Ask the Coach: How Can I Find an Idea Person for My Story? – On Script Mag

Welcome to the next installment of my “Ask the Coach” column on Script Mag!
 
This month’s question is about getting past feeling stumped and how to find an “idea person” to help make that happen:
 
“My writing style is that I get an idea and start writing to see where the story goes. I don’t do outlines. I’ve gotten ideas for stories from thinking up a name, or a killer last line comes to me, or from a writing prompt. I’ve written complete novels from those particular starts. A few of those I set aside for months (or years) before the idea for where to take the story comes to me. On one I’m working on now, I’m about 10,000 words in and stumped. I need an idea person. My question is: are there idea people who can take your progress and give you thoughts for where the story should go? I write really well if I have a direction to go. I don’t need someone to write the story for me, I just would love a shove in the right direction.”
 
I love the many rich layers in this question. Let’s dive in.
 
To start, there absolutely are “idea people” out there. From writing coaches to story experts to script mentors, you can find someone to help you tackle story problems and figure out what comes next. Sometimes it’s incredibly helpful to have someone to bounce ideas off of and get input from to help us move past the places we get stumped.
 
And I want to plant the seed that this may be a place to grow your structure and development skillset as well. Even if you’re not a writer who likes to outline, you may still benefit from sorting out the big moves in your story so you can write toward them as you pants your way through your actual writing. [more…]
 

 

 
If you’ve got writing questions, please send them my way!
I’d love to answer them for you in my column.

 

Image by Pixabay from Pexels

Ask the Coach: When Should I Give Up On a Script? – On Script Mag

Welcome to the next installment of my “Ask the Coach” column on Script Mag!
 
This month’s question is specifically about finishing, and when — or if — to give up on a project:
 
“How can I deal with the indecision that comes with looking at what I’m writing and reaching a point at which I say, “I never should have started this in the first place — no one will care about this, this is unoriginal, this has no chance of selling, what was I thinking?” I don’t see a point at continuing and then go on to the next potentially shiny object. Very frustrating and totally within my control. What do you recommend?”
 
Great question! In order to help you answer it, I have some questions for you.

 

“The first thing to consider is whether or not this inner voice speaking up is the voice of resistance, or the voice of intuition.”

 
For my four questions to consider and my full answer,
read the article on Script Mag here:
Ask the Coach: When Should I Give Up On a Script?
 

 

If you’ve got writing questions, please send them my way!
I’d love to answer them for you in my column.

 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

Ask the Coach: Not Three-Act Enough? – On Script Mag

Welcome to the first installment of my new “Ask the Coach” column on Script Mag!
 
This month’s question is specifically about the three-act structure in screenwriting:
 
“What I’m running into is the common criticism that my stories are not strongly three-act. They have a beginning setup, mounting problem, and ending resolution — good stories, I’m told — but tension doesn’t build in common cinematic form. Yet, I watch produced movies even less three-act structured. What am I missing?”
 
As your coach-of-the-moment, here’s how I’ll approach this question with you. Let’s look at the core components inherent in the question: how films get made (to address your comment about the produced movies), the source of the feedback, the value and strength of the three-act structure overall, and the impact of your own work.
 
“Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.”
— Neil Gaiman
For my full answer on three-act structure, how to look for a note beneath a note, and digging deeper into improving your next draft
read the article on Script Mag here:
Ask the Coach: Not Three-Act Enough?
 
 
Image by Lukas Bieri from Pixabay 

 

 

 

Ask the Coach: Your Writing Questions, Answered – On Script Mag

My new “Ask the Coach” column on Script Mag launched this week!

As a writing coach, I answer a lot of questions for writers about how to make the work of writing actually happen. As you may already know, I specialize in helping writers get out of their own way and back on track with what they were put here to do.

In this monthly column, I’ll be answering your questions, anonymously, about navigating the ups and downs of writing, being a writer, and living a writer’s life, specific to your unique circumstances.

This is a judgment-free, guilt-free zone. It doesn’t matter what you have or haven’t done, so far.

What matters is what comes next. Ask me your most pressing questions, and my goal will be to help find a solution that works for you.

For a sampling of topics writers often ask about and to submit your own question
read the article on Script Mag here: 
Ask the Coach: Your Writing Questions, Answered

 

 Photo by Olya Kobruseva from Pexels

Is It Time For a Writing Coach? – on the Final Draft blog

This week I’ve written a piece for the Final Draft blog about working with a writing coach. Sometimes you really need someone on your team to help navigate the challenges, decisions, and process. This week’s article talks about some of the times you might need that kind of assistance and what you can expect to get out of it.

“Coaching works because it’s all about you. When you connect with what you really want and why – and take action – magical things can happen.”
Emma-Louise Elsey

Sometimes you need help to make writing happen, solve a story problem, or sort out the next steps in your screenwriting career. One of the most powerful reasons to work with a writing coach is to have someone on your team — someone to turn to when the going gets tough, to support you to do the work, to help you make smart (and sometimes tough) choices, or even to celebrate the victories with.

When you’re in the market for a writing coach, you’ll want to think about what you most need. Do you need someone who will provide emotional support? Offer accountability? Help you solve story issues? Navigate career management with you? Help you hone your pitching skills? All of the above?

Think about what you’re hoping to accomplish and use those goals as criteria for interviewing possible coaches to work with. And keep in mind that not every coach will offer all things (and perhaps should not, in the interest of specializing), so you may find that you rely on different coaches for different aspects or stages of your writing and career.

For examples of some situations where working with a writing coach could be the difference between staying stuck and moving forward with confidence, read the article on the Final Draft blog here:
Is It Time For a Writing Coach?

 

Image credit: Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

The awkwardness of building a new writing habit

When you first start a new habit, it’s awkward.

I’ve made the mistake more than a few times in my life of throwing in the towel if I “blow it” early in the process of building a habit.

Over time, I’ve come to see a misstep like that as a little “Oops!” and either go for a do-over or a promise myself to start again tomorrow.

This is part of why we make sure to hold our Writer’s Circle as a guilt-free zone. Yes, we’re encouraging people to write every day (and when I say we, I mean me and the other coaches for the Circle). And we also keep in mind that we are doing deep, hard work, and there will be missteps and challenges along the way. We’ve ALL struggled to create habits, and it’s no good punishing ourselves when we get off course.

I’ve seen some terrific examples of people who started out just focusing on writing 5 to 15 minutes a day and now have completed novels and scripts they can call their own. It’s very exciting!

As you embark on a new habit, here are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Remember that building a new habit can be awkward — be gentle with yourself about it.

Give yourself lots of space to make mistakes and get back on track. Don’t throw in the towel too early like I did. Instead, see anything that doesn’t work as information about what you might want to adjust as you go forward.

Recently I’ve been experimenting with increasing my daily writing time and shifting my schedule so that my writing takes an even more central role in my life. As I’ve been doing so, I’ve found myself fumbling my pretty-well established gym habit and getting caught in some awkward procrastination moments. Instead of deciding, “This isn’t working,” I’m tweaking my approach and studying my results every day to see what I can learn about what might work better for me tomorrow.

2. Approach habit building with an experimental mindset.

Along these same lines, if you approach your writing — or ANY habit — with the spirit of experimentation, you can give yourself some freedom to keep exploring until you find something that DOES work, instead of feeling like a failure for what doesn’t.

For instance, let’s say you’re trying to build a habit of writing daily and you start by committing to 5 minutes a day. But every day you find yourself not getting around to it at the end of the day and feeling too exhausted to do it. That’s good information, right? Waiting until the end of the day isn’t working. What else could you try? Morning writing? Lunchtime writing? Committing to write for 5 minutes at a specific time of day with a friend who will also write for 5 minutes at the same time?

3. If you have a rebellious nature, factor that into your plan.

If you tend to rebel against schedules and structures, try to factor that in as you plan for your new habit.

I find myself “getting all tragic” if I try to force myself to write seven days a week. (My Writer’s Circle members got a real laugh out of me saying that on one of our live coaching calls once.) Instead, I’ve committed to writing six days per week, always giving myself one day off from writing. It feeds my inner rebel and helps me feel refreshed for jumping back into writing the next day.

4. Know your procrastination tipping point and adjust accordingly.

On the other hand, you’ll also want to pay attention to when it starts to get hard to restart if and when you take days off. I’ve found that if I don’t write for a stretch of time, it’s HARD getting back on track. Up until now I’ve found that taking two days off is the point at which it gets hard for me to restart the next day, but I’m going to experiment with it further now that I’m increasing my weekday writing time.

So notice the point at which it becomes hard to restart and consider not exceeding that point whenever possible.

5. Know that it’s better to start small and start now — something is more than nothing.

Most of us who work with building regular writing habits are here for a reason — we struggle with procrastination and perfectionism more often than not (they feed each other in an endless cycle of perfectionism, procrastination, and paralysis).

An important mindset shift you’ll want to make is recognizing the value of SOME progress versus NO progress. If I had written for 15 minutes every day for the last 10 years, I’d have at least 8 to 10 scripts under my belt at the same rate I’ve been developing my current one. No guilt or blame though, just a fact.

Also, know that when you’re habit building, you’ll want to go for doing ANYTHING first, then work up to more. We like to have our writers in the Circle write even for just five minutes a day or just focus on logging in to our online site every day for the first week — simply to put the focus and attention on the writing on a daily, regular basis. After that, it gets easier to bump it up to more over time.

So remember, frequency and consistency, not quantity, at least to start. Later you can go for consistency AND quantity. :)

Join the Writer’s Circle

Join the Writer's CircleThe next session of the Writer’s Circle starts soon. Yep, we DO keep writing during the summer and year-round. If you’re struggling to write consistently or feeling alone with your writing, you’ll want to join us for inspiration, support, accountability, and camaraderie. Register and find out more here: http://JustDoTheWriting.com.

Your turn

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments on the blog.

Warmly,

 Jenna

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