Screenwriting : Keeping Focus for Writing - Tips? by Michael Dorr

Use it to your advantage, take some time to go un-focus on purpose. Meditate. Go to a grocery store and ask someone what might happen in the situation you describe. Listen to some great music, grab a book you've never read, open it to page 58 and see what's happening there.

Imagine your car's front tire is the planet Saturn, how did it get there?

Go to a comic book shop. Walk an alley and pretend every brick is another dimensional doorway.

When you get unblocked, give yourself time to savor that fact. Think about how you got unblocked. Tell yourself three positives, three times a day.

You're here, you're doing it, you've done all of this you're written, you're already a success.

You're the roadrunner. Beep beep.

You say you know where you want to take it. But I would say your brain disagrees with you.

Try writing it out as prose. This will at least get the party started in your head. You are thinking “Craig’s a dick, he doesn’t know me”. But I have gone through exactly what you are going through.

I am sure I know know what I have to do and the minute I start I am staring at a blank screen for an hour. By attacking it with prose or cards or dot points, it removes format and focuses on the story itself. Plus doing something new is fun for an ADD person.

Don't look for inspiration to come to make you write, just sit down and write. It might be rubbish but your still writing. I go months without writing and it's not because of a lack of inspiration. It's because I'm a procrastinating lazy F*** . So I know the only way to be inspired to write is to actually write. I also suffer with Auto Immune Disease, that impacts on my writing a lot but by and by it's because I procrastinate.

If you want to write and you find yourself not doing it, then you have to ask yourself, why you allow your excuses to manifest. The reality is we dream of doing something and when we are given the chance to do it, we often self sabotage. Dreams are one thing, making them a reality is an altogether different story. However at the route of it all sits the fear of failure. Listening to that voice only leads to being unproductive and of course failure is then manifested anyway, so just write.

If Fear of Failure isn't the root of your problems then maybe you have problems with your script you don't want to acknowledge. It it's as well thought out as you say, it should write itself. Often though the human creative brain conceives it as being complete when in fact there are many blank spaces. I have run into this problem before. My brain covers over cracks and unfortunately makes for poor work as a result.

This is how I have worked through this issue. A screenplay starts with an idea and often sits in the mind for months if not years. It then gets talked about. Having someone to listen or collaborate with can be helpful at this stage. If you don't have anyone then talk about it by writing it down as if you were talking to someone. Then when you can tell your story from start to finish, begin to create a treatment. When that is fully formed, break it all down into scenes. Then and only then begin to write. This way you should be able to write any scene in any order. You then have your 1st draft and only then should you look to polish what you have. This way works for me. This way you don't ever sit looking at a blank page trying to fill in the black space in your head of get distracted by other tasks. Not finishing the third act suggests there are holes in it and if that's the case then filling them in after you have already completed two acts, likely will see you having to rewrite acts 1 and 2 down the road. Perhaps you sense this and so avoid finishing the screenplay.

It sounds kind of corny but I sing the phrase "I must write" first thing in the morning... and then whenever I start to do anything else, I sing it again and again... and the only time I don't sing it is when I'm writing or when I make a conscious decision to take a break. And everything counts as a break... like right now, I decided because my writing isn't going well to come have my favourite soup at a restaurant, this counts as a break because everything I do either than writing is me taking a break from writing. But as soon as I've paid for my soup, break's over... I will sing "I must write" in my car while I drive home.

It's a silly method, but I've tried everything and this method works like a dream.

Lunch. You eat, you write. If you work a non-writing job (most of us do), you may get an hour for lunch. Pump out a page or three everyday in between bites. And if you're losing interest in your screenplay, then write more interesting scenes.

My apologies for responding so late, I generally prefer trying to give at least some response, but I've been rather busy lately.

Karen Stark I think you hit the nail on the head, for the most part. After reading what you said and thinking a bit, I think my biggest issue is the fear of not knowing what to do after the writing is complete. I'm confident in my work, I have the ideas, and I've made good progress so far, but I feel like the fear of not knowing what to do or where to go after I've completed the work is one of the biggest things holding me back right now. Well, besides just general distractions at least...

As soon as I heard some useful "insider" news relating to what I'm working on, it started to get me moving on things again, and now I'm working on organizing things and trying to push to complete things and strike while the iron is red-hot. Maybe a manager at some point would be a good move with helping me after the writing is complete, too...

Craig D Griffiths That's actually how I started this before, and how I realized this is the industry I'm truly interested in and have a passion for. Began writing it down as just a detailed plotline, and then after I did a bit of research and found a good program, started writing the script itself. I'd probably say I know where I want the story to go, but the dialogue is where I trip up and take the most time, or trying to visualize things to "see" the flow of what I've already written. I've had past times where a single line trips me up, trying to find just the right thing to say that doesn't sound corny, or fits the character. Usually takes me trying to just write a temporary "bad" line down and move past, and then come back later to fix it up. Probably gone back through the first two acts three times now to polish things up to satisfaction.

Oh don't worry, I wouldn't say you're a dick at all, I very much appreciate the input! As a matter of fact, I think I may adjust your concept of "prose cards" or "dot points" slightly; think I could use it to tackle one section at a time, if I just write out a general summary of the next events I want to unfold, so I can focus better, rather than trying to think about the script as a whole.

Ally Shina No that doesn't sound silly at all! Quite charming as a matter of fact, and made me smile reading that! I'm not one for singing personally, but doing a sort of self-motivational reminder sounds like a solid idea! Maybe I could go for something like "Take the next step, write the next line.". :)

Anthony Moore I'm in the unfortunate position of no job currently, so I have plenty of free-time between various distractions at home, although I like the concept. At one point I'd had the idea to try and keep to a track of at least 4 or 5 lines every day. Perhaps I'll try to adopt something a little better, such as dedicating an hour or two daily to focusing solely on writing.

Thank you to everyone for all the input, I greatly appreciate all of it! :)

I'm glad I made you smile. Do you Michael... whatever works.

All the best.