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Marilyn Horowitz

Marilyn Horowitz

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Trick or Treat

November 1, 2019 by Marilyn Horowitz

Happy Friday and belated Halloween!

Halloween is a favorite holiday, and my friend Lisa Okochi, a wellness coach and tango dancer and I competed in the All Night Milonga for best costume and won as “Double Trouble.”

     
The way we chose the costume would make a fun exercise to dig into the psyche of a current character you’re working with in a story. For example, one of my colleagues wore ordinary clothes and a baseball cap with a patch on the front that read, “This is my costume”, and another came as a leprechaun, and he was 6’3”!

The Halloween Costume Exercise:

  1. Set a timer for fifteen minutes.
  2. Decide where your character is (home, office, etc.) and what makes them decide to buy a costume, or not.
  3. Imagine your character (s) going into a Halloween pop up shop where any costume is available. Imagine the character walking past costumes for witches, vampires, Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, devils, law enforcement, etc.  Now, make a snap decision, as if you were your character, about which one, if any, they would select.
  4. Briefly describe them getting dressed.
  5. Have them enter wherever they’re going, a party, club,” trick or treating,” and write about what happens.
  6. Have them say why they selected the costume.
  7. Repeat for Villain or Obstacle, and Buddy or Love Interest.

___________________________________________________________________________

Interview with Ethan Freckleton.

I was recently interviewed by Ethan: https://www.ethanfreckleton.com/the-fearless-storyteller/
for his new podcast show and you can hear my interview on screenwriting starting November 4 from 7:00 AM EST.

Ethan’s a writer and coach as well as a radio personality, and I recommend  that you subscribe to his podcast as he is full of great information and a very fun guy!

It was really fun getting to talk about The Four Magic Questions of Screenwriting, and I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Save this link:
https://www.ethanfreckleton.com/simple-isnt-always-easy-with-professor-marilyn-horowitz/

Have fun, you’ll learn a lot about your characters and yourselves!

Here’s to your successful writing,

Professor Marilyn Horowitz

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Thank you. If it hadn’t been for you Marilyn, I don’t think I would have made the Woodstock film which… Read more “Nancy C.”

I’m very grateful to be able to learn from Marilyn, Her focus on the psychological and spiritual foundations necessary to… Read more ““…grateful to learn from Marilyn””

Marilyn’s techniques helped me stop overthinking and start writing! She gave me exercises to take the pressure off beginning a… Read more “The Word of the Day”

You are always a light. Thank you.

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“Working with Marilyn Horowitz has challenged every aspect of my creative process from conception to preparation, and most importantly, execution.… Read more “– Larry Lowry”

- Larry Lowry
Writer/Producer, Nickelodeon
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