesn't necessarily create a more vivid image. Instead, the capitalization makes the sentence visually awkward and detracts from the mental imagery of the scene. It cuts into the flow of the sentence and forces the reader's eyes to stop and adjust. And what happens whenever readers must stop and adjust? They remember they're reading a script, which is exactly what you don't want. In order to avoid constantly reminding people they're reading a script, your writing must flow visually, and capitalizing words halts that flow.

Many writers mistakenly believe sounds, objects or actions to which the writer wishes to add emphasis must always be capitalized. Capitalization does have its uses, and those uses can occasionally have the desired effect of evoking a sense of urgency or intensity, but only when used sparingly.

Your choice of words, not the capitalization of those words, should be what adds focus to a specific object or action. If a word or descriptive phrase doesn't possess the impact you feel it should, check out my previous article titled Selecting the Most Powerful Words for Your Novel or Screenplay, or simply open a thesaurus and find a more intense and dramatic word to use in its place.

Standard disclaimer: Please note, web browsers don't allow for the presentation of a screenplay in its correct format. Excerpts and examples of screenplays found in these articles should not be used as examples of proper screenplay format. To learn how to properly format your screenplay, David Trottier’s The Screenwriter’s Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script is an excellent reference.

I've come to the conclusion I truly deserve to be crowned Queen of Procrastination. Procrastination is a big kingdom — especially with so many writers taking up residence there so often — so Queen of Procrastination is a title one would expect me to be proud of, yet somehow I don't feel quite as proud as I should. Instead, I'm burdened with the weight of the lurking feeling of guilt one gets after living in Procrastination far too long, which brings me to the topic of this entry: how to move away from Procrastination and into the much more rewarding place I like to call the Writing Zone.

The Writing Zone is a beautiful, magical place. It fills us with a vibrant excitement that gets our blood pumping and our skin tingling. It puts us on a high unlike any other. It's a powerfully addictive drug, only without all the messiness and legal problems.

Think back to the last time you wrote an incredible scene, a scene that just flowed from your mind and through your fingers onto the page. Think of how you felt as you poured out your soul through those words. Reach back to that blissfully perfect moment and try to call up those same feelings again. It makes one wistful just to think about it. Achievement of the Writing Zone is to a writer as achievement of enlightenment is to a Zen monk.

But how can one achieve the Writing Zone at will?

The question is a common one. How can a writer end a long period of procrastination — often given the notorius title Writers Block — and get back into the writing groove? We've all been there at one time or another, drifting aimlessly as we attempt to find the motivation to put words to paper. It's like a vacuum, a void where incentive and enthusiasm evaporate on contact, the writers' version of the Black Hole. It sucks us all into its murky depths at least once in our writing career — usually more than once, unless you're particularly fortunate — so it's important to be armed with the proper sense for recognizing that lost and aimless state and squashing it before it swallows you whole.

In order to address the procrastination problem, I've compiled a list of techniques that may help you overcome the desire to do laundry, wash dishes, rearrange the books on your bookshelf, alphabetize your CD collection, photocopy images of your hands, or do anything else that falls into the category of "excuses for why I don't have time to write today." These are simple exercises you can practice anytime, and they often can be useful even if you're not lingering in Procrastination.

1. Make a list of story titles. At this point in the exercise, it doesn't matter if you have a story to go with each title, just write down whatever catchy titles come to mind. Keep going until you have at least five or six titles, preferably more if you can manage it. To take this exercise a step further, try coming up with stories to go along with each title. To take it even further than that, try coming up with more than one story to go with each title.

2. Find a person — a friend, family member, coworker, or even a stranger you can observe for a few moments without looking suspiciously stalker-ish — and watch the person for a few minutes. Observe the person's physical appearance, posture, gestures and mannerisms. If possible, listen to him/her speaking and study the person's voice, language and inflection. Make notes while observing, or make mental notes and put them on paper later when you're no longer with the person. Based on your observations, turn the person into a character. Give her a made-up background, as brief as a few sentences or as long as a life story, whatever you're able to dream up. Once your new character has a history, put the character in a setting in which you feel she would be completely out of place (commonly referred to as a "fish out of water" situation) and contemplate how the character would react. You may find the basis for a new story through practicing this simple exercise.

3. Try your hand at an exercise called Freenoting. Freenoting is based on the practice of free association or word association, where one word leads to the thought of another word, which in turn leads to the thought of another word, etc., in a freely continuous stream of thought. In many cases, the words we associate in this type of free association exercise may be very unexpected. Here's how it works:

On a blank sheet of paper, write whatever word comes to mind, then write the next word that comes to mind, then the next, then the next, and so on. Don't stop long enough to think about what you're writing, simply keep writing non-stop. Stopping to think about what you're writing will defeat the purpose of allowing your mind to reach deeply and surface with new ideas and new thoughts. Try to keep going for at least two minutes. You can write the words on lined paper, adding each new word on the next line, or randomly cover a page with words, filling whatever blank space is available.

If at any point during a freenoting session you're hit with an idea or the inspiration to write, by all means stop freenoting and follow that inspiration. The purpose of freenoting is to trigger precisely that type of creative burst.

As an alternative form of this exercise, try practicing this same type of free association out loud, recording your words into a tape recorder or directly into your computer (if you're technically inclined).

4. Give random journaling a try. Rather than making daily journal entries to rehash the events of your day, write about a randomly generated topic. This forces you to think about something you most likely wouldn't have pondered on your own, at least not at that particular moment, and that type of thinking outside our comfort zone often stimulates new ideas. There are many good sites with random topic generators. The random topic generator at the Writing Fix site is worth checking out. For those who write fantasy and science fiction, it will take you months or even years to work through all the topics on the the Fantasybits random topic list.

5. Discipline yourself, but be gentle about it. Most successful writers describe adhering to a personal writing routine. As William Faulkner once said, "I write only when I'm inspired. Fortunately I'm inspired at 9 o'clock every morning."

Gradually train yourself to adhere to a routine of your own. To ease yourself into a routine, try sticking to a "one page or one hour per day" minimum at first. If you're the type who can sit in front of the computer and watch an hour slip by as you contemplate the wonders of screensavers, try going with the one-page-per-day routine instead of one-hour-per-day. Once you're able to adhere to a "one page or one hour per day" routine, make it one-and-a-half pages or one-and-a-half hours per day, and continue to gradually increase the page/time in half-page or half-hour intervals as you settle comfortably into the routine.

6. If nothing else succeeds in helping you overcome the pressing desire to procrastinate, try writing about procrastination. (Hey, don't laugh…it's working for me right now, isn't it?) Write about all the reasons why you don't feel like writing about something else. Write about why you feel like you're drifting aimlessly. Write about why you wish you were in the Writing Zone once again. Often simply writing about how or why you're not in the writing groove will put you in the writing groove.

I have an addiction. I've tried to overcome it, but my efforts have been met with an amazing level of resistance. My body fights me. My mind fights me. I often wonder if I'll be addicted to this stuff forever. So many times I've tried and failed to quit, by this point it is hardly more than a joke. What am I addicted to, you ask? Well, I'll get to that detail later in this article, and I'll even fill you in on how I used my own personal addiction as inspiration when developing one of the main characters in my current writing project.

Why do characters need flaws? Perfect characters are boring, and sometimes even annoying. Perfect characters don't have to struggle as hard to achieve their goals. After all, they're perfect. Things come easily to perfect people. If there's no struggle, there's no conflict, and conflict is what makes good writing. Character flaws provide sources of conflict. They can be sources of conflict with other characters, conflict with the environment, and, in many instances, conflict with self.

In most cases, you want a character who isn't perfect but is in some way better than average, or at least a character who has the potential to be better than average. Fulfilling that potential — overcoming obstacles and growing into that better-than-average self — will become part of the conflict that drives your story. You want a hero, someone willing to take action, not a passive wimp. Readers are living vicariously through your characters. They want to feel special, and for that you need special characters. At the same time, a character who is too special, too perfect, seems unrealistic and comes across as a cardboard cut-out. Give your character some flaws in one area to compensate for his above average skills in other areas.

Why do we love flawed characters so much? Because we feel like we could be them, we could walk in their shoes, we could — with the right kind of skill and motivation — overcome the same obstacles they overcame. We can immerse ourselves more fully in the story because we can step into the character's shoes, see things from his perspective, and believe in the reality of it. If they're heroes with flaws, we can aspire to be like them and actually have some hope of succeeding in that endeavor. They give us hope. They give us, imperfect and flawed beings that we are, a glimpse of what we could be. If they're perfect, we dismiss any hope of ever reaching such glorious heights. We can't relate to them. We can't empathize with them.

Make your character's flaws intriguing and interesting, not tedious and irritating. You want someone readers will enjoy spending time with, preferably so much they reread your novel or screenplay until the pages are worn and tattered. You don't want a character whose qualities grate on the reader's nerves. Give your character enough flaws to be interesting but not so many as to be overwhelming. It's a delicate balance. Unless done right, characters who are too flawed are almost as annoying as characters who are too perfect.

Ask yourself: How does this flaw affect my character's behavior, his attitude, his reactions? Take, for example, Tony Shalhoub's character on the television series Monk. He is obsessive-compulsive about germs, cleanliness, and order. That flaw is a factor in each storyline. It affects how Monk acts and reacts in every situation. How do your character's flaws affect her actions? How do they affect the storyline?

If you can't come up with any flaws for your character, look around. Think about your friends, your family, your next-door neighbors, your boss and coworkers. Contemplate what it is about each of them that irritates you. Is your neighbor a nosy gossip? Is your brother too impatient? Does your boss have a temper? Does a friend have a tendency to act first and analyze the situation later, usually after his impulsive actions trigger unpleasant consequences? Voila! You've pinpointed flaws you can incorporate into your characters.

If all else fails, draw on your own personal flaws for inspiration. (What's that you say? You have no flaws? Think again.)

Consider how those flaws impact the person's personality and behavior. How do the flaws manifest in his actions? Is he aware of these flaws, either consciously or subconsciously, or is he blissfully ignorant? Does he take steps to compensate for the flaws? Does he unconsciously compensate for them? How do other people respond or react to the person when these flaws are on display?

To illustrate this point, let's go back to my personal addiction. Two weeks ago, I tried to quit. It was agonizing. I struggled. I swore. I lasted thirteen days, until I simply couldn't stand it anymore. I caved, and it was off to the 7-11 to get my fix… Mt. Dew Code Red.

Caffeine. Sugar. Deliciously sweet cherry flavor. Pure bliss in a bottle.

Not to mention, hundreds of calories and enough chemicals to preserve an elephant.

It may seem silly, but it's an addiction nonetheless. I can't stop, and I hate myself for my weakness. I detest my lack of willpower. I despise the fact that when I take that first swig, my mind and body sigh in unison with complete and utter contentment. When I don't have it, when I try to stay away from it, it's all I can think about. It intrudes on every waking thought. Its power over me becomes painfully obvious. I can hear it calling my name from every convenience store within a twenty-mile radius.

All I can do, I finally decided, is find a way to use this in my writing, to turn this misery into something productive. Something good had to come out of all this suffering and self-loathing.

I gave one of my characters an addiction — not to Mt. Dew Code Red, but to something far more interesting instead — and was able to write about his struggle with powerful emotion, intensity, and insight. Not only that, but his addiction gave me an idea for a new spin on the story and I was able to tie it into the storyline in ways I hadn't even expected.

Flaws can generate new story ideas, or they can simply flesh out characters and make them more realistic and lifelike. Flaws give a character depth and move him from a two-dimensional page into a vivid, three-dimensional reality, even if that reality exists solely within the mind of your reader.

While working as a freelance script consultant, it was my job to help writers raise the quality of their writing to the highest level attainable. In the course of any given day, I came across a problem appearing in each of the scripts crossing my desk, and I have since noticed the same problem cropping up in book after book.

The problem? The unnecessary "that."

It is a wonder how one little word could worm its way so firmly into the hearts and minds of writers, yet the word "that" has done just . . . well, that.

The word "that" has become ingrained in our daily vocabulary, and many people have difficulty recognizing how often it is misused. It pops up in sentence upon sentence, yet nine times out of ten it is not needed. In a screenplay or manuscript, where space is limited and every inch of text is precious, unnecessary words are a death sentence.

Consider the following sentence:

"She was so tired that she nearly fell asleep at the wheel."

Throwing a "that" into the middle of a sentence cuts sharply into the flow of the words, causing an uncomfortably staccato effect. As writers, we want our words to roll smoothly through the reader's mind, flowing naturally from sentence to sentence. The choppy interruption caused by an unnecessary "that" is what we strive to avoid.

Now, consider the same sentence with the word "that" removed:

"She was so tired she nearly fell asleep at the wheel."

Has the meaning been changed by removing the word "that"? No, not at all. In fact, the sentence is streamlined and flows much more smoothly without the word "that" buried in the center.

In reviewing the common usage of the word "that," you'll find most instances of the word are unwarranted. We've reached the point where we use it out of habit instead of necessity. The writing contained in a screenplay or manuscript should be based on necessity, on using as few words as possible to convey your intended meaning. Using "that" where it isn't needed only detracts from the quality of your material.

Review your screenplays and manuscripts with a fine-toothed comb — or better yet, a red pen — and cross out every unnecessary "that" you encounter. If you're unsure of whether a "that" is really necessary, read the sentence aloud a few times, leaving out the word. If the sentence still makes sense without including the "that", the word isn't needed.

Here are a few examples to get you started on the path to eliminating the unnecessary "that":

UNNECESSARY

She told me that she would be home in time for dinner.

I can't believe that he's capable of murder.

He was at home the night that she was murdered.

Make sure that you know what sort of person you're dealing with.

She glances at the photo that is sitting on the nightstand.

NECESSARY

The minute he laid eyes on her, he realized he'd never truly loved anyone until that moment.

Do you remember what you saw that night?

That she had a fiery temper was already a well-known fact.

Resisting the urge to include extensive detail when writing a screenplay as you would when writing a novel is a difficult challenge for a screenwriter to overcome. Most writers who choose the screenwriting field do so because they think in film — they imagine their stories unfolding shot by shot, scene by scene, image by image.

The job of the screenwriter is to convey those vivid images and scenes to the reader. This is often confused with the director's job of determining how certain scenes should be filmed. Deciding where to place the cameras, which actors to focus on, and when to pan or when to include a close-up are all factors that will be up to the director, not the writer.

So the question remains. How can you, as the writer, direct the reader's mind to imagine your film as you envisioned it, shot by shot and image by image?

The answer — through the use of white space.

One immediately noticeable difference between script format and manuscript format is the amount of white space included on every page of a script. In a screenplay, the ratio of blank space to text is high.

White space is the screenwriter's ally.

How does the use of white space help you? First, breaking your action and description into smaller sections makes the script seem as if it reads quickly, giving the reader the effect that your story also moves quickly. A story that moves quickly is more likely to hold a reader's attention.

Smaller sections of action draw the reader's eye down the page. Screenwriters should make their best effort to limit sections of action and description to a maximum of five or six lines. Several consecutive smaller sections of action will appeal to a reader more than one large paragraph of action.

Second, it provides the writer with a method of delivering the story shot by shot, in essence "directing" the film as it plays through the reader's mind.

Screenwriters should not write the screenplay by directing the camera shots, since describing specific camera angles serves as a reminder to the readers that they are reading a script. Your goal is to get readers so caught up in your story they forget they're reading a script.

Camera directions should be reserved for the shooting script and the director. Screenwriters must use the writing of action and description to depict the story exactly as they want the readers to see it in their mind. The best way to achieve this is by breaking that description into smaller pieces, illustrating the action step by step based on how you envision the shots on screen.

A terrific example of this can be found in the following excerpt from Jeb Stuart's Die Hard script. (Please note, due to how some internet browsers display text, the following segment should not be used as a guideline for proper screenplay format.)

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Notice that although this is one scene with continuous action, the action is broken up into smaller pieces. On the script page itself, none of these sections of action is more than three lines long. Each of those pieces represents a shot:

Shot #1 – The elevator door opens and Hans emerges.

Shot #2 – Theo enters the room and gives Hans the computer card.

Shot #3 – Hans uses the card to lock the door.

Shot #4 – Hans surveys the quiet street.

As the reader, you get a clear mental image of each shot as the action unfolds. Breaking the description into smaller pieces does not disrupt the flow of the action. In fact, it propels the action forward. It reads quickly, and offering the action in smaller segments creates a rhythm.

Smaller sections also mean fewer words. As a screenwriter you must learn to write economically — using as few words as possible to describe the action — and your description must be crafted using the most vivid words you can find to portray the image.

Standard disclaimer: Please note, web browsers do not allow for the presentation of a screenplay in its correct format. Excerpts and examples of screenplays found in these articles should not be used as examples of proper screenplay format. To learn how to properly format your screenplay, David Trottier's The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script is an excellent reference.

You may have written the most riveting piece of dramatic work in existence to date. Your dialogue may be perfect. Your characters may seem so real they beg to jump right off the page. Your story may rival those of Oscar-winning screenplays. It might even be so good as to put those stories to shame, but if your script never gets off the reader's desk, no one will ever know.

It's well known that readers are the gatekeepers of the film industry. It is also well known that while most readers would rather be doing anything but reading, they still spend countless hours making their way through stacks of scripts in the hopes of finding the next big blockbuster. The late-night caffeine-induced decision of one reader could be the turning point of your screenwriting career.

So how do you make certain that decision is in your favor?

Avoiding common mistakes is a key factor. There are 99 times as many bad screenplays as there are good ones. New screenwriters often take that as an exaggeration. Trust me, it's not. I was a judge in an annual screenwriting contest for several years, and we received hundreds and hundreds of entries every year, yet in some years we were hard-pressed to find ten scripts good enough to be selected as finalists in the competition.

Readers can spot a bad screenplay right away. No matter how terrific your story is, these common errors may cause a reader to overlook the quality of the story in the face of everything else. To a reader, these errors make your script look like the unprofessional work of a newcomer. They indicate a writer who hasn't taken the time to research the details of the industry and his chosen career. Once readers spot these mistakes, it's all uphill from there. They may relegate your masterpiece to the bottom of the slush pile for last-resort reading or skip it entirely.

Steer clear of these typical errors and your script won't be branded unprofessional:

1. Frequent spelling and grammar mistakes

Frequent spelling mistakes and grammatical errors are number one on any reader's hit list. Take the time to proofread your script several times. Have friends or family members proofread it for you, or enlist the aid of a professional proofreader. Never rely solely on your word-processor's spellcheck function. Though it has improved over the years, spellcheck is still notoriously inadequate, especially with its inconsistent ability to point out incorrect homonym usage. (Think their/there/they're, or to/too/two, or your/you're.)

2. Improper script format

Improper format is a big tip-off that the writer hasn't studied the industry guidelines. There are very specific standards for the layout of action, slug lines, character names and dialogue. There are many books and articles that explain script format in detail. David Trottier's The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script is an excellent reference.

There are several software programs that will format your script for you as you write. A script-formatting program can be an invaluable timesaving tool for the writer. The two most popular programs are Final Draft and Movie Magic Screenwriter. Both programs offer many features beyond simply formatting your script.

3. Brightly colored paper and/or script covers

Many writers believe copying their script on colored paper or binding it in a brightly colored notebook will make it stand out. They're right. It definitely will make the script stand out. In fact, not only will it make the script stand out, it will make it scream, "I'm written by a beginner!"

Never copy your script on colored paper. It's harsh on the eyes, making your script more difficult to read and hence, more frustrating and less appealing to the reader. The industry standard calls for white paper, with a cardstock binding in white, ivory or light gray. Cardstock is available at any office supply store.

Your script should be three-hole punched and bound with two or three brass brads or script-screws. Make sure the brads are long enough to tightly secure the pages of your script but not so long as to be lethal stabbing devices capable of injuring the reader. Never trim the brads with scissors to make them shorter as that tends to make their edges razor-sharp.

4. Using a non-standard font

Typing in any font other than Courier 12 pt will make your script stand out in a bad way, as will using bold-faced or italic type. You may use capital letters to emphasize a word, but even that technique should be used sparingly.

5. Including illustrations, music or casting suggestions

Never include illustrations, photographs, or your suggestions for music or casting. While you may think Brad Pitt is the ideal actor to play your lead role, that's a decision for the casting director, not the writer. You may think illustrations or photographs will help the reader visualize the events in your story, but your writing should do that on its own.

How to grab the reader's attention

It may seem like the goal is to make your script stand out as little as possible, to make it blend in with the thousands of other scripts out there and do nothing whatsoever to catch the reader's eye. Make it your writing that stands out, not the font or the color of the paper. The real goal is to make the reader as comfortable as possible while reading your script so the power of your story grabs the reader's attention and holds it until the very end.