The Other Way
My last entry actually received a comment (from someone who I don't know personally, lol) from a professional writer who appears to be completely offended by this blog.
They suggest the "Just Dot It" approach to writing -- popular with most authors, to be sure -- in which you don't ponder structure and stuff, you just write.
In case you -- whoever you are, in whatever stage of writing you may be -- haven't already read/heard this approach, this is a great example of it...
With a very noteable exception: This guy/gal actually gives time deadlines, which are exceedingly helpful! Most people who say "just do it" don't give you any time limit... You just do it when you do it.
So here's a very suscinct and useful example of the "Just Do It" approach:
"If you're going to be a writer, you have to sit down and write. Scripts are nothing more than story and character. I can think of no business where the phrase 'keep it simple, stupid' applies more.
Your schedule should be something like this (using TV as an example): pick a show you think you can write well, watch 5 episodes, take notes, get your hands on 1 or 2 scripts from the show, sketch out a story on a legal pad.
By watching 5 and reading 2 you will quickly realize there are certain elements that are always there (what the show wants) and certain elements that are always different (what the writer contributes that is original). This is what should be in the notes you take.
(By the way, sorry I'm focusing on TV, I see that you interest seems to lie in film, but I'm a TV writer so that's all I have to give you, but I promise it will be helpful either way. Film is similar, so be smart and read between the lines.)
Don't get lost in all this 'index card' crap, index cards are for working staffs on shows where there are so many people on a script that no one can keep track of anything, they're not for individual unemployed writers sitting in their houses not writing. I happen to know that Abrams actually does not use index cards on his own projects (other than posting some bits in the writer's room from time to time), I know he teaches this, but when he writes, he just sits down at a computer and writes from top to bottom until it's done.
Sketching your story on a pad should take about 2 to 3 hours. Now flesh it out, that should take another 4 to 5 hours, make sure you have all the elements that the show you're writing for uses from week to week. The best advice I can give you about this process is make sure you have strong endings to your acts, and make sure the beginnings of your acts resolve whatever mess was left behind by the strong ending you wrote for the previous act. Sit down and watch any 5 hours of primetime television and you will see that every single show follows this formula. Again, film is similar.
This should give you enough to sit down at a computer and start writing your script with dialog from start to finish. That should take approximately 1 to 2 days with plenty of time for breaks to clear your head, get a Pepsi, read a magazine, call a friend, then back to work.
Put it away for a day or two, come back to it and rewrite it from top to bottom, half a day tops.
Put it away again then come back to polish, about 2 to 3 hours, read it once more and send it in.
That's all there is to it. The minute it is in the mail, start your next script.
And I'm serious about these time limits, if you get bogged down any more than this you will never do what needs to be done and, unfortunately, you will never work. And the rest periods are just as important as actual writing time. You need to let your script sit for a day to give it a fresh read. You will see things you can't believe any human being would write, and you will fix them.
Writers write all the time, and we put out at least a script a week, one because we have to and two because that's all the time it takes to deliver a good script. If it's taking you longer you are definitely doing something wrong.
By the time you get to your 5th script, you should be getting pretty good at the process. By 15 or 20 scripts you should have a decent agent on your side, and by 30 scripts or show you should have landed your first job, even if it's only an assignment.
One final piece of real advice: if you want to get noticed fast in Hollywood, write a movie. It will never get made, but it will get your phone ringing. Use the exact same process I gave you here, but give yourself 3 or 4 weeks (max) rather than the one week a TV script takes."
I sincerely appreciate this no-bullshit approach to writing, and I highly recommend that if you're a beginning writer reading this blog (and why else would you read it, really?) you give this a shot.
I have tried this method (but without the time limits because, as I said above, this is the first person who gave me the time limits... everyone else just said "just do it") and always, ALWAYS found myself asking "What happens NEXT?!!" with no one to turn to for help.
Also, this approach is harder for me now than in the past: I used to be able to sit down for 5 hours straight and write. My pay-the-bills job gets in the way of that now. Now a hard-core writer, like this guy/gal, would likely say "Then you don't have the discipline and will never be a writer."
Fine.
But this blog isn't for them.
This is for people who are like me: You've tried everyone else's approach and it's STILL not working for you.
Also, many writers don't peer too closely at what goes into the process of creating a story. (I'm not saying the above guy/gal is like that, I'm just speaking generally.) Many of them don't dare ask where she shoes came from when they wake up, lest the cobbler elves refuse to return when they go to sleep that night.
I'm not like that. I am cursed with a nagging need to understand how all the cogs fit together to make the machine go. I started out in community theatre (from the age 11 until 19) where the lead actor also painted flats, sittuated gels in lights and then hung them, and darned costumes if need be. In the short films we've made I have held the boom, operated the camera, set decorated, helped light, acted, helped with special makeup effects and edited. (Don't ask me to be a set decorator, art director or be cinematographer for your film, if you want it to be good, but I AM a badass editor. Not TOO bad at the special makeup effects, either -- though I can give you the name of someone who is truly a master... and is on IMDb.)
The point being this: If the above advice works for you, BY ALL MEANS USE IT!!! I'm not a professional writer yet, this guy/gal IS.
If it doesn't, my blog will still be here.
posted by RayJay @ 9:16 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
My last entry actually received a comment (from someone who I don't know personally, lol) from a professional writer who appears to be completely offended by this blog.
Hello friend, not offended, more like disturbed. I don’t want you or others wasting so much time getting nowhere with your lives and careers. If writing is what you’re meant to do, you’ll do it, not talk about it. I’m not offended, and I don’t mean to offend, just help if I can.
They suggest the "Just Do It" approach to writing -- popular with most authors, to be sure -- in which you don't ponder structure and stuff, you just write.
You don’t ponder structure, you learn it, then apply it.
It’s like writing this blog, you don’t ponder words and sentences and paragraphs, you just write them, because at one time in your life, you learned them, and now you know how to do them. Writing a script is the same way. Learn the basics and do them. Then you will get better.
In case you -- whoever you are, in whatever stage of writing you may be -- haven't already read/heard this approach, this is a great example of it...
With a very notable exception: This guy/gal actually gives time deadlines, which are exceedingly helpful! Most people who say "just do it" don't give you any time limit... You just do it when you do it.
An argument could be made that television is more about deadlines than writing skill, and that’s only half kidding!
So here's a very succinct and useful example of the "Just Do It" approach:
[OMITTED]
I sincerely appreciate this no-bullshit approach to writing, and I highly recommend that if you're a beginning writer reading this blog (and why else would you read it, really?) you give this a shot.
I have tried this method (but without the time limits because, as I said above, this is the first person who gave me the time limits... everyone else just said "just do it") and always, ALWAYS found myself asking "What happens NEXT?!!" with no one to turn to for help.
Again, let’s use a real-world example. When you read a book or drive a car or go grocery shopping or go out to eat, you don’t ever ask, “what happens next?” because you know how to do these things and you do them. You know how to do them because you learned how to do them. If you have to ask “what happens next?” when you write, you haven’t learned how to write.
And all you need to learn is that you’re telling a story using characters that seem real. Very, very, very, very simple. Don’t complicate it at all.
So how do you tell a story? Think about something that happened in your life last week involving some other people, real people. Now tell that story to yourself, in the mirror, as if you’re telling it to someone else. Now write down what you just said. Now add the dialog, the things the people said to each other.
Now (and here we’re going into the TV world a bit, outside of the real world of your little story) tighten up your dialog, make it crisp and snappy. TV dialog is not real world dialog. It just ain't.
How to do this? Make it sound like something you would hear on TV. You’ve been watching TV your whole life, everyone has. You know the beats and the rhythms and the tempos of dialog as much as the next guy. Make the dialog in your story sound like television.
Now think of a TV show that your little story would fit into, get ahold of a couple of scripts from that show, learn that show’s particular format and style (copy it exactly if you need to, WE do it all the time), and write a few scenes for that show using your story.
To write a script for that show, you’ll be doing the same exact thing, only this time using made up stories (or made up based on something that’s happened in your real life) and stretching it out to an hour format or whatever length you’re writing for.
What happens next? Well, what would happen next in real life? What 5 things could happen next? Pick one and go with it, and on to the next scene. Make this process much simpler than you are now, don’t worry so much about it, just do it over and over and each successive try will be far better than the previous one.
And if you’re still stuck and need someone to turn to and say, “what happens next?” then get a partner to write with. Do this same process, only this time bounce your ideas off of each other and make progress together.
Where to get a partner? Take a writing class, any writing class, go through the motions and pay attention to who in the class you think you would click with, and see if they’re interested. You may end up with a winning team or you may go your separate ways once you are confident that you can turn out a good story by yourself.
Also, this approach is harder for me now than in the past: I used to be able to sit down for 5 hours straight and write. My pay-the-bills job gets in the way of that now. Now a hard-core writer, like this guy/gal, would likely say "Then you don't have the discipline and will never be a writer."
Nothing wrong with a day job. Write for an hour when you get up. Go to work. Write for a half hour at lunch. Back to work. Write for an hour the minute you get home. Do some home stuff. Write for another hour, maybe two. Repeat until your script is done.
Fine.
But this blog isn't for them.
This is for people who are like me: You've tried everyone else's approach and it's STILL not working for you.
I know there’s a lot of approaches, I’m just telling you, this is the way we do it in Hollywood. Everyone who’s working does it this way. We all have our little quirks and preferences, but the basic process is the same for all of us, it has to be because this is a completely unforgiving business and if you fall behind, even a little, there’s someone faster and even more talented just waiting to take your spot.
Also, many writers don't peer too closely at what goes into the process of creating a story. (I'm not saying the above guy/gal is like that, I'm just speaking generally.) Many of them don't dare ask where she shoes came from when they wake up, lest the cobbler elves refuse to return when they go to sleep that night.
This sentiment seems to be going in a more academic direction, what is writing about from an intellectual standpoint, something to be studied rather than done. Which is fine, if that’s what you want to do, but it sounds to me like you want to be a writer, not study them.
One more thing, I just noticed that you are 35 years old, the exact age I had always been told was the best age to be a writer. I always thought that was silly, anyone can write at any age. but having past that age, I now agree. I started working young, and looking back I don’t think I got really good until I hit around 35. The reason being, you haven’t really “lived” until about that age, like that song “I’ve looked at life from both sides now.” I think you need that perspective, and you are lucky to be the age you are as you step into the business of writing.
You've also done something really important, completely by accident, it would appear. You've made a friend in the business. Or at least an interested acquaintance. Show me something good sometime and I'll be glad to do what I can to open a door for you. My career got started and took off almost overnight because someone did that for me once, and if you can prove yourself, I'll be happy to do the same for you. Now get back to work! (writing work, I mean)
Again, thanks for the advice! I'm 11 pages into my screenplay and will not be blogging here until it's done. :) I expect to post that it is completed on Monday, October 23rd.
Thank you!
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