Screenwriting : My inner critic is keeping me from finishing my screenplays! by Sherry Blackwell

Sherry, you are most definitely singing my song. It took me YEARS (I kid you not) to finish my first book. Now, on my first screenplay, I'm hoping to chisel that down to a single year. I'm halfway there!

I don't know why we do it to ourselves but I think every screenwriter has done this at least once. I know I did. The thing is to free write. Get it all out. One blogger described it as the "vomit" draft. It sounds a bit crass but she's right! Once you get past that hurdle then you head for the home-run.

Perfection is a chocolate covered unicorn. If you want to be a writer, WRITE! Write 2-3 pages per day until the story is finished. it doesn't matter what you put on the page the first time. You can fix it later. But if you never complete the story, you can never fix what's wrong. Fear of failure (or even success) is what stops a lot of people from even starting. You're already ahead of the pack. Suck it up and finish.

I'll let you in on a little trade secret. IF you ever sell a script 60% to 80% of what you wrote is going in the trash. Your "perfect pages" are going to be torn to shreds by someone you'll never see or have any control of anyway. Let that sink in.

The only thing in your way is you. Finish it. I'd be willing to read the first ten and give you an honest opinion.

Hi, Sherry. My two cents of advice: Work it out in an outline first or through some sort of brain dump document—not in screenwriting format—through writing that is for your eyes only. Could be a long list. Could be a synopsis. Notes. Whatever. Be sloppy. Be messy. Give yourself the freedom to create, to explore, to discover. That way you don't waste a whole lot of time over-tweaking details when you are still working out major story elements. Then, when you have a map worked out, some sort of a plan, you know your structure, you know your ending, you know the tone you wish to achieve, you know your characters, etc, well before you begin transforming your idea into screenwriting format your script should come together much easier for you and with clearer purpose. Keep in mind, maps or outlines serve the story, not the other way around. Nothing is carved in stone. There's always room for change or discovery or adjustment along the way. And perhaps get a good reference book like the The Screenwriter's Bible by David Trottier to help you with any formatting or tool use guidance you might need. You can always post questions here too. We have a generous community that enjoys helping others. ;)

Also, ignore fearmongers and Draconian rule talk. It's nonsense. Instead, get solid tips and advice from knowledgable sources that discuss good writing and common practices, good ideas, things to be aware of, how to use writing tools effectively, not just reductive dos and don'ts warnings. Read and study shooting scripts of films that are close to what you are writing, perhaps within your preferred genre, and see how the pros handle things on the page. Read them for inspiration too. Look for solid, practical real-world guidance from working writers, like the Scriptnotes podcast. There are many other great resources out there as well. Of course, the more you learn and practice the more confidence you gain, and thus the more at ease you are as a writer. Tweaking, polishing, honing, that's part of writing, absolutely, but being too precious can shut you down. You gotta find a balanced approach to your process, whatever works best for you! A process that allows you to have the freedom to explore but also utilizes your gift of perfection. 'Cause the details do matter! ;) Hope that helps!

Yeah, we have this thing called "first-time-itis", and it goes something like this:

First-time-itis is a beginner's trait that fails to take into account the sensation of bringing something into the world for the first time.

The process of doing this has a drug-like intoxication to it - it's pure creativity: we're all Einsteins when we're in the process, and while everything is still in the works, the potential for our success is unlimited, and failure a distant and not much considered notion, vague as mist over the horizon.

As we approach the end of our work, though, and the results of our labors start to coalesce and get fixed in time, two things start to happen:

1) if this is at all anything like an activity that's good for us, it is only natural that the very act of practicing our creativity gives us feedback, and allows for rapid and dramatic improvement and growth. In other words, if we are in our bliss, then doing it makes us better at it.

2) the flip side of this double-edged sword is this: let's say we started writing (or filming) on Day 1 and it takes us 100 days. If 1) is true then guess what? at Day 100, we should by definition be better writers or film makers or actors than we were at Day 1. Therefore:

3) when we, as creators, look back at Day 1's shoot or pages, guess what?

Yes, they inevitably feel as though they fall short of the mark. And technically speaking they should be, because we weren't as good on Day 1 as we are after Day 100. In effect, our mark actually moved between Days 1 and 100. So in actual fact we never did fall short of the mark, it's just that our mark is now better than it was.

So, if we are doing this correctly, this is an inevitable and frustrating result of every creative endeavor we undertake.

So? First-time-itis is when a beginner fails to allow for and recognize this, both in themselves and in their own work.

The immediate reaction is panic - nothing is good enough, it's all wrong. Because also, as the piece is nearing its completion comes the exit from the phase of pure creativity - the piece is no longer just in the mind as a perfect creation, but out in the open world, coming through the bloody process of being birthed, and landing, on the planet, right next to all the other human-made movies and books and performances that have been.

And there ours sits. It has it release, its premiere, its coming-out, and then it's no longer a debutante, and what next? A life of 20-30 years, if we've done our job correctly and continue to nurture (promote and market) our creation over the years.

So first-timers want to delay everything. Something's not right, they don't know what it is, they don't know how to make it right, all they know is that it's wrong. Fatally wrong.

That's first-time-itis.

It's the student going into finals panicking that there's something vital in the homework that has been forgotten.

However, here's the bottom line, coming from someone who's been learning and doing and trying and gnashing away at this for the better part of 46 years now:

Our creative lives work like so:

1) because of the time it takes to make a movie as distinct from the time it takes to watch it (or read it), we're always going to be thought of as fools (while the thing is being made) a lot more than we're going to be thought of as geniuses (while the premiere is still remembered). And then, around 2 weeks maximum after the release, the buzz dies down and we all go back to being thought of as fools again. That's our life. Live with it.

2) we have to live with a certain amount of frustration because we're always looking back at imperfect work completed as against perfect concepts lying ahead in our minds. Put another way, the day we think we have achieved perfection in our work is the day our work stops getting better, and the day we start to repeat ourselves.

3) knowing all of this, we do it anyway.

The antidote to first-time-itis is experience. In other words, this other industry old-timer anecdote: "Good is Great. But Done is Better."

Our vanguard against too uneven an output is this:

a) start easy. On the first week of shooting I usually go for less complicated shots, or shots I can easily re-do after week 12. Or I'll write chapters I'm most solid about that I know are the strongest tent-poles I have, that when I look back on them will either still stand clearly strongly, or need clear adjustments. I'll leave the more nuanced stuff until later in the process.

b) take the first scene shot/written and see how it really blends with the last scene shot/written . Is it even? If not, adjust. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it does have to be even.

Then you're done, move on to the next.

First time, done.

Thank you all for your responses, I have off this week and I plan to do a lot of writing. I'm so glad I have my fellow writers to lean on for support.