I'm not sure where to post this, and I'm sure at some point there have been similar threads, but I'm gonna be rebellious and ask anyway and reap the potential Mod scolding.

I've been out of the screenwriting game for a while. From eleven years of age to about nineteen, I wrote all the time, and have periodically posted things (and subsequently had them removed) here on SimplyScripts. It was a boiling hot passion for so long until both college and work stole the majority of my attention, and while I have continued to jot down ideas and even occasionally done some serious plotting, I have not typed "Fade in:" in a long while, and I most certainly have not reached "Fade out" in far too long.

I'm easing back into writing, and have some ideas that I'm pretty excited about that I've been tossing around in my head for years, but my struggle is that I have such a hard time with the discipline of writing. I've got all the technical/format issues down as well as the next guy, and I don't struggle with basic stuff...I dunno. It's just difficult getting back into something. It's kind of like college. You can be a student for four years, enjoy it, be good at it, and then graduate, and years down the road when you come back for your Masters, it can be daunting to learn how to re-discipline your mind to sit down and study, or in this case, to just sit down and write.

While I have plenty of original ideas to write about, I think juggling the logistics of them around in my head while also trying to re-discipline myself is what's causing my hang up. So I've been considering adapting a book into a screenplay so I can step back into figuring it all out, develop the discipline of writing every day, and re-discovering story structure and act composition, all without having to juggle at the same time the already difficult task of developing my own story.

My question is this: is this a waste of time or a stupid idea? Do you have any advice you could offer?

I don't want anyone to think I'm inherently lazy or trying to cut corners, I just feel like...you can be an avid mountain biker, take a break and get out of shape, and when you come back, you need to ride a treadmill before conquering the Grand Canyon again, ya know?

Thanks for your feedback!

Find an idea you feel excited to write about and write. lol. That's how I do it. even if it's one sentence, write it. Screenplay is just a collection of words. Keep it simple.

Gabe

I think for the sake of getting back on the horse, adapting a book is a perfectly acceptable avenue to take. Whatever gets the gears moving again is legitimate. The end product doesn't really matter. Naturally, if you wanted to push the script further down the line, you'd certainly run into some problems but that clearly isn't your goal at the moment. Go to it, I'd say.

That said, I would say adapting a book is a different animal than writing original work. You'd be working with two completely different mediums. Depending on the book, it actually might be a harder road to take.

I agree with what James has said.  If adapting a book you like into a screenplay is what it takes to reintroduce yourself, then so be it.  Also, I think adapting a book for the screen is also a very good challenge for ANY screenwriter.  I've thought about the idea myself, and it's been quite daunting and too hard for me to handle at this stage of where I am.

I would also suggest maybe just sitting down with lots of food and watching a marathon of your favourite movies.  I personally believe any screenwriter must be a lover of films.  So, maybe to reignite the passion, sit down with those movies and watch them and remember how much you love them and how much your love screenwriting.  Then, take a chance and read the screenplays to those movies, I think that's a good idea too.

I also like Gabe's advice too, though.  Get one really good idea you're passionate about, and go for it!  

I wish you the very best of luck!

-- Curt

I'd take baby steps.

Day 1 -- Crack open your screenplay software.  Write two pages.  Leave it there.  (You might get that buzz, that initial rush - if you love writing you will know it when you feel it). But... leave it right there. Then go have a beer or whatever.  

Day 2 -- re-read what you did on Day 1.  Does it suck?  Maybe, probably. Who gives a damn...clean those two pages up, then...write two more pages.

Day 3 -- repeat the above.

Day 4 -- as above.

Day 5 -- you just wrote 10 pages.  Wanna carry on?  Write more, write less, re-write or edit the above.  

In 8 weeks you might have an 80 page feature.  Maybe you had fun.  Maybe what you wrote is shite.  Maybe it's okay.

Enjoy it.  That's the main thing right now.

If you don't have the discipline to do the above then...think about it.  Can you really be arsed? The above doesn't actually take that much time.  Not in real life terms.  (sorry if that sounds harsh, I mean well)

PS -- I'm not sure if adapting is thing to do right now.  If you have ideas rolling around in your brain for years I'd exorcise those first.  Even it's just one or a few ideas.  Adaptation is a different ball game.  

Fluck baby steps.

You either have it in your heart to write or you dont.

All this shite about gently stepping back in is just that...shite...

Is that how you approached it when you were (as you put it) boiling hot?

You wanna write something, set down and write it.

It sounds to me like you simply have a lack of confidence.

Either in your idea's or your writing of some other ghost that really caused you to walk away.

We've all walked away at one point if we've written long enought.

I know I have.

But don't sugar coat this shite and don't expect to be spoon fed.

Did you write? Was it good? did people like it?

then there is no reason what so ever that what you write now
should be any differient.

Just flucking write man.

Shawn.....>,

Thanks everyone for your advice and opinions.

Shawn, that was...abrasive. But appreciated.

I was really committed to screenwriting and fiction when I was in high school, and some of it was reasonably well received. I enjoyed writing it though. Now days, all I do is write, honestly. Just not fiction. I've been heavily involved in political writing (policy, speeches, articles). That combined with college and having to write 10+ research papers per semester, it all just became a bit overwhelming and I kind of lost my drive for fictional stuff, so it took a back seat.

Now I'm in a place in life where I've finally got control over my schedule, I'm done with school, and I'm not so bogged down with creativity-sucking nonsense, so I'm trying to give fiction a go again. I've just found that's it's difficult to get the creative juices flowing again. Call it lack of confidence, or maybe just ove-analyzation. I dunno.

My question wasn't so much whether or not I should take babysteps, so I think you misunderstood my intent. I was asking which would be a better way to approach jumping back in in order to get back into the swing of things.

Regardless, it is nice to know I'm not the only one who's walked away and wanted to come back.

Thanks again.

Yeah, that was abrasive, although it looks like it was aimed at me and not you, Elmer.

I was just putting forward an idea of how to ease your way back in.

Feel free to ignore my "shite" advice.  

Peace, out.

It was simply designed to poke the bear.

Nobody take it personal

You did notice how I nailed the confidence issue on the head though...

I've been where he's at.

Part of why I left was self confidence, self pity, name it what you want.

What got me back was simple.

Someone told me what my problem was.

Once I realized I was absorbed in things outside my control I began to write again.

Only now I check my doubt at the door.

Send me something you've done. I'll give it a private read if you like. It'll help give you some perspective to have someone give your work a fresh read.

Shawn.....><

I think everybody's kinda right. Personally, I just thought you were overthinking your situation and you should just start writing and not quit. If it sucks, so what? Rewrite it later. Writing crap is better than not writing at all, right? If you pressure yourself to write amazing stuff all the time, you'll be too jammed up to do anything. On the other hand, if you just start doing it to get back in the swing of things, everything will start coming back to you and writing will be less of an event and more of a habit.

I remember you from back in the day! I had pretty much the same problem as you, in fact almost as much. But just as the end of university (college) earlier this year, I found my acting/writing dreams still very much alive and I've kind of have a new, fresh second wind when it comes to my writing.

What I did to get myself back into it was to write the most basic thing I could, a real simple plot with a few characters I might like to explore - just to sort of test whether or not I still had it, and while I didn't finish the piece I managed to get my head back into the game and if anything with a more mature perspective I think my writing is better. Although I'm a harsh self-critic.

But as I say, write something simple first before you get too involved in your new ideas - so then once you've done a little writing exercise to re-sharpen your skills, vocab and imagination - you can tear into your ideas with a new  found relish. And not the kind you find in superstores.

I had a real writer's block at one point.  I couldn't write a single page of anything.  I finally whipped up something just to get the creative juices flowing and sent it to a friend (on here) and he really just tore into it.  Lots of negative, but I smiled to myself and continued reading the comments... I knew I had something but it just needed a few more re-writes, more fleshing out, etc.  Since then I've smashed through that writer's block, been writing a whole lot more, or as much as time will allow anyway.

Everyone has their "phases" you just have to roll with it.

Go for it.  If you don't have a dream you are DEAD and juat waiting for death.  I am  dreaming every day even though sometimes  I fee likel looser,  but I will not to give up so easy