A lot has been written in the past few years about the state of "flow," in which whatever you're doing seems to come to you effortlessly. I had a rare experience of it yesterday, on a ten-hour flight back to London from Los Angeles.
I wrote about six thousand words during that time, on a new idea for a kids' book. I'm sure the work is rough but it was great to have it pouring out.
THE CONDITIONS FOR FLOW
The conditions seem to be:
being away from your usual workspace - in this case, an airplane
being in a place with low external stimulus - this was an overnight flight, the cabin was dark, and most people were sleeping. When we got on the plane I thought there might be a LOT of external stimulus, since the middle row opposite was occupied by two dads, a little girl, and two very young babies. The little girl was well-behaved and, amazingly, the infants didn't cry even once.
having few interruptions - there were two meal services, one of which I skipped, the rest of the time the flight attendants were rarely seen.
not stopping to re-read or critique the material
I'm not sure whether having a general idea about where the story is going is important. In this case, the same character is involved in a lot of short stories, which is an easier structure to handle.
That's not to say that flow happens every time those conditions are met. I've made that flight many times, and have been very productive on only one out of five or six.
CAN WE CREATE THE CONDITIONS?
It's made me wonder to create such conditions without getting on an airplane. Some writers do it by going to a hotel for a few days or weeks, not turning on the TV, not hooking up to the wi-fi, and taking at least some of their meals via room service. That's a fairly drastic approach, though (as well as expensive).
Working in a cafe, ideally without internet access, can be a mini-version of that, although here in the center of London it's hard to find one that doesn't have the distraction of people-watching and the obligation to move on after you've had a couple of cups of coffee. Maybe I just need to look harder for an unpopular place.
Getting on a train (obviously not during peak times) for a couple of hours might do it, although given the price of train travel it could be an expensive option.
If you'd care to share how you get into a flow state, please leave a comment. I'll be experimenting more with this and will let you know how it turns out.
I got an email the other day from an aspiring screenwriter who had an idea for an unusual structure for her screenplay. She asked whether I thought it would be safer to stick to the traditional three-act structure and "maybe just drop in a few more unusual elements."
Of course it's hard to give advice on a specific project when you don't know the story or the details of the alternative structure, but in general I agree with this advice from painter Courtney Jordan about mixed media artwork:
"Mixed media artists can't be faint of heart. You have to be brave to try mixed media techniques that you've never tried before, but I've discovered that you won't get anywhere--and you kind of feel let down--if you don't push it enough to show you are actually mixing media."
I think the same is true for screenwriters and novelists. If you have an unconventional way to tell your story--and you're using it because it's the best way, not just to be different for the sake of it--go for it.
Trying to stick to the rules and be just a little unconventional probably will make your novel or script just as muddy and unconvincing as a mixed media artwork by an artist who lacked the confidence to go all the way.
In the world of screenwriting, scripts that stand out often are not the first ones to be bought, but they capture the attention of those who read them. Those readers know they're dealing with a writer who has the courage to venture out of the safe territory. Ironically, they may then hire you to write something more conventional, but at least you'll have your foot in the door.
(For tips on writing, from inspiration through to publication, get a copy of my book, Your Writing Coach, published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)
If you're writing a novel or screenplay and are looking for inspiration for your characters, check out a website called Hopes and Fears. It features a series of anonymous first-person accounts of a variety of jobs. Here are a few examples:
"I worked as a carnie, and possibly for the mob."
"I monitor missile activity with satellites for Lockheed Martin."
"I dig up dirt on wolves of Wall Street."
"I loved working at a legal brothel in Australia."
"I do magic tricks and hammer nails up my nose."
Obviously, if your protagonist has any of these occupations you'd have to do a lot more research than just these accounts, but they could get you started. They also could be excellent for helping you create interesting minor characters.
Warning: It's easy to find yourself spending a lot of time reading these rather than doing what you're supposed to be doing!
I spotted a fun blog post by Hannah Heath, young aspiring author, on 7 cliched characters in YA fiction that she says need to stop:
1. The character that is full of teen angst 2. The girl that's pretty but doesn't recognize it until a boy tells her so 3. Characters involved in love triangles 4. The Chosen One (fantasy novels) 5. The one with horrible parents 6. The "strong' female character who only looks strong because she's surrounded by a bunch of wimpy guys 7. The brooding bad boy
Actually, if you cut these characters out totally you'd wipe out about 75% of teen/YA fiction (and a lot of adult fiction, too), but the point is to write them in an uncliched way.
One thing that turns characters into a stereotype or cliche is if their one dominant trait or characteristic is all we know about them.
As soon as you give the brooding bad boy some other qualities, for instance, he stops being a generic brooding bad boy and starting turning into an individual.
When I was writing sitcoms, the rule was that every character should have one strong characteristic, but that should be complemented by several more that might emerge more gradually.
As an example, in the classic sitcom, "Golden Girls," Blanche was the sexy one, Rose was ditzy, Sophia was feisty, and Dorothy was sensible. However, one reason the series was so successful and lasted so long was that as time went on you got glimpses of other aspects of their characters.
One good strategy, once you've established your character's basic trait, is to find a situation in which they act the opposite way--of course that has to be motivated by the circumstances. Then it's fun, for instance, to see Dorothy being the sexy one, or Rose being feisty.
There are many ways of constructing a plot. One I find useful is to consider what I call the three C's:
Conflict
Choice
Consequence
You can use these to develop your main plot, but they are equally useful in constructing the smaller components of your story--the chapters or scenes. This is especially true in helping you construct the hardest part of any story, the middle.
THE BIG PICTURE
You can use the three C's to come up with a logline, which also is the spine of your story. For example:
A young man obsessed with becoming a great drummer finds himself tested to the limit by a brilliant but abusive teacher. ("Whiplash")
The three C's don't always occur in the same order. In this instance, it's the young man's choice (to become a great drummer) that leads to the conflict (the harsh demands of the teacher) that leads to the consequence (being tested to the limit).
This order is typical of stories in which the protagonist sets out to achieve some kind of goal. However, there are many stories in which the protagonist initially is reactive rather than active. For instance:
A young girl finds herself trapped in a strange and threatening alternative reality with three companions. The four journey to see a wizard who can give each of them what they most want--in her case, a way to get home. ("The Wizard of Oz")
Dorothy doesn't choose to go to Oz (at least, not consciously), so her story begins with conflict when she finds herself there, threatened by the Wicked Witch. Her choice is to join her three odd companions on a search for the wizard who can help them get what they want. The consequence is the adventure they experience, and her realization that there's no place like home.
THE PARTS OF THE WHOLE
Throughout a book or movie, the protagonist continues to make choices, whether voluntarily or because she is forced to, and these choices have consequences which lead to further conflict. A scene may start with either a conflict or a choice that leads to one.
A scene can start with either a conflict or a choice that leads to one.
For example, let's say you're writing a thriller in which your protagonist's identity has been stolen. Fearful that this is leading to her being framed for a murder, she takes action to discover who is responsible.
She finds a clue that the woman impersonating her is going to be at a certain restaurant for dinner. She decides to confront her (the choice). At the restaurant, she challenges the woman (conflict). Unfortunately, the bad guys sent a ringer, and the protagonist is arrested for assault (consequence).
That leads to a new conflict, between her and the system. She has to make a new choice: insist on what seems like a crazy story, and risk being sent to a psychiatric hospital, or play along and accept the blame for something she didn't do.
Whichever choice she makes will have further consequences that lead to more conflict, until there is some kind of final showdown.
BUILDING THE STRONGEST SCENE AND STORY
In each scene we can ask what choices the protagonist has, and which one leads to the most interesting story development. Obviously, the choice has to be consistent with the character you have created, and the character and his or her choices are influenced by the genre as well as the plot.
In action stories, we give the character very few options; in each new development he finds himself faced with some seemingly impossible task he must perform in order to avoid disaster. Think James Bond.
In more sophisticated stories, there are several viable options and which one the protagonist chooses helps us to understand him better and perhaps consider what we would do in his place. In that version, James Bond might stop to consider whether the outcome of the violent tasks being demanded of him are worth the sacrifice of his humanity. Confronted with a particularly vulnerable beautiful woman, he might opt not to sleep with her just to get the information he needs.
HOW THIS HELPS YOU WITH THE MIDDLE OF YOUR STORY
The middle is where many stories weaken. They cease to grow and we feel like the story has been padded. This happens even though there is all kind of conflict and action.
The reason is that the protagonist has stopped making new choices. The story has set up the basic conflict, and that conflict may escalate but if that escalation is just mechanical, the story will stall in terms of its emotional impact.
To see how this works, let's go back to the woman whose identity has been stolen. In the middle (Act II if we're talking about a screenplay), first they take all the money in her bank account, then they make it look like she's been embezzling money at work so she loses her job, then they set up a situation in which she's arrested for assault.
Those are all escalations, but if they are just the result of the actions of the people who are using her, they will not be as powerful as if they are at least in part the result of new choices she makes. For example, maybe she decides, 'If I'm going to be convicted for embezzling money whether or not I've done it, I might as well do it." Shortly after she's been fired, and with her bank account already cleaned out, she takes some of the company's money in order to be able to fight back against the people setting her up. She's made a moral choice that feels like an emotional escalation.
Even more dramatically, if she's going through a divorce and a custody battle, she might decide that her child would be safer with her ex-husband; although it tears her up, she drops her quest for custody. (Hmm, do we think the ex-husband might be in on all this?)
In short, the middle of your story will grow in intensity if the escalation operates on several levels, rather than just the degree of physical threat to your protagonist. Some of the big action movies that lack this try to cover for it with bigger explosions and more impressive effects, but for audiences with an attention span longer than 30 seconds, this ploy can work for only so long.
Whether you use the three C's right from the start, or to help you strengthen your story once you've bashed out a first draft, giving thought to choices, conflicts, and consequences can help you write a more powerful screenplay or novel.
The first episode of a new podcast called PsychCrunch features interviews with researchers in the field of personal attraction. While they are pitching it toward people looking for help with dating, the information could also be useful for anyone writing a romance or romantic comedy screenplay or novel.
The guests include researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, University of Baltimore, and Rochester University. Here's the link:
In a recent email, Roy Williams, the Wizard of Ads, made this statement:
Tell me what a person admires and I’ll tell you everything about them that matters.
He tied this to the idea of image, the picture of ourselves we try to create for the world--which probably isn't paying attention, by the way.
It's a good way to think about a character as well as about real people. If you know what your character admires, and the image he or she wants to project, you know a lot. And if you know how that image differs from who they really are, you know even more.
There's no shortage of cliches to avoid in films and novels, and here's a great illustration of one of them: 89 scenes in which someone sits bolt upright as they wake from a nightmare (screaming optional). The collective effect is hilarious:
I see that somebody has an ebook out called "8 Hour Bestseller: How to Write Your Bestselling Book in Record Time." I guess in an era of the supposed 4-hour work week, 8 hours is a long time.
The author says his ebook will show you how to write 2000 words an hour. Wait a minute, that means your book will be only 16,000 words long. That's kind of short. Oh wait, his book has a print length of 59 pages. Allowing for the title page, table of contents, etc. probably it's only 50 pages...times, say, 300 words per page...equals 15,000 words. OK, I guess he considers that a book.
Oh wait, his book has a print length of 59 pages. Allowing for the title page, table of contents, etc. probably it's only 50 pages... times, say, 300 words per page...equals 15,000 words. OK, I guess he considers that a book.
By the way, his definition of "bestseller" is a book that reaches number one in its category on Amazon, which isn't hard to do if you get a bunch of people to buy your book at the same time. It has no relationship to the normal definition of bestseller.
I don't necessarily mean to be harsh with this author, it may be that his book has lots of useful information. What annoys me is the emphasis on how to write a book in the fastest possible time, rather than one that actually is as good as you can make it...and that won't happen in 8 hours.
If you want to write a book, you'll find friendly guidance in my book, Your Writing Coach, published by Nicholas Brealey and available from your favorite bookseller. Warning: it emphasizes quality over speed..
We all know how it goes: resolutions are made on January 1st and generally they’re forgotten by February 1st. If we don’t take action, we’ll end 2015 making exactly the same resolutions again. That doesn’t mean you’re lazy or lack ambition, it means you’re human and nobody’s helped you do it right.
HERE’S WHAT NOT TO DO
Do not just try to do the same thing, only this time on February 1st! It didn’t work in January, it’s not going to work in February or March or April. There’s a better way.
FOUR SIMPLE STEPS? REALLY?
How come books on achieving your goals make it so complicated? Well, you wouldn’t pay for a book as short as this email, would you? People have to pad it out and give it some kind of fancy name so that you’ll hand over some money. I make my money doing other stuff, so I can be concise. I’m not selling anything. Weird, huh?
IMAGINE IT’S NEXT NEW YEAR’S EVE
Imagine it’s New Year’s Eve, 2015. What’s the ONE THING you want to have be different? What do you want to feel proud that you did? For instance:
* you got your weight and fitness levels where you want them
* you started your own business
* you wrote that book you’ve been thinking about
* you improved your relationship with your kids
* you learned a new language
* you got your finances in order
STEP ONE. Complete this sentence, in writing:
“By the end of this year, the one thing I definitely want to achieve is________________________.”
That doesn’t mean you can’t achieve other things as well, but this is going to be your highest priority, so pick something you’d really be proud to have done. If you achieve it in less than a year, great! You can move on to your next goal.
BIG RESULTS COME FROM SMALL STEPS
You’ve heard the saying, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Well, it continues with a single step, too. Lots of single steps.
One of the main reasons people fail to achieve their resolutions is they don’t chunk down their goal into small enough bits. They start out big--maybe taking an hour a day to exercise, for instance...but then life takes over. The stuff you used to do in the time you’re now spending on exercising still needs to be done, so you fall behind. And before you know it, it’s too hard to keep up the new effort and you stop.
STEP TWO. Fill in these two sentences once a week, in writing:
This week, here’s what I’m going to do to move toward my goal during just one session of 15 minutes a day:________________________________________. To make this possible here’s what i’m going to do 15 minutes a day less: __________________________________.
First, what can you achieve in only 15 minutes? If you’re learning a language, you can learn a new word or two. If you want to write a book, you can jot down notes about the plot, the characters, the theme. If you want to improve your relationship with somebody, you can spend 15 minutes a day listening--not talking or judging or giving advice, just listening--to them. If you want to get your finances in order, you can set up a filing system and use it on all the receipts and other documents that are in a big jumble at the moment.
The reason you fill in these sentences once a week is that what you will be doing will change as you make progress. Once you’ve spent a few weeks jotting down general ideas about your book, you may decide to spend that 15 minutesa day working on the main plot points. Once you’ve learned a bunch of new words in another language you may decide to spend 15 minutes a day listening to audio lessons on how to form simple sentences, Most of the time you’ll find it easy to figure out the next logical thing to do.
Second, what can you do less of? If you’re getting more than 7 or 8 hours a night of sleep, you can sleep 15 minutes less. Set your alarm 15 minutes earlier, or go to bed 15 minutes later. Or you may choose to eliminate 15 minutes a day of TV, Facebook or Twitter time, or something else. There isn’t anybody who can’t find a spare fifteen minutes a day.
YOUR MEMORY SUCKS (AT LEAST MINE DOES)
You may think there’s no danger that you’ll forget to do your 15 minutes a day, but there is. Trust me, I’ve done it myself.
We need to remind ourselves to do it. One way is to link it to something we do already--something we like or need to do, so we never forget to do it. For instance, you might decide:
* I will not have breakfast until I’ve done the 15 minutes. Put a note on your box of cereal or on your fridge to remind you.
* I will not watch any TV until I’ve done the 15 minutes. Put the note on your remote control.
* I will not look at Facebook/ Twitter/ Pinterest / Whatever until I’ve done the 15 minutes Put the note on your computer screen or your tablet or phone.
* I will not put on my shoes until I’ve done the 15 minutes. Put the note on your shoes.
You can also set an alarm, or authorize somebody in your household to remind you every day, or make a pact with a buddy to phone or email each other every day, or email yourself at the end of every day. It’s a good idea to use two or three methods at first, to make sure that you’re remembering to do the fifteen minutes. Eventually it will become a habit, but that may take six weeks or more.
Also set up a way to remind yourself to review your progress once a week and set out the plan for the next week. Put it into your calendar, add an alarm to that day, schedule a call with a buddy so you can compare progress and support each other in setting up the following week, or whatever works best for you. It may take a few tries until you find the method that works every time.
STEP THREE. Fill in the following:
To remind myself to do this every day, I will: _________________________________. If that doesn’t work, I will:________________________________________. To remind myself to review the week and set out the plan for the next week, I will:___________________________________________.
If you ever lapse, take that as a signal to try something else, not to give up doing the 15 minutes!
STEP FOUR. Do it now.
I lied. There are really only three steps, but I’m making the fourth one do it today. Ideally, NOW. Skip reading the rest of your emails for the next fifteen minutes. If you haven’t filled in the sentences above, that can be your fifteen minute task for the day. That, plus setting up whatever kind of reminders you’re going to use. If you’d like to have a goals buddy, forward this email to them and invite them to join you.
Did you notice that I asked you to fill in the sentences “in writing”? You need to write or print out those completed sentences and keep them where you can see them every day. That’s an important part of the method, please don’t skip it.
WHAT ABOUT STUFF THAT CAN’T BE DONE IN 15 MINUTES A DAY?
By putting in lots of daily short sessions, you will gain momentum. You will see your goal starting to become real. You will feel proud of yourself. You will have greater motivation to keep going.
You may reach a point where 15 minutes a day isn’t the ideal way to spend time on your project. That’s fine, then you can get creative about how to find bigger chunks of time. Maybe you will decide to spend 30 minutes every other day. Or maybe you will be excited enough by your progress to give up an hour a night of TV in favor of working on your project. Or maybe your project now seems more desirable than however you used to spend your Saturdays, and you give it a full day every week.
The process will be basically the same, though. For every new chunk of time, you decide on something to give up, you work out each week what you’re going to do, you set up reminders for yourself, and you keep going. The closer you get to your goal, the more exciting and easier this gets.
ANY QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions about how you can apply this to your own situation, feel free to email me:[email protected]. If I can help, I will.
I'm working on a new online course, Profit from Your Creativity, and one section is about mindset.
One myth I'm writing about is that somehow people who publish your book or give your paintings space in their gallery are doing you a favor. Let's go to the supermarket to see if this is true...
At the supermarket you are confronted by an entire aisle of cereals. There are more cereals competing for your attention than can ever win it. It's a buyer's market.
If you choose the shredded wheat, are you doing it a favor? No, you're choosing it because you think it will taste good and/or be good for you.
It's a win for the shredded wheat and for you.
DON'T MAKE THE CORN FLAKES CRY!
Should the corn flakes take your rejection personally? Does it mean they should slink back to the Kellog's factory, knowing that nobody else will ever buy them?
Silly, right? Yet that's the attitude a lot of writers and artists have when their work is rejected.
All it means is that the person who rejected your work doesn't get it. It's their opinion that your work can't make any money for them. They may be right. If they are not excited about your work they wouldn't be any good at selling it to a publisher (if the rejector is an agent, for instance). By rejecting you, they are disqualifying themselves. They have shown they were not the business partner you were looking for.
If they do accept your work, they are doing it because they think they can profit from it. There's certainly nothing wrong with that, but it underlines the fact that it's a transaction from which both parties can profit. It's a relationship of equals.
WHAT KIND OF GIRL SCOUT ARE YOU?
You may think that your attitude is not that important--it's the work that will determine whether or not it is accepted. However, the way you present it, for instance in a query letter or pitch, can have a major influence as well. Certainly it can influence whether or not the other person ever reads or looks at what you are offering. Three girl scouts will show you how that works.
At some point or another you've probably been approached by Girl Scouts selling cookies. Imagine three Girl Scouts with three different opening lines and think about how you'd respond:
Girl Scout A:"Hi, we're selling cookies. You don't want to buy any, do you?"
Girl Scout B:"Hi, we're selling cookies. Do you want to buy some?"
Girl Scout C: "Hi, we're selling cookies. Which do you like better, chocolate chip or brownies?"
It's really easy to agree with Girl Scout A: "No, I don't, thank you."
Girl Scout B's approach is better, but it still makes it very easy to say no.
Girl Scout C doesn't give me the chance to answer no right away. Instead, she prompts me to think about cookies. Which do I like better? If I like brownies, her question probably makes me think about (and maybe visualise) eating a brownie. Yes, please!
Unfortunately, a lot of writers are like Girl Scout A. Their query letters include negatives, like "My work hasn't been published yet, but...." Or in a pitch they say something like, "I haven't worked out all the details yet, but..." If you do that, nobody is going to buy your cookies.
THESE COOKIES WILL [not really] CHANGE YOUR LIFE!
I'm not suggesting that you go to the other extreme: "This book will outsell Harry Potter because it's the most exciting blah blah blah!" That's a turn-off too. It smacks of delusion or desperation, neither of which looks good on a writer or artist.
Instead, you want to use a form of presentation that reflects your enthusiasm for your project...and a potential win-win for equals.
(Would you like more useful information about writing, all the way from the idea through to publication? You'll find lots of useful help in my book, Your Writing Coach. It's published by Nicholas Brealey and available from your favorite bookseller.)
In a Fast Company series of successful authors' tips on writing better stories, Terence Winter (creator, writer, and executive producer of the series, Boardwalk Empire) makes a great point about choosing the most interesting part of a story to tell:
"Every movie you’ve ever seen about Al Capone shows him at the height of his power, and sort of like Al Capone’s Greatest Hits. If you can only spend two hours with Al Capone, you want it to be when he’s at the top of his game.
On Boardwalk Empire, we meet Al Capone when he’s a kid driving a truck. That Al Capone is so much more interesting to me because we get to see him become the guy we know, and we had hours and hours to do it, and really see what formed him and what made this guy tick and that’s so much more a luxury as a storyteller and more satisfying for the audience."
The series Gotham does something similar by looking at the formative years of the man who became Batman, and also by focusing on a character (Inspector Gordon) who has a supporting role in the later story.
Even in a screenplay or novel I think there's a lot of value in taking the time to brainstorm a number of ways of approaching the story before committing to one. For instance, a kidnapping story could be told with any of these as the viewpoint character:
* the victim
* the loved ones of the victim
* the detective investigating the case
* the kidnapper
* someone who is wrongly accused of the kidnapping
* someone who inadvertently or unwillingly gets involved in the crime
* a psychic (fake or genuine--if there is such a thing--who is asked to help locate the victim
* a previous victim of the kidnapper who realizes she knows something that could help but is reluctant to relive the experience
I'm sure there are more, but you get the idea.
(For writing tips from some of the greatest classical and modern writers, get a copy of my book, Your Creative Writing Masterclass. It's available from your favorite bookseller. You can find out more at www.YourCreativeWritingMasterclass.com)
At fastcreate.com, Director Richard Linklater, recently feted for his film, Boyhood, shares his approach to coming up with the structure of his films:
"There are a lot of stories in the world, and I spend all my time thinking about how to tell them. That, to me, is the cinematic element. That's the hard part: the right narrative form on every movie is the thing I have to break. New forms have always been a part of my thinking. 'Could you ever tell a story this way?'"
In other words, he starts with the story, not a predetermined structure. In the case of Boyhood, that was a real challenge:
"The idea for Boyhood was one of those 'aha' moments that at its core was problem-solving. The film's structure emerged out of trying to solve the problem of how to express that story over a long period of time. It's very straightforward, but in a way that hasn't been done before, because it's just completely impractical."
STRUCTURE VS. PLOT
Linklater is not saying that a film can be made without a structure, but that we don't have to stick to the most common plot shapes:
'When I write a screenplay, I've diagrammed the architecture of the story. There's really got to be a structure; art demands it. I care more about structure, less about plots. Anything plot-driven feels a little more man-made, more manufactured. I'm always going toward something that's a little more true to life."
HOW TO LET THE STORY BE THE MASTER
Linklater's approach mirrors what I often say in the screenwriting classes I teach: Let the story be the master, not the servant. For instance, don't start by trying to squeeze the story into the steps of the hero's journey. Instead, explore the story long enough to discover what it's really about and then figure out a structure that serves it.
Asking a few questions can help you do that:
1. Who is the most interesting person in this story?
2. What happened before the part of the story I intend to tell, and what happens after it?
3. Who and what changes as a result of the incidents in the story?
4. What do I want an audience to feel while watching this story?
Often we are eager to start writing right away. Doing so can be another way of finding the answers to these questions, but it's tempting to regard what you've written as THE way to tell the story, rather than an exploration. That's why I recommend exploring these aspects of the story before you start to write. As a result, you may find yourself ending up with a different protagonist, or telling a different part of the story than you had in mind, or even switching it to a different genre. And you're likely to end up with a script that doesn't seem a carbon copy of existing scripts.
WARNING: RESISTANCE AHEAD
Linklater has a lot of freedom in the stories he chooses to tell and how he tells them. As a writer without his track record, you may well meet resistance if you pitch a story that has a structure not immediately recognizable as the three act structure or the hero's journey.
However, it's also the stories that are told in a fresh way that stand out, and I believe that in the long run you will be well served by emulating Linklater.
It can take ages for a screenplay to become a film and of course a lot of times the production never happens. Nick Hornby, whose most recent adaptation is Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon, deals with it by using the time in between to write his novels.
An article written by Joe Berkowitz for fastcreate.com points out, "what once seemed like a dealbreaking burden [the delays] has turned into a boon for the prolific author's productivity."
Yes, he does have the advantage of being a best-selling novelist and Academy Award-nominated (for An Education) screenwriter, but I think there's a useful lesson in there for the rest of us as well, namely to figure out how to make the downsides of the business part of our craft work for us rather than against us.
Hearing back from agents and publishers can take just as long as the gaps and delays experienced by screenwriters. I think the lesson is to have another project ready to go when we send one out into the real world...which also helps cut down on the amount of time we spend thinking about the first project's fate!
Director Michael Haneke is interviewed in the current issue of Paris Review. This is what he said when asked whether drawing on your own experience and background is good or necessary:
"I’ve never seen good results from people trying to speak about things they don’t know firsthand. They will talk about Afghanistan, about children in Africa, but in the end they only know what they’ve seen on TV or read in the newspaper. And yet they pretend—even to themselves—that they know what they’re saying. But that’s bullshit. I’m quite convinced that I don’t know anything except for what is going on around me, what I can see and perceive every day, and what I have experienced in my life so far. These are the only things I can rely on. Anything else is merely the pretense of knowledge with no depth. Of course, I don’t just write about things precisely as they have happened to me—some have and some haven’t. But at least I try to invent stories with which I can personally identify.
My students, meanwhile, pitch only the gravest of topics. For them it’s always got to be the Holocaust. I usually tell them, Back off. You have no idea what you’re talking about. You can only reproduce what you read or heard elsewhere. Others who actually lived through it have said it much better than you ever could. Try to create something that springs organically from your own experience. For only then does it stand the slightest chance of being genuinely interesting."
Of course (in my opinion) that doesn't mean you can't wrap your own experience in a genre story. The YA novel I've been working on is called Reptile Nation and in it a segment of the population turns into reptile people. I must admit not only have I never been a Reptile Person, I haven't even met any. However, the book really is about the friendship between the two main characters, and that's a theme I (and everybody else) can relate to.
