Hey guys! I spent my Thanksgiving break writing thirty pages of a new series — which is a lot and it took two good-sized days. As I was writing, I had a few struggles and a few breakthroughs and I wanted to share with you how I powered through to get the season written.
I actually initially sat down to write a completely different show. I have a handful of ideas floating around with little snippets written of each. So when I parked myself in front of my computer on Friday, I wanted to bust out a sort of coming-of-age type series that has three great scenes but no cohesive narrative. I could not. For the life of me. Find the story. I brainstormed and sat and mapped out a thousand crappy ideas that were discarded before I decided to switch gears entirely.
Earlier last month, I was brought on to write a YouTube channel series. Production loved the pilot and we were set to move forward, but (as it happens in this industry) the company changed gears and I was left with a story and a pilot. To be honest, I didn’t LOVE my pilot and I didn’t LOVE the story; it’s not my typical type of narrative and I was okay having it on a back burner.
But! Because I was not getting anywhere with the other project, I flipped to this one — and it poured out. I mapped my season and wrote it in two days. So what do I know, right? I guess I did love it!
So – first rule of thumb: switch gears. Move on when you get stuck. Do something else (another project, watch a show, go on a walk…)
Next rule! Don’t let details hang you up. As I was outlining the series, some of the ‘detail’ questions started giving me pause. Would this character do this? How would she get out of it? That kind of stuff. I emailed a friend or two and asked for their thoughts, but before I even heard back… I kept writing. I figured it’s easy to change a detail and you can always rewrite.
Let me say that again. In shouts: YOU CAN ALWAYS REWRITE.
Okay. So! As I wrote, my character’s action (that I was so tentative about) grew on me. Lesson learned — trust your gut (until it can’t be trusted).
And finally, let it rest. It’s so tempting (for me) to go back through and clean up any problem area I thought I had created. But you really, really have to step away from it. I sent my draft to a few people (hi, mom) for some feedback, so until I hear from them… I’m taking a breather!