Screenwriting : When you get stuck... by Anthony McBride

Congratulations on getting to page 20, Anthony McBride! I go back to my outline to figure out things when I'm stuck. And sometimes I jump ahead and write another scene in the script, take a break from the script, or work on another script/something else.

Yes, sci-fi can definitely be a thought-provoking genre Anthony McBride. Sometimes I’ll watch science videos or ones about emerging tech to spark ideas, especially if I feel the world needs more grounding. I also switch to visuals when I’m stuck, such as concept art, environments, and even rough storyboards. Seeing the world can help understand how the story should move through it. Hope this helps!

Work on another one and return later. You're not stuck, you're just not ready to go further yet. Don't treat it as a problem or it will become one. It's normal.

One of my favourite techniques is to build a playlist of songs that help get me in the mood of a story. I have a playlist for every script I work on. Fun comedy movie? 90's and early 2000's pop and sometimes 80's. Sci-fi series? Best of Hans Zimmer. It is like flipping a switch. No matter what mood I'm in, if I start playing music from the playlist I've built for my script, it gets me in the zone right away and ideas start flooding my mind. I attribute writer's block, for me, like bungee jumping. If you start thinking before you jump, you'll either never jump or it'll take you a good long while. So playing music that is connected to the mood and style of my series or feature helps me jump so to speak.

I go skeleton mode.

If I can't draft for real, I'll scene sketch.

Example:

Int. Grocery Store - Meat Department - Day

He stands behind the glass.

Packages meat.

She walks by.

Talks to himself.

Fantasy. Disturbing. Dark.

He wipes his hands on his apron.

Ducks out to the front.

Follows her.

*

And I keep sketching skeleton scenes in just that way until a scene grabs me by the horns. I go back and flesh out those bones later once the flow gets going.

Don't be afraid or snoby to do this, go to an A.I. Chat site. For writing I personally like using Claude. I'm a creative screenplay writer and use Claude or ChatGPT (I like Claude) as my creative assistant. I present to it the information about my story and where I am at and start the creative conversation. It's usually pretty good at opening creative doors for you to ponder, use, or expand upon. It is your world you are writing, The Chat helps keep things moving. I'm writing Sci-Fi at the moment and my Claude project for it is a good valued record of my creative process.

Lots of good advice here. I go back and refer to the logline or outline Anthony McBride. Mostly the latter. If that doesn't work, I pull away.

ELLE - Yes, that works, I do something similar too, a one-liner in bold type...

"XXXXXXXX Insert Scene where..... detail or just comment XXXXXXXXX"

Then move on.

The long walk is a great way to clear your head. In general, any time you find yourself anxious creatively, the best medicine is activity. Go do something. Pick up that basketball collecting dust in your closet and go shoot some hoops at the local public park. Go for a run or a workout. Something you can do that allows your brain to go into reflection mode and where you don't have to think for a moment. That always works for me!

I like to pull from backburner when that happens, work on something else, and let that one incubate. unless your on a deadline! then smoke we- no just kidding. i like to throw ideas at the wall for major events if that happens, work on something parallel to what your currently working on within the same Script, like if I got stuck on worldbuilding, ill move on to design language, and keep a notebook nearby, just keep the brain moving and itll flow. good luck!