Posts tagged writing
The Adventure
To face your fear of writing, right now, is to break though the personal jail cell that you have created. It will release you from the insecurity that holds you back and open you to the unknown adventure that lies ahead.
But first you must let go of the safety you hold onto, the security that holds you back. It will be the beginning of the death of the old self, the one that makes excuses as to why you are not doing the work.
The adventure is on the other side. The thrill and the excitement of the work is waiting.
Sketching with a Sharpie
Fun for me is building the first vision of a new script with a marker and a big pad of paper. Jason Fried, from 37signals, reminded me how it also helps to “ignore the details” that cripples many writers early in the process.
Script by Fire/Edit by Fire - Fall/Winter 2009
I am excited and feel honored to be asked back by Gordon from the Filmpool to teach another round of Script by Fire. They are also giving me the chance to do a new class: Edit by Fire. Spots are limited, so sign up early.
Hope you can be a part of it.
Design Club: Why young American designers are ganging up
After recently putting the Screenwriter’s Group on hiatus until the new year, I came across this great article about designs clubs that “support emerging design in the United States by raising the visibility of young designers, helping them find an audience and, ultimately, structure a business.”
I would love to see this idea applied to help young, upcoming screenwriters. It is definitely something I am going to be thinking about over the next few months.
Rework
I can’t wait to get my hands on this book. From 37signals: Rework will be in bookstores on March 9, 2010. You can also pre-order it today on Amazon.com.
Unique Storyboard Method: Receipt Tape
This would be great a way breaking a story using different colored markers for the different plots. The best part is you could rip and move the parts around.
Unique Storyboard Method: Receipt Tape | Duarte Blog
(via Nancy Duarte/thank you @michaelSurtees)
Too Much
There is a line you have to be careful not to cross once you move past writer’s block and get going again. It is the line of doing too much.
Once you realize that you can do this, that it is not hard, that it is actually freeing, you begin to take on more. It is a good place to be but a dangerous one as well.
You have waited so long, you now value the lost time and are trying to reclaim it. Now you risk bogging down again but this time you are at the opposite end, overwhelmed by projects.
Overwork can be as bad as no work. Take a step back and relax. Embrace the time and relationships you have reclaimed. Doing the work is about enjoying it at a regular sustainable pace.
Good writing.
Good journeys
I have been thinking about you a lot lately. I want you to be writing. I want you to be overcoming the fears that may be holding you back. I want you to be discovering that all it requires is a little bit of effort on a regular basis to accomplish amazing things. I want you to quit waiting for the right time and embrace now. This blog, at present, is about taking those first steps to becoming a writer. I won’t wish you good luck because it is not about luck. It is about the journey, taking a step at a time, even in fear, towards your destination. In only seconds (maybe 8), you can discover how awesome you can be.
The Genius of Later
Your first pass of a story is the closed-door session. It is the story session. It is about you listening and writing what you hear.
The challenge is to keep yourself out of the way. You need to ignore the nagging voice in your head that questions what’s going on the page. You have to put it off by telling it, “Not right now. We’ll sort this out later.”
Avoid challenging the story too much in the early stages. Let it play itself out and allow yourself to discover it. Afterwards, go back and clean it up.
The guts of your story happens in those early days. It is in the many rewrites afterward, that you’ll discover the genius of what you were trying to say.
The most important step
The biggest challenge when you begin to write is to get past the notion that things are supposed to look a certain way.
Often, the questions beginning writers ask are: How do I write a slug-line? How do I do a voice-over or a person speaking off-screen? How much description do I give of a place or person? When do I capitalize words, sounds, or names?
Formatting is a skill that can be learned with time. Similarily, it is pointless worrying about how to get an agent or a producer to see your script even before you have one ready to show.
The most important first step is to start writing and start finding the action of your story: Somebody wants something but something is in the way. This is how they try to get around it and either they get it or they don’t. Then what happens?
Just write
If I have one goal, it is for you to write.
There are no real secrets anymore. The information can be found online and free. If you don’t trust it, keep searching until you realize the same ideas are repeated over and over. If you still don’t trust it, buy a couple of books and follow the advice. Just write.
If you don’t know how to format your script, get one of the many free programs that are online. If you don’t trust them, buy one of the expensive programs. If you don’t have the money, quit complaining. If you don’t have a computer, then grab pen and paper. Just write.
Now practice. Write over and over, again and again. Write till the pen runs out of ink and get a new pen. Write till your head aches and your hand cramps from pecking at the keys too long.
Learn from your mistakes. Do it better the next time. Get past the theory of reading books and following the advice of teachers and turn it into wisdom.
That’s the reason this blog exists.
Resisting Structure
Acts are containers to hold your story. If you are using Classical Act form, you have 4 containers.
Now add another container or take one away. You story is reshaped, requiring you to make new choices of to tell it.
Often, beginning writers resist Classic Act structure and dump structure entirely, then flounder as they try and find the shape of their story.
Structure is a tool to help you get from the beginning of your story to the end. How many acts you choose to tell it is up to you.
Your Choice
There is no simpler way for me to tell you this: If you want to write, you can do it. It’s up to you.
I hear a lot of reasons why people don’t write. They always sound good but they have to be because they aren’t for me. They are for the people giving me the excuse. I know because I used a lot of them before I started writing again.
It took time and energy to lie to myself and others why I wasn’t writing. If I was working back then at the pace I am now, I could have completed at least 90 drafts, I could have been past my 10,000 mistakes and my 10,000 hours of practise. I regret now that time I wasted.
Now, it is your time to choose but remember it has nothing to do about time, or money, or skill, or talent, or the right writing tools, or a place to write.
It is about you making the choice to begin.
This is for when there is nothing
Write. Do the work.
This is a part of the practice of becoming a writer. It is about making the mistakes and writing ugly stuff. It is about learning what you like and what you hate. It is about not letting yourself pretend that you are working just because you are researching or thinking about the story or waiting for inspiration.
It is about learning about how you work and that learn to run on empty is sometimes the process and then, at the end of it, for the rest of the day, fill the well.
Why the writer crossed the road
Wil Shipley said on MacBreak Weekly that while he was listening to Malcolm Gladwell’s new book “Outliers”that he wondered when he passed his 10 years in programming or what Kimon Nicolaides called the first “10,000 mistakes.”
Those that aren’t writing are frightened about the 10 years ahead. Those that have been practicing their craft most of their life get to look at when it finally worked for them.
The only way to get to the other side is through the work.
Allow mistakes and be courageous in the sucking.
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