Cross the Finish Line: Strategies to Combat Writer’s Block and Complete Your Script by Abigail Taylor-Sansom
We all know the feeling of impending doom that comes when you feel your creative resources have been drained. (And if you don’t, stop reading right now! You’re making the rest of us look bad.) Here are some strategies for the next time inspiration ghosts you.
Micro Problems (“I can’t finish this page, scene, chapter, etc.”)
This is your everyday, garden-variety writer’s block. You know what you want to do with your script overall, but you just can’t make it to the next step.
1. Give yourself a mini-deadline. For example, I will finish this scene in the next two hours, and quality does not matter. All that matters is that I make it to the end. Set a stopwatch if you have to. You might be surprised by the quantity (and hopefully, quality) of material you generate under pressure. If you’ve ever written something the night before a deadline (no one’s ever done this, right?), you’ve already used this method.
2. Write the end of a section (scene, act, etc.), then work backward. Sometimes it helps to get where you want to go then retrace your steps. Plus, if you are a by-the-book person, you might feel the thrill of getting away with something. Think of it as literary jaywalking!
3. Use improvisation. I know, I know. This is many writers’ worst nightmare. I
understand your concerns, but this is my personal favorite kind of improv. The
hovering-over-my-computer-with-the-door-closed-so-the-haters-can’t-judge-me kind. We’ll call it “desk improv.” Here are three magic words: Initiate. Copy. Heighten. These are tools that improvisers use to propel a scene or game forward, and it works for playwriting, too.
Here’s an example:
A: I love you. (A initiates a motif, pattern, or, in improv, a “game.”)
B: I love you, too. (B copies A’s move in the “game” and shows agreement.)
A: You’re my everything. (A heightens the game.)
B: Yeah, you too. (B copies, but there is some serious subtext here.)
A: Sorry? (A initiates something very different. Uh oh!)
And we’re off! The drama! The angst! The psychological realism! And all from a little desk improv.
4. Take a break. Sometimes you have to practice self-care, whatever that means to you, in order to move forward. Take a walk. Eat a snack. Netflix and chill. This does not mean abandoning your project! But do give yourself some breathing room, if possible, and come back to your play with fresh eyes.
Macro Problems (“I can’t finish this play, screenplay, pilot, novel, etc.”)
These tips are for when you are having trouble with the piece as a whole. Your
issues are bigger than a single scene, and you are considering calling it quits on the whole project.
1. Go back to your outline or create a reverse outline. Review and adjust your game plan, if you have one. Or, if you don’t, reverse engineer your script and create an outline from the pages you’ve already written. This will give you a more detached way to figure out what is holding you back. If your script is presented in chronological order, take a look at how each event leads to the next.
As Trey Parker and Matt Stone famously said in a lecture at NYU (watch it here),
each beat is deeply connected to the beat before it. Think cause and effect. A
happens and therefore B happens OR A happens but then B happens.
To use Romeo and Juliet as an example: Romeo is rejected by Rosaline, therefore he goes to the ball, therefore he meets Juliet and is enthralled, but then he learns she is a Capulet.
2. Discover your influences. Think about the story you want to tell and how it relates to similar stories that have gone before. Is it a love story? A cautionary tale about the abuse of power? A memory play about a messed-up family? It can help to read works by other writers with similar themes. To use the second example, how do the writers of Richard III, Frost/Nixon, or ENRON deal with the same themes of power and corruption? How would you? In what ways do you think they succeed or fail? How does their work reflect your own struggles with this particular project?
3. Get a little help from your friends. Reach out to your crew, whether that is something as formal as a monthly writer’s group or as simple as a friend or two whom you trust, and enlist their aid. Some of the best ideas I have gotten have been from other people who have provided much-needed perspective. Never be afraid to ask for help! Even if the ideas you hear don’t work for you, they might lead you to one that does.
The next time you get stuck, take a look at these tips and keep writing! I know
you’ve got it in you.
Abigail
