Trust the process!
As writers, we know it’s inevitable. With every story we write, we reach a point — or several points — where we seem lost. The prospect of success seems distant. And the whole thing just seems so damn hard.
In one of the Screenwriting Master Class courses I’m currently teaching, there was a forum post from one of the writers where they had reached just such a frustrating point. I responded with this:
Each one of us in this class knows how difficult writing is. Heck, if it was easy everyone would do it, so I suppose we can look at it as a positive: by being so hard, it cuts down on the competition!
That said, this moment provides me an opportunity to bust out a favorite writing mantra, one I’m sure I’ve mentioned either in this course or elsewhere: Trust the process.
We go through what we do when writing a story because that’s what we need to go through.
If it seems like that requires an act of faith on our part, it does.
We have to believe.
In our story.
In our creativity.
In the process.
At times, I find strength in imagining that my story already exists. It’s out there barely beyond my reach… but I’m always getting closer.
So to each of us here in this class I say…
Just keep doing the work. Keep going into your story. And trust the process.
You will find your story.
Trust the process. Perhaps the single most important piece of advice there is for a writer.
Anything you feel like adding to help give GITS readers an inspirational jolt, please post in comments.