ScriptSuperhero.com

Not to ram my personal life into my blog about writing, but in this case I think it has some relevence, and that’s how real-life situations can intrude on the creative process and make it difficult to write.

For almost a week now, I’ve been dealing with the strong likelihood that my mother may have cancer; at the minimum, she is in the hospital with pnuemonia. It’s a trying time and I’m doing what I can to be strong about it and handle the situation.

But it’s hard to write with such weighty matters of human mortality on the brain. I can write, but I certainly don’t feel that inspired. My mind’s just too divided.

This summer, my wife and I had planned to make a couple trips to visit her relatives in northern Illinois, but with $4 per gallon gasoline, we may not even get down there once, ruining our plans for Chicago travel for the summer. Because of that, we’ve been forced to spend more time doing other things.

I’ve had more writing time than I’ve expected, which of course is a boon to my true-crime/history writing as well as my script writing. Full steam ahead on both projects; but all in all, I’d have rather seen our relatives.

Memory is an invaluable aid to the good writer; if you know what it’s like to remember things - really remember them, not remember them in the Hollywood sense - it will help you avoid cliched scenes that don’t ring true when in flashback in a narrative.

Of course, in script format this is much less applicable, but can be reflected in the way dialog is written when a character is reminiscing. Few people talk as eloquently as most movie characters who are overwritten tend to do.

Think about the last time someone asked you about something that happened 10 years ago. We probably don’t remember it with the clarity that is often on display in most fictional formats. Bringing something like that back down to earth will make your scenes read with greater genuine emotions.

I’m enjoying writing creatively again. It’s like the story of the overweight guy who’s always in search of Phentermine no prescription necessary, scoring appetite supressants and such, who suddenly realizes he really can stop eating once he’s full without all the chemical help.

I’ve been doing a lot of writing even before this, from blogging to historical true crime and a lot of stuff in between; but once I started picking up my graphic novel script this time, for some reason it just seems fun again, and it’s something I enjoy making time for now.

Time to get serious and see if the creative side can get me anywhere or not.

Finally picked up the graphic novel script I’ve left lying dormant for too many months. And it’s funny, like putting on old diamond rings, once I actually got back into it, I fell in love with the project all over again.

Time to get serious, I think, about the creative writing aspect of my career. And EMBER is the place to start. I have a great story to tell here, and it’s time I tell it already. When I first came up with the concept, HEROES hadn’t even been broadcast. Now, EMBER’s storyline might seem a bit of old hat, but the story I have to tell is different enough to still have its own identity.

Better tell it before someone else really does beat me to it.

It’s not like many writers get gold watches at the end of a long career, but have you ever stopped to think about how much work writers who stick with it put in? While those who specialize in manual labor might disagree, even a creative pursuit like writing can be exhausting.

Trouble is, an exhausted writer may have worked hard for months and seen no return on his labor. That’s where manual labor workers have a bit of an edge; they get paid for their efforts no matter what, more often than not. Not so with writers. We can go through a world of ideas without landing a single paying gig.

Maybe it’s just the Sunday night blues talking, though. Time to get some sleep soon.

Sometimes an effective strategy to get more work done is to dovetail various efforts in different ways to complete more than one assignment. For example, in the past year I’ve put a lot of time into researching Jack the Ripper and other modern serial murderers, and it’s paid off in a published article in Ripper Notes #28 and an editor who is hoping I’ll submit more material in the near future.

That’s great, but it’s only one opportunity. In my previous post, I stated how hard it is to get started on the more creative writing style of opportunities coming my way. Perhaps dovetailing would work here. For example, I could leverage my new researched insight into serial killers into my graphic novel.

Or, more realistically, I could write a play about the Whitechapel Murders; Jack the Ripper has often made terrific fodder for stage plays, but few have ever stayed true to the crimes themselves, as they happened. Perhaps that’s my opportunity.

That kind of brainstorming can be more effective than a colon cleanser in clearing out the cobwebs and moving forward in writing pursuits with new energy and commitment.

I don’t often suffer from writers block. Can’t afford to. Except when it comes to more creative writing pursuits. Case in point: I have an artist who has been waiting to collaborate with me on a graphic novel idea we’ve been excited about for a couple years now, but I have yet to really bang out the script, even though the story is completely plotted out. It’s an opportunity that could pay off if I could ever crack down and get to it, kind of like sending off some Chicago resumes.

Second case in point: I have a friend who sits on the board of a prestigious local theatre here in the Twin Cities and an open invitation to show them a play script. Think I can even focus in on which play idea I want to choose and write up? Not on my life!

The trouble with such procrastination is that such opportunities don’t last forever. Eventually, if I don’t step through some of these open doors, they’re gonna slam shut.