26 September 2011
I wanted to take some time to describe the process I've begun to use over the past year when writing scripts. Over the course of the next few blog entries I'll self-reflect on the way I write scripts, from the idea all the way to the final draft. Hopefully you'll find some of these ideas helpful. Please let me know if you do!
It's taken me a long time to work this stuff out. I used to hit the wall after a first daft, and scratch my head furiously wondering what on earth a second draft was. I would read the books and they'd talk about the second draft as if everyone knew what was going on. It seemed to me, the mental process involved in getting 120 (now 110) pages down on paper in a somewhat coherent fashion was too much of a request as it was. If I was going to do a second draft, you better believe all it was going to entail would be a bit of spell check and trimming. I think my brain couldn't handle the obvious truth that was staring right at me. Let me just get it out there if any of you are still wondering:
A second draft starts with a blank page.
Devastating, I know. All that time it took me to get the first draft done! Now I've got to do it all again! Yup, and guess what? You have to do it even better. But don't get me wrong. This is a good thing. Even though it sounds insane. Bare with me.
What follows is the process that's emerged for me over a year of doing the same thing day in day out. I hope you find it helpful. By no means is this the best way to go about it, this is just my method at the moment. Most likely I'll scrap the whole thing in a year and do it a totally different way. But until then...
The first two steps, 1) Brewing & 2) Brainstorming:
1) I brew the idea in the back of my head, mulling over it and keeping myself from writing anything down, this could go on for a month, or a few years.
This one is tricky because it's hard to keep yourself from writing something when you're itching to jump into it. Now, I'm not saying you resist the urge to begin a script for years just so it will simmer magically to a mature level, don't get me wrong. I subscribe to the belief that screenwriting is something you work at, not something that just flows out of you. When I say I keep myself from writing, I mean I let my imagination add to it and run over it several times before putting it down on paper. The reason for this stems mostly from the fact that I get a lot of ideas, and I don't have time to write them all. I hold out for a kind of survival of the fittest when it comes to ideas, the ones that survive the mulling period in my brain are probably better ideas than the ones I forget about. However, the more I do this, the more this step strikes me as unnecessary. I may cut it one day, but for now, I still do it.
2) I brainstorm the idea, jotting down random notes and fleshing out what it's about.
Brainstorming an idea for me looks like a lot of different things. It can be notes on scraps of paper (but I lose them) it can be random text files on my computer (I tend to lose these to) but the best for me is when I keep all my notes for a project in one file. I use OmniOutliner when I write notes because I can collapse and open bullet points easily and recognize the notes. FreeMind is another good program I use for mind mapping notes. The most important part of this step is to KEEP WRITING. If I don't keep a constant flow of information going, I get stuck staring at the screen for an hour. Sometimes I'll write to myself, as weird as it sounds, but turning the notes into a discussion about what works and what doesn't, what interests me, and where I'd like the story to go, I find that I can maintain a continuous line of thought. This is a great way to make sure you're making progress with an idea, and not just getting bogged down. My goal in this phase is to keep working toward discovering three main things, my Big Picture Outline, my Theme, and my Main Character's Flaw. I'll explain these in more detail as I go.
Stay tuned... I'll post up the next steps in the following blog entries and make sure they stay organized so you can follow along easily.
Again, I really hope by my self-reflecting on my writing process, you can find some insights that help you along the way! Please click the Like button if you found it helpful!
MY PROCESS FOR SCREENWRITING: PART 1
MY PROCESS FOR SCREENWRITING: PART 2
MY PROCESS FOR SCREENWRITING: PART 3
MY PROCESS FOR SCREENWRITING: PART 4
MY PROCESS FOR SCREENWRITING: PART 5
MY PROCESS FOR SCREENWRITING: PART 1
MY PROCESS FOR SCREENWRITING: PART 2
MY PROCESS FOR SCREENWRITING: PART 3
MY PROCESS FOR SCREENWRITING: PART 4
MY PROCESS FOR SCREENWRITING: PART 5