Lessons from My Favorite Actor

Actors spend too much time, according to Caine, comparing themselves to other actors.  “What they really should be doing is competing with themselves, not with someone else,” Caine says in the interview.  “It’s unhealthy to worry about other people – get on with your own life.”  The same can be said of writers.  While it is a good idea to read, read, read, it is unhealthy to fret about how well other authors are doing, or to try to find ways to imitate the best sellers, to come up with the next hot gimmick.  Just write what you know, write what you feel, and if you aren’t satisfied with that work, then write again and strive to do better.  Find your own voice.  Be yourself.  And each time you write, try to do a better job than you did before.

Mr. Caine said, “Learn how to read a script.  If you read the first ten pages and the last ten pages, and nothing has happened to your character, you can be pretty sure nothing’s going to happen to you in between.”  Great advice for the writer who is weak in the area of characterization.  This was one of my weaknesses long ago, until I learned that great characters are those who are pro-active, and who change somehow (learn a lesson, perhaps) at the book’s end.  So take a minute to read the first and last pages of your novel.  Has anything happened to your main character?  Is he or she passive?  Are they motivated?  Do they have goals?  And most important, has anything significant happened to them at the end?  If you answer no to these, then chances are the middle of your book is flat.


Finally, Mr. Caine offers us this pearl of wisdom: “Success comes from doing, not waiting.”  Don’t wait for inspiration – make inspiration.  If you don’t have a brilliant idea for the Great American Novel, don’t just sit there waiting for it to come to you, write a paragraph about your dog.

Now if you will pardon me, I have a movie to go see

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