So it’s been rather difficult for me to be creative these last few weeks and months dealing with a lot of professional and personal stress.
My creativity is much more burst-based, than a constant flow of production. I usually come up with an idea or three, and then it takes me a long time to gestate and either get it down on paper or edit the episode. But once I’m into it I just do it and get it out of my system.
Over the weekend I set a goal to write this little script that I’ve needed to write for the last few weeks. It’s fairly simple and fun. All weekend I kept proRADstinating on it, until 11pm on Sunday night.
Finally, on the last hour of the weekend, I just did it, got the three pages out of my head.
And here’s how. I didn’t do it on a keyboard. I just took a pile of index cards on my bed and wrote a single line or description on a card and laid them out in order. About 21 cards total.
Then I went into Final Draft and wrote it out in order, adding and taking away as needed. After that I sent it out to Douglas for him to do a pass on it and then I’ll polish and send it along to the producer for their notes.
I wish I was more consistent with my output, but at the same time I really don’t want to add any more judgement or presure to a process that’s done me right so far.
What’s your process?
12 Comments
November 17, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I totally understand. I’ve always found that a script won’t get written until it’s ready to be written. If I force myself to write (like there’s this deadline looming – the show has to premier in 3 weeks and we’re one week in), what results is garbage. When I wait until it’s ready, it goes down almost exactly as it ends up being produced (maybe 10-15% changes).
Philip
November 17, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Writing for me is the hardest thing…..I am more of an “idea” kind of guy….I have always worked better with a partner…..almost a year ago, I lost that relantionship…..we are still friends, but video was just not his thing…..he just wants to draw, etc….sooo….writing for me is like this painful experience…..I just don’t think I am good enough….I have a ton of ideas, I just have no way to flesh them out……I also find the times I want to write or feel like writing, I can’t…..I still have a “day” job and there are times at work, I feel into it, but I am stuck at work doing nothing related to my passion….so that frustrates me more and then the process becomes harder and harder……but when I do just sit done and force myself to write, I do ok…..I guess…..
This was no help at all I suppose…..
Do what works…..
November 17, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I definitely believe in following the muse and letting her guide you…I also find I only write if I put my butt in the chair and write. I’m being overly simplistic, but if I just make it a point to write every day that’s the only way I finish anything. The getting started is the hard part, but once the laptop is whirring and the file is open and you start typing, usually some ideas flow.
November 17, 2008 at 11:12 pm
My process is generally to wait. I wait as long as humanly possible. And then I wait a little bit more.
Then, when I realize I can’t wait a single minute more, and that I’m probably cutting it so close that I will impact the quality of the work, I spend some time berating myself for having poor work habits. I’ll then spend a little time passively blaming the people around me for waiting until the last minute, and if it’s an especially important project, I’ll blame my mother.
After that, I lament my situation by imagining all the opportunities I am affecting that I have yet to even foresee. This can be a real investment of energy, because it takes a lot of creativity to imagine situations that may never happen.
Once I’ve moved beyond that, I give myself permission to “take a break.” Normally I will surf the web, read blog posts, and post comments.
And scene.
November 18, 2008 at 6:56 am
When I get blocked I find ideas come to me when I am in the car, walking the dogs or in the shower(though its difficult to write in there) I usually step away.
You seem to have a ton of personal stuff going on and its important to take this time. When my father died who was my best friend I took a week to ask for stories from his friends and family and I built a small website (when I had an idea how to do that) These stories are always a great break for me to look back on when I am blocked. Or think how would he handle this situation…. We took care of him when he was in a hospice situation and so many hilarious moments came from it. (of course many horrible moments as well) So inspiration can come from anywhere.
With work I have the luxury of a creative team. I know that may sound bad but I have several people I worked with in corporate communications- meetings- video- events that are my good friends and freelancers. I am a retard when it comes to writing properly so I usually do a little work and give it to them and then we do a conference call, meet at a coffee shop or Bar and then “storm” a little. We all bring our ideas to the table. In one of my recent ventures I am working with an old friend (my Douglas) who lives up in Seattle. He is a writer and he cleans disinfects and adds to what I send him.
Good luck with everything.
m
November 18, 2008 at 11:53 am
My process is usually jotting down several notes in multiple places: my laptop, my primary G5 system, my computer at my full-time job. On any of these systems there is a series of notes on either Notepad, Stickies, or MS Word. If and when the idea doesn’t fly off into the ether, I find it or remember it, and then I find a few minutes to bang out the script.
As far as editing, I usually like to sit down and edit it all at once, even if it means 10 hours straight.
I wish I had a tried and true system, but I guess that would be too logical.
November 18, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I know this might not make the stress go away, but if it helps to hear it, you’ve got an awful lot of fans out there who love your work.
We’re all rooting for you.
I don’t know if this works for scripts, but for games I use the “write what you DO know” method… I usually find that when I’m stuck, I’m not really stuck on the whole thing, just parts of it. Usually there’s at least one idea rattling around. So, I write the parts that I’m *not* stuck on. Usually by the time I write one part, I find there’s some other part I also know, so I write that too. Eventually, one by one the pieces start to fall into place and I start building momentum. Once I get in the flow, even the hard parts become much easier to do and before you know it the whole thing comes together.
Sometimes I find it helps, too, to give yourself permission to (temporarily) do something badly. If I’m really stuck, but I’m on a deadline, sometimes I find I have to get started even if the muse isn’t with me. I find that to get started the best approach is to say “okay, I’m going to write this part, it doesn’t matter how bad it is *just do it*”. Once started, again, after a short while I’m in the zone. I start to feel pretty good, and my output gets better too. Once I’m feeling better, I go back and re-write the crappy parts. …first drafts are never perfect no matter how good you are, so why fight it? I feel like by giving myself permission to have a mediocre first draft, it lets me get on to the enormously better second draft that much quicker.
November 21, 2008 at 2:40 pm
I too write in bursts, and a lot of it is late at night in a strange stupor that can only be described as “crashing.” When I do sit down at normal times of the day and force myself to write, I can usually get into a groove and write for a few hours before I have to stop.
Sometimes I have to leave my apartment and just go somewhere else.
November 21, 2008 at 5:06 pm
[...] goes out to Kent Nichols for making me [...]
November 22, 2008 at 9:36 am
I find it’s garbage in garbage out. If I feed my mind with creativity by going to the movies, watching old DVD’s or walking through a high end book or record store the images that my mind inputs feed my creativity.
Next time you are slow take a trip to a book store. Hit the magazine rack and then go look at the pop-up books.
December 8, 2008 at 8:24 am
I keep a notebook handy at all times. I write things down as they come to me and work on them later.
December 14, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I come up with ideas in lots of different ways, and then I mull them over, daydream about them, and finally they jell into something that becomes a story. I’ll normally have a bunch of these idea clouds or nebulae working themselves out at once.
Once I have a story that’s coalescing, I then write a synopsis. Sometimes I dictate the synopsis into a voice recorder, then play it back and type it onto the page.
Whichever way I get the synopsis, the next step is to make it into an outline that I flesh out a bit. I fight with the outline, then show it around until I’m happy with it. I can have a couple of these going around at once.
Finally I sit down to write the story – and everything else goes on the back burner. The first draft takes what it takes, but I try to work to a deadline, and try to work steadily through each day. I want it done well, but quickly, so that I can work on multiple things at once again.
I send the draft off to readers, get comments back, edit. I might have to wait before it feels ready to be edited, but once it is I give myself deadlines on it so I won’t rewrite more than needs to be changed. It also takes over my writing time just like the first draft did.
I rinse, wash, repeat this last bit (each draft takes over my mind a little bit less than the former had) until the piece is ready to submit.
Scrivener, by the way, is a beautiful program for moving stuff around while you’re trying to figure out how to get the story to fall into place. I usually use it at the outline stage; I can’t get it to do a good job at formatting scripts.