The Plot to Seize the White House: The Shocking True Story of the Conspiracy to Overthrow FDR Review

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(More customer reviews)Excellent attractive and inexpensively priced paperback edition of the Jules Archer classic. It is terrific to have this wonderful book back in print again!
The book tells the shocking true story of how United States Marine Corps Major General Smedley Darlington Butler was the savior of our Republic from a fascist plot by Wall Street plutocratic militarists in the early 1930s.
Author Jules Archer is featured in The History Channel documentary, The Plot To Overthrow FDR, a concise summary of this exceptional book. This program is available for viewing at Google Video.
For more on Butler and the attempted 1930's fascist coup d'etat against FDR, see my Amazon.com Listmania! book and video list, Smedley Darlington Butler.

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Most people will be shocked to learn that in 1933 a cabal of wealthy industrialists—in league with groups like the K.K.K. and the American Liberty League—planned to overthrow the U.S. government in a fascist coup. Their plan was to turn discontented veterans into American "brown shirts," depose F.D.R., and stop the New Deal. They clandestinely asked Medal of Honor recipient and Marine Major General Smedley Darlington Butler to become the first American Caesar. He, though, was a true patriot and revealed the plot to journalists and to Congress. In a time when a sitting President has invoked national security to circumvent constitutional checks and balances, this episode puts the spotlight on attacks upon our democracy and the individual courage needed to repel them.

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How to Write a Movie in 21 Days: The Inner Movie Method Review

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(More customer reviews)...at least not one that's actually sellable, or that has enough depth and craftsmanship to survive in the real-world marketplace. To think otherwise is to be laughably naive. Having said that, I strongly recommend this book!
Why the discrepancy? Simple. I've been writing for years, off and on. I've read dozens of screenwriting books, and taken a few of the big screenwriting courses. I've started writing about 50 screenplays, and completed about 3 of them.
One of the troubles I had (sound familiar?), is that I would begin writing, get about 30 or 40 pages into it, and then stop. Either I went off-course, I began to hate my concept or characters, thought my writing was atrocious, or came up with "a better idea." The result? Dozens of half-completed screenplays.
A writer writes. And writing is re-writing. You'll never fully appreciate these clichés until you ACTUALLY SIT DOWN AND WRITE! And don't stop!
The script I wrote when I actually APPLIED this book (about 2 years after I bought it) was written in about 48 days. Hmmph! But you know what? It was WRITTEN. It was complete. It was my first, fully-completed screenplay. And it was actually pretty darn good.
Truth be told, when you finish writing the script Viki King helps you get out on paper, it will likely be only a FIRST DRAFT. Chances are, there'll be a lot more work to do. Re-writing. Making it more organic. Adding depth and breadth to your characters. Expanding your subplots and building elements necessary to your story that Viki's book overlooks (things experience will teach you). But if you've never written a screenplay before (or never completed one you like), this book will talk you through it. And it will give you the basic tools needed to actually complete it. Because before you can re-write, hone, and perfect... you need to get it on paper in the first place!
Make no mistake about it. If you buy into the idea that you'll get this book and have a sellable screenplay a month later, you'll be disappointed. You're not a writer. You're a get-rich-quick wishful thinker. Writing screenplays is a tough business, let alone a difficult process. It just doesn't happen overnight.
The power and beauty of this book is its ability (if you actually FOLLOW it) to help you get through the battle that happens inside, when you sit down to write. It will get your script on paper. It will make you a writer. The quality of your writing gets better with experience. Applying the principles of this book will give you that experience.
Also: Others have accused this book of being "spiritual". It's not. It's motivational, it's inspirational, it's conversational. Just what a first-time or would-be writer needs to overcome his battle with himself.
Some people talk. Other people act. Those who act will get value out of this book.
As I write this review, the script I wrote (in, umm, 48 days) is currently in post-production. And the script I'm working on now is even better.
It's a process. And this is a wonderful first step. A wonderful tool to help you through the self-imposed barriers to succeeding at this craft.

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20 Master Plots: And How to Build Them Review

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(More customer reviews)If you've looked inside the book yet then you've noted the twenty master plots that are exposed in this book. So I won't list them here.
For each one there is an example, an analysis of the example and a three-act structure for using the plot. There is also a checklist at the end of each plot so you have some idea what you should be doing to develop this plot in a successful manner.
eg plot 3 the pursuit: the checklist is
* the chase is more important than the people who take part in it
* Make sure there's a real danger of the pursued getting caught
* your pursuer should have a reasonable chance of catching the pursued; they may even catch them momentarily
* rely heavily on physical action
* Your story and your characters should be stimulating, engaging and unique
* Develop your characters and situations against type to avoid cliches
* keep your situations as geographically confined as possible; the smaller the area the greater the tension
* The first dramatic phase should have 3 stages. a) establish the ground rules for the chase b) establish the stakes and c)start the race with a motivating incident
okay this book does a slightly cookbook feel about plot developement, but for those new to the game, what's wrong with getting a little support and help? Consider it a training manual for plotting! And sure you might not agree with the checklists and the manner...but don't you see, that it's getting you thinking about it too! So even if you hate it, you still gain because it pushes you to refute or accept or partially accept what it presents, and this requires effort. Effort creates thought, which leads to understanding and the development of your own ideas! So where's the problem! The only problem is if you're looking for a 'do-it-for-me'...sorry you miss out here.
Apart from the exposition of each of the 20 plots there are chapters (as listed in the table of contents) involving triangular relationships, structure, motivations, the basics of plotting: the things that are always the same.
Seriously for $10 you get a lot of book. It has some really useful content here. I am an engineer and have written two fictional novels (neither published, since I never realy tried to get them published). Yeah scary huh? A literate engineer! That aside, it appeals to my 'generalize the solution space' nature and make a solution that is readily acceptable, decipherable and accessible (there was once a british engineer who went to the local library, found out the most popular childrens books, analyzed them for the common characteristics and plots and then wrote his own...hey it's ugly but it worked!)
Just remember that there is no substitute for actually writing. Nothing will write for you. It is not a panacea. It won't give you ideas nor will it make you a good wordsmith. It will guide and help you to develop one of the major stumbling blocks in writing: having a story that actually goes somewhere (you just have to be sure you avoid being 'formulaic' and applying a given plot too rigidly- remember it's a guide, not a blueprint!). Great characters doing nothing don't interest too many poeple outside of the literary criticism clique. I'm sure it makes them cringe because one doesn't do these things...circumventing the process of suffering for ones art.
Great value for money, well written, using examples we all know and it's cheap. What more could you want? Definitely 5 stars!

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This book shows the reader how to take timeless storytelling structures and make them immediate, now, for fiction that's universal in how it speaks to the reader's heart and contemporary in detail and impact.Each chapter includes brief excerpts and descriptions of fiction from many times, many genres - myth and fairy tale, genre and mainstream fiction, film plots of all types, short story and novel. Find 20 fundamental plots that recur through all fiction - with analysis and examples - that outline benefits and warnings, for writers to adapt and elaborate in their own fiction.Ronald B. Tobias has spent his career as a writer moving from genre to genre, first as a short story writer, then as an author of fiction and nonfiction books and finally as a writer and producer of documentaries for public television. He is currently a professor in the Department of Media and Theatre Arts at Montana State University and the author of The Insider's Guide to Writing for Screen and Television. He lives in Bozeman, Montana.

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Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting Review

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(More customer reviews)Reading reader reviews of books on writing for the screen is about like reading reviews of movies: There's a lot of disagreement between the eyes of beholders. I sometimes think I should ask the reviewers at Mr. Showbiz what I should get high on before going to see what they consider a masterpiece.
"Screenplay" was sent to me by a movie producer who asked me to write a screenplay for a book I wrote. When I lamented that I knew nothing about writing screenplays, he said the book he'd just read proved to him I could write; all I needed was to understand some important aspects of the screenplay vs. the book.
I've learned a lot from Syd Field. "Screenplay" clearly showed me the visual aspects of film, "It's all about pictures," Field stresses over and over. If I learned nothing else from him, how to put a screenplay into professional format would make "Screenplay" worth the trip.
Sure, I had to study the book, go back over it several times before I got this, or that. But gosh, diving into writing screenplays isn't like a lesson in Microsoft Windows -- click here, drag that over there.
There's a lot to learn, and Syd Field offers a lot of guidance for the serious student. I don't care if he's never written a screenplay. Some of the very best book editors wrote nothing except editorial marks on others' works. The fabled Scribner's editor of old, Max Perkins, who brought some of their best out of Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway, James Jones, Marjorie Kennan Rawlings, etc. etc., never wrote a book.
I'll say this: If you want to read a book on screenplays and put it down with the feeling you're ready to roll, don't bother with anybody's book on the subject. But if you really want to learn, if you have the requisite creativity -- AND gritty energy -- you'll get your money's worth from Syd Field's "Screenplay."
Also, his "Four Screenplays" has been very helpful to me. Field has a way of reinforcing things by saying them a different way, in a different setting. I really didn't get his advice to "get into a scene late and get out early" until I read this book. And didn't he pick some dandies? "Thelma and Louise" and "The Silence of the Lambs" are the two I studied most diligently, and what a ride it's been. Two great, great movies, to my mind, both demonstrating what Syd Field repeatedy shows us are important elements of fine screenplays.
One other thing, Field's coaching has put a tiny new edge on my writing skills as regards books, too, a benefit he probably didn't expect a writer would obtain.

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