Stuck in outline mode?

In comments here, responding to the writing mantra, ‘Trust the process,’ Eve Montana showed a lot of courage in acknowledging this:

My problem is that I’m always stuck in outline mode. I never get to the writing stage because I don’t want to repeat the mistake of winging it and then stopping at page 60.

I posted a lengthy response which upon review I thought deserved to get promoted to the front page. Here it is:

@Eve Montana: Sounds like you have the opposite issue of most pre-pro screenwriters; where they jump into the story too soon — not enough time spent in prep — you get caught up in the prep mode, unable or unwilling to plunge to FADE IN.

In all honesty, Eve, I have been there. And I think most pro writers have. It’s comforting to do research and dig into our characters and brainstorm plot ideas. You’re ostensibly doing something that’s tied to writing the story, and yet you’re not committing yourself to anything. 

But as you’ve discovered, it can become a trap. 

Here’s the thing: No matter how much prep you do, your first draft is not going to be perfect. In fact, it’s quite likely it will be, as Hemingway famously said, a “pile of shit.” 

That leads to another writing mantra: “Writing is rewriting.” 

My advice? Give yourself a firm deadline when you’re going to start your script. Email all your friends and declare that on this day, I am starting the first draft of my script.

Then — equally important — do not stop until you get through your first draft. Another mantra: “The only goal of a first draft is to get the damn thing done!” No matter if you’re absolutely convinced that what you’re writing is crap, press on. If you can’t figure out a scene, write what you can, make a note, and go onto the next scene.

The thing is the very process of getting through the first draft is incredibly important. It’s a way of breathing life into your story. Perhaps, if you choose to look at writing spiritually, it’s as if by getting to the end of the first draft, you are demonstrating to your story that you are committed to it. 

I don’t know why, but for whatever reason, by getting to the end of the first draft, that specific process often answers story problems you’ve faced along the way. By the time you reach FADE OUT, you’ll understand your story far better than you did when you started. 

A personal anecdote. When I was about 13, my parents decided that I would take up golf. So I was shuffled off to weekly lessons with this crag-faced, stoop-shouldered, Marlboro-clamped-to-his-lower-lip buzzard of a golf instructor. In those few months I spent with him, he actually taught me more about life than golf. Here’s one lesson: Whenever I putted the ball, he insisted that I never putt it short. Go long, never short. Why?

“Because you can’t sink the God damn putt if you don’t reach the God damn hole!”

The same with a spec script: If you don’t write it, you can’t sell it. 

So Eve, my humble ol’ fart advice: Set a firm start date, then start to write your script. And no matter what you think of your first draft, finish it.

FINISH IT!

Thus endeth my sermon!

What do you think? Bad advice on my part? Do you have better counsel? A different approach? Have you ever gotten stuck in prep-writing mode?

Comment Archive