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?