Anyway, I’m still working on the outline, but I’m also writing paragraphs just to flesh out the characters/storyline. I write essays the same way.

Inspiration helps a lot to get you going, but if you are a real artist, you will continue to create because it’s something in you that COMPELLS you to express yourself. I have to say, I don’t have that constant drive. But having an outline certainly helps because it gives you structure and a place to start. Also, setting deadlines helps me. If I promise a friend that they can look at what I’m working on, the pressure is on me to get something in their hands.

I was talking with a friend of mine, who use to write professionally and in his free time always jots things down, who wanted to know how my screenplay was going. I was in a panic because I really had some jumbled stuff around. But that gave the me incentive to sit down, focus, and crank out the crucial intro (the first 10 pages) and send it to him. He liked it and thought it was a well done intro. In screenwriting, everything about the story needs to be set up in the first 10 pages: the who, what, where, when. If not, then the reader at the production company will chuck your screenplay and move on to the next one.

Additionally, I write and record my own songs in my spare time (I play guitar and bass and use a digital 8 track recorder). And I find songwriting to be a lot harder than straight fiction writing. Again, what gets me thru is a tenacity and forcing myself to be disciplined. Songwriting is different in a lot of regards, but still, you have to have a good work ethic, find structure, and take on the challenge of wanting to finish the song. I think you can take the same approach to fiction: challenge yourself to finish one page a day. Or finish one paragraph. Finish a chapter by the end of the month.

These artistic endeavors are fun, but at the same time, it becomes WORK. But when you’re done, there is a great sense of accomplishment and you have to please yourself first.

Did you know Blake Snyder just died a couple of weeks ago? Man, that’s a downer.

http://www.blakesnyder.com/2009/08/blake-snyder-1952-2009/

I’m learning this writing thing from the ground up. With blogging, it’s more or less just about the facts, but with writing, it’s about how you evoke images in the minds of your readers. Interesting thing this writing.

By the way, for the first time in my life, I successfully pulled a dream and turned it into (at least an outline of) a short story. Maybe I’ll have some stuff to submit to the journals when the school year starts.

If you’re looking for an outline for say a movie script, then check out the book “Save the Cat” by Blake Snyder. This will help you write a movie script that sells. Of course, I wouldn’t know for sure, because I never wrote a movie script.