Screenwriting : Creation by Victor Lazarus

Writers are more slaves than gods. If we’re in sync with the worlds we have created, we often do what they say more than the other way around.

Stephen Floyd I like to think that we are both god and servant to the worlds we create. We are the gods of those worlds because we created them, as well as created the circumstances for the stories that inhabit those worlds. But we are also servants to those worlds because we serve at the rules and laws that are accounted for in those worlds as well as serving the idea that (as unique as all of our stories are) there is always some truth that exists and must be honored for any story to be any good.

As for the idea of creation being the art of the mind, I like to think this is true to a degree. I've always felt that there are 2 types of entertainers: performers and artists. Performers will do whatever it takes to entertain people, even if they have to copy off of someone else's act. An artist, however, is able to fully create unique experiences for others to enjoy.

For an easy way to comprehend this, think of remakes and reboots as performers and indie films as artists.

We as humans are herd animals. We are constantly attempting to prove our value to the herd.

This is linked to our need for self actualisation. If we believe we can self actualise and improve our standing in the herd we are driven and addicted to such activity.

I would love to have a romantic notion of why I create art. But I am selfish. I do it for me. If it sells great, if not...

Gods? This post is kind of disturbing, like I don't want to enjoy killing my characters and feel some sense of glory for doing it... I don't want to overlord anything even if it's just on paper. Also... storytelling has rules and those rules make the writer a puzzle builder at best.

... I think this is the main problem: living for the herd often translates into boring screenplays. Don't write for yourself, don't write for the herd, but write to create a worldwide meaningful discussion about your screenplay's topic. When the smoke cleared, you will still end up with a 'me' feeling; a feeling of being proud, but it will be a balanced feeling.

Write books. People camp outside bookstores for JK Rowling, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King book signings. They are Rockstars of their profession.

The common person don't go to movies to see Screenwriters.

Victor, I love to write. I really love to create. Screenwriting is my fun.

I just feel squeamish calling myself a god.

Really, like everybody else, I'm just an everyday person...just a human being trying to observe what's out here (and, hopefully, putting it into a screenplay that somebody will want to read, and, eventually, produce).

Still, I wish you all the VERY BEST! Glad you're on Stage 32!

I feel the need to specify what I meant. When I said 'gods' I meant being the overall creator in your story, not an all-powerful deity. Also, a writer can write a story without feeling enjoyment or sadness with the comings and goings of their characters. It most certainly can be an impersonal experience in the way that a mathematical equation is. For instance:

A) Distraught person gets into car

+

B) Person drives angrily fast in heavy rainstorm due to being distraught

=

C) Fatal car accident

Me personally, I try to write stories that move me as well as the audience. Because if it doesn't move me, then how am I to expect it to move someone else? All I do is create a fictional world with people in it, in a manner that we call story. Nothing special, just doing stories is all.

But on a lighter note, of course Stephen King would feel like a rock star. He actually does play in a rock band. Lol

Hate to be the downer but no one is anything without a practicality base checking reality of creative purpose, desire and drive.

Feedback is all encompassing and not a cause for singularity supremacy on any level.

Success means zilch without the like-minded.

A state of creation can bring you among Gods whereas a state of likeability in reality brings you among fellows and simple folk. The meaning of life is creation but on every level imaginable... even the non- creative.

Took me a long time to learn this with my egotism and facades..

Thought is indeed free but reality of thought as a contagion is work.

ENDGAME.

You know what, Owen?

I absolutely WILL relax...on the day I die.

Yesterday was extremely trying for me, from my watching a maintenance person try to get a garbage disposer out of the kitchen sink in the apartment I live in to facing a downstairs tenant railing away at me because the maintenance person couldn't plug the resulting leak and needed help from a plumber to having to fight through my own paying job (machine operator at a plastics factory) and having to wrestle with injection-molding machines that just don't work. Operators aren't allowed to fix the machines where I work...the supervisors must do that. (And I can only imagine the stress supervisors at my job are under!)

I grew up in an alcoholic household. My mom was the alcoholic.

She died at age 49 on 3-31-1983...thanks to lung cancer.

Yeah, I know. BOO EFFING HOO!!

That household featured a whole lot of faultfinding...not only by Mom, but also by my younger brother. I was, more often than not, the family scapegoat. I grew up on pins and needles...knowing damn good and well that, if I spoke up and got REAL with my feelings, I'd probably be dead today.

I learned NOT to confide in any of my adult relatives...so, years later, my turning to Stage 32 to get help in relaunching a screenwriting career was a huge step for me. (And even then, I began brushing up mostly by reading other people's screenplays; very seldom have I been posting questions about the craft.)

Owen, I wasn't encouraged to speak up for myself.

In fact, Mom told me: "I wish you'd never been born!"

DO YOU KNOW WHAT FEELS LIKE?

I meant what I said about feeling squeamish about calling myself a god...just as you meant what you said about my need to relax.

With all the pressures I've got to face at my job, at church, and among remaining relatives, I GAVE UP DECADES AGO ABOUT HAVING ANY SORT OF CHANCE TO RELAX IN THIS LIFE.

Owen, I've gone on long enough.

Let's face it: I'm STILL angry, especially over yesterday. (And yes...this, too, will pass.)

I also meant what I said about screenwriting being fun for me.

I still wish you all the VERY BEST.

I hear you man! Having an imagination is amazing! Sometimes you can be the driver and others the passenger! The really fortunate ones get to bring those things to life! Lets make sure we are the fortunate ones!