My muse is definitely fickle. I've had several full days available where I had nothing to do except work on my screenplay but I only managed about 5 pages per day. However, just now I wrote 5 pages in the past 45 minutes. My typing fingers could barely keep up with my brain. So is your writing stable or haphazard?
Screenwriting : Is your'writing muse fickle or faithful? by Joseph Rhea
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It depends on the day, Joseph Rhea. Some days it'll take all day to finish writing pages, but sometimes I'll finish in a few hours. And sometimes I'll only write one page, but that one page will solve an issue in my script or take the script in a better direction, so writing that one page is more important than writing 5, 10, etc. pages a day sometimes.
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Good question. It’s happened to me more than I would like to admit. It’s like that one meme, “Procrastinators, let us unite! Tomorrow…” lol… Anyhow, when I do feel that tick to write, I throw on music pertaining to the genre I’m writing. It’s a way of throwing myself into the world of my characters and sometimes, it helps me when I’m stuck on a scene.
Happy writing!
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You wrote slowly those other days so you could write quickly today. Your brain was figuring out stuff. Writing is like a roller coaster sometimes you are slowly climbing a hill sometimes you are zooming ahead upside down and backwards.
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For me screenwriting is just a hobby; nobody is expecting anything- not my reps or my peers. I will take as long as I want, write when I want because it is a hobby... Until the day the hobby turns into an occupation. I've done it before, turned a hobby into a paying occupation, on my own time.
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I also write as a "hobby" and even though I do make money from my books, it's not my occupation. I see a big difference between writer/filmmakers and writers in a writers room, in that filmmakers often talk about the difficulty getting words on the page while those in a writers room don't have that "luxury."
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Yeah, Joseph Rhea. Writers in a writers' room have shorter deadlines (I think it's a few days sometimes), but I think being in a room of writers helps because it isn't one writer trying to get pages done in a short amount of time.
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This writer quit tv writing at age 38; be careful what you wish for.
https://time.com/6306278/friends-patty-lin-end-credits/
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Dan MaxXx what a story. Thanks for sharing that.
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Thank you for sharing your experience cause Sometimes, I feel like I'm stuck all alone in this journey. I've tried writing every day, but it just didn't seem to click. However, when I set a deadline with the publisher, I make a plan and commit to it. And every time, I'm surprised by the results of my writing.
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The article Dan M shared basically levels the screenwriting to almost any day job you have to grind on...stress, deadlines, underpay, bosses changing their agendas daily...this is all you can expect if wanna go full time pro...good thing there's a union, as most private company workers can only dream of that...
As for the muse(s) don't really need them if you set your self to small, achievable steps and one at the time...
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Two things that really grind my gears;
1) The "write every day" mantra; Almost always touted by people who see creative writing like handing in your homework, or rich authors who have nothing else to do but sit around daydreaming. It's a toxic rule to live by that has those struggling to break in beating themselves up and ironically killing their creativity and motivation in the process. Banging away at a keyboard and bragging about your page/word-count every morning on Facebook isn't necessarily progress. Hard work and success are not intrinsically linked, never mind what most successful people suffering from survivor bias like to say in their trite little quotes.
2) The Corporate Hollywood grind mindset; Just because some bootlicker in DTLA has turned their hobby into some job from hell, all because they think they're going to strike it rich one day, doesn't mean they define what it's like to be a working writer. There are hoards of creeps who wade into La La Land every day with an attitude that basically screams "pull my hair harder, Wall Street Daddy", and you see it trickling down into the online world too. There are plenty of screenwriters working as artists while earning a living. It's a dream job when the stars align, even if you're earning an average wage for your area. So many people are in it more for the glamour than the artistry, it clouds everything.
Rant over. Sorry. Just tired of people's day-to-day misery being so self-imposed. As said above, careful what you wish for.
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CJ, I for one appreciate a good rant, especially an insightful one on this subject. Thanks for taking the time to respond.
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@CJ Agree with @Joseph. Great rant! LOL You’re gonna have to sue me, “Pull my hair harder wall street daddy,” is in one of my new scripts tonight cos it resonates succinctly what I could spill in a whole thread. True also, the social media blogs from artists who lead charmed lives top of their career bemoaning, “What went wrong.”Other side of the coin many working writers get wage relevant to area they live/company they work for yet call it a success cos it pays bills & lifestyle. @Dan M Thanks for the share. Such an insight gonna read it again later. Hard to believe actors chewing bacon & chiding with full mouth they didn’t appreciate a joke in ANY script. Yeah, I get it’s the Holy Grail Hollywood machine but even so the art should out. Only table reads I’ve attended UK & Europe it was actors job to interpret script & attempt what writer & director wanted. Off course actor gives their own unique take on any material but this usually does not include condemnation of words on page.
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I find my muse is wholly caffeine-dependent. I can knock out 5-10 pages in a sitting if I'm properly caffeinated but if I try writing when I'm tired, I'm not only less productive but less confident about my writing decisions.
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Today, I stole 20 minutes from my boss and wrote up a quickie outline from a brainstorm. This is the kind of abuse my muse inflicts on me, lol.
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William, I have started writing a feature screenplay weeks ago. Currently I wrote 7 pages of 120 or more for a vomit draft.
I haven't set a deadline due to personal reasons and moving from one city to another, it's just a pain in my ass compared to the 2 short screenplay I made and submitted one of them for a competition.
The only muses I have is my notepad where I wrote the info of the characters, locations and how to deal with the story. Ideas and the follow up are in the note cards to set up throughout the process.
And it's sporadic when im able to do write.
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Joseph Follansbee I always say best time to write is on your day job shift...u actually get paid to do it...
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So many great posts!
Like David mentioned, my early days of writing were directly proportional to the amount of caffeine in my bloodstream. Nowadays, I'm most affected by the music I play. While writing my current screenplay which is a 'dystopian undersea" drama, I almost exclusively listen to Amy Lee and Evanescence. Their song "Going Under" was actually the theme song to my original novella set in this world. So, I guess my muse is music which seems appropriate.
I don't write spec screenplays anymore so I don't write that often.