Screenwriting : You guys are my last hope! Can you help me? by Radu Preotescu

Anne Lamott has talked at length about the creative freedom of the "shitty first draft." If you feel you know the story - and it sounds like you've done the outline and all the homework to be at that point - trust that story and don't look back at what you've written until you type THE END. It's perfectly natural to second-guess yourself, and as an obsessive writer I can sympathize with the urge to endlessly tinker. But get to the end, feel that surge of pride, then reflect on what you've created. Revision is where you will polish and sharpen your story, so allow yourself that opportunity. By all means take notes as concerns arise, keep them handy for the revision process. The fact you've already finished a feature shows you can do this. Go get 'em!

Radu, Once you've gotten to the point you are at it may be difficult to get out of it. Try to remember the things that inspired you in the first place. Watch movies and shows in a similar genre to get pumped and find a great soundtrack to get you in the right mindset when you sit down to write. In the future, a good way to avoid some of the writer's block you are experiencing is to refrain from sitting down and writing the idea as soon as you get it. When you get an idea, make a note of it, and then let it stew for a while. The really good ideas continue to unfold in your mind. You can mentally explore paths that you might never put down on paper. By the end of this development process the story should just burst out of you like a little alien eager to devour the page. When you get to this point write, and don't stop writing until you've gotten it all out. Good luck!

Hey Owen, true, there aren't many supernatural spy movies out there. The TV show Alias starring Jennifer Garner, created by JJ. Abrams is pretty what I am trying to make, only I want it to be a movie trilogy, although I have enough in my head to make even more. What I meant by "chapter" was one script, now that script. Now I am writing another story from the same imaginary world though.

You wander, my brother. You're not focused.... If I was you, I'd call time-out, sit in stillness and silence, where true intelligence is found, and think about what you love, your objectives, and living a purpose driven life.

https://www.stage32.com/blog/Bullet-Proof-Pages

It is my opinion that writing is like giving birth in the fact that it is a terrible and horrible experience that we remember as much better than it was when we were in the middle of it. That said, when I am stuck it is usually because I don't trust myself with my story. Wanting to rewrite everything is my sign that I just don't trust that I will do the story justice. So I do what Shawn suggested, sit in still silence for a LONG period of time and focus. Then I go and do as much as I can until I need to sit still again. Rock on.

Hi Radu, I'd just add that there is no "correct" way for every writer or every story. Absolutely every writer has their own process, which is as unique as the final products they complete. If you can, writing a relatively quick first draft, even if your heart is not in it throughout, and then revising, does seem to finish projects quicker. Unfortunately, I am not normally one of those people, and I often obsess over first drafts for very long times, which can then become very dangerous to motivation. The trade off between perfection and achieving goals is something every writer needs to negotiate with themselves, but in general, I'd say Sean's advice above is the best... concentrate on getting an imperfect first draft done, but take notes throughout on stuff that you know "should be" in there, then revise. Every painting has to have a frame.

I wrote one of those - first feature effort; a "passion" project; adapted from my original short story; epic and expensive; and generated a lot of "Not what we're looking for" rejections). Then, after ten years, several short scripts, another feature-length effort and producing one of my own short scripts, I realized I had sort of reversed the paradigm of perseverance and gutting it out. I had, instead, shoved my passion project to the far corner of my very large drawing table desk, only to visit it occasionally after completing yet another project, bringing insight and experience from those projects not remotely available in my novice efforts years before. That's my two cents worth and you know what they say about free advice, even though this doesn't really qualify as "advice": You get what you pay for. Good luck...

Go into your writing room (if you have one) put on some music to inspire you (I like to write to scores by Hans Zimmer) and lock the door behind you. Don't leave until you've written something. It is possible to write a whole script in a week. I've done it, and I have friends who've done it in even shorter time. Don't worry about if it's good or not, or if there's a problem you see in the story. JUST WRITE. Get the draft complete. Whatever it takes. Then take a week or two off without even looking at the script or thinking about it. After that break, read the script and see where you stand on it. You might like it better than when you were writing it. The things that might not have made sense, might now. Also, as you read, something might inspire you, or you'll see a way of doing something differently. I think it's safe to say we all write crappy drafts, but show our real writing skills come rewriting time. My one script I'm working on, I just finished the sixth draft of it. The story is basically the same, but there's not one word in the sixth draft that's in the first. That's how much stories can change. But the key to all of this is that you have to do the work. For myself, 10 pages in two weeks, isn't that great. If you're doing that little writing for the script, maybe you should hold off on that script and work on something else. You said it yourself, you've already written the first chapter, and like it. If I were you, I'd wait until I made that first film (or sold it) to spend all my energy on the sequel.

I think Jon hit a major point that struck me when I first read this post. 10 pages in two weeks isn't much. That is less than a page a day. One of the best things I have read is a book called On Writing. It is non-fiction by Stephen King. It is a short book and easy to read. But the one thing that he wrote that smacked me between the eyes was that to be a writer you need to write. Have a set writing schedule and write. This means, no Face Book, no Stage32, no email, NO DISTRACTIONS. If you can't seem to write on that project, work on another. It is kind of like priming the pump. Sometimes you have to start doing the work to be able to do the work.

Bill Hartin sorry, but can you explain in other words what exactly is your advice? I didn't quite understand.

Try experimenting with short stories on the side - that'll probably help solve some of the main story problems.

Why are you writing the sequel when you haven't sold the first scipt yet? I'd suggest you write Treatments for the other two and include them with your submission. By the time your first scipt makes it to the screen it will have significantly changed, so your going to have to totally rewite them anyway. Unless, of course, you plan to make them yourself.

Even though I had some heavy training by some great teachers, and a good amount of practical experience in fast-paced writing assignments, at times I still used to get "stuck" in writing long fiction stories, non-fiction stories and research articles, until I bought the book "20 Questions for the Writer" by Jacqeline Berke and Randal Woodland. I think it's an essential book for any type of writer, and it makes you critically think about what you are trying to say before you say it; while you're saying it; and after you say it. It wouldn't be right for me to list the questions here, but the purpose of each question is to make you as a writer be totally aware of what you are inventing; to be able to consciously create with a deep purpose; and to analyze what you consciously created and make sure it's right. Each question is meant for you to define; describe; understand and perform the different types of analysis (simple, process, directional, functional, and causal); to be able to classify, compare, interpretate, report, narrate, characterize, reflect, reminisce; evaluate; summarize and persuade. That might sound kinda heavy (or wrong) for a person writing a creative story like a movie script, but it's not. I would argue that to write a script that reveals a deep, complex, and rich world and characters - and that is entertaining, marketable and relevant - I would want to be the best writer that I could be. I would want to be a writer who could compete with the best of them. 20 Questions for the Writer helped my writing ascend to a much higher level - even after six months of writing complex daily news stories for my school newspaper; a six-month stint as an editor; and a six-month advertising internship at NBC where I wrote, produced and directed a shitload of tv and radio commercials on a daily basis. I don't think I've ever had a stumbling block in writing anything since I bought that book over 20 years ago.

Read scripts in the same genre and outline those scripts the way Blake does in his book. Maybe it'll help you see how to fix what isn't working in your own work. Get someone to hold you accountable to finish. I need to practice this myself. It's good to have an accountability partner, even if it's your mom. It'll force you to focus to finishing it. And finish it. Really just finish it and send it to a script consultant. They may be able to tell you what is and what isn't working better than anyone else. Finally, I see this advice a lot in novel writing books but I feel it also works in screenwriting, write the last act or the Resolution part of the last act first. Then, write the rest of the script. Maybe writing it from the end to the beginning will help with fixing any holes that may exist in the structure. Also, try telling the story from another angle. For example, instead of having a protag that is young, try one that is 80 and has a black belt. Or instead of a haunted house, try a haunted news station. You may find the same passion as you did when the idea first crept into your head.