by Dean Orion
SURVIVAL GUIDE SUMMARY
13. Art vs. Commerce
Things to Remember:
•Financial success and writing success are not joined at the hip.
•You can learn the business of being a writer. But you also have to be lucky to be financially successful.
•The best way to get lucky is to be ready when luck comes your way—which means having a great script in your pocket.
•Writing success = writer gene + process. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
•Only you know when you have achieved writing success.
Questions to Ask Yourself:
•What is the definition of financial success for you as a writer? Write it down.
•Have you looked at your overall writing process and identified places where you need to improve?
•What can you do differently on your next project, process-wise, that might help you overcome some of the deficiencies in your last one?
•Have you rewritten the story you’re currently working on as much as you possibly can? Do you know in your heart that it is as good as you can make it?
14. The Write Community
When I started writing this survival guide, I have to admit, I hadn’t really given much thought to how much my experience at The American Film Institute has shaped my thinking as a writer, and I certainly didn’t think I would be talking about it as much as I have. But as I reflect on it now, I realize it really did have a tremendous impact. The reason for that is simple. From the very first moment I stepped onto that campus, I felt I had finally found “my people.” I had finally become part of a community where everyone was passionate about telling stories, and where the words that made up those stories mattered. For the first time in my life, I had finally gotten into a room with a bunch of other writers.
Looking back on those days it seems as if my classmates and I were living in a timeless bubble. The long afternoons we spent sitting at that little sushi joint on the corner of Franklin and Vermont, arguing endlessly about theme and structure and characters. The hours and hours we spent watching films. The countless seminars we were so privileged to attend with the world’s greatest filmmakers. It was total and complete immersion into writer land, an unforgettable journey, free of all the other encumbrances of life.
While that experience could obviously never be duplicated, it did convince me of one very important thing:
To whatever extent it’s possible, you should make every effort to surround yourself with a community of writers, throughout every stage of your career.
Bonding with Your Writer Brethren
Why is this such a big deal? Why do writers need other writers? Because when you spend the majority of your time living in the vast reaches of that infinite universe we call the human mind, every once in a while you just need someone to talk to. You know, an actual person who can actually sit down across from you and look you in the eye, as opposed to yet another figment of your imagination. But not just anybody will fit that bill. You need someone who truly knows what you’re going through day in and day out, someone who understands the solitude firsthand, who shares your passion, and who, like you, just may be crazy enough to spend their entire life pursuing it. These kinds of conversations between writers, whether they happen in passing or over a two-hour lunch, are so powerful and so vital to our collective psyche. It’s that unspoken solidarity, that exchange of energy and encouragement, that so often provides just the spark we need to press on.
On a more practical level, bonding with your writer brethren also allows you to share strategies and learn about the different techniques they may use. As your process continues to evolve, you will inevitably find yourself experimenting with these various approaches you hear about. They may not always work for you, but at the very least they will inform you creatively and contribute to your overall knowledge of the craft.
Here’s an interesting example. I have a friend who likes to experiment with the validity of his story concepts by writing test scenes. In other words, when he stumbles onto an idea he thinks is good, he immediately dives in and writes the one scene that is clearest in his mind, just to see if it pops on the page as much as it did in his head. Usually it’s a scene near the end of the story, a big climactic moment that he’s envisioning. His thinking is that if he can make the test scene work (even if he completely rewrites it later), then he’ll have an aiming point that will give him the drive and momentum needed to start writing the story from the beginning.
I found this fascinating, because while this approach is absolutely 180 degrees from my process, it’s also very similar to how I often write extensive notes about scenes that occur later in my story while I’m outlining. The difference is that I still start at the highest level of the concept and work my way down to the details. In his case, he’s actually writing an entire fleshed-out scene before he’s even done a stitch of research or made a single note about his idea.
The thing that has always struck me about this particular writer friend of mine is the ease with which he blindly follows his instincts. The openness that he allows himself in his process, the fearless, optimistic way that he experiments with ideas is just tremendous. And while the form it takes for him—actually writing the scene with no context—is not something that would work for me, the concept behind it, the exploratory element, is certainly a very important aspect of my process as well.
Cultivating Community
Besides all the shop talk, there are so many other ways that simply connecting with other writers can pay valuable dividends. It exposes you to resources, like interesting classes, books, and seminars to help educate yourself. It helps you find great environments to work in. For example, I heard about The Writers Junction, the place where I go to write almost every day now, through a writer friend of mine.
Your extended writer community is also how you will find good note givers (writers and non-writers alike), producers and directors to collaborate with, and agents and managers who could potentially represent you. You might even find a great writing partner to work with if you’re engaged with a community of writers.
By far the greatest benefit to cultivating this community around you is that it allows you to talk about your stories on a level only other writers can appreciate, and in a way that reveals who you truly are. When you share your ideas with other writers you are saying to them: “Check this out. This is what turns me on as an artist!” And the mere act of doing so proves your worth. It’s how you plant your flag as someone who belongs in this community and inspires others to do the same. That kind of energy and vitality is contagious and can easily spread like wildfire—which is exactly what we all need in order to become better storytellers.
Writing Groups
One of the best ways to cultivate a writer community around you is to form or join a writing group. What you do with this group is get together on a regular basis to give each other notes and help improve each other’s work. In other words, you basically create your own writing class, except that there is no teacher and no institution behind it. Typically groups like this consist of about five to ten writers, all of whom must be serious enough about their careers to commit not just to the meetings, but to all the reading each member must do in order for the group to be valuable. As I explained in Chapter 7, giving good notes takes a considerable amount of work, and if you’re going to have any hope of doing it well, you have to be willing to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty right alongside the fellow writer(s) you’re trying to help.
It’s also important for all the writers in the group to be somewhat compatible in terms of talent level, craft, and professional experience. This is easier said than done, particularly when it comes to getting the right mix of personalities. If you’re lucky enough to assemble a committed bunch of people and create a productive, healthy dynamic, it can be a truly wonderful and empowering experience. The secret to creating that special chemistry is to find quality writers who are also willing to become qu
ality note givers, and who understand that by investing their time and energy in others, they’re also investing in themselves.
(To learn more about the online community for writers I’m currently developing please visit www.thewritergene.com.)
SURVIVAL GUIDE SUMMARY
14. The Write Community
Things to Remember:
•To whatever extent possible, make every effort to surround yourself with a community of other writers throughout every stage of your career.
•Writers need other writers not just for moral support, but also for the exchange of energy and ideas.
•Your community of writers is your umbilical cord to numerous resources, potential collaborators, and representatives.
•Being part of a community of writers helps you express who you are as an artist.
•One of the best ways to cultivate a community of writers is to start or join a writing group.
Questions to Ask Yourself:
•Do you know any writers who are as serious about writing as you are? Who are they? Make a list.
•Have you ever sat down and had an in-depth conversation about process with these writers? How are your processes different?
•Is there anything these other writers do that you might experiment with? Anything useful that you think you might be able to incorporate into your process?
•What aspects of your process can you share with them?
•Do you know five to ten other writers who might make a good writing group? Do you know of any existing writing groups that you might be able to join?
15. Live to Write Another Day
As I discussed in the previous chapter, among the many things I truly cherish about being a writer are the bonds of friendship and camaraderie I’ve forged over the years with other writers. On a practical level, these bonds are an important way to learn and grow, as even the most casual conversation with a writer friend can spark a new idea or shed some light on a frustrating problem. On another level, they’re like comfort food, a reminder that we’re not alone, that we have brethren out there toiling in the trenches. On an even deeper level, I believe these bonds are the result of a much more powerful impulse, that as creative storytellers we are bound together by a higher purpose, a calling to be the cultural record keepers of our generation.
Now that you’ve gotten to know me a little bit, I’m sure you understand how passionate I am about this calling, that I really do see the writing life as something you have no choice but to pursue if you have the writer gene, and that it’s an epic struggle in which you must be a warrior of the highest order, the hero of your own story.
You owe it to yourself to be that hero, to honor that calling each and every day, regardless of your circumstances, regardless of your previous successes or failures, regardless of whether the journey takes you into calm seas or into the most violent of storms.
You may not share all my feelings about writing or see eye to eye with me on everything in this survival guide, but if nothing else, I hope I have at least given you a little inspiration and created yet another bond within our sacred tribe. You have my utmost respect for being a writer, for having the fortitude to bear your soul on the page day after day, for taking the chance that you may never be able to make that idea work—or that even when you do, that story may never quite get its fair day in court with the many gatekeepers who never seem to miss an opportunity to deny you the key to the city.
I know how difficult it is to do what you’re trying to do, how much of yourself it requires, how agonizing it is when all that effort fails to bear any fruit, either artistically or financially. And, boy, do I know how hard it is to pick yourself up off the canvas for the umpteenth time, to draw your sword and take another swing at that monstrous creature…again and again and again.
All I can say is:
Don’t stop swinging! Don’t stop taking those chances, because it’s out of all that vulnerability, out of all that risk taking, that the most profound work inevitably emerges.
No great script was ever written by a writer playing it safe. So whatever you do, never be afraid to sail into those uncharted waters. Never be afraid to go down with the ship. There’s not a writer on this earth who hasn’t come up short on what they once thought was the most brilliant idea, so you won’t be the first and you certainly won’t be the last. It’s on the rubble of those discarded pages that the foundation of your career will ultimately be built, and not one of your successes will come without the many failings that came before it. Not that success is ever guaranteed, but if you have the courage to go on this journey in the first place, then I believe you’ll have the courage to see it through, and there will never be a doubt in your mind as to whether or not you were up to the challenge.
Just know that your voice is worthy of being heard, that the fight to make it heard is never in vain, and that if you stay true to that voice, if you commit to developing your skills and continue to hone and love your process, if you always remember that the story is out there in its purest and most perfect form, that it exists separately from you, and that you are both its mother and its guardian, your work will always be consistent and unique to who you are.
Most importantly, if you can learn how to share your story with the common culture, to let it be influenced but not misguided, to change and revise it in ways that not only deepen its characters and shore up its structure, but also magnify its core message, then there are no limits to the writer you can become.
All you have to do is hang in there a little longer, tune that story in a little clearer, and live to write another day.
SURVIVAL GUIDE SUMMARY
15. Live to Write Another Day
Things to Remember:
•As creative storytellers, we are the cultural record keepers of our generation.
•Be the hero of your own story. Never give up!
•Don’t be afraid to fail. No great story was ever written by a writer playing it safe.
•Your voice is worthy of being heard, and the fight to make it heard is never in vain.
COMPLETE SURVIVAL GUIDE
1. The Writer Gene
Things to Remember:
•If you’re a person who is driven to tell stories with words, then you have the writer gene.
•Guess what—you’re not alone.
2. The Art of Procrastination
Things to Remember:
•Procrastination is part of the creative process.
•Procrastination is only bad if you create anxiety about procrastinating. Don’t beat yourself up about it. Use it.
•You are both a passive and active channel of information when you write.
Questions to Ask Yourself:
•What procrastination activities contribute to your process? Make a list.
•What procrastination activities are destructive to your process? Make a list.
•How much procrastination time will you allow yourself when you sit down to write? Be specific.
3. The Write Environment
Things to Remember:
•To be productive on a regular basis, find environments that are consistently available to you.
•Make sure these environments have limited distractions and temptations. All you really need is a desk, a chair, and a power outlet.
•If an environment works for you, keep using it! It won’t take long for you to associate it with successful writing, which will help build your confidence.
•A change of scenery sometimes helps the creative flow.
Questions to Ask Yourself:
•Which parts of your process can you do in a noisier environment, and which require absolute quietude? Make a list.
•Of the different environments available to you, which can you work in on a consistent basis? Can you make each of them a reliable writing silo?
•What are the available hours of each of your writing silos? Make a list.
•How many hours on any given day do you need to spend in
each silo to be productive? Plan it out ahead of time.
•Is there a place near you where other writers write? It’s always good to be around other writers.
4. Writer’s Bl%#k
Things to Remember:
•Writer’s bl%#k is a myth. Every creative problem has a creative solution.
•All writers experience crisis moments.
•Knowing that the solution to the crisis exists is half the battle.
•The other half of the battle is having a process that you can rely on.
•Breathe.
Questions to Ask Yourself:
•Have you run into this problem before? Most of the time the answer is “yes.” How did you solve it last time?
•If you haven’t run into this specific problem before, how is it similar to other problems you’ve encountered?
•How long did it take you to solve your last crisis? Be conscious of this time factor. There’s usually a pattern.
•What is the strongest aspect of your core concept? Are you still speaking to it or have you strayed? Don’t panic. Just take some time to re-examine the big picture.