Yes, I do, Gregory. Get on a different train. Those side tracks can
take you to some very strange places if you let them (such as
LossOfEnthusiasmVille, Don'tThinkICanDoItopolis, and, even,
WhatTheHellWasIWritingAnwaysburg). And definitely slow down your
journey. Or even stop it, all together. That may sound like a
flippant answer, but, deep within its apparently laissez-faire sentiment lies
buried a profound and arcane truth (although, what that truth is completely
escapes me at the moment. Escapes me like a runaway train. That's
it! That's the truth! Don't get on a runaway train! No, that's
not it. Maybe by the time I finish this article, the profound, arcane
truth will come to me.)
My solution for not getting sidetracked (besides not getting
on a runaway train) is to, basically, "keep the fires burning."
Keep the stoking the fire (and I'm not talking about the one on a runaway train
that is sidetracked. Did you ever notice that somebody can overuse a
metaphor to the point where you want to do them bodily harm? Or push them
off a cliff? Or off a runaway, sidetracking train?) The fire I'm
referring to is that of your desire. It's imperative that you continue to
fan the flames of your desire, to keep remembering what you want (in this case)
in terms of your screenwriting. Keep asking yourself this most critical
question:
what do you want?
I mean "What do you really
want?" when it comes to your desires concerning your screenwriting.
What I'm getting at here is that what "sidetracked" you is just another
desire! Maybe some ice cream had your name on it. Or you got
a "call of the wild" from the Great American Novel. Or maybe you
got one from the opposite sex (very wild, you naughty non-writing
screenwriter, you!) that you just couldn't refuse (and you've returned now after
a year and half, ready and willing to get back to that script you had just
started. What was the title, again? Oh, yes: "Obsessive
Obsession": A horror based on a true story.) It's your desire
that will keep you on the path towards your goal. But you must know and
remember and remind yourself repeatedly about what exactly that goal is.
I find that I get bogged down frequently if my
NEXT goal is not clear and achievable. Sometimes, even the goal of
"finishing the screenplay" can seem daunting, and I have found that
breaking that goal into smaller goals, "goalettes," (I think that was
the name of group of dancing -- and skating -- girls for the NHL) is the
only thing that works -- especially if I'm feeling overwhelmed by the
screenwriting task at hand.
Here's a typical example of the
"incrementalization process." (The IP, as the Incrementalization
Processors call it):
THE OVERALL GOAL: To Write and
Finish The Screenplay
The goals that lead to the overall goal (overall):
1. Get up earlier than 4:00 p.m. (if you
don't, take heart; go back to bed and wake up at 4:00 p.m. the next day, feeling
refreshed and-- No, that won't work. Forget that one.)
2. Decide what kind of screenplay you're
going to write. Be perfectly clear about that decision and what you've
decided to write.
3. Decide that one again (and as many times
as necessary until you're tired of driving yourself crazy about trying to
finally decide and finally make a decision).
4. Even though you're filled with
intoxicating enthusiasm, before you set to writing (which I think pioneers from
the Wild West did when they started their screenplays -- which usually were of
the Western genre), decide what your list of goals will look and feel like as
you tread the path to your final goal, that of finishing your screenplay:
Maybe something like this:
Write the following and in the following
designated order:
1). log-line
2) treatment
3) outline
4) grocery list
5) story beats
5) scenes of major turning points
6) your bills
7) the final scene
8) your will
9) and testament
10) the opening scene
11) other scenes that seem to call to you
12) your congressman
13) all the boring scenes that you don't want to
write, but you know you have to
14) all the exciting scenes that you want to
write, but now don't seem so exciting
15) suicide note -- no, don't! At least,
not until you've finished your screenplay
16) scenes that you forgot you would need to
write and wish you didn't have to
*Now, at this point, you could be experiencing
the dreaded 80/20 syndrome, which we all know goes as follows:
"takes 80 pounds of
coffee, sugar, and a myriad of mood
enhancers to write 20 pages of a screenplay."
But don't let that get you down. You can
break through this barrier. Like a track star. A jittery,
overweight, and who-knows-what-else track star. Pat yourself on the back;
you made it.
now finish that script
Good work.
Now you can start your next list:
Producers Who Don't Know Who I Am Or Even Care That I Even
Exist And Whom I Want To Send My Finished Screenplay To, Even though they
probably won't read it or only a few pages after all my work that I did by
writing down my goals and keeping the fires of my desires fanned (or will give
it to some underpaid reader who is looking for a way to not like it and only
desires to go home early):
DcH