The Creative Process: Uh oh

The Creative Process went off track majorly this week. You may recall earlier in the week when I mentioned how I had two days off to write - well, I ended up working both days and as I approach my tenth consecutive day working, I've barely had time to write on here let alone work on the screenplay.

But here's a twist I didn't see coming - a two-part twist in fact.

First, I did actually manage to start the new screenplay before I was asked to cover for a sick co-worker. I was about three pages deep into it, writing a scene that I had played over and over in my head for weeks when I believe the following words came out of my mouth...

"Wow, this really sucks."

Not the idea, mind you, or the scene itself. But the dialogue was horrible. So much so in fact that I pondered making the opening sequence silent (an idea I still think might work.) So, Twist #1 saw me glaring painfully at the words I had written and thinking about restarting it from scratch.

And then the second twist occurred.

Annoyed, angry, irritated, upset, frustrated, sickened - all would be good words to toss in here about how I felt as I was driving to work and thinking about what I had written when something popped into my brain.

The novel idea I had mentioned previously. And I suddenly started wondering if I could turn that into a screenplay instead since I really liked the idea. And the more I started thinking about the idea, the more I liked it. And the more I liked it, the more I kept thinking about it and how I could evolve it.

And then I thought of something else I had seen recently which gave me a whole new way to tackle this idea.

And now?

Now, I sit here wondering if my decision between two screenplay ideas just got bushwhacked by a third - a dark horse if you weeeeeel - that might turn out better than either of the others at this particular moment in time.

I have two days off this week - maybe three if I make someone cover for me so I can watch Game One on Wednesday.

The plot, once more, thickens. Stay tuned.

The Creative Process: Work Begins Anew

I have tomorrow off so I'm tentatively scheduled [in my mind] to start writing my second screenplay during the day. That is, I'm scheduled to start the actual "putting pen to paper" (or fingers to keyboard) tomorrow.

If you've been following my creative process, you know that I'm a bit torn on which of the two story ideas to work on first. You also know that the story that was a little less developed - okay, a lot less developed - was the one that had the religious overtones I expressed some concern about. I got some very helpful advice on that subject from a couple of you - much thanks for that. However, as of this writing, I don't actually know what script I intend to start tomorrow.

In an interesting twist, I stumbled upon an older idea for a novel I had a while back this morning while on the way to work and am thinking of starting that up at the same time. It's a burst of creative inspiration that is sometimes hard to come by so I almost think it's necessary to attempt to harness it in while it's out there.

I met another aspiring screenwriter at work today. It was interesting to take a few minutes and trade stories about the writing process - this guy actually spent a lot of time in Tijuana doing "research" for his screenplay. Interesting stuff. He also happens to be a professor at UCLA and pointed me in their direction for what he says are some pretty decent screenwriting classes. I don't know how I feel about things like classes and seminars for screenwriting. I almost think that writing should be somewhat of an intuitive, natural process and that a screenwriting class might stomp all over that process. I'll check out what they have to offer though - see if it changes my mind.

On a somewhat related note, a friend of mine asked me recently if it's too late for him to chase after his dreams and not sit in an office all day. He was dead serious and really seemed resigned to the fact that he just might sit in a cubicle every day for the rest of his life.

He's 25 years old.

Welcome to modern day America, my friends. The land of hopes and dreams that somehow manages to drill those hopes and dreams right out of most people while they're still in their twenties.

The Creative Process: Something Else About Faith

I'm not a religious person.

I know, I know. You all must be shocked by that news. I'm sure that most good, wholesome, God-fearing people spend their Labor Day talking about tentacle porn, vending machines with used underwear, and assorted other "goodies."

But yes, it's true. I'm not a religious person.

So, the problem becomes a thorny one when I decide that one of the potential scripts bouncing around my head has some perhaps very strong religious overtones.

The question - how does a non-religious person suddenly acquaint themselves enough with the Bible to make their story believable?

Or the subquestion - much like in Almost Famous when the kid asks "Do you have to be sad to write a sad song? Do you have to be in love to write a love song?"... my question becomes "Do you have to be religious to write about religion?"

Thoughts?

The Creative Process: The Fork In The Road

As I get closer to narrowing down my choices for my next attempt at a screenplay, I've come across a quandry.  While there are still a few other contenders, I've basically narrow my choices down to two.

The first is something that came into my head in the past couple months and spent a lot of time there.  I've got a pretty good idea of what most of the major characters are like, I know the basic details of the plot, and I can play some parts of it on the "3-D IMAX of my mind."  This one would be considered "the safe choice."  I think it has quite a bit of potential and really could be a large step forward for me as a writer because it's very different than my first screenplay.

The second is something that I just had a glint of an idea for very recently.  I've spent practically no time working on it save for the past few days when it's been dominating my thoughts.  At this point, I've got a basic idea of the two characters, I have a very broad, overreaching idea of the plot without much in terms of detail, and while I can play out a few scenes in my mind, there are a lot of very large holes in the plot that I'm not sure what fills in those gaps.  This one is a genre that I have always loved and always wanted to do something in - but this one's risky.  I love the basic premise of it but I'm afraid I won't be able to flesh it out in time.  I can see a ton of potential in it and it would really challenge me as a writer because it won't be easy at all to pull it off.

So, there lies the fork in the road...

With a deadline approached, do I walk the road more traveled and knock out the one that's been dancing around my brain for a couple months?  Or do I take that more deserted path that has a lot of roadblocks on it but a more satisfying "end of the trail" moment?

Suggestions are welcome!

The Creative Process: It Begins Anew

I'm not sure if any of you would actually care about this or not but I thought it might be a fun thing to have down on "paper" to look back at after the fact. A few days ago, I did a post mentioning that I need to start writing a second screenplay here shortly. What I thought would be kinda cool is to take y'all through the step-by-step process of that - or as step-by-steppy as I can get without enlisting Patrick Duffy's aid.

"It all began with a mouse..."

That's a quote that a lot of Disney fans like to use over and over. It's a quote attributed to Walt as something he used to say to keep his employees humbled and centered - something to show them that despite the growing empire they were developing, it all started with a simple idea. One character that carried them to a level none of them ever could imagine.

In this case, it all begins with an idea.

It doesn't have to be something terribly complicated and quite frankly, it can come from pretty much anywhere. The first screenplay I wrote can credit it's "creative spark" from a song I heard, listened to the lyrics, and decided it'd make a hell of a story on the big screen. The first sitcom I ever tried to pen was based on an experience that my brother-in-law had at work.

It all begins with an idea.

So, that's the stage I find myself in right now. Over the years, I've start-stopped a lot of novels, teleplays, screenplay, comic book ideas in some sort of scribbled shorthand. I dug through an old notebook the other night and uncovered a lot of them. Some of them I just had filed away mentally, adding a few "notes" to the file from time to time. But all of them had some kind of development done to them - however minor.

From there, I took 16 ideas and put them down on paper - a working title if I had one along with a short description of the plot/theme. If I had originally conceived it as something other than a screenplay, I noted that as well. 16 ideas - all incredibly solid in my oh-so-humble opinion and all completely worthy of making print/press/publish/etc.

At this point, I turn to my partner-in-crime, Mrs. Blue. She was my sole editor for the first script so this time, I involved her a little earlier. She got all 16 ideas in their written form and I told her to narrow it down to eight that deserve stronger consideration.

We're down to the Elite Eight. It's a diverse list - ranging from sci-fi to fantasy to western to an almost 80's style action flick. All of them have some serious potential. Now comes the time to narrow the list down a little bit more.

We're making progress, people - one step at a time.

I recently helped a customer at the store a couple weeks ago who, in the course of smalltalk, revealed that he was a screenwriter. After probing a bit to try and find out more details (he clammed up,) I mentioned I had just finished my first screenplay. His words of wisdom?

"Congratulations. That's the tough part. Everyone in the world can start one."

Amen, brother. Amen.

And this "everyone" is one step closer to starting his second.

Stay tuned, folks, it only gets more interesting from here.