Thursday, April 12, 2007

Writers write

You know it is true. It is something inside you that forces it's way past domestic problems and professional problems and heck even the geo-political problems that you face in your daily life.

You have to write.

And that is your starting point. Then you have to learn the art. The bad news is that you will never stop learning the art. The good news is that you will never stop learning the art.

By the art, I simply mean what works. What blends together in character and story and pace and tone and action and dialogue to give that magical mixture that really comes alive on screen and holds an audience spellbound. Okay maybe not so simple. And nothing that can be worked out with a formula despite the contentions of the gurus.

Book learning is fine up to a certain point. It's how I started. It gives you the basics and that is a good thing. It means you have made the effort to present a script in a professional manner. But unless you have that inner drive to write no matter what, book learning is like the guy who studied Medicine because he thought doctors scored with hot nurses.

If it's not in you when you write , it won't be on the page when it's read.

2 comments:

Schmucks with Underwoods said...

"learning is like the guy who studied Medicine because he thought doctors scored with hot nurses." Ha! Funny. I knew a guy like that - he told me it was his sole motivation for going to med school.

Piers said...

Apparently doctors do score with hot nurses.

But I always thought that was more of a bonus.