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This week's Answer: Story
Surgery Yes,
Dana, I do. There's a medical procedure for that problem
(although, Story Extraction is a risky operation so you definitely
want to have full health coverage). I think the Wicked Witch of
the West summed it up very succinctly when she said, "These
things must be done delicately." And be sure that the
doctor removes all of them so that you don't wake up one day
with this strange feeling and realize that you still have a story left
inside of you.
Actually, when I have many stories inside of me, I
allow them to tell themselves to me. I simply become the
recorder and do my best to listen as best I can and put down what I
"hear" as accurately as possible. In a way, I'm my
Muse's secretary. (Come to think of it, I really need to ask for
a raise). Everybody works differently, but my favorite way of
drawing out the story to write my next screenplay is to don a jester's
costume with bells on my shoes and run around in a forest until my
story comes out of hiding or until I drop from exhaustion.
Perchance that should fail, I call my writing partner and we return
once again to the collaboration process. What I'm getting at is
that you need to find the best way that works for you. Mine is
collaboration or, even if I'm doing a solo stint, I still talk to
others and run my story by them, open to their feedback and
suggestions. Suggestions from friends is a great way to drain
them of their creativity and come up with fantastic solutions and
ideas, which you never have to pay for or share in the booty that may
come from their contributions. (Of course, this approach may
find you continually searching for new friends.)
The most important thing is to keep letting the
stories OUT. Write them down; record them; paint them on cave
walls (hey, I think that's been done). But, whatever you do,
express them. They're coming to you for a reason. In a
way, we screenwriters, and all writers, are doing another version of
what was carried on way before word processors, typewriters, and even
the printing press: oral tradition. We're the story
tellers sitting around the fire, recounting the tales so that others
may know and grow from them, tell others and, thus, continue to carry
on the tradition. That's what we're doing: continuing to
carry on the continuation of carrying on the tradition that continues
to carry on. (Etcetera, etcetera. Never mind. Carry
on). Now, the tradition may look a little different than it used
to, but it's still the tradition. So draw together your clan and
you laptop and gather round the fire. Don't be shy to tell your
tale.
And try not to get to close to the flames or you'll
burn out your circuitry, crash your hard drive and lose your entire
screenplay.
Nobody needs that tradition.
DcH
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