GAINING MOTIVATION

 

Having a sense of 'mission' about the script I'm writing - that I'm supposed to write it - gives me most of the drive to work on it, and transforms it from work into play.

 

I think I also need to feel an 'obsessive quality', a need to get the script finished by a certain goal.

 

I have to be passionate about what I'm writing. I have to love something about the show or film, whether it's the situation or the characters or the tone, or whatever. This love is a big part of what will get me through all the hard work ahead. I used to have the following phrase taped above my computer as I wrote - "The Goal is to create a world I completely believe in and care about." That's not a bad starting point.

 

Quote:

 

[W]hat would happen if you treated your screenplay-in-progress like someone you had recently fallen in love with. What if you courted your story, wooed it, gave it your very best, and loved it madly?

 

Our conclusion was that if we were willing to throw ourselves into falling in love with our work, risking heartache, holding nothing back, the inner muses responded in kind.

 

Cynthia Whitcomb ‘Writer’s Guide to Writing Your Screenplay’

 

 

I guess this is what I should try after I've finished my 'noodling around' period.

 

 

Unassigned stuff:

 

[*** Obviously, I've needed to feel almost mono-maniacally passionate about a project in the past in order to work on it. What conflicts with this is my analytical hesitation about deciding whether any given project is the 'best' use of my time.]

 

The home stretch. Less than 20 pages to go. Decisions are easier to make now.

The rewriting got faster and faster as I went through.

 

I got sick of taking notes and preparing to do it - so I've just launched straight in [to the final rewrite].

 

 

Thought I'd try kicking my energy back up by pitching it again and again, letting the edits come naturally, through performance, not writing. At first my brain blocked me ... but when I finally did it, I broke through!

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