On Not Writing

And treating yourself with love, not loathing

This week’s Big Failure:¹

Not writing.

It’s so basic, it’s comical. An exercise in absurdism. Come, come, follow along this writing journey with me! Take my hand and together we’ll begin our adventure!

Later though! Actually, for now let’s just kind of sit here.

So… what’s up with you?

But look, here’s the thing, this is why I started the darn newsletter: to address the bad and keep going. You didn’t think all my failures would be external did you??

I have not written in the past fortnight. Me, an aspiring screenwriter! We’re talking the bare minimum of effort folks. (This Substack doesn’t count, it’s actually an elegant form of procrastination.)

Every² single³ screenwriter⁴ will tell you how important it is to be consistently writing (most say daily but I have thoughts—another time). Writing is one of the few variables within your control. Hone your craft. GET YOUR REPS IN.

So what gives? I’ve been avoiding the stew out of rewriting my feature, THEATER KIDS. I tried in July, it went terribly, and then I spun out and lost momentum.

Let me interrupt real quick to serve some wisdom on procrastination from the patron saint of Creativity, Julia Cameron.

Do not call procrastination laziness. Call it fear.

Fear is what blocks an artist. The fear of not being good enough. The fear of not finishing. The fear of failure and of success. The fear of beginning at all. There is only one cure for fear. That cure is love.⁵

Isn’t that nice?? I’m not lazy, I’m afraid. (◕ᴗ◕✿)

So. Let’s not go down the spiral of “boy, I suck at this.” We’re not beating ourselves up, we’re not dwelling on the should’ves, we’re being nice to ourselves and saying, “yes, writing is scary, but let’s get back to work now, OK?”

…Okay.

But I am faced with a choice. And I don’t like choices because that means choosing.

What do I work on? Do I go back to my revisions and see it through, or do I begin anew? I have three options.

1. Revise THEATER KIDS.

2. Write a new feature.

3. Write a play.

Revise THEATER KIDS.

• pros: Would feel less guilty, script would be stronger.

• cons: I attempted in July, and got the Big Stuck. I’m v sick of the whole thing.

• questions: Am I supposed to work through this hump? Would that make me the proverbial “better writer”? Or is this one of those step away and re-center etc., etc. things?

Write a new feature.

• pros: fresh start—clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.

• cons: None?? Writing a feature is famously easy.

• questions: Am I just avoiding the thing I don’t want to work on?

Write a play.

• pros: New thing, palate cleanser, 1000x more likely to be produced

• cons: isn’t screenwriting.

• questions: See above.

And, plot twist, I have decided! (I thought about making this an actual audience poll but that seemed a touch… literal.) And I’ll tell you what I picked…. next time on Come Fail with Me!

😉😉😉

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Miscellany

I said I would include this other stuff in each email — and it sounded sensible— but in practice it feels a bit clunky. Thoughts?

A Thing I Have Learned.

Your script needs to make sense.

Obvious? You’d be surprised. Lots of people (myself included) think we’re being very, very clever by obfuscating plot points. We’re not. Developing intrigue is not the same as withholding what’s going on.

I would argue that, for a novice, clarity is THE most important thing for your script. Why? Because a confusing script is a boring script.

Clarity means we, the audience, understand what your character wants, what’s in their way, and what will happen if they don’t get it. That’s it.

Subtext, imagery, suspense, and payoffs can come later. They are important, to be sure, but they mean nothing if your reader can’t follow the story. Just make it make sense. It counts for way more than I gave it credit for.

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Reject Roundup 🤠

August

• I made it to the quarterfinals of the CineStory feature retreat (🎉)… but did not advance to the semifinals. Yeehaw!

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A Wisdom

“I know it sounds pretentious, but I believe it – character is story. If you know who they are, they’ll show you what happens next.”

“It’s a war of attrition”: 'Slow Horses' Showrunner on Perseverance in Screenwriting

1. The past two weeks, really, but what do you call that?

2. “You need an incredible work ethic. You really can’t work hard enough, and to compete, it’s just too competitive. You have to work.”

3. “He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day.”

4. “Write every day.”

5. Italics not mine. LOL How do you cite that? Italics preserved in their original condition, from The Artist’s Way.