Writers:
So you have a superpower, now what?
In
part one I talked about those defining moments when discovery of your ability
takes place. So, you SuperWrites, ScriptMan, RewriteWoman-esque superheroes,
this post will discuss having the courage to use your ability, discovering your
voice and what gives a superhero that staying power. Also, be warned, I’ll use
superhero and writer interchangeably. Deal with it.
Where
was I? Yes, I was staring at my very own Gotham from the horizon. I had come to
understand this intrinsic need/impulse I possessed to write. The next step in a superhero’s journey is how to reconcile their new found ability with their existing
lives. My instinctive response was, ‘I must quit my degree and everything that
isn’t film or writing related and pursue this and this alone!!!’
Of
course, this was a rookie mistake. Keeping your feet on the ground even though
you’ve learnt to fly is at times, the utmost important thing a writer can do.
You’ll know when you can quit your day job. You’ll know, because at that point
you’ll have robots who will type up your script as you speak. I mean, think
about it, did Clark Kent quit his day job? Hell to the NO! Did Peter Parker
quit his? HELL TO THE NO.
"Hi, its Clark, I won't be in today, I'm not well *cough*"
I
know this is far easier to say than do. I made all the rookie mistakes by not
embracing balance: The balance of writing and juggling your daily life. I
wanted to write completely. All the time. I wanted to escape from the ‘fake’ identity
I had in reality. In fact, I did exactly this during my three year Psychology
degree. It was at the end of my second year and just before my final year
began, I took the summer and literally opted out of my daily life and wrote all
the time. It was almost obsessive, I loved it. But it consumed me. I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was,
when upon emerging I discovered the people I considered to be my friends had
moved on with their lives because I hadn’t made the effort to contact them and
cancelled a few social events (yes, that’s all it took). This hurt big time. I
had awoken to a reality where I’d lost five friends with no hope of winning them back, but in
hindsight, because they didn’t stick around made me realise they probably weren’t
very good friends. Refreshingly, a few keepers did stick around. They
understood. The problem was, I had become so consumed by the writing side of
life, that I had completely let my responsibilities etc slide. At this point, I
was to complete my final year of a degree I didn’t want to do. Final year
counted as 80% of my overall grade. Writing that year seemed ludicrous. And
once again, I stopped. Completely. And we all know where that leads...
So
begun my darkest (and most-unsuperhero-y) phase, I accepted the chasm between
writing and reality. Hollywood, publishing, films, and dreaming were a far cry
from who I really was. And who I really was, was a third year student
completing their final year, without the nerve to handle writing, my job and my degree.
I finally reached an all time low. I had crashed and burned and yes, I hit rock
bottom.
I
was burnt out, and all of this was because I couldn’t balance writing with my
degree, or my job or my responsibilities, and don’t even get me started on my
social life. I was handing in the towel. I was a mess. I find it hard to
believe how dejected I had actually gotten. I was ready to ... give up. Something
I had never considered before. Something I had never believed to be possible,
and I was doing it. I was giving up. Oddly, even while giving up I secretly
hoped for a sign. I don’t know what kind of sign I was looking for.
But
I sure as hell found one.
The very next day, I found myself having
lunch with Paul Haggis, discussing writing and ideas. It was ridiculous. It was
preposterous. It was, in my mind at least, a screaming, dancing, yelling sign
that writing was the path for me and I had to continue.
Seeing
the world anew, I began writing, reading and researching scriptwriting more and
more, in hopes of teaching myself the craft I had been learning at a sluggish
pace previously. I was on fire. This time however, I was wary of my knack for
diving in and burning out. So instead of thinking about the rules, the dos and
the don’ts, I began doing them. I made changes, some dramatic some small. I
applied to do the MA in TV Scriptwriting, I’ve been working as a freelance
copywriter, I’ve been creating detailed pitches for all the TV pilots and
features I will write. I’m even
writing a novel, and have an animated short in production. I’m essentially a
Ninja-Me today. I’m not a success story yet, but I am turning it around.
These
are the changes I made:
I
identified my VOICE.
Everyone
has it. I believe it alters slightly depending on what genre a writer is
writing, but all the same, every writer has a voice. They have something to say
and a way of saying it.
Know your
voice.
And if you don’t know it, then read through everything you’ve ever written and
ask yourself what it’s about, what does each piece of writing convey? What
themes recur? Within those pages is your voice.
A
quote that I reread when I lose track of this ‘voice’, or I lose track of what
the project is about:
“I saw the
angel in the marble and carved until I set him free”- Michael Angelo.
All
writing is a work in progress. At times it won’t make sense to you, you know
there’s something you want to say, but you just can’t put your finger on it. Don’t
commiserate. The voice, the heart of your story is spread within the words you’ve
written. It’s in there. Sometimes, this means to stop obsessing, and then
return to your project with fresh eyes and read through it. Think about why you
wanted to write this idea in the first place, what’s within this idea that compels
you to write it?
DISCIPLINE
This
is something it has taken me months to develop. I dared myself to write every
single day. Length of what you write doesn’t matter. It’s the quality of what
you write. I would often struggle because sometimes, I just wasn’t in the mood
to write a suspenseful horror. How did I tackle this? I simply began other
projects, after creating detailed pitches and outlines. I now have projects in
a variety of genres so I’m never bored. I’m never ‘not in the mood’ to write.
Even if I write three paragraphs, I’m happy. As long as I do some writing every
day. At times, I do just one paragraph of a project, other days I do three
different projects for hours on end. The key is to do. It is so easy to delay, but thinking about writing won’t get
your projects ready for competitions, producers or agents. They all want people
who have completed work, a portfolio of sorts.
Thinking
isn’t doing. Doing is doing.
Michelle
Lipton (@michellelipton, http://michellelipton.wordpress.com/ ), an award
winning writer who is currently writing for Hollyoaks, recently paid us a visit on the MA degree. She said a couple of things that really bring the
point home.
- Don’t leave
the desk
- Writer’s
block isn’t an option
Point
1 is simple. It’s from the ‘finish what you start’ school of thought. Once you
sit down to write, yes, you happen to notice the window sill needs a clean,
while you’re at it turning on the television won’t hurt... Don’t. Stay
put. Only get up for toilet breaks, coffee/tea/food top ups and if a krispy
kreme’s salesman is at the door.
Point
2 is controversial between writers, but as far as I’m concerned, writer’s block
doesn’t even exist. If you’re a writer, you will write. It may not be the
project you want to or need to write, but you will. If you’re a writer with a
deadline, you will write and you will finish. In the world of soap-writing
there’s no room for writer’s block. Its a fast-paced environment where you’re
working on future episodes while baring in mind what’s currently on air, while
receiving notes for your last script while writing a new script. Yes. It’s
insane. (Kudos to Michelle and the other soap writers out there!)
This
is the kind of environment a writer needs to train themselves to write in. I’m
not saying become a soap writer, not at all. What I’m saying is, the skills,
the determination and bullet-proof imagination needed for soap-writing reflect
what, in my opinion, real writers are. Endlessly creative, adaptable and
hard-working.
By
being hard on yourself and defenestrating the concept of ‘writer’s block’, you’ll
soon find you’re making progress and the more you exercise the imagination
muscle, the stronger it gets. Everyone
knows their limits when it comes to pushing themselves, but sometimes it’s
healthy to push those limits ever so slightly, just give them a nudge and see
what you may be capable of.
Disclaimer:
I take no responsibility for nervous breakdowns that will occur as a result of
the above statement.
Perhaps
I’m cocky, perhaps I’m naive, but when people say ‘don’t be too hard on
yourself’, I think, ‘STOP UNDERESTIMATING ME’, and I hammer on. This could also
be due to the next key issue...
Time
Management
This
is the one thing I have found most difficult, being all or nothing is hardly constructive. I've been changing my habits as a writer. But oddly, time management happens to be the
hardest thing for a writer to nail, all that managing of your time, making time, keeping time,
working to deadlines etc, its hardcore. The key here is the more you write, the faster and more
efficient you become as a writer.
Write
every day. It doesn’t matter what you write. But write every day. I have a folder full of
‘writer-bursts’, which are pages filled with fiction, nonsense and some cool
ideas. Things I’ve just written to exercise my writing skills and imagination
muscle (NOTE: Imagination isn’t actually a muscle, but you know what I mean) even when I wasn't in the 'mood' to write.
Time
is the one thing you never get back. It is something I’m almost obsessive
about. So much time is wasted and it’s in fact the most expensive thing in
life. I organise my time rigidly, so I can do the whole live, laugh, love etc malarkey
AND (hopefully) build a career as a writer.
Time
is like money, you can spend it, you can invest it, but you will never get it
back. I live by this rule. Think of making time to write as an investment in
your soon-to-be career. Manage your time carefully. Networking is important,
but be careful not to substitute networking with being a social
butterfly/seeking social validation and socialising with writers all the time.
Writers who aren’t writing aren’t writers.
I’m not saying go live in a cave where only the ocean speaks to you and stuff,
not at all. But prioritise.
I don’t attend weekly drinks etc, I don’t even
attend monthly drinks. But I do make time to rest and catch up with dear
friends and family, I use it as a reward system. When I'm happy and keeping deadlines, I can make time to catch up and unwind. The key in time management is balance and discipline.
The company
you keep
Be
around people who know what they are talking about regarding the industry, and
be around people who are supportive and constructive. A lot of writers are
afraid to try new formats etc. Sometimes you might think you lack the know-how
and confidence to write a certain way. Hold on a second... you’re a writer. Of
course you can write. You can write whatever the hell you want, in any format
you want. Yes, you’ll make mistakes. That’s the process. That’s how you learn. However, you'd be surprised how many writers don't switch format or experiment out of fear, fear they have developed as a result of getting little support from those around them. If I announce I'm writing a new format, my mother gets all 'here you go again, starting something new' and assumes I'm some commitophobic. How do you tackle people like that? You finish what you start then flaunt it (so mature, I know).
I have some very good friends, who are honest when they don’t like something in
my writing or they think something doesn’t work, and they’re open to discussing
it. Its constructive and helpful. As the writer, who has rehearsed the idea
hundreds of times in your own head, you think on paper it’s blatantly clear.
That isn’t always the case. We’re privy to more information than our readers,
and at times this is why we fail to execute a certain scene etc. This is where
friends, readers and editors come in. It is important to sample writing for different formats, even if you’ve decided
to stick to one. You can learn so much, and it will only help your craft and increase your opportunities. I make it a point to befriend writers who actually disappear
to write. For me, that’s a sign of a good writer. It demonstrates a writer with
work-ethic. Good habits, like bad habits rub off on people.
Batman
doesn’t roll with criminals and Superman doesn’t play singstar with Zod. So many superhero tales are about the individual stepping up and taking responsibility for their ability, and what
it means for them, their life and the people around them. Writers should do the same (look at me, preaching. Pfft...)
The
importance of Persistence
This
is my concluding point. It’s the one piece of advice that has kept me going. The key piece of advice Paul Haggis gave me was, ‘Just keep writing.’
Keep writing.
It sounds
so simple, it sounds so obvious... but in reality, it’s so easy to be faint
hearted and give up after one, two, twenty rejections. It is so easy to stop,
that it’s almost... too easy. Easy isn’t the path I chose when I decided to be
a writer: a career with a ridiculously unstable income and insanely complex
path to success. You need to be persistent. You need to keep writing. When you get lost along the way, you need to have the courage to make your way back.
Always
keep writing.
For
me, writing is a way of life. Just as superheroes have abilities, writers have purpose.
Where superheroes have villains, writers have obstacles. If you can harness the five things I have
mentioned, sooner or later, you’re gonna make it. It isn’t a matter of ‘if’, it becomes a matter of ‘when’.