Please share any prewriting strategies you use and seem effective at getting the muse to flow. Do you do clustering? Fast writing? Do you draw multiple concepts out of a hat and try and force them into a story? Do you find bouncing ideas back and forth between a friend to be most useful to develop a basic premise? Do you find yourself trying to start with a basic human truth about life and then trying to build a story around it? Or do you like to start with character development and then see where your character leads you? Please share.
Screenwriting : Prewriting strategies: who uses them and what are they? by Bryan Yeater
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I have an "Ideas" file where I stick all kinds of things: news reports, lines of dialogue, concepts. Then some of these will start to group themselves around a story idea so they get a file of their own, which eventually gets a title. Then those files just grow and grow until I know one of them is the next one I want to write. By then I usually know the theme that will link all (or most) of the stuff I've stuck in there. The theme and the ending -- I usually get those first. Then backtrack and hope I can make it work. For the first time this year I'm working (starting this coming weekend) with Screenwriting U to work through a script step by step beginning with the initial concept. I have a file for this one that's been accumulating for a few years, but apparently the course (which came highly recommended) walks you through every step of creating the screenplay: from initial concept/logline to marketing the finished product. We'll see how that goes.
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After the idea begins to formulate, I'll write a brief synopsis and then some character briefs. Then as the idea shape shifts in my mind over a period of time, I'll go back and update the synopsis and so forth. Then when I'm happy with the formulated idea as it is, I'll start mapping out the scenes on flash cards. That makes it a lot easier to complete the first draft.
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Richard, I'm curious. Is your "ideas" folder a computer file or a hard copy folder? I like the idea, regardless of format. It's sort of like a stew pot, where you allow your ideas to simmer, as you add in ingredients over time.
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Liam, I knew a guy who used flash cards as you do. I'm also curious at how you get the idea to formulate in the first place. In other words, the process which gets you to the point to allow you to do what you described.
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I do the same kind of idea as Richard. I have several folders with different names for concepts. I will start word documents that I use to collect thoughts and scenes, loglines, characters and even dialogue. Also I utilize a note books as well. Each folder I will have a concept art folder in which I Google images that match the concept I'm working on. Google map comes in handy for location that I want to place my story, from there I will take screen grabs so I have an understanding of the location when I write. Of course this location is just a concept and not always the actual place. I'm a visual person, so visuals help me create when I write. Once I start, I like to outline most of the story before I open up final draft.
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Erica, I use Google images as well. For example, I might Google the term "sophisticated restaurant" and collect the images I like from the results. I've then set it up so that I can drop the images into a computer folder, and a Javascript slideshow is automatically created. I can create as many slideshows as I want for any given project. Ultimately, a script or notes can be augmented with any number of such assets, if you use a tool like Fountain. In fact, this is where a screenwriting tool like Fountain just destroys any alternative such as Final Draft.
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Bryan, I'm all about pre-writing. As I've mentioned here before, I build what are sometimes called scriptments. I basically work with one document that builds on notes. Those notes themselves go through a variety of processes where I identify certain elements early on. So for example, I like to target in on elements such as theme and irony to make sure I'm building on those. Once I have my acts and scene structures laid out, the scenes themselves go through a process until I have every beat laid out for the story. I find it a really effective system as I'm rewriting on the fly, staying on track in terms of structure, and keeping things as efficient as possible.
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Right now, I am at the beginning of the creative process on the pre-first draft stage. This is my method this particular time: The project is for the drama opening for the BBC's Writersroom and concerns itself with a real life all female criminal gang from the early 1900s. My initial step was to learn of the real people involved through various websites and books. Now I am watching Peaky Blinders for a feel of something similar, but different. Yesterday I read the shooting script for the opening episode to familiarise myself with a style of writing that they have accepted in the past. Tomorrow (Thursday night) at about 19.30, I shall begin to write the cards / story outline, expand characters, create some conflict. The first draft will begin soon after.
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I keep a clip full of note cards with me...magic markers for color coding plot, character, and other important issues. Once I start on the first note card, it's like opening a faucet. Sometimes there is only a trickle, but the flow continues.
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That's very similar to my process, Mike. Once I start the cards with my synopsis next to me, the story really gushes out. I'll make adjustments as I go, as I picture the card scenes in my head, and more than likely I'll do the cards entirely once or twice more. It's very satisfying and a great blueprint to follow when you're writing if you have your script completely laid out in front of you.