Okay. I could use some tips and encouragement for overcoming some hesitation and resistance to just jumping into the world of screenwriting. I've been trying to write a novel forever, but a lot of the things I want to do and write will not work in a novel. They're just too visual. I have a plain, stripped down style -- think Cormac McCarthy but with punctuation and quotations and not nearly as gifted LOL -- so I just I can't take what's in my head and put on paper correctly in a way that's great for prose. Least that's what I think.
I also struggle to get inside the character's head and explain that stuff in words. I do very well at describing actions that convey emotions and I'm getting better at writing dialogue, but I just never know when writing a novel when to jump in with thoughts and when not to.
Okay, so that's just a little background of where I'm coming from and why I want to try screenwriting.
I've also written some short scripts in the past and enjoyed the format.
The resistance I'm fighting against is the fear that I will write these scripts and they will never be made into movies and no one will ever read these stories due to their format. I won't be able to share them with the world. Not saying I'd have a ton of readers with my novel either, but it would likely get more than with a screenplay.
The other thing holding me back seems to be the idea of essentially selling off my characters with a sale and not being able to continue their story in another medium like short stories, comics, podcasts, etc.
Anyway, any advice for fighting this line of thinking?
4 people like this
Many struggling screenwriters choose to write books because they're frustrated with writing stories no one but a handful of readers will read. I completely understand that. However, if you want to be a professional screenwriter, you have to be willing to accept that fact. You have to study the craft with a laser-like focus and practice it every day like an athlete trains for a career in sports. Each script we write should make us a better screenwriter and, hopefully, bring us closer to that first script that will be made/sold. Maybe then, like Oliver Stone, some of your previous scripts will also get made. Or maybe they won't. Who knows. You can't focus on that, though.
Alternatively, you can allay all of the fears you've mentioned by making the film yourself.
1 person likes this
Thanks for the tips! I appreciate it!
1 person likes this
"Selling off characters with a sale" is holding you back? Read The War of Art. You'll understand much better what's behind the inertia.
I’ll check that iut.
*out
2 people like this
Maybe you’re aiming too high right now (I mean you’re talking about crossovers to other mediums before you even finished a script, or produced anything).
Perhaps write a screenplay that you can physically do with your circle of peers. Get something done that says you can actually execute an idea into a finished movie. The shittiest movie was done by ppl with follow through, committed time and physical labor to make it.
3 people like this
There isn't a crystal ball that will tell you if your project will be a hit or not, but if you don't write it in the first place it definitely won't get made. Writing is tough and sharing your work with anyone takes courage. Just remember that when you get feedback people want you to succeed and for your project to be the best version of it that it can be.
M LaVoie Got that book and started reading it. WOW. This seriously might be the best book anyone has recommended to me concerning the topic of creativity. Thanks man!
2 people like this
No problem. I love that book and I go back to it every once in a while. The reason it's so hard to accomplish anything creative that is meaningful to you and that you really care about is because those are the projects that typically, NOBODY is paying you to complete. Ironic isn't it. Because those are the projects everyone around you will say are a waste of time. Reality is, the work itself can be it's own reward, when you put the time and effort into it. Good luck!
First, thanks for taking the time to get this out. Many never allow themselves to be this open. Next, the thing that really strikes me is the part concerning you not being able to into your characters heads.
Your characters are a fraction of yourself. You absolutely can form that connections with them. In putting that connection to paper or onto the screen the not so simple answer is to communicate with that part of yourself. Be brutally honest with that portion of you and allow that conversation to spill onto the page. Only the person that created the character can fully realize it. All the best!
2 people like this
Thanks for sharing your hesitations and fears. I'm forced in this situation to rely on the old adage "... it's the journey, not the destination." It's true for me that the rewards are in the journey, not necessarily on the outcomes. You're right - if the outcome is what's important, then you can often find yourself disappointed. But if you can reap the endorphins from writing itself, the creative process, then you're golden!
100% what both Michael H and Ewan said. Don't concern yourself with Point M in your journey (which is whether or not someone will want to make this movie), just focus on Point A for now which is simply getting your story out and on paper. One thing at a time, bird by bird.
You got this :)
Find that thought, feeling you want to convey to the reader-audience. How can you dramatize it and make it interesting. Always start with the feeling. Is it love, darkness, intrigue, family, comedy, historic figure, time period, period in your own life? That will get you motivated to sit and write.
Songs are very inspirational. My brothers and I did a script based on the song SUMMER OF '69. We substituted our own experiences.
Some of the songs I thought we might write a screenplay around are the LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE and THE NIGHT CHICAGO DIED. They could give you that motivation to stay at it.
Just start writing the script. You will be encouraged by your progress and will be glad you accomplished it!
5 people like this
Those aren't fears - those are givens.
The average professional screenwriter wrote 9 screenplays before making a cent. So you are going to have a bunch of scripts that probably never sell. Part of the job. Of the ones that sell (or you are hired to write) only about 10% make it all the way to the screen. I have scripts littering shelves all over town - never going to be made.
So you need to love the writing. That's all you control.
So just write ten full length screenplays. Come up with a bunch of great ideas, pick the best one, write it. When you finish the first draft, come up with a bunch more great ideas, pick the best one,. write it... then go back and rewrite the first one. The come up with a bunch of great ideas and pick the best one and write a third script. Then rewrite the second script. Just keep doing that.
Novelist John D. McDonald said that your first 4 novels are going to be crap, so get them out of the way as quickly as possible. Don't expect your first scripts to be good - you are learning to tell a story.
By the way, in screenwriting you don't have to describe what your character is thinking or feeling, but you do need to write to make the audience feel something. The hard part.
I worked a full time job at a warehouse and wrote a minimum of 1 good page a day - that's 3 Screenplays a year. Ten years later I sold one to Paramount.