Go Into The Story by Scott Myers
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THE SCREENWRITING BLOG OF THE BLACK LIST

14 thoughts on “Writing question: What about writing makes you happy?”

  1. Great qustion, Scott. I think I'm happiest about writing when:

    (# 1) I'm plotting a 1st draft and I "solve" a problem I had in the story. It's so weird because I get so nervous that I'll never be able to fully develope an idea. A fear that I'll get stuck and NEVER find a solution, YET when that fear is meet and conquered with what I feel is creative and other people will responde to I feel GREAT.

    (#2) Invisiong scenes and playing with how they could potentially play out. (a pre-writing activity)

    (#3) Acutal page writing. Sometimes you "discover" cool stuff on the fly when writing that you didn't know would even be there beforehand.

    (#4) Coming up with characters that come alive — at least in my mind.

    (#5) Working on comedic material. I'm a pretty serious person, but writing gives me a forum to think more abstractly and be silly.

    (#6) Writing romance.

    (#7) Working on "full spectrum" craft writing. Learng how to "scare" people in a draft. How to maintain tension. Developing "on the page pacing." I think as a well rounded writer you HAVE to be able to write in all genres. Mastering it all is a constant challege, and require an adventurous spirit.

    As you can tell most all of my enjoyment of writing takes place on the CREATIVE side of the art. I do get a little enjoyment out of rewriting, but for me, rewriting has kind of a negative connetation: it's the place where I go over-and-over material so much that after a while it becomes toxic. That's actually happened on a couple I wrote. I just went it over it so much, I couldn't stand to look at it anymore.

    - E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

  3. Hanging out with the characters. Trying to just be with them for a minute rather than push/pull story around. Usually heightened in that hazy moment before sleep hits – where the Warner Bros cheque doesn't matter, the peer approval doesn't matter, phone calls to important people don't matter etc.

  4. Also LOVE that moment when chatting with my writer mates, we're blah-ing on and on and one of us goes…what if…

  5. Two things I enjoy about writing:
    1. feeling the story evolve as I write.
    2. Rewriting. I love breaking the latest draft down then rebuilding from the ground up.

    Keep Writing!
    Mike

  6. First drafts are a magical thing. There is something about that blank page and trying to capture in words this vision you have in your head. Rewriting can seem like a chore, but sometimes I go back and read something I've written and realize that even though it is not quite there, it is still decent and with a little work could become something great, so I am re-inspired.

    Of course, a check now and then is nice, too.

  7. Creating interesting new worlds and characters I've never seen anywhere else… and the fact that no matter how bad my day has been, the simple act of ass-in-chair writing *always* makes me feel better.

    It's a soothing tonic with a firewater kick. Very addictive, this writing deal.

  8. Staring… summoning… and receiving a response… a response from someplace inside you that you weren't previously privy to.

  9. In real life, people don't like it when you blow stuff up or cut people's hands off.

  10. Man, Emily, you said it — they get downright apoplectic if you try that shit. :p

  12. The feeling of the keys beneath my keyboards as a world forms on the screen in my own head and run-on sentences that need to be edited are the built.

  13. I love the actual page-writing. I tend to write lots of notes over a couple of weeks, but find I rarely have to really consult those notes.

    I find that the actual writing of those notes has seeped into my mind, and I can then go straight to the blank page and bash on that keyboard.

  14. Each one appeals to me actually. I like how the notion of "fame" was left out. Which is fine, I don't need that.

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