seductive. That’s its danger. We need it, we love it. But we must never forget that research can become Resistance.
Soak up what you need to fill in the gaps. Keep working.
How Screenwriters Pitch
When movie writers pitch a project, they keep it brief because studio executives’ attention spans are minimal. But they, the writers, want their presentation to have maximum impact and to deliver, in concise form, the feel and flavor of the film they see in their heads.
One trick they use is to boil down their presentation to the following:
A killer opening scene
Two major set pieces in the middle
A killer climax
A concise statement of the theme
In other words, they’re filling in the gaps. The major beats.
We can do that, too.
If we’re inventing Twitter, we start with What Are You Doing Now?, the 140-character limit, and the Following. We fill in the gaps: the hashtag, the tiny URL, the re-tweet.
If we’re writing The Hangover , we kick off with Losing Doug, Searching for Doug, Finding Doug. Fill in the blanks: Stu marries a stripper, Mike Tyson comes after his tiger, Mister Chow brings the muscle.
Any project or enterprise can be broken down into beginning, middle, and end. Fill in the gaps; then fill in the gaps between the gaps.
When we’ve got David Lean’s eight sequences, we’re home except for one thing:
The actual work.
Cover the Canvas
One rule for first full working drafts: get them done ASAP.
Don’t worry about quality. Act, don’t reflect. Momentum is everything.
Get to THE END as if the devil himself were breathing down your neck and poking you in the butt with his pitchfork.
Believe me, he is.
Get the serum to Nome. Get the Conestoga wagon to the Oregon Trail. Get the first version of your project done from A to Z as fast as you can.
Don’t stop. Don’t look down. Don’t think.
Suspend All Self-Judgment
Unless you’re building a sailboat or the Taj Mahal, I give you a free pass to screw up as much as you like.
The inner critic? His ass is not permitted in the building.
Set forth without fear and without self-censorship. When you hear that voice in your head, blow it off.
This draft is not being graded. There will be no pop quiz.
Only one thing matters in this initial draft: get SOMETHING done, however flawed or imperfect.
You are not allowed to judge yourself.
The Crazier the Better
My friend Paul is writing a cop novel. He’s never written anything so ambitious—and he’s terrified. “The story is coming out dark,” he says. “I mean twisted, weird-dark. So dark it’s scaring me.”
Paul wants to know if he should throttle back. He’s worried that the book will come out so evil, not even Darth Vader will want to touch it.
Answer: No way.
The darker the better, if that’s how it’s coming to him.
Suspending self-judgment doesn’t just mean blowing off the “You suck” voice in our heads. It also means liberating ourselves from conventional expectations—from what we think our work “ought” to be or “should” look like.
Stay stupid. Follow your unconventional, crazy heart.
If your notion violates every precept I’ve set forth in these pages, tell me to go to hell. Do what that voice says.
Ideas Do Not Come Linearly
Remember when we broke our concept down into beginning, middle, and end? Rational thought would tempt us to do our work in that order.
Wrong.
Ideas come according to their own logic. That logic is not rational. It’s not linear. We may get the middle before we get the end. We may get the end before we get the beginning. Be ready for this. Don’t resist it.
Do you have a pocket tape recorder? I do. I keep it with me everywhere. (A notepad works, too.) Why do I record ideas the minute they come to me? Because if I don’t, I’ll forget them. You will,
Soak up what you need to fill in the gaps. Keep working.
How Screenwriters Pitch
When movie writers pitch a project, they keep it brief because studio executives’ attention spans are minimal. But they, the writers, want their presentation to have maximum impact and to deliver, in concise form, the feel and flavor of the film they see in their heads.
One trick they use is to boil down their presentation to the following:
A killer opening scene
Two major set pieces in the middle
A killer climax
A concise statement of the theme
In other words, they’re filling in the gaps. The major beats.
We can do that, too.
If we’re inventing Twitter, we start with What Are You Doing Now?, the 140-character limit, and the Following. We fill in the gaps: the hashtag, the tiny URL, the re-tweet.
If we’re writing The Hangover , we kick off with Losing Doug, Searching for Doug, Finding Doug. Fill in the blanks: Stu marries a stripper, Mike Tyson comes after his tiger, Mister Chow brings the muscle.
Any project or enterprise can be broken down into beginning, middle, and end. Fill in the gaps; then fill in the gaps between the gaps.
When we’ve got David Lean’s eight sequences, we’re home except for one thing:
The actual work.
Cover the Canvas
One rule for first full working drafts: get them done ASAP.
Don’t worry about quality. Act, don’t reflect. Momentum is everything.
Get to THE END as if the devil himself were breathing down your neck and poking you in the butt with his pitchfork.
Believe me, he is.
Get the serum to Nome. Get the Conestoga wagon to the Oregon Trail. Get the first version of your project done from A to Z as fast as you can.
Don’t stop. Don’t look down. Don’t think.
Suspend All Self-Judgment
Unless you’re building a sailboat or the Taj Mahal, I give you a free pass to screw up as much as you like.
The inner critic? His ass is not permitted in the building.
Set forth without fear and without self-censorship. When you hear that voice in your head, blow it off.
This draft is not being graded. There will be no pop quiz.
Only one thing matters in this initial draft: get SOMETHING done, however flawed or imperfect.
You are not allowed to judge yourself.
The Crazier the Better
My friend Paul is writing a cop novel. He’s never written anything so ambitious—and he’s terrified. “The story is coming out dark,” he says. “I mean twisted, weird-dark. So dark it’s scaring me.”
Paul wants to know if he should throttle back. He’s worried that the book will come out so evil, not even Darth Vader will want to touch it.
Answer: No way.
The darker the better, if that’s how it’s coming to him.
Suspending self-judgment doesn’t just mean blowing off the “You suck” voice in our heads. It also means liberating ourselves from conventional expectations—from what we think our work “ought” to be or “should” look like.
Stay stupid. Follow your unconventional, crazy heart.
If your notion violates every precept I’ve set forth in these pages, tell me to go to hell. Do what that voice says.
Ideas Do Not Come Linearly
Remember when we broke our concept down into beginning, middle, and end? Rational thought would tempt us to do our work in that order.
Wrong.
Ideas come according to their own logic. That logic is not rational. It’s not linear. We may get the middle before we get the end. We may get the end before we get the beginning. Be ready for this. Don’t resist it.
Do you have a pocket tape recorder? I do. I keep it with me everywhere. (A notepad works, too.) Why do I record ideas the minute they come to me? Because if I don’t, I’ll forget them. You will,
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