The Helsinki Bus Station Theory
Francesco Francesco

The Helsinki Bus Station Theory

The Helsinki Bus Station Theory is a popular metaphor used by the Finnish photographer Arno Rafael Minkkinen to explain the artistic journey towards originality.

It is powerful.

It is true.

And I live by it.

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26 hours on the road with my wife, baby and dog
Francesco Francesco

26 hours on the road with my wife, baby and dog

I’m ok.

I am, seriously, but I’ve been awake too many hours in the last 3 days to write a full-length article; I hope you’ll understand.

Instead, I wanted to share the fact that even my life is following the 3 act structure.

How? I’m glad you asked

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Why Quantity Leads to Quality
Francesco Francesco

Why Quantity Leads to Quality

The more I dived into writing, the more I understood the concept that “Quantity leads to quality,” but I needed to find my own “pottery class” to fully appreciate how improvement and practice are closely linked, even in subjective pursuits, like art.

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What Happens at a Great Writing Festival
Francesco Francesco

What Happens at a Great Writing Festival

A second-person account of my day at the I AM Writing Festival, Winchester, in June.

That’s a festival like no others, and the amazing Sarah and Elane managed to exceed my already sky-high expectations.

I hope to see you all there next year!

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Don’t be ashamed of what you like
Francesco Francesco

Don’t be ashamed of what you like

At the end of the day, you don’t have to like Dostoevsky to consider yourself a reader. Read what you like, watch what you like, and listen to the music you like. Life is too brief to worry about judgment.

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What we can learn from “Inventing Anna,” by Shonda Rhimes
Francesco Francesco

What we can learn from “Inventing Anna,” by Shonda Rhimes

How did Shonda Rhimes glued me to a story I shouldn’t care about on paper?

This is a hard question to answer. Frustrating, even, and yet compelling, just like “Inventing Anna,” a Netflix Original Series retelling the true-ish story of Anna Delvey; a con artist who almost deceived the entire city of New York.

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What it’s like to have a kid
Francesco Francesco

What it’s like to have a kid

I’ve always assumed that becoming a parent was like an on/off button. One day you’re an irresponsible teenager with a mortgage, the following you crack dad jokes and get aroused by the sight of barbecue grilles for sale, but I was wrong.

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Love to Automate, Automate to Love
Francesco Francesco

Love to Automate, Automate to Love

Automation of labour has been, since the industrial revolution, probably the worst nightmare of the working class. But if for decades the threat was only addressed to manual skills, easily out-powered by the relentless force of steel and fire, the advent of personal computers has extended the menace from muscles to brains.

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The Advantage of Responsibilities
Francesco Francesco

The Advantage of Responsibilities

My wife’s my greatest supporter. She goes to the extent that, I think, I wouldn’t be writing at all if it wasn’t for her. She wanted to make sure that I would write as much as I could while relieved of father's duties; and yet, this has been my least productive week since my daughter was born.

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We Got Writer’s Block Wrong
Francesco Francesco

We Got Writer’s Block Wrong

Treating writer’s block as a disease is like taking anti-acids for your stress-related indigestion. It’s a quick fix, yes, but doesn’t solve the problem.

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3 lessons from Writing the Weird, by JS Breukelaar on Litreactor
Francesco Francesco

3 lessons from Writing the Weird, by JS Breukelaar on Litreactor

I write weird stuff.

I’ve always been aware of it, even if unconsciously, but little did I know that other people wrote weird staff too, and some of them are really good at it.

When I saw the course “Writing the Weird” taught by the outstanding JS Breukelaar on Litreactor, I didn’t know what to expect, but I had to sign up.

And, oh boy, I was up for a trip.

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20 Questions to help you develop your characters (11 - 20)
Francesco Francesco

20 Questions to help you develop your characters (11 - 20)

The simplest, most common and yet effective way to outline a complex character is with a questionnaire. Try to Google it. No, really. I’ll wait. Done? As you might have noticed, there are millions of pages with lists of questions that vary from 6 to 300 or more; and I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve indulged in a ridiculous number of them.

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20 Questions to help you develop your characters (1 - 10)
Francesco Francesco

20 Questions to help you develop your characters (1 - 10)

The simplest, most common and yet effective way to outline a complex character is with a questionnaire. Try to Google it. No, really. I’ll wait. Done? As you might have noticed, there are millions of pages with lists of questions that vary from 6 to 300 or more; and I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve indulged in a ridiculous number of them.

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How to write your first novel
Francesco Francesco

How to write your first novel

During my first year of university, I decided I wanted to write a novel. So I thought about a story, opened up a word document and—BOOM—believe it or not, two years later the novel was still unwritten.

After years of writing consistently in the gaps of a busy life, I think I found a set of tricks that work very well for me, keeping my writing nearly consistent even during the most challenging times.

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The 5 stages of Novel Writing
Francesco Francesco

The 5 stages of Novel Writing

2021 started without a major project. I had time to polish a few short stories and learn more about the craft of writing, yes, but I was yearning for a new novel I could fall in love with.

You could say that, in a sense, I was grieving the absence of a worthwhile big commitment; something that would last for months, or years, and that required tons of research, frustration, euphoria, self-doubt and courage.

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5 Newsletters I’m not ready to unsubscribe from in 2022
Francesco Francesco

5 Newsletters I’m not ready to unsubscribe from in 2022

While I try to summon the digital spirit of Marie Kondo—I needed a Christmas Miracle to go through my Instapaper list of articles—I unsubscribed from all the newsletters I didn’t have time to read, remaining with only 5 worthy survivors.

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5 Magazines that Have Rejected Me in 2021
Francesco Francesco

5 Magazines that Have Rejected Me in 2021

even if none of the magazines listed below published me, they all kindly replied letting me know that they had at least read my submission. Some of them sent back words of encouragement, some have been a bit more robotic; but they all replied.

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Top 10 Books of 2021
Francesco Francesco

Top 10 Books of 2021

Another year, another endless list of books I was supposed to pick up, a list of books I never finished and, though not as long as the other two, a list of books I have indeed read.

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3 Lessons from “Scenes from a Marriage,” by Hagai Levi
Francesco Francesco

3 Lessons from “Scenes from a Marriage,” by Hagai Levi

Last weekend, just before my (non-English-speaking) mother in law came to visit, my wife and I devoured "Scenes from a Marriage," directed by Hagai Levi and starring Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain. We loved it so much, we ended up preparing the spare room in the middle of the night—which, for us, starts at 11 pm.

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