Wanted: Your input about the blog (cont’d)
For those of you who care about this tiny corner of the online screenwriting universe, please go here for something I posted two weeks ago. Upshot: I am using the upcoming 7th anniversary of the blog’s launch to step back and take what I hope is a thoughtful look at what I — and we — do here.
I’d like to thank all of you who have responded to my initial post, dozens and dozens of comments and emails. Let me attempt to synthesize what appears to be something of an emerging consensus.
* You appreciate the content on the blog. You like the fact it is free. You feel confident the information about the craft presented here is both reliable and quality stuff.
* People like the fact I provide posts every day. However quite a few of you think there is too much daily content. Moreover a number of you suggested there is quite enough content on the blog already. Not surprising because there are more than 17,000 posts.
My original vision for Go Into The Story was in part to create a site that over time would aggregate a lot of content creating an ongoing, go-to online resource for people interested in screenwriting and TV writing. The archives currently host 80+ subject areas with literally thousands of posts. So I think it’s fair to say we have accomplished that initial goal.
In this regard, some questions moving forward: How much daily content should I be posting? What type of content? What would be most useful to you in enhancing your understanding of the craft and your creative / emotional / psychological / spiritual ability to actually produce stories worth reading — and buying.
As long as we’re deconstructing what goes on here on the blog on a recurring basis, I would say almost everything I write and post — the daily, weekly, and monthly series as well as special topics — is up for reconsideration — with your continuing input into this process.
There is another point which has emerged in this dialogue with GITS followers: Community. That means different things to different people who have provided feedback thus far, but here are some recurring thoughts:
* More interactivity: You’d like there to be a focus on posts which create more of a conversation. Balance analytical content with threads which spawn an exchange of ideas, thoughts, and observations from the GITS community and myself.
* More inspiration: You want the content on the site to meet you more in the daily practice of your writing, not only techniques and tips, but also posts which engender responses from GITS readers about their process, whether it’s specific to an actual writing project you are working on or the larger picture of yourself and your calling as a writer. In general, you want someplace to go where you don’t feel like you’re doing this alone, you share your calling with other writing enthusiasts.
* More of my involvement: I received this feedback from several writers who have taken some of my Screenwriting Master Class courses wondering if somehow I could do what I do there — an immersive, hands-on engagement with participants — here on the blog. That interested me because I thought I had been doing that here, but in digging into their comments more deeply and reflecting on it, I think I see what they mean. At SMC, the forum conversations can be amazing, often where some of the best learning occurs. In part, I think that happens because I am on the course site multiple times per day tracking posts and responding in kind. I do that here, but typically only drop by in the morning and at night. So this is an idea I have been pondering quite seriously.
You have provided other suggestions including more writing contests (to inspire you to write, to have some fun with your writing, and oh yeah — prize giveaways!), bring back the live movie-watching TweetCasts, and numerous variations on a podcast / AMA type of live interactive thing, but again a persistent message you seem to be sending my way is to up the focus of the site on engaging the community and interfacing with you in a more complete way.
With that in mind, let me say I hear you! If the consensus is to balance content on the site between analysis / theory and the more practical aspects of day-to-day writing, and doing that in a way which involves more of an active conversation involving your observations and my feedback over the course of each day, I am certainly up to explore that.
Of course, the first consideration for me on a personal level is this: Time. I am relentlessly busy. The request for increased interaction on the site (literally someone emailed me to say, “Scott, we want more of you!”) would appear — on the face of it — to be something of a non-starter. However there seems to be some alignment here with one of your other suggestions: Less content. So if I were to cut back the number of posts on the site, currently averaging 6+ per day, to say 4 or even 3, that should give me more time to interact on the site more frequently over the course of the daily cycle — in theory at least.
So I guess where that takes our conversation at this point is two questions:
* What of the current post-types should I keep doing?
* What are some ideas for posts / series / initiatives that would generate more daily conversation and involve us more as a community?
Per the former, there are some posts I simply cannot give up:
* This site will always have a Daily Dialogue post. I know it doesn’t create much in the way of conversation, but I just like the idea that writers, including myself, can begin each day with some inspiration in the form of notable movie dialogue.
* I will continue to post On Writing and Screenwriting 101 because I am a quote-hound, plus I think it’s critically important for writers to read insights about the craft from actual professional writers. Screenwriting ‘gurus’ and script consultants are one thing, but unless someone trying to sell themselves as an authority has worked on the front lines of Hollywood or gotten books published, they cannot understand screenwriting, TV writing, novel or playwriting in a truly authentic way.
* Likewise interviews. One of my original thoughts for the blog was to aggregate and promote interviews with pro writers in part for reasons cited in the point above, but also to try in at least a tiny way to elevate our visibility in a world, especially Hollywood, which tends to ignore us. Maybe I don’t continue to post audio, video, and written interviews from other sources, and instead focus on interviews I conduct with writers and industry insiders. The feedback I receive from you is there is a depth and comprehensiveness to those interviews you don’t find elsewhere. Even though preparing for those interviews is time-consuming, I am committed to continue to doing them.
Beyond that, I’d say everything else is pretty much up in the air. I continue to solicit your input as to what daily posts and series you want to keep reading here as I don’t want to throw out the proverbial baby with the bath water.
As to the other point — What are some ideas for posts / series / initiatives that would generate more daily conversation and involve us more as a community? — I am all virtual ears. Here are a couple of possibilities:
* What if each day / several times a week / once a week, I post a question targeting where you are in your writing process? Like: Who’s having trouble with your story’s ending? Is anyone struggling with a logline? Are you just hating your story lately? As people would post in comments, I would make it a point to respond.
* How about a monthly script workshop? The idea is each month, I’d have the good folks at the Black List suggest a script from a GITS follower that shows promise, but needs work. With that writer’s approval, I would upload the script for people to read — including myself — then we would workshop the script on the site with me moderating and steering the conversation. This would not only benefit the script’s writer, it would also help participants develop their own critical analytical skills.
* For years, I’ve been peppered with requests to do some sort of audio-video type of thing, most often in the form of a podcast. The thing is there are already so many screenwriting and writing podcasts out there, I don’t see much of a need for yet another one. However I have been circling Periscope and that may be something worth exploring. What if I collected your questions, then each week did a live Periscope session? I’d announce the time and if you had the app, you could watch it in real time.
Those are just a few ideas. Let me note, I see this shift in focus on the blog as a work-in-progress. Try some things. See what works. What doesn’t. Try something else.
If you have suggestions for initiatives you think would engender more of a community experience on GITS, please post in comments or email me.
The blog has its 7th birthday on May 16. So between now and then, I hope to hear from as many of you as possible with an eye toward making some announcement at that time. I want this blog to be as relevant and helpful to the online writing community as possible. Please let me know your thoughts. I thank you for your time and your interest in Go Into The Story.
Onward!
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