I'm really interested in HOW people write, and HOW they gather their thoughts to form a story, and a script.

People attempt to teach others to write and they talk about structure and what you need to have in a script for it to work, like set up and character development, etc., but you can only teach so much through a book, or a seminar, or whatever.

So in an attempt to figure out how to how people write, I have used a screen recorder to actually record me writing a short from scratch, to a finished product (well a first draft at least). It is heaps of footage, so I will edit it, cut the boring bits out, add a bit of music, and post it on youtube or something, and then hopefully everyone can see how and what I think when I write a script. You can see when and why I go back and change lines, and what I put into the script, from the loads of notes I have, as well as the changes I make from my original idea.

I'm not an experienced writer, so some people may see this as useless, but hopefully it will be helpful for some. One of the main reasons I am doing this is in the hope that someone who has written more than me will do it, and I can try and see how they write.

I don't know how long it will take, but hopefully it will be up some time this week.

Thoughts? Comments?

Writing is highly individualized and a great deal of the decisions are made in the mind. Filming this process may be like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. Even if someone had been able to film the writing of a famous novelist, it wouldn't give us a clue about his creativity only his craft. The film will be noteworthy to capture the craft but I don't think it'll capture the art.


Gary

BTW, I'd love to see it.

Sounds interesting Tommy, I'll defo check it out.

Does everyone here put a lot of effort into making sure the structure is right when writing?  I mean like, as the books tell us, this has to happen in act 1 and this in act 2 etc.. or do you just write a good story and jig it a bit?

You know how I feel about what teh books say about structure, and things needeing tot ake place by page X, etc.  No way.

I come up with my general story, create characters, formulate scenes, and write.  I've doen outlines in teh past,a dn depending on the complexity of the script, defintely think they can help.

This is an interesting idea. I'm not sure how useful it's going to be but who knows? I doubt you're going to be able to capture your thoughts onscreen but maybe there's something else people can gain from it so I'll reserve judgment for when you post the video.

Quoted from alffy Does everyone here put a lot of effort into making sure the structure is right when writing?  I mean like, as the books tell us, this has to happen in act 1 and this in act 2 etc.. or do you just write a good story and jig it a bit?

I personally have a very lax approach to structure. I think it's important for a script to have a good flow but I never demand that certain events occur at certain times in the script. I just plan out the chronology in a way I think works and then write it. If it doesn't work, I'll make the neccesary adjustments in the rewrite. However I approach every script as its own entity and don't apply the same rules to everyone. Some of them fully conform to the three act structure while others have a little more leeway. Sometimes I plain just don't care and write the story the way I want. So I think the bottom line is that you write a good story. That's me anyway.

If you keep them entertained, people can be very forgiving when it comes to what you do with your structure.

What exactly do you mean by HOW people write, Tommy? I know structure's been discussed many a time here but you seem to be talking about something else entirely. I gather you mean how do people actually approach the physical writing process as that's what you're filming. If that's the case, I'll offer up my own insight.

I try to write the best I can on a first draft as I'm sure everybody does but at the same time, I know it's not going to be great so I try to do as little backtracking as possible unless something is really bugging me (if it's bad enough to remember, you might as well go back and fix it). This is nitpicky stuff I'm talking about though. Phrasing and such. Like I said, I try to write the best I can but occassionally I'll get stuck on a phrase, sometimes spending 15-20 minutes working it out. I never thought about how long it actually takes me to write until last night where I wrote three pages in about fifty minutes. Not sure how good that is but I think if you spent an hour on writing even one page, it's at least time well spent.

I try to go into writing excited about the work or otherwise wait until I've got nothing else to do and aren't feeling ornary. As Kevin Smith said, it's easier to watch TV than to write but you still gotta buckle down so I try to make sure I write at least once a day. I avoid writing if I really don't want to do it and stop writing when I'm sick of it or I'm pushing myself too hard. The work usually suffers otherwise. I'll write between 2-8 pages on a given day. Progress is usually on the hire end at the begining or end of a feature and low around the middle. For shorts, I usually just churn them out within a week.

Hope this does something for you. I'd still like to check out your video.

Interesting concept, Tommy. I'd watch it, might pick up some pointers.

The thought process is difficult to explain and would probably be odd.

For my feature I was sitting in the old SS chat room and out of boredom just started to act out and out of that came a character that I wrote a screenplay around.

After that I thought about a story for that character, outline and write and that was a couple years ago now.

My process is always the same. I don't have to worry about people reading them so really I just have to please myself.

Wow Tommy,

This sounds so interesting! A screen recorder? What is that? I've never heard of that before.

As people always say, writing is highly individualized. I have trouble with characters and muses acting out of character, playing games and goofing off. It's really hard sometimes because I can intend to be writing serious stuff and they come to play. Then, likewise, I will work in comedy and some very dark individuals that I love come knocking.

The work of story crafting at the structural level is what I continue to work on and so I just write and write and write and rip it apart and reposition things and write and write some more. (Yes, I try and plot as best as I can, but the muse villains rip it all to hell all the time.   They keep saying "Plot smlot! Na-na-na-na-na-ha!)

I analyze character's motives in relation to their environment and causality, but it always seems to me that the plot itself takes a seat in economy. Somehow, I know that it's kind of like the macguffin. It's not the "thing" that is desired, but the way it is attained that really matters: the forces and manipulations carried out by the characters. However, the trick is to keep the characters revolving around and with the plot and plot devices, whatever they may be.

Because of the aforesaid challenge, I tend to cycle back as I explore aspects of character and this often destroys previous boundaries I had set for structure. I've considered many times why this happens to me. I think that one of the reasons is that I play with many stories (within one story) at the same time. I don't mean to, but it often happens that way and the only solution is to "write through it". It might not belong in this script or the next hundred, but then again, it just might.

When George and I were brainstorming for Love and Fresh Air Part 1, we came up with an enormous amount of material that we never used, and we were only dealing with what was supposed to be a short for the OWC. It just feels necessary for me anyways, to write a lot, even if it's "apparently" trashed. Well, it's never really trashed is it?

So for myself, the process of writing is to write a lot and of course writing is re-writing. I'm not worried about people stealing anything. Both the good stuff and the garbage that comes from my keyboard- there's an unlimited supply.   What I do is what I do. It's the same for anybody. It's not just about the words; it's about the what and who behind the words. That's what I think about when I write. What's behind it?

So too when I read, these are my thoughts: What is behind it? What is the meaning and purpose? When I can "feel" that intangible coming through in someone's work, then I feel that they are successfully accomplishing a very difficult thing. I also feel very privileged to work with them and give feedback.

The "process of writing" is truly just that. It's a process. It's a little bit different for everyone, but it's still a process. I personally believe that it's more important to be concerned about the process itself than copyright worries etc. Because the process is the craft. The process is the experience, good and bad. See my first feature: Shiva - A Comic Tale - The Flubox Fiasco  

There's the cliche story about a young person with rich parents who says, "No Dad, I wanna do this on my own, without your help."

That's the way it is for most of us I think. We're not looking to steal ideas or make millions: See The Working Screenwriter Blog: A Thought for the Day... Why do we create? http://theworkingscreenwriter.blogspot.com/

Strangely, when we're discussing writing craft, it's the same thing. It's not the successful end product that necessarily will matter so much, but it will be the journey of the writer and the emotional connection with the audience that lasts.

The movie itself, will just sit on a shelf, but certain lines, certain scenes, we remember them because we can relate, or they're just really funny or spooky or crazy or whatever adjective you want to give it.

For me the process involves the assimilation of a lot of information and emotion. I must continually analyze the small scenes against the greater story and see how they work or don't work with regard to the whole. I will often take real life characters and situations and place them inside a story. I struggle hard to NOT do fine edits too early, but they drive me crazy because I like clean copy.

I'm always writing. Even when I'm not writing, I'm thinking about writing.

It will be interesting to hear lots as people describe their "process". Thanks Tommy for starting this thread.

Sandra

Quoted from dresseme If you keep them entertained, people can be very forgiving when it comes to what you do with your structure.

And about bad English too (sometimes)  

Michel

Quoted from James McClung I personally have a very lax approach to structure. I think it's important for a script to have a good flow but I never demand that certain events occur at certain times in the script. I just plan out the chronology in a way I think works and then write it. If it doesn't work, I'll make the neccesary adjustments in the rewrite. However I approach every script as its own entity and don't apply the same rules to everyone. Some of them fully conform to the three act structure while others have a little more leeway. Sometimes I plain just don't care and write the story the way I want. So I think the bottom line is that you write a good story. That's me anyway.

That's good, it's not just me then.  I've only completed two features, the first I tried hard to stick to the three act structure but with my second (not posted yet) I just wrote the story and I think it pretty much has a good structure anyway.

Oh by the way James, can you change your avatar...it scares me.

This is probably the best example I could give of what my thought process is when I'm writing.

http://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?b-short/m-1227356952/

I think ideas come similar to everyone in my opinion. Usually boredom (letting your imagination drift off), dreams, and life experiences play a big part in the ideas department.

Writing, I think when you get into your story so much it flows and flows and the pages come so easy. The only thing I find hard is going back and re-writing or cutting scenes that originally sit firmly in my mind.

I tend to write way too much, and need a good slap lol

Hey guys, thanks for all the positive responses. I originally started with audio as well, so my thoughts would be audio and visual, but I rambled too much. And not like some mad genius rambling, where everything he says is gold, I was swearing and started saying what I was going to cook for dinner, and when a certain TV show was on, blah blah blah. You guys don't wanna hear that!

Alffy... at this point I am writing shorts, and I do have a bit of a structure, yeah. I find it's easier to see where bits are missing in the story. For example in a 12 page short, if the main character is going to save someones life at the climax because he is a doctor, it would probably be a good idea to show (not tell!) that he is a doctor near the start, the first third of the script. I know this is probably really basic for some people, but oh well. A structure can show me where I can put in that the character is a doctor to make it natural.

Jeff... even though you may think that you don't use structure, straight from the book, I'm sure you do it without thinking too much.

James... It's like saying "How do you drive a car?" If you haven't driven one before, I can spend hours explaining to you everything about the car. How to steer, and open the boot, put the indicator on, but when you get in the car to drive for the first time, you are going to have lot's of questions, and it will be nothing like you were told a few minutes ago.

So books and stuff telling us how to write is like me explaining to you how to drive, but only once you actually start writing, do you realise that it is quite different to the books. So I suppose what I am trying to do it put you in a car simulation, so you will know what it is like to drive, but you aren't really. Well, that kinda falls flat slightly. Maybe if there was a camera strapped to my head when I drove, and you saw exactly what I saw, plus I was explaining it, would sound better. You would know my reasons why I turned out too quickly in front of that bus, or why I put my indicator on earlier than what the books says. With me? Sorta?

Sandra... interesting ideas! Cool stuff. I will have to read what you said a few times to fully understand.

A screen recorder records whatever is on the computer screen. Anything. So unedited, it will seem in real time, as if you were hear watching my type (I sometimes type naked, so maybe it would be slightly different!).

Mike... I haven't read that short yet, I will soon. Ty.

Muse... I agree. I get the best ideas when I am sitting on the bus, or trying to sleep. Boredom, or your mind thinking less than usual is important to writing.