Getting Time To Write

T

THiNSPiRiT

Well-known member
Does anyone else on here find it difficult to find time to sit down and work on a screenplay or write? I come up with all kinds of great ideas but can never just sit myself down in front of a computer and actually make it.

Do you guys set aside specific time to write? Just love to write and so do it whenever you have spare time? Do you sit down for long periods of time and write or do you write a little at a time often?

I know everyone has their own styles and their own ways, i was just thinking in particular if anyone had any comments or experiences or ways of working that has worked for them.
 
Re: Getting Time To Write

Yeah there are certain times of the day when you write your best. You got to find that time out and cherish it. I wake up and write 3 pages a day. Doesn't seem much, but you have a whole feature in 36 days or so. I suggest you write in the morning for a week, then in the afternoon for a week, then at night for a week and see which time is best for you.
 
Re: Getting Time To Write

[quote author=David Jimerson link=board=writing;num=1096002120;start=0#2 date=09/24/04 at 07:16:42]You gotta have the discipline or you'll never do it.[/quote]

It's like that with everything I guess...
 
Re: Getting Time To Write

Don't sit in front of the computer. Get some paper and a pen and write longhand. I write that way for a couple of reasons. On a computer, it's too easy to use the delete key if you don't like something. You end up going for perfection from the start, which is never going to happen, plus, you may end up deleting something that you later wish you had kept. Even though I'm a good typist, I still have to think about typing, which takes thought away from what I'm trying to write. Typing in what you've written gives you an extra editing/rewriting step.

Also, if I don't feel like writing, but know that I should be writing, I read something I've written. That always gets my creativity going, even if it's just making edits.

Philip
 
Re: Getting Time To Write

Think about scheduling yourself the time to write. As you would a regular meeting or gym workout. Once it's hard coded into your schedule you will be more likely to adhear to it. But, don't think of it as work! ;)
 
Re: Getting Time To Write

Submitted below is a reply I made in an earlier post.

"We can be very methodical, organized and efficient in our approach to writing a screenplay, but in the end it's the plot, the conflicts and characters that are going to keep the audience turning the pages.  Or in other words the story.
 
My approach is to daydream a story based on something that happened to you, you read about, your heard about, or maybe just came out of that mysterious subconscious of yours.  
 
So, let it bounce around in your brain considering different twists and turns, letting it evolve at it's own pace. At some point, when you've let this process perk for a bit you'll be surprised what emerges from your creative imagination. Then you're ready to approach that blank screen on your computer. Your fingers will keep the keyboard hot as your accumulated thoughts tumble out.
 
Finally, when you put the story together, let your personality come through in the telling. If you're a sardonic, witty type guy, make sure there's someone like that in the story. If it's your voice, the story will ring true. "

Daydream, daydream. Is there a story you always wished someone would write or a movie that you wish someone would make? Daydream about that story. Think about all the surprises you would add if you were writing that story, the original characters you would invent, the passion you would instill. Now it has become your story. All you have to do is sit down and begin to write it. And as the Chinese Emperor said, "The first step is half the journey.?
 
Re: Getting Time To Write

My problems are usally when I ma inspired to write I am not in a position to write or if I force myself to write I am not feeling to inspired. Damn it.
 
Re: Getting Time To Write

[quote author=Philip link=board=writing;num=1096002120;start=0#4 date=09/24/04 at 13:53:34]Don't sit in front of the computer. Get some paper and a pen and write longhand. [/quote]

Last year I took a vacation of sorts. Spent 10 days in a Best Western in Bucharest.

Wrote an entire screenplay on legal pads. And even managed to read my own writing when I got back here again.

Oh. Yeah. Sitting at the hotel bar, writing is a great ice-breaker. "What are you doing?" "Writing a film." "Oooooh. I always wanted to be an actress..."

Didn't spend the whole time writing. ;)

Dan
 
Re: Getting Time To Write

[quote author=GenJerDan link=board=writing;num=1096002120;start=0#8 date=09/25/04 at 05:37:33]
Oh.  Yeah.  Sitting at the hotel bar, writing is a great ice-breaker.  "What are you doing?"  "Writing a film."  "Oooooh.  I always wanted to be an actress..."

Didn't spend the whole time writing. ;)
[/quote]

Agreed. ;D
 
Re: Getting Time To Write

Doesn't hurt to sit in a coffeehouse in a college town reviewing footage on your DVX, either . . .
 
Re: Getting Time To Write

I think it's also a simple but good idea to make it a daily habit. Write anything, just write something daily. It does not have to be part of your script, somedays you just on't have any solid pieces to the puzzle, but, you must write a page or two to stay in the habit. It works, really, give it a shot.

The other thing is the 'just do it' factor. Shut your browser down immediately, pop open 'Final Draft' and just do it! It's that simple. Hanging out in these forums are great, but these guys won't write for you. Why are you still reading this post? Write!
 
Re: Getting Time To Write

[quote author=alveraz link=board=writing;num=1096002120;start=0#12 date=09/26/04 at 21:40:35]Hanging out in these forums are great, but these guys won't write for you.[/quote]

What do you mean we won't write it for him? We're here to help!

In fact, let me help a bit:

Fade In:​

We see a man sitting before the glow of a monitor. On the desk to his left is a Final Draft manual and the book "Writing Your First Screenplay". A mug with the words "Filmmaker" sits to his right. The window behind the desk is dark and only a few stars are visible. His right index finger is tapping away at a key. With each tap a screenfull of text scrolls past. TAP. The screen remains still. Tap. No change. Tap tap. No change. TAP TAP TAP!

DVX Forum Reader​
Damn! I'll never get this finished.​

The man's shoulders slump and his head droops. An idea hits and he snaps to attention.

DVX Forum Reader​
I know... I know​

A flurry of keystrokes and mouse clicks and the screen flashes and up pops the DVXuser.com website.

A few more clicks and screen flashes and then a pause. Again the right index finger TAPs and the screen of text scrolls past. Another TAP and more text. TAP. No change.

DVX Forum Reader​
Hmm, there must be an answer here.​

A CLICK of the mouse and the screen changes. The man begins typing. On the screen, in a form field, the following text types out:

Getting Time To Write​

The man clicks the mouse into the next field and begins typing his question.

Fade Out​

There, I've written the first part. See, we are here to write for you! :D

Anyone else care to help out?
 
Re: Getting Time To Write

Page a day, every day, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health.

Don't log in here until you've done it.

You'll have a lot of material before you know it.

The character(s) you develop will inform you what to put down next.

Easier to say than to do, but there are some thoughts.
 
Re: Getting Time To Write

I find that when I become truly inspired I will sit in front of my laptop for hours plugging away at the keys. I would not put a schedule to it, you'll find that you write because you have to not because you want to. Write because you want to the story will seat better.
 
Re: Getting Time To Write

Here's the best advice I can give about this issue:

Write all the time.  Writing is like a muscle, and if you work it constantly, the work comes easily.  If you wait until you need to use it, you'll find that it's so much more difficult to get anything acomplished.

BUT...that doesn't mean you should write scripts all the time, or stories.  One of the best ways to stay in the mind-set of a writer is to have a blog or journal that you regularly contribute to.  I wrote constantly in an online journal for about two years, and while much of the stuff wasn't exactly salacious reading, the process of writing in it regularly made me a better and more efficient writer.

Eventually people began to read it and I developed an audience.  That spurned me to work even harder to try and polish my entries, as if I were working to satisfy the unknown masses.  After a while, the demands of satisfying some unknown audience got to be too much, so I dropped it entirely...but now I'm much more capable of sitting down at a computer and typing out something rather then just staring at the walls in search of the perfect first word.

Practice makes perfect, and if you write daily in something that isn't really super-important to you, you'll find it much easier to do the work when you set out to pen something that is important.
 
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