If there's one topic you'll often see me ranting about it's art, and how important it is for screenwriters to not only see their work as art, but themselves as artists, with strong artistic voices that have been actively developed over time. We have a terrible culture within various communities where art is treated like a dirty word. If you've been led into feeling that way, perhaps this article from Ville Nummenpää will help you see the light - CJ

We've all been there, wanting opinions on our work that are hopefully positive and motivating while fearing the feedback that comes back is actually so negative it invalidates the dreams we are chasing. Anyone who's gone through the process of critical review should know how brutal it can be and how much tougher it gets when your work is out there in the public domain. We live in an age where people with no credentials put themselves on pedestals and tell the world how to go about its business, and in this article Ville Nummenpää gives some advice on how to survive it all - CJ

Those of you who know me personally will know I'm a huge metal-head, and those of you that know me artistically will know I'm all about gritty filmmaking. Tone, genre, texture, voice, whatever you want to call it tends to be the one thing that ties all our writing together, but it's easy to lose track if you fall into the trap of trying to please the masses. In this article, Ville Nummenpää does a great job of explaining how some projects have a dark soul while others feel a bit too plastic - CJ 

Within the first paragraph of Ville Nummenpää's latest blog post you should already have an idea of where it's going as it's a conundrum and trap many of us creatives fall into and become familiar with. This amusing article should serve as a healthy reminder just how quickly things can unravel and the madness can take over as we descend, quite literally in this case, into pure development soup. What's that old saying about too many cooks again? - CJ

Good stories teach us something and take us on an emotional rollercoaster through the process. Those emotions need to be varied; from feeling elated to feeling mortified and everything in between. There's no denying that we can very violent animals and face very violent realties and, in this blog post, Ville Nummenpää makes a well rounded and slightly tongue-in-cheek case for including violent content within cinema and ultimately within our writing - CJ

I've known a few perfectionists in my life and, as a result, I consider myself lucky to be what I call an "eighty-percenter" - someone who can get great results fast and comfortably walk away before it gets too intense. Perfectionism is often overly romanticised and typically an incapacitating burden for those plagued by it. In this article, Ville Nummenpää makes a good argument for choosing our heroes wisely and keeping the pedal to the metal with both eyes fixed on the creative horizon - CJ

The key to entertaining screenwriting lies in provoking a range of emotions in the audience. One of those most powerful emotions, so powerful in fact it surpasses the typical need to adhere only to beats that drive the story forward, is humour. In this article, Ville Nummenpää, a man who is far funnier than he claims he is, breaks down some of the core elements of this black art in a way that's so simple even I can understand it - CJ