Tommy, I guess we can rule out the camera strapped to your head idea, if you're nude while typing...unless you can set up a hot naked babe that you keep staring at while typing...just don't look down at yourself, and we'll be OK.  HA!

I think the only way this would really work is if it's heavily edited and you have a plan for what you are writing.  It does sound interesting though for sure.

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

That's what they all say!

Hey Tom, yeah, keep us posted with this project. It will be cool.

My own process? I get an idea and roll stuff around in my head for a few days. Then I get the writing pad out and get into it. My current feature, I did a scene outline and that helped immensely. I just wrote down the slugs and a brief bit of what happens in that scene.
When I transcibe from page to computer, thats when i do most of my revision and fix errors.

The thought process… The great debate.
Logic is the word that rules my writing. Inspiration depends on my state of mind.

For shorts, I have generally the twist and then try to be the more logical to lead to that twist. I’ve heard that’s the way crime stories writers usually work. They have the conclusion and they work back till the beginning. Budget is a major word too for my shorts.

For features, it’s more complicated. I tend sometimes to be too logical in the link of events and that ruins my work.When I started writing so many years ago, I had a general idea and I was wandering around with. That way could lead directly to a dead-end or take another way,  completely different from the first idea. That’s why I’m stuck now for years to the first 50 pages of one of my features. Dead-end…

Lately, I started to write outlines, around five pages of the whole story, and do my writing. That doesn’t mean I have to follow blindly  that outline. There, it’s only about inspiration. In the process of a detailed writing, I could be led to write something completely different. But I don’t care, I know where I’m going. I have my end. At first, I don’t focus on the 3-act process. If the story flows well, it comes naturally. If not, never mind, it’s only the first draft. It takes me generally 3 drafts before I could start to be satisfied of my work.

More lately, I started to work with an English native partner. I learnt a lot to write along with someone else on my features. I do the first draft, then my partner takes my script, polishes it and we discuss what is the best for the story and the characters. That’s a very satisfying way to work. At this moment, I find sometimes that the greatest ideas I thought I had are in fact minor. The story and the structure might be the same, but the link of events might change.

Michel

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

I suppose my minds a little chaotic.  

I try my best to write a layout and stick by it, but I can find myself skipping parts to jump to other scenes.  And sometimes write some filler scenes where I'll come back to rewrite them later.

And listening to music is a must to drive me on.

But an original idea could sit in my head for a week or two until I can see a decent story developing.  I have abandoned stories half-way.  And I finished a short in December, left it for six months and read it again and have decided not to pursuit a rewrite or post it.  It kinda just doesn't work.

Leaving a story for a few weeks is a must.  I have quite a few I've written months ago that I just haven't given a second read yet.

Also, people have different stories to tell, so inspiration is everywhere.

I'd be interested in seeing this youtube video, maybe I'll learn something new.

Interesting points Jayrex, thanks for the reply.

I'm not very happy with the script I recorded, so I'm going to do another one soon and edit that and upload that. Should be up in the next few weeks yeeew.

Quoted from jayrex And listening to music is a must to drive me on.

Yeah, music can be a massive influence or eye opener for ideas, especially when it sets the mood for a scene or story.

I get inspired by a host of different things. Sometimes, it's a song (or just a title). Sometimes, I see something that sucks and I come up with a better way to do it. Sometimes, there's an interesting or weird news story that inspires me (that could be first, second, or third hand or even better, heard from someone who heard it from someone else). I've been inspired by trailers for video games, movies, and tv shows. I get "looking for scripts..." in my e-mail that say "we want a script about...", and I see if I can write something about that. Hey, if someone out there wants it, maybe someone else will when I finish it. And sometimes, an idea just stews around in my head long enough to form into something.

I've even occasionally found some inspiration when people throw ideas around here. They've gone on about how they're doing this and that, and I begin thinking that if it were done a completely different way (you know, a total 180 from where they even started). The more amusing aspect here is that the few times that someone came up with something truly inspirational, their script is never finished. They founder at some point in the middle.

Now, how many of all these wonderful inspired ideas have I actually finished? Well, my scripts are linked in my signature, which will show that I have finished a few, but obviously not everything comes to fruition. I just try to write as much as possible to keep doing it. This is why you should feel free to draw inspiration from everywhere because sometimes, you'll find that several of these sources can be combined into something greater.

Now, I can feel some purists condemning the idea of "stealing" others' ideas. An idea is only that, and two people can interpret the same idea two completely different ways. I point to the endless supply of one week challenge scripts as proof. Sure, they all seen similar, but who would argue that they aren't all fairly unique in their own right? When it comes to a full screenplay, it is sometimes possible to see a similar source, but by the time you reach the end, you still have something unique. Full scripts, full plots (treatments), and detailed characters can be copyrighted. Ideas are a dime a dozen and cannot.

Something to keep in mind when you've come up with a good one, and when you're looking for a good one. Romeo and Juliet was a good idea once. Shakespeare didn't come up with it.