If you’ve ever run a long race then you know about “the wall,” that dreadful moment in which your energy flags, your body hurts, and the finish line feels a thousand miles away. You’ve already logged in too many miles to give up, but gathering the extra strength necessary to cross the finish line feels, well, impossible. What’s funny is that no one talks about a “creative wall,” since every creative person has felt her passion wilt during a long and difficult project at one time or another. Sometimes it can be really hard to keep going when you’re going through a seemingly endless grind.
The New Year is a perfect time to get your mojo back, baby dolls! Because you know that you have to be in it to win it, even if at times you feel like plunking your fanny on the couch and pigging out on popcorn while watching marathon sessions of trash reality TV. And so here are some tips to get that fire relit.
- Start a notebook, box or scrapbook. In her book The Creative Habit, Twyla Tharp recommends getting yourself a box before beginning a project and filling it with anything that inspires you: objects, music, notes, etc. While a lot of writers might keep handwritten notes or index cards of our ideas, I bet few of us use objects, pictures or drawings as grist for the mill. Personally, nothing triggers my imagination like a notebook, probably because doodling and taking notes with a pen gives me permission to make mistakes. I love the messiness of handwritten notes, mixing different pen colors, and even cutting and pasting cool images or pictures. Now, of course, we have Tumblr, which is a great tool for film projects. It’s easy enough to create a Tumblr for each script or project and you can keep it private if you choose. You can also upload the app to your iPhone and carry it with you in case you run into something to add to it. Here’s a Tumblr page about Ingmar Bergman’s scrapbook for Fanny and Alexander, one of my favorite films of all time.
- Boil your idea down to one sentence. Sometimes, when we’ve been working on something for a long time, we forget why we loved it. I’m not talking about a logline, I’m talking about one sentence that encapsulates why this project means so much to you. This is extremely personal, of course, so whether or not anyone else understands it doesn’t matter. What is this story really about? For one script it could be: “This is really a story about how filmmaking is like a mad love affair.” Whatever this concept is, it has to be something that speaks to you emotionally. We’re reigniting your passion, remember? Passion is not about intellect. Rewrite that concept as clearly and economically as possible and then tack it up someplace where you can find it. Hell, why not blow it up so it takes up an entire wall in your apartment?
- Stage a table read. Now, notice that I wrote “stage” not “schedule”. The purpose of this particular exercise is not to get feedback, sell your script, or woo industry people. The point is to do a little theater. You may not have the money to shoot the thing right now, but you can definitely have fun staging parts of it as if it were a skit or a play. The venue doesn’t matter. This is about fun, remember? This is about taking your project one step closer to fruition, if not practically speaking, energetically speaking. Besides, there is nothing quite as electrifying as putting on a show even if it’s in your basement. If you’ve been working on something for a few months, I guarantee you that you’ve lost sight of what’s great, funny, or moving about your script. Nothing like actors and an audience to make you appreciate what really is working. Plus, just the idea of unveiling your baby to others can give you enough oomph to go back to the writing and make it shine.
- Create a playlist or mixtape. Use music to track the narrative structure. Maybe the first act is Tchaikovkian, the second is punk and the third is grunge. The purpose is to think about the emotional effect that you envision each act will have on your audience, not whether the playlist actually makes musical sense. Maybe this list consists of only one song. Doesn’t matter. Playing it should help guide you through the creative doldrums and reconnect with your material.
- Tell the story aloud to someone who has never heard of it. This doubles as an exercise in pitching, which is an exercise in getting someone excited about your project. The difference is that in this case that someone is you. Make sure to make it entertaining, don’t just ramble on inanely or you’ll bore your audience, which can dampen your spirits further.
- Take a break from the writing. Hell, every good relationship thrives on alone time. And I do think of a long-term project as a relationship — after all, if you’re not in love with the idea, why pursue it for months on end? Maybe the reason that you’re losing interest is because there’s a real problem that you can’t see. Or maybe you’ve been working on it way too much and are just plain tired. Either way, time off can give you fresh perspective.
- Go to the movies. Remember why you’re doing this? Yeah, there’s this magical thing called movies. Go see a couple of great ones.
- But don’t just go to the movies. When’s the last time you went to a gallery? Or a museum? Or read a book? Have you ever been to the opera? Or gone stargazing with your local astronomy club? As a creative person, all arts and sciences can inspire you and should. Seek them out, particularly if one of them relates to your script. Open your mind. Do it with the express purpose of being true to your experience of it, not in order to get culture or to be in on the latest trend. You shouldn’t do it to impress anyone, but in order to reconnect with a grander experience. This may sound pretentious, but then again, any creative endeavor takes chutzpah and ego. Besides, you might find something worth stealing. You never know.
- Do actual reality research. Even if you already did research before writing the first scene, there’s always something you may have missed. At this stage in the writing, I recommend a more experiential type of research. The internet is great and phone interviews are convenient, but a lot of amazing ideas can come to you by doing some actual footwork. If you are writing about paramedics, see if you can ride in the ambulance for half a day. Even if you can’t, you can learn a lot by hanging out with them to see how they prepare before work. Or take a course in mathematics if your protagonist is a college professor. And don’t ask questions. Instead live a little in someone else’s skin.
If you like one of my suggestions and try it, be sure to write back letting me know how it went. How else can we support our fellow artists if we don’t check in?