“First you have nothing, and then… you have something”

“First you have nothing, and then, astonishingly, after ripping out your brain and your heart and betraying your friends and ex-lovers and dreaming like a zombie over the page till you can’t see or hear or smell or taste, you have something.”

An observation on writing from novelist T.C. Boyle.

All of that in the middle — ripping out your brain, betraying friends, dreaming like a zombie — we know it is true. We know writing is hard work.

It’s the bookends of his comment that we sometimes overlook:

We start with nothing. We end up with something.

At the most basic level, this is what the act of creation is: Making something out of nothing.

As storytellers, we are creators.

We create story universes.

We create characters.

We create backstories.

We create moments.

We create dialogue.

We create all of the narrative elements necessary to bring a story to life.

The hard work of writing can sometimes make us lose sight of the marvel, indeed, the miracle of the most fundamental aspect of what we do:

We are creators.

“First you have nothing, and then… you have something.”

“The Quest” has entered Week 16! And so did Go On Your Own Quest, an opportunity for anyone to follow the structure of “The Quest” to dig into screenwriting theory [Core — 8 weeks], figure out your story [Prep — 6 weeks], and write a first draft [Pages — 10 weeks]. It’s a 24-week immersion in the screenwriting process and you can do it here — for free!

Today and every Monday through Friday for 10 weeks, I’ll use this slot to post something inspirational as GOYOQ participants pound out their first drafts.

For background on “Go Into The Story: The Quest,” go here and here.

For all the previous weeks of Go On Your Own Quest posts, go here.

Join the GOYOQ Forums, a free online hub where you and other Quest participants can go to support each other and share your stories. Go here.

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