If you’re considering becoming a screenwriter…stop. No I don’t mean that you shouldn’t try and be a screenwriter. I mean stop considering and start doing. The difference between a screenwriter and a non-writer is just the decision to write. The difference between a great screenwriter and average screenwriter can be found in these three tips.
Write everyday
We humans are creatures of habit. So there is no better habit to get into for screenwriters than to write every single day. I recommend you write for at least ten minutes, but no longer than thirty. Sure you could write longer, but when you go to write again tomorrow, your subconscious is going to bring up memories of yesterdays two hour writing spree and say “No way…I’m not getting into that mess again”. Thirty minutes is the absolute max. If you have more to write, then that’s just a good starting point for tomorrow.
It’s also a good idea to write at a specific time everyday. Get up a little early, go to sleep a little later, or maybe just write for part of your lunch break.
Your plot affects the characters not the other way around.
The characters are the vital element of your story. The plot is only there to illustrate who your characters are. You should never make your character do something out of character simply to further the plot. At first this may seem difficult. There is something you may want very badly to happen, but if there isn’t a character in the story that could both make it happen and want to make it happen, then you’ve written the wrong story for the wrong characters.
Write fast and sloppy
Don’t try to right the perfect first draft. No one cares about the first draft. You’re screenplay may start out as an animated short about a lovable bear, and turn into a fierce suspense about hikers being chased by bears. There is no reason that anything you write be coherent, logical, or especially good, until you finish the first draft. There are only two requirements for the first draft:
- It’s finished
- It contains real words (mostly)
The desire for perfection is the cause of all writers block. You start to think “What should happen next…maybe the hikers could find an abandoned cabin…no that’s been done already”, when you should have just written “The hikers find an abandoned cabin”, and moved on. It doesn’t matter…write something….the hikers get hit by a bus…it doesn’t matter. You can always fix it. But just writing without judgment opens up the flow of creative juices. Who knows you may even mistype something, and the typo itself spawns a whole scene…but that won’t happen if you are staring at the blank screen.
In fact, I started this article with the title “The secret to being a good screenwriter”, and I only had one tip. Then I thought of two more, edited it a few times, and then fixed the title. There is a good chance I may even edit this article a bit after I published (followers of the site who pay close attention may have noticed I do that from time to time.)
I don’t know just who said it first, but its a common saying that “Good screenplays aren’t written, they’re rewritten”.