It's just like John Swartzwelder said: "Since writing is very hard and rewriting is comparatively easy and rather fun, I always write my scripts all the way through as fast as I can, the first day, if possible […] Then the next day, when I get up, the script’s been written. It’s lousy, but it’s a script. The hard part is done."
recommendation image
Jul 2, 2024

Comments (5)

Make an account to reply.
image
Find someone else to edit. Not because you can't, but because you shouldn't.
Jul 3, 2024
image
tell this to my 50% completed screenplay from august 2023 that i haven’t had the guts to look it in its eyes since i abandoned it 🫠
Jul 2, 2024
image
normieexgirlfriend thats cause you didnt finish it lowsily
Jul 2, 2024
image
normieexgirlfriend I would if I had the contact info of your screenplay
Jul 2, 2024
image
👆 this is the answer
Jul 2, 2024

Related Recs

🏃
setting a timer for ~20 minutes and just writing without stopping until the timer goes off is *really* good - because at the end of it you have a draft you can revise, which i think is easier and feels a lot more like making progress than emotionally preparing to write something you might not like. dan harmon has this quote that i think was really helpful to getting me to see the value of just getting the reps in (without all the self-loathing): *“My best advice about writer’s block is: the reason you’re having a hard time writing is because of a conflict between the GOAL of writing well and the FEAR of writing badly. By default, our instinct is to conquer the fear, but our feelings are much, much, less within our control than the goals we set, and since it’s the conflict BETWEEN the two forces blocking you, if you simply change your goal from “writing well” to “writing badly,” you will be a veritable fucking fountain of material…Prove it. It will go faster. And then, after you write something incredibly shitty in about six hours, it’s no problem making it better in passes, because in addition to being absolutely untalented, you are also a mean, petty CRITIC. You know how you suck and you know how everything sucks and when you see something that sucks, you know exactly how to fix it.”*
Mar 22, 2024
✍️
I write lyrics/poems/prose/essays/the occasional substack/text based art/performance art and the most successful process I've found works for me is just 'hold a pen and hope that it happens'. I can't get any real ideas done on a laptop (my substacks are all drafted in bullet points by hand first). I don't write every day because I don't have the energy or time or enough that is important to say. I only write when I really get the urge in my fingertips and then I get my notebook and just open the page and get whatever out I can. Sometimes it's an idea I've been mulling over that finally comes out and others it's just nonsense sentences that eventually form something. Basically my advice if you're struggling to get started is just whenever you think you want to do it, just hold a pen and a blank piece of paper and just do it. Maybe it'll be brilliant from the off. First lines are hard so don't worry about it if it's not, fourth lines are where it gets good. I definitely produce 70/30 shit/good writing and that's okay because who's reading it?? Also sometimes you go back a few months later and realise that what you thought was terrible was actually great all along it just needed a different context!
May 3, 2024
✏️
When I'm stuck or seem to lack motivation, I often force myself to start putting words on paper. I just grab a notebook — not a digital device, gotta eliminate escapes and distractions — and start writing. Even if it it begins with "I don't know what the hell to write," at least I'm writing. Eventually it goes somewhere.
Oct 16, 2024

Top Recs from @spencerto