A Story is a Promise


A Story 
is a Promise

Essays on the Craft of Writing
I've created a site on YouTube called Oregon Writers Speak. It includes two clips by Elizabeth Lyon speaking about writing query letters and writing with voice and myself speaking about deep characterization.
About the Author

Movie Reviews

A Story is a Promise and the Spirit of Storytelling is now available from Amazon Kindle for $2.99, and also available on Smashwords for other ebook formats, including Nook, Sony, and Kobo.
on Twitter.
Bill Johnson
A photo of Bill Johnson, author of A Story is a Promise and the Spirit of Storytelling.

I review movies to help teach structure in screenwriting and to give students in my classes a stronger idea of how to write a movie script. I've found many writers believe they are doing what successful writers are doing, but they aren't. So when I review movies in a class, I ask the dramatic purpose of each scene. I found that until most writers can answer that kind of question, they are guessing about what to do in a scene.

I review the following movies. Full reviews of many other films are now only available in an ebook available on Smashwords, Kernels to Storytelling Mastery


  • The Usual Suspects


  • This is a great film about the power of will, and the difference between story and plot.

  • Toto le hero


  • This story about an elderly man who has spent his life 'living in his head' is one of my favorite foreign films.

  • L. A. Confidential


  • Illusion, reality, and identity in a wonderful film about corruption in the L.A. Police department.
  • Shawshank Redemption


  • A man has to go to prision to free himself of the prison cell of his life.

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