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The No-Discipline Screenwriter: Part 2

By Kevin Shah · June 2, 2011

Ideas on how to write & finish your screenplay when you have almost no discipline.

PART 2

In Part 1 of this series, I explored various aspects about how to ‘get around yourself’ if you're a no-discipline screenwriter.  In part two, I offer more solutions and expand on the idea of a ‘personal writer’s retreat’ and exactly what kind of environment to seek in helping you to get that screenplay done.

5. GET AWAY FROM HOME & THE OFFICE.

Find the right place to inspire you.  This means get out of your house or apartment.  Take a trip far or near, keep it cheap and make it a ‘writing retreat’.  No, it’s not a vacation, and it shouldn’t be somewhere exotic — if anything the opposite is more fruitful.  It shouldn’t be too comfortable, but definitely a place you can make home for a few weeks.  Go to your hometown, go to the location where you are setting the story if it’s doable, but just get away.  Find a place to stay for the duration, ideally free so you’re not throwing more money than is necessary at this — and if this means bugging your parents to sleep on their couch than so be it.  Or offer to house-sit for someone while they are on vacation.  Do what it takes — just go somewhere other than your house/apartment to write this thing.  You have no discipline there, so get out!

In the case of A Falling Rock, I went back to my hometown, Mechanicsburg, a pre-civil war era Pennsylvania town where the entire story takes place in the early 1990’s.  Not only was I filled with memories having grown up there (which is inspiring in itself) — I was also filled with ideas for moments, scenes, locations and details that wouldn’t have occurred to me at the office or in the apartment.   And of course, I saw my hometown differently — through my story’s eyes — and witnessed where certain key scenes could take place.  As my story is a thriller, I also took the time to spot potential locations, meet with the police departments, read recent crime reports, talk with neighbors, and follow roads without a map, which was fun.

Ultimately, I learned more about my town than I had come to know in the 18 years I was born and raised there.  So pick a new setting or locale that will help inspire you each day, you don’t need stimuli — you just need something real and grounded.  No, Los Angeles and New York aren’t the kind of places I’m talking about, even if your story takes place in the city.  You need discipline from distraction to write in the city.  Instead, you need to go somewhere it’s really quiet, and the pace of life is slow (or to most people “normal”).  A town you can feel safe to grab a bite to eat late night if you’re in the zone and want to keep going. 

The experience of ‘time’ itself changes in a place like this for the no-discipline writer, and you will discover that you are writing richer material, and doing it faster than if you were still in the city where you live.  All this is needed when you don’t have any discipline but want to finish writing your script.

6. KEEP THE MOMENTUM.

Lastly, and this one may require a little discipline (not a lot):  Don’t go back, don’t re-write just yet — keep it moving forward.  Writing is re-writing, yes, we all know that — but as you continue forward on you first draft — if you see things that you need to change then just jot the gist of it down in a new file that you’ll save for the first revision.  Don’t go back and start changing things now for God’s sake.  Don’t forget you have no discipline and you will never finish the important first draft if you’re noodling the whole way.  Just keep moving forward relentlessly all the way until Fade Out and then celebrate for a day and prepare to come back to the story with fresh eyes armed with your “first revision notes”.  Of course, if there is a drastic change that needs to be made, one that necessitates you starting from scratch at a certain point while writing the screenplay — then by all means go back to it.  But ideally, concentrating on #3 should prevent this scenario from happening. 

7. KEEP YOUR ATTENTION.

One more tip for good measure.  Please try this anywhere: turn off the internet and television for days at a time and turn on the music.   Everything is fighting for your time, attention, and imagination.  So preserve all three by abstaining from television, gaming, or the internet in all its forms while you are on your ‘writing retreat’.  Instead, fall in love with the radio for the time being, listen to a playlist you made to inspire you — or discover new music entirely.  And if you have to use the internet, use it after 2 a.m. or just before you go to bed during this time. 

Yes, it’s not practical — but you have no discipline, so you’re not looking for practical solutions.  You’re looking for drastic measures, you’re looking to do whatever it takes to finally get that story out.  You don’t need discipline to write your screenplay, but you will need all of the attention you can muster. 

If you have additional tips that could work for the no-discipline writer, tweet me at @kevinkshah, as I would love to hear them.