Groucho

Calling me “Professor” is optional

Maximum Z education, Groucho, screenplay, screenwriting, script, writing , , , , ,
I offer information. What you do with it is up to you.

For the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of being a speaker/panelist as part of the screenwriting track at the San Francisco Writers Conference. After last year’s conference, one of the volunteers approached me and asked if I’d be interested in doing a lecture/presentation about screenwriting to some branches of the California Writers Club.

Sounded like fun, so I agreed.

I put together a presentation that covers the basics. How it looks on the page, formatting, structure, what to include and not include, the importance of “show, don’t tell”, and so forth.

I did it with the mindset of “if I didn’t know anything about screenwriting and wanted to try writing a script, what should I know as I start?”

The more I came up with a list of what to discuss, the longer the list became. It was also important to really stick to the basics and not worry so much about things like contests, query letters, optioning a script, contract negotiations, etc.

I wanted to present the most basic of building blocks when it came to writing a script. A lot of the attendees were unfamiliar with how screenwriting works, so this was their first real exposure to it.

The info I present comes from all the lessons I’ve learned as part of my own writer’s journey and have helped me hone my own skills to what they are today.

I’ve done the presentation twice, and both seem to have gone over well. Each time yielded many follow-up questions I attempted to answer to best of my ability, along with a lot of the audience coming up afterward to say they had no idea how different screenwriting was compared to other kinds of writing.

Even better was that everybody said how much they enjoyed it.

I even sold a few of my books, which is always great.

I get to do it again next week at this year’s Writers Conference, then again next month at another branch of the Writers Club. No idea if there will be any more opportunities after that, but I’m just glad to have been able to do it.

Just a little introspective self-reflecting

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The past few days have been all about revising the outline of my sci-fi adventure spec. My editor’s pen has been getting quite a workout as I slash scenes and sequences out of the previous draft with wild abandon.

Sometimes inspiration will strike and I’ll come up with something entirely new that not only makes the point even better, as well as open up more possibilities further along in the story. That’s always nice.

But another side effect of all this work is more occurrences of thoughts along the lines of “Is this going to be any good? Will anybody like it? Is working on this even worth it?”

There are so many labels for this sort of thing. Self-doubt. The Impostor Syndrome. Second guessing yourself.

And writers do it to themselves ALL THE TIME. Yours truly included.

Why do we do this to ourselves? Fear of rejection? We put so much work into our material and are afraid people will think it’s trash?

Been there.

Every writer deals with it in different ways. But the important thing is that you’re dealing with it.

Accepting that somebody probably won’t like it is an important first step. You can’t please everybody, nor should you try to. That faction will always be there.

On the other hand, you might be surprised how many fans you end up getting. While the negative reactions tend to stand out more, they’re usually dwarfed by the number of positive ones. And those positive ones can make quite a difference in eliminating that self-doubt.

You send out your latest draft and hope for the best. Everybody wants glowing and ecstatic reviews, but you should take a more realistic approach and prepare for a variety of reactions. Anything from ‘I loved it!” to “it’s okay” to “just didn’t do much for me”.

And all of those are okay.

There will always be different reactions to your material. It’s how you deal with them that will shape how you choose to move forward.

One option – giving up, and nobody wants that

Another option – continue writing, but not showing it to anybody. Some might take this route, but a majority won’t.

Yet another option – continue writing, and accept whatever the outcome. Probably your best bet.

I recently had an online interaction with a newer writer. They were upset that a query they’d sent got a pass. I explained that it happened all the time, and that it was all part of the process.

Their response was “I just need someone to believe in me”. I told them that the first person who had to do that was themselves, and that if they did that, others would soon follow.

You need to be your biggest fan. If you don’t believe in yourself or your writing, why would somebody else?

So circling all the way back to my current project – I’m admittedly still a bit anxious about all the usual stuff, but I will admit to having a lot of fun writing it. This is the kind of story I love to write AND see, and I need to embrace that mindset. It’s easy to spot when a writer’s love of their story and the material is one the page, which is what I’m shooting for.

Hopefully future readers will pick up on that, thereby influencing them for the better.

So to all the writers out there – may your next writing session be as fun, enjoyable, productive, and inspiring as possible.

You’re stronger and more resilient than you think, even when you don’t think you are.

Find what works for you

Maximum Z feedback, Groucho, radio, screenwriting, script, story, writing

I offer information. What you do with it is up to you.
I offer information. What you do with it is up to you

Way back when I was working behind the scenes at various radio stations, trying to break in on the air as  DJ, I would approach the on-air personalities and ask for their thoughts on my aircheck tape.

Did I sound okay, or at least have potential? What needed work? How could I improve?

A lot of them had very insightful comments and helpful suggestions.

Except one guy. What he had to say wasn’t negative, but it wasn’t necessarily helpful either.

After listening to my tape, he started with “Here’s how I would do it.” Everything after that I totally ignored.

I don’t care how you would do it, because that’s you. My way is not your way. Everybody has a different approach.

I only bring this up because I’ve recently been reading the work of some writers who’ve asked for notes and feedback.

I’ll make suggestions about how a script could look better (less text, more white space) or ask questions only they can answer (what’s a different way this could happen? how do we know this? does this play a key part in the story?), but I will never, ever tell them how I would do it or how they should do it.

It takes a while for a writer to find their individual voice. Don’t let somebody else tell you what it should be.