WRITER’S BLOCK and the DETOUR
As a runner in Hollywood, I’ve come to associate writing with traffic. Sometimes it’s good; other times, not so good.
And for those times it’s not and you find yourself stuck in one particular spot whether it be the corner of Hollywood Blvd. & La Brea or Page 3, there’s always a detour.
It just takes some good music and the right state of mind. If you’re stuck in traffic and you need to be somewhere, say page 10 for example, then you might be frustrated. But this only causes more damage because you might end up getting in an accident if you resort to road rage in order to vent … and that will only put you back further and damage your vehicle.
Along with good muic, my latest love has been for Pan’s Labyrith due to it’s fantastic magical sound and melodic theme … which I can see playing along my own movie, I’ve heard that letting yourself become so bored that you acutally resort to your imagination – which is good for those who’ve lost touch with it over the years. Writer’s block is when a writer forgets what they’re saying … in fact I just had to paue to ponder what I set out to state when starting this post. So go to the core of the problem – Writer’s and what they want to say. This is the premise – define it, know it, and believe it as if it’s the last thing you would say to someone just entering this world.
Additionally, there’s always another route; a detour.
Instead of inching through traffic all the way to Highland, skip across Outpost and you’ll find that it leads to page 10 as well. Writer’s block is worse than the 405 and 101 combined so I’d try to avoid it all together – and a good way to do that is to prepare for your story. Not so much in the likes of planing everything, because that’s a sure-fire way to get stuck on Hollywood Blvd. again. Prepare by filling out an ENTIRE deck of index cards … if you can’t, you might want to consider another idea to execute in feature screenplay form. 90-120 pages is a lot of work – because it’s not a novel where you can meander and explore off-topic issues or character backstory … it has to be concise – the most direct route from point A to point B (in most cases of Hollywood style film).
So, keeping it simple, try this:
1. Re-define your Premise. (it’s the three part short sentence usually in the form of:
Hate LEADS TO Love [ hate and love being yoru subject matter])
2. Deck-o-cards – one card can be a character, idea, scene setting, theme, ANYTHING!
3. Music – it’s been a big part of the world forever … embrace it and use it to your advantage
4. Find a DETOUR – whether it’s starting another scene, writing out of order, or letting your mind wonder until you start imagining things (most common would be “what if”)
Good luck to you, from a writer to a writer.
Oh, one last thing … I think a lot of writers problems with writer’s block can be linked to that of someone who recently failed at something – because you have to, have to, have to build a bridge and get over it in order to restore yourself.
Christopher
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