As writers, we create a story universe.
And when we’re writing a screenplay, we spend a lot of time there.
‘Living’ there — at least in our heads / souls — with the characters we’ve created
But then there’s this world.
You know, the ‘real’ one where we live with our lovers and friends and children.
The one with our ‘real’ jobs, bill, taxes, and such.
So my question: How do you handle going back and forth between the two?
Is it a problem?
Do you manage the transitions seamlessly?
Do you have any rituals you use to facilitate the process?
How well do you handle moving from the ‘real’ world to the screenplay ‘universe’?
Huge problem.
To the point I find it hard to write sometimes because real life is interfering.
I generally write in the morning. Seems to be the easiest to get thoughts out of my head and onto paper. Later in the day, there is just too much going on. A job. Friends. Life. Whatever. It clutters my thought process — to the point that trying to write in these times is counterproductive.
The real world is a place of near constant disappointment. BUT my screenwriting universe is a place of discovery, wonder, and enhanced living.
Sometimes the transition is abrasive. Things tend to linger with me. So having a bad day, or having someone saying negative to me CAN put me in a bit of tailspin. BUT I’m finding out that God seams to make the writing better when my “real” life is going poorly.
The key for me is to be disciplined enough to commit to an hour a day writing.
Morning pre-writing rituals include: making and drinking coffee, reading a passage of scripture from David Wilkerson’s bible scriptures, and lifting up the writing session to the Lord in prayer.
- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA
I can go from one to the other with ease. Well, most of the time. I have had a hard time getting into the scriptverse, but never a hard time getting out…and that’s rare.
It was a problem up until my son was born … now I can sorta do it quick, if only because I worry that if I don’t pay attention, he’ll get into something …
But before that, it was a bear, I was known to live in my head and sometimes have conservsations with my wife and not remember them.
Those two worlds you mention have intersected for as long as I can recall. As a kid, I “saw” movie scenes in my head when life got mundane and most of my work is drenched with dollops of real life ladled all over it.
My response, then, to Scott’s question would be “Real world? Screenplay universe? Is there a difference?”
It’s usually a tough transition. A glass of wine (or two) helps along with some good music then a round of spider solitaire to get into the computer interface zone. After that I light the “writing candle” (I don’t know why, it just seems to help) and after 10 – 20 minutes of rewriting I’m ready to take on the screenplay universe.
Moving between the two worlds is sometimes easy and other times quite difficult. Depending on what I’m working on at work, I may have an entire day to mull over scenes and dialogue.
That’s probably why I like to write in the evening. If I can get writing by about 6:30 or 7:00, I’ll keep writing for three or four hours – sometimes until well after midnight. Then be up, fully awake and rested and ready to leave for work by 6:00. I tried writing in the morning, but I just couldn’t get enough done to make it enjoyable and I found I would arrive at the office ready to go back to bed.
The problems come when first getting home after work. That’s when my wife and I talk in depth about our day, see our kids before they go out with friends or off to work, deal with the dogs and get any chores out of the way. Some days require more time than others, and before I know it it’s close to 9:00 and I’m ready for bed.
As far as any routine, the most important one is getting the cat to get out of my chair. Then quickly check email, get off the internet and then start writing.
I’ve been accused on more than one occassion of not living in the real world. I think the real world is overrated anyway.
Still, as Jeff said I’ve been moving back and forth between the real world and the world inside my head for so long that I’ve probably become a master at it.
I find that on my worst real world days it’s much, much harder to get into that imagined world. Funny, you would think it would be the other way around.
Big problem. Will find ritual now.
For acting…used to have a ritual at drama school. We’d fake a photo shoot of ourselves to get in and out of character. You know, like supermodel poses. (Yeah, there were a lot of fab gay guys at drama school.) It was fast, could do it as soon as you hit the wings. It worked. I think it’s because it made us laugh and that brought us back to ourselves.
Maybe I’ll try ‘the shoot’ again.
I play music in the background while I write to help me enter the right state of mind – not loud enough to be intrusive but so it just kind of filters in. Lately I’ve had on Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and the Flaming Lips’ The Soft Bulletin…
Interesting question. I’ve never thoght about it. So I guess it is not a problem for me. I know I can get annyoed when I’m pulled out of a thought when I’m writing, but otherwise I can switch back and forth pretty easily.
I find that I absolutely cannot write at home — the Real World. In order to get anything done at all I either have to write at the bookstore after work (rarely anymore) or at the coffee shop on weekends (gets me 9 hrs writing time).
Something about the ritual of setting up the laptop, munching on a Bear Claw, and sipping hot, black coffee that gets the muse on my shoulder and the creative juices flowing.
Defy Gravity – Keep Writing!
Hey Paul — if you’re a Ziggy fan, be sure to get “Bowie at the Beeb”, which is a basically a live album with Bowie as Ziggy and the Spiders playing live in the BBC studio … the Ziggy Stardust tracks are fantastic, makes you realize what a great band that was. I’m gonna put it on now!
As to the question: it’s probably the biggest struggle that non pro writers have — juggling real world distractions and needs with the screenwriting world. I find that I have to carve out entire days to write. If I have too much real world on the same day, I can’t write.
Over on Artful Writer, a pro writer, think it was Mike France, said when he was struggling to make it he realized that too many other things were taking priority over writing. So he made a conscious effort to make writing the top priority, and sacrificed everything else (social life, work, etc.) And in a year he had sold something.
Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) had to quit work for an entire year to give himself the opportunity to write LMS.
there are dozens of stories like these. The more I hear, the more I realize it is crucially important to make writing the top priority when you are trying to break in.
The world of my characters is kind of a persistent daydream world–it coexists with the external world. I rejected the academic world a long time ago to live in the real world and I’ve learned that there is no such thing as the real world. That, in fact, was one of the buried themes and the starting point of my last screenplay.
@ David–I’ve got Bowie at the Beeb waiting for me at the library–I just saw the Pennebaker documentary of the Ziggy Stardust Tour which got me back into Bowie. Mick Ronson is ‘the nazz’. I prefer “The Man Who Sold The World”, to Ziggy, though.
Hi folks
I don’t know – chacun a son gout an’ all that, but I tend to be a bit suspicious when people say they need to will themselves into some sort of creative state before they can write. To me, that sounds like another excuse for procrastination.
For most of the time in ‘this’ world, I’ve got writing running on in the back of my mind and am counting the minutes until I can get down to it. So the only difference between my two universes is whether I’m preparing to write or actually getting on with it.
Rather than getting into the right frame of mind, my biggest challenge is finding the time.
But that’s just me. If your routines work for you, then fair enough
it kills me! I have to write at night after the kids and wife are tucked in for the night, usually late, 10PM till 1 or 2AM. I also hate to come out of the unreal world I am working on, a world where I have the last say, and total control. My biggest distraction is the internet, where I constantly look for avenues for my finished works.