Screenwriting : Banging My Head Against The Wall Slowly by Brent Holloway

Step away from your computer and envision your scenes, without words. Works all the time for me.

Think about each character's goal in the story. What are their motives? Weaknesses? Try to interview each character to get to know them and then figure out what each character would do to achieve that goal.

Thanks guys.

Walk away from it entirely. Do other things for a while -- listen to music, go out with friends, exercise, organize your sock drawer, whatever. It's amazing how the subconscious works things out and then suddenly you have an "A-HA!" moment. When I'm stuck, I go for a run and by the time I get back I always have an answer, or at least figure out why I'm blocked. I hope that helps. :)

Brent, Chuck the outline and write. If there's something worth saying, worth writing - it will out. Some scripts - one has to let the character's guide the story and plot. What comes out may not follow the outline but it will be filled with life. Good luck. Dave

Don't get so caught up in the little details at this stage. What you put down first is what's called the VOMIT DRAFT. What's important, is that you get stuff down! Accept that it is not going to be perfect. Right now you're labouring over words and choices, thus crippling your own efforts by judging them. Writing is REWRITING. You have an outline, follow it. You can use plenty of passes there after to focus on one aspect at a time, like structure, character, dialogue etc.

Brent, I have never been a big subscriber of writer's block. This notion that you can't do what you CAN do, is absurd. The truth is, it's most likely a case of a lack of confidence, which is something entirely different. It's you staring at a blank screen in fear that if you do it badly, it will be HORRIFIC! So, you just stare. Procrastinate. Guess what? WE ALL DO IT. Here are the things that help me get through it. 1 - Give yourself a pep-talk. A motivational Speech. Something I may say is, "David. You have testicles. You are a bad motherf***er! Who's tougher? You or 'fill in script name here'? That's right! You are!" 2 - Then, once motivated, I think back to when I first imagined this project. What stuck out at me? What was the reason for wanting to write this? Was it an awesome action sequence I envisioned? A funny slapstick sequence? Whatever it was, I write that sequence. Usually that is enough to get the juices flowing and move on to another scene... even though there is a great chance that first scene will get tossed like day-old bread. 3 - If that doesn't work, I put it away and write something else. Sometimes, while working on one thing the ideas flow for something else. 4 - If that still doesn't work, I find a lamb and sacrifice it to Satan. Usually this is messy, but quite often I get what I need... Also, I'll be going to hell... so, I've got that going for me.

get some sleep and try another day

When a student asks me about that I say this, don't know if it works but try it; if you character is ordering pizza, have him HAVE to order burger instead meaning, force the character's normal M.O. out of the character's comfort zone. I learned this from Lee Child - when a character want to go left make him go right. See where it leads you. If it doesn't help, walk away. They will be there when you return.

Thanks again, everybody. There's more strong, insightful advice here than I can even use.

Get a friend or writing partner to act as a Psychiatrist and YOU lie on the couch as your character and allow your friend to ask you questions about your (the character's) life and you answer as the character. You will learn things about the character that you didn't know you knew. I call it "Putting my character on the couch"

Another thing that helps me is reading through my 1st draft and seeing if any particular actors "suggest" themselves for certain characters. In a script I'm working on now, Samuel L. Jackson came to mind as the antagonist and it blew that character wide open. Understand that I did not write it with him in mind...I try to never do that, but when I saw that the written character fit him, I re-read it with him in mind. I threw away the entire 1st act and was able to write a much more powerful opening scene. The other side of that coin is if you actually LIKE writing your first draft with particular actors in mind, that may be limiting you. If you're stuck with a particular character, throw out the notion of the actor you have in mind. Your interpretation of that actor's performance as your character may be holding that character back from going where he/she needs to go.

What I do with writer's block is this... If the character does not fit the story I want, I write a completely different story that may fit them... When I do this, my original characters takes new forms, new meaning, and are graduated from what I thought they should have been in the first place... And when I leave the new story... I have an "Ah Ha!" moment for the original story... I know it sounds backwards and out of order, but it works for me...It's like making your original character step into another character's shoes... Again, everyone is different...

I like to focus on character development when I hit a snag. Dig in deep and define traits, routines, even a birthday/horoscope sign can lead you somewhere. This will also factor interrelations with other characters (and subsequent dialogue) which might move you past the block.

Venting is Good! I was told once, put the script in a drawer and walk away for a couple, or few days. Don't leave it sitting where you can't help see it. Ignore it. Then when you get back to it, give it your undivided attention. Start from top and read. It worked for me.

Charlie, is that you? I thought you died from an alien infection in Prometheus!!!

Maybe the wrong characters wandered into your story.

I set a timer. Something simple like 15 minutes, and then dig in to the story. I usually will have an outline nearby and I just shoot to get one scene on the page in that 15 minutes. It really helps me move past the block, not criticize my own work, and just write.

I sometimes find writing about my characters in a completely different situation helps....I have two scripts with exactly the same characters, when I'm struggling I take my characters on holiday to the other script where anything can happen :)

If it's the blank page, just write something so there will be something to change. If it's that you don't want to change something you've already written, you're over thinking the problem. So, I would go with, move some scenes around, and delete your favorite. See if that works. Emphasize the word 'play' instead of screen.

I like Sarah's suggestion. Another approach I take is to simply motor though it. Make the characters say just anything, even if they resist you. Make a plan to go back to it in a rewrite and get the dialog right. Often times I find that I don't have to fix it much.

I used to overthink things until I learned what works for me. I sit in the bathtub until I get a new idea. The longest I have had to wait was 47 minutes. I was very clean and got a totally new idea which saved the whole damn thing from going down the drain (pun lame but intended).

Try writing out of order. If you have other scenes that are clear to you (or more fun) from the outline, maybe that will inform where you're stuck.