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“I’m Just So Private!”

Guys I’m finally back to posting sketches and I’m mcfreakin jazzed about it. Hope you like it!

#sketches #comedy #youtube #college #writblr #Erin Jay

Revising When You Don’t Want To | 10 Tips & Tricks!

There comes a point in the writing process when I’m 5 drafts in and I’d rather be doing anything else. Here’s what I do to trick myself into revising. You can watch my video on it here!

Make an appointment for someone to read your work. Whether this is a friend or some sort of creative professional, this will light a fire under your ass like no other. The pressure of having other eyeballs on a piece of work makes me want to go crazy with polishing my prose and actually makes me more productive.

Keep subtly in mind. People always scream about “show don’t tell” so try rewriting a scene you’re struggling with, but without saying exactly what’s on the character’s minds. What actions can they do to convey their emotions? How are they saying their words? Are they even talking at all? What do they each want and how can they manipulate the conversation or situation to get that thing?

Print that shit out. Or whatever section you’re struggling with. Seeing it in print highlights typos, clunky dialogue, and gross scene lengths. Also, you get to mark up the page like a salty professor. What more could you want??

Try new things. If there’s a sequence you’ve been fantasizing about, then try it on for size. You have to get it out of your head to see if its something that you actually like. Don’t be afraid to break down a sequence one more time and figure it out. It’ll probably make you happier.

Do 30 minute sprints! Write for thirty minutes, take a break, and repeat until your fingers fall off. I like to reward myself with Netflix breaks in between.

Call up a friend and talk it out. Solutions are always more obvious when you say the problem out loud. Gabbing about your ideas with fill you with inspiration too.

Make people read it out loud to you. Live readings are bomb and terrifying. They help you realize what dialogue is hard to say, what sounds unnatural, and is out of character. This is also a good barometer for if your jokes are funny.

If it’s not making you happy then take it out. That’s it. If you think the scene is boring or cringey then find a new way to convey your information.

Put on movies in the background that made you want to become a writer. Just don’t get lost in watching them!

Have an honest talk with yourself and ask if it really is a case “writers block” (which I don’t really get because I outline extensively so in my case it’s just being lazy and delaying the problem solving process) or is it just to avoid being done and moving on to the scary part of letting other people read it and maybe reject it and going through the rigmarole of trying to sell this thing and make it into a real movie/ book. That’s terrifying! But if you want, no one can stop you from putting the work in.