Screenwriting : Leave it alone... by Landis Stokes

Landis Stokes

Leave it alone...

Sometimes the best thing you can do for story is write it and THEN leave it alone. Of course you'll come back to it later but let those pages sit and come back with fresh eyes.

https://screencraft.org/blog/10-pieces-of-screenwriting-wisdom-from-taik...

Craig D Griffiths

I think there are two sides to the refresh eyes concept.

1) you forget the story a little and will see it as other do. You will see the mistakes.

2) If you write something else. You are a better writer when you come back to your first project.

MB Stevens

Totally agree. When I come back around new ideas and dialogue have blossomed.

Dan MaxXx

The problem with "leave it alone" is how do writers make income in-between the waiting?

MB Stevens

Dan MaxXx Side hustles pays the bills too. Also, I got to ask as a Chicago Bulls fan, why the crying M.J. profile pic? I think the Will Smith meme got him beat now.

J.N. Gould

I love this advice. I push through on an idea for a full draft pilot and bible and then let it sit and marinate for a while. When I come back, I'm acutely aware of the weaknesses and changes I want to make.

Craig D Griffiths

Dan MaXx if you leave it for three months and do the constantly. After a small time investment you would have a supply of new work every 3 months. Once you had primed the production line.

But since we are discussing this as a learning process I guess it is a moot point. Once you are good enough to be paid, this wait process is no longer needed.

Dan Guardino

I agree with Crag. If somoene is writing a spec screenplay nobody is paying them so they can take all the time they want. If someone is paying you then you can't stop in the middle to take a three month break. .

Thedore Johnson

so true

Kiril Maksimoski

Actually being a hobby writer I can leave my stories alone whenever I want to...I actually stopped writing this period and might not continue sometime 'till mid autumn....however, If writing was my job, I get paid on the hour, monthly, whatever...I cannot just go on the hiatus...therefore people invented this thing called "paid vacation"....As I see still a luxury for some in countries like U.S.

Ewan Dunbar

Taika Waititi has said he sometimes leaves a script alone for up to a year, reads it, throws it away and writes what he remembers. You may not want to leave it as long, but putting your script aside before tackling it again is a great way to give yourself some objectivity.

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