Attention to Detail
I happened to be reading a movie, and I got to a scene in which a man in his late 20s or early 30s was packing his bags and preparing to go on vacation. The action described him zipping up his bag and then taking his airline ticket off the desk and putting it in the outside pocket of the suitcase.
When was the last time you flew without an e-ticket?
At that point, I was done. I knew I wasn't in the hands of a storyteller who thought first about reality and then about the conventions of the movie screen, i.e. all those recycled movie moments that are deeply embedded in our brain. One of your first jobs as a writer is to become aware of the fact that those moments exist inside your head. Your second job is to make sure they go into the trash can and not onto the page.
Reality, not cinema, is king.
