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Help ! Unable to write.

Hello guys, im having trouble writing. :no:
I have put in almost three years in researching and developing a story but i am not able to put a single word on paper. Im perfectly normal and sane when it comes to discussions, development and also visualization but when it comes to writing the screenplay i feel some unease.
I know it might sounds a bit odd that im posting my inability to write in a writing forum but your suggestions will really help me start my career. Thanks in advance. :thumbsup:
 
Oddly (to me) is that I can write screenplays because I just verbalize the movie I already made in my head. When it comes to novels however, I suck. I recently came to the realization that I am not a story teller but a world builder. I partnered with a story teller.
 
"""And yes like you mentioned I am looking to perfect in the first draft itself because of all the research and time i have put in, that is also something which is keeping me away from writing.[/QUOTE]""""

Like the admin above said, THIS is your problem.

A screenplay, a film itself, has so many variables, so many assets, so many complicated THINGS and systems you need to build to make it all work right. Which is fine...just you cannot get it right the first time, let a lone perfect.

Please, I beg of you, and I beg you because I've had to beg my friends the same thing, BE OKAY WITH THE FIRST DRAFT SUCKING REALLY REALL REALLY BADLY. Who cares, right?

Take your beginning, middle and end, and just write the screenplay in the simplest way possible. Like, if you can't figure out how to write a complicated scene, just write it in a simple way. For example, in my last film a character is is connected to a piece of software that is a psychodelic drug, and it ends up starting to fry his brain, and his girlfriend is panicking and trying to disconnect him. All kinds of shit is happening in that scene, with the computer, the girl, the guy, etc. But if you were stuck, just write the action as: "Ryan is connected to the computer and convulsing, Melissa tries to disconnect him." I think I had a couple paragraphs of action and dialogue for that scene, but if you wrote it in a simple way like that above, PERFECT. YOU GOT IT DOWN ON PAPER!

Then, when you have written your whole script, you rewrite it. This is why a second, third, fourth draft are CRUCIAL. By the time you are writing your second draft, you will have more ideas, you will know your screenplay and your world better. Things will start coming to you. You just have to RELAX, be PATIENT and WRITE/REWRITE. If you don't have the patience to just get your work down on paper, and then go back and fix/rewrite things, you will end up getting attached to things that should actually change to make your screenplay better.

Ever get up and go to work and on the way you have a RUSH of ideas? You get all these feelings and images and you know you HAVE to get your story out, and it HAS to be a certain way. And you are so excited and think about it non-stop. But then you have to go to work. And clean the house. And then something else comes up, and another thing. And you may feel frustrated that you have this awesome idea, but after imagining it, letting it stew, then having to do the daily things in your life, when you have that 30 SHITTY MINUTES to write at the end of the day, you may feel a bit exhausted....or overwhelmed....or like, "where the hell do I start?"....or like, "I don't have enough time to write, and I have to get it perfect the first time, so fuck it, I can't start tonight."

That is why writing it piece by piece each night, regardless of whether or not you will LOVE what you wrote, is SO important in this process. The universe will not allow you to write a perfect screenplay the first draft...the universe will also not allow you to feel good every time you sit down to write....It also will not let you have all of your ideas organized perfectly when you write that first sentence. You have to just do it piece by piece. You will not lose your ideas in the chaotic confusion of your screenplay writing process, you will improve them and you will have them more often. Every page you write will help you organize and solidify the next 90 pages you have to write. Every CRAPPY page you write will lay the foundation for the AMAZING page it can be a month from now.

Think about something like a very complicated painting. Most artists need to sketch that thing first...need to paint pieces of it, then repaint....maybe even repaint large sections he/she is not satisfied with. But they maintain their idea and passion throughout the process, and patiently craft their work. Unless you are the most talented screenwriter on planet earth, AND a master or organization, you will need to outline your screenplay, and create several drafts of it, many of which will be bad, before you have something complete that you are satisfied with. If you are not willing to do those things, you will not be able to compete with other screenwriters.

But I know you are willing and able to homie, just take a breath, and patiently put your nose to the grindstone.

PS: READ A TON OF OTHER SCREENPLAYS IN YOUR FREE TIME!!!!! :thumbsup:
 
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