Over the weekend, I started to map out my writing goals for 2010.
Last year's were derailed, but they were derailed by something known in the business as "a job." Although I did ghostwrite two books, create an entire online universe that I maintained for months as well as a blog and online presence for another show. So it's not like I was home picking my nose.
Anyway, hopefully this "job" will return, but now that I recall what "jobs" of their kind entail, I'm ready to attack my problem* in a calculated fashion.
When I'm working on a project, I don't generally let the universe know the steps I'm taking. Some writers like to talk about their projects, working them out in front of a studio audience. I've never done that, unless it's a HIYOUWONTHEARFROMMEFORABITBECAUSEIHAFTAGETTHISDONE and then I disappear to, y'know, get it done.
On occasion I find it useful to take a class to finish a project. My first screenplay was completed in Writers' Boot Camp back in 2003, and as I look down the road to finish my second (as well as multiple TV specs and a novel, oh my!) I was considering going back.
In a bizarre twist of fate, I received an email from them in the last weeks of 2009. It turns out that I can still log into the site as an alumna, and while my password was emailed to immediately, I didn't log into the site until today.
My correspondence from my 2003 class is sitting in my inbox, just where i left it. I scanned the subject lines and clicked on an email labeled "HAVING PROBLEMS" where a classmate was worried that they didn't understand the assignment as given. One of the answers was as follows:
Personally, I wouldn't get too worked up about it. My guess is that this is simply to clarify what it is that makes our project unique rather than something that has to wholly make sense at this juncture.
From my experience in the writing world, I've found that many writers fall back on stock experiences and canned characters that leave a "been there, done that" taste in my mouth.
Even if one has a stock sitation or canned character, it's how you as the writer interpret their world that makes them unique. Fr'example, I saw Kissing Jessica Stein last night (ah, cable!). Her mom seemed like the "Stock Jewish Mom Character" and was written that way through out most of the movie until she let on that she knew Jessica was having a lesbian affair and that it was okay. But she still did it in the "Stock Jewish Mom Character" way. So the character you've seen a billion times, the reaction that you're not expecting that colors it in a whole new way. That's what I'd consider a character conceit.
If you were approaching a TV script, then I'd look for story conceits, simply because you're given a cast of characters that you already have to work with. Even the "Same Old Stories" can get a new breath of life when they're being inhabited by different sets of characters.I don't know if this is what you were looking for, or even remotely helpful. My only advice is not to get so wrapped up in the nomeclature that you become paralyzed and what's "right" and "wrong." It's just an exercise to help you focus. At least, that's how I'm approaching it.
That's good advice, I though. I scrolled down to see who had written it, wondering what this person had been doing for the last seven years.
Cheers,
Nina
Okay, so we all don't get wiser with age. But I'm off to try.
*This is a good kind of problem. Like too much candy.
