Novelists and poets can often write stream of consciousness and get their best material. The novelist can write 300 pages and then go through them and see what is working for their story and what needs to go. And that's perfectly fine because their novel can be 300 pages. Or 312. Or 600. Or 1239. Novelists write a novel until their story has been told. So while chapter outlining, especially for non-fiction books, can be really important, some novelists do it and some just let their imaginations flow. 

 

Poets, I think, are the greatest writers at using the creative energy of the present moment to put forth something beautiful and emotion-provoking, and raw, and intense, and new. Outlining, for poets, would likely be counterproductive to the art form itself.

 

But we are screen and teleplay writers. We have a very structured scenario where for screenwriters we have a three act structure that must be contained within a minimum of 90 pages and a maximum of 110 pages. For teleplay writers it depends on the genre and whether it is a half hour or hour long show. So we have even less pages to work with. Sometimes only 22! At most 58! And those pages need to be structured properly in terms of the ebb and flow of the plot, within your chosen genre, accomplishing all of the goals necessary to create a great read, as the map for an eventual production. It needs particular attention to being focused, or you soon run out of pages without actually telling a story. Oops!

 

Also, unlike the novelist, who is dealing exclusively with words, who is painting pictures with those words, screen and teleplay writers have a different obligation. We must actually think in terms of moving pictures. We have to keep our scenes short - 30 seconds to 3 minutes is the norm. So we can't just craft page after page stream of consciousness, or our scenes will be way too long. So we have to keep each scene confined, and then start again with a new scene in a different location, about something totally else. So while novelists can flow from one location to another like a gentle stream, we must act like waves crashing into the shore. One scene follows another. Its a totally different writing psychology that requires a totally different writing discipline. And this leads to problems for the writer who is doing it incorrectly. And often that leads to what the writer labels as Writer's Block. I simply label it arrogance. You thought you could just sit down and write a screenplay, one scene after another without an outline. Well, you can't. At least, its a bad idea that almost always leads to terrible problems. Writer's Block is one of those problems. Here's how that works.

 

Screen and teleplay writers who try and craft stream of consciousness often can get out of the starting gate because when they imagined the concept for the piece, they also imagined their big dramatic opening sequence. And so we excitedly sit down and write our opening -- which, if you've imagined it, you should get it onto paper or screen immediately so you don't lose any of what you imagined. It will be gone, no matter how hard you squint your eyes to try and recall it. It will be gone! So get it down.

 

And this is true of any other scene you've imagined that might fit somewhere, anywhere, in your screenplay or teleplay. Write those scenes!

 

Okay, so you did that. You wrote those. Or you just have a concept, an idea. A character. And you sit down at the computer or look at your notebook and its blank and you have no idea what to put in there. And you squint your eyes again and you get an aspirin cause you squinted too hard, too long while staring at a computer screen and now your eyes are strained. And you wash the aspirin down with a large coffee and you sit back down in your chair and stare at the screen. And then you shrug and say "Welp. I've got writer's block."

 

Except that you don't. Here is a lesson for each of you, that can relate to what I just wrote because you've been there and done that too many times to want to be noticed for it.

 

The situation here is simple: You are trying to do two things simultaneously but you don't realize that's what you are trying to do.

 

You are trying to conceive of scenes to write.

AND

You are trying to write those scenes.

 

You are trying to do both of those things simultaneously. Every now and again this actually works! You sit down, read the last words you wrote yesterday and your head explodes with ideas about where to go next. And do you know why that happened?

 

It's not because you are a genius all of a sudden. Well, maybe you are. But there's another reason. It happened because unbeknownst to you, your brain already figured that scene out. The subconscious does a lot of the work when it comes to conceptualizing scenes. You finished at a certain point yesterday or the last time you were writing. And your brain secretly asked the question "Now what?" and while you were doing other things with your life, your subconscious grabbed hold of that problem and already solved it.

 

So you think you are having instant, in the moment inspiration but you aren't. Your brain connected the dots already. So it doesn't always do that. In fact, it usually doesn't. So you sit down and expect to have that next scene concept explode in front of you, and then it doesn't, and you think, "Welp, writer's block. Guess I'll leave now and sit back down here in 6 hours or 24 hours and see if I can mystically, magically come up with a cool scene instantly again, like I did yesterday."

 

And usually, you can't. In point of fact it is highly likely that you never did! And then you really hit the panic button, and think you are blocked creatively. "I can't come up with any new scene ideas." you scream. Hopefully you scream it only inside your own head, and don't bother your friends and family.

 

Because you CAN come up with new scene ideas, you just didn't actually try do that, not the correct way. You tried to come up with scene ideas while you tried to write the scenes themselves. And that was absolutely the wrong way to go about it.

 

I am a BIG fan of outlining. There are a lot of ways to outline, none of them right or wrong in general. If it works for you, its right. If it doesn't, its wrong. I will tell you my method and please feel free to immediately discard it as irrelevant to how you should go about outlining.

 

I don't outline and write in the same place. I write on my computer. I outline in a notebook, while sitting in a room that is nowhere in my computer. I like sitting in cafes, or on a park bench on a gorgeous day, or on my couch in the living room in the evening. Somewhere far away from my computer. I also can ride the subway or on a bus and listen to music on my mp3 player and lose myself in the emotion of the music and it helps me conceive of scene after scene in my notebook.

 

I like to work on my outlines in pen and paper. This is because when I type I am usually ahead of my brain. I type 86 words a minute. But I don't outline 86 words a minute. When I do, usually what I've outlined absolutely sucks. Because outlining isn't writing. It is conceptualizing. To conceptualize, you need to take your time. You need to think.

 

I outline my stories 20 pages at a time. I start on page 1, and think about my opening. I write 2 or 3 sentences about that scene. That is enough for me to remember the entire scene later, but I've been doing this for two decades. You may need to fill an entire page with notes on each scene. And if that's what it takes, then please, do exactly that. Do whatever is necessary so that you don't lose any of the exciting inspiring idea.

 

And I do this for twenty pages worth of material. I know when I've hit 20 pages because in my outline I quickly write how long the scene will be, which can be anything from a tenth of a page for something super short to three pages long. My scenes are never longer than three pages, but that's a blog for another time.

 

I may not be able to do all twenty pages in one sitting. In fact, usually I can't. That's a lot of work. Usually I can conceptualize three to five really good scenes before I achieve the level of mental exhaustion that takes me underneath my creative threshold.

 

Woah! What's all that mean? You'll have to wait, I am going to fully and completely discuss mental exhaustion and what I term creative threshold in my next blog in this thread about Writer's Block. But in short terms, it means you are burned out for the day, and you should stop until your mental energy replenishes, which it will do naturally especially if you rest or do something fun.

 

So usually I have 2-3 outlining sessions in a row, and now I've got 20 pages worth of scenes to craft. I like writing in linear order usually, but that's not always the case. You actually don't have to. If you outline a batch of pages you can look at the list of your scenes and pick out the ones that seem the most fun or that you've got the most passion for in the moment and write those.

 

People who conceptualize one scene at a time by trying to conceptualize them while they are writing scenes do two things which contribute to writer's block:

 

1) They put themselves in a scenario where they must constantly stop and start. Okay, I think of a scene, now I write the scene. Now I must stop writing, and conceive of a new scene. Now I write that. Does it connect well to the other scenes in my screenplay or teleplay? I don't know. I am conceiving of the scene as an individual entity instead of with a batch of other scenes. So maybe it'll be a great scene by itself but not even fit into my story well. So now you've done all kinds of extra work. And by starting and stopping you never get into a flow with either your conceptualizing phase and have serious breakthroughs, and you never get into a flow with your writing and have those explosive days where you can craft 40 pages in one day!

 

2) By conceptualizing and writing simultaneously, you are expending more mental energy than you would have if you had done each of these tasks separately. Thus, you surpass your creative threshold quicker and achieve mental fatigue which then prevents you from thinking at your clearest, which leads to you staring at the screen numbly and telling yourself "Welp, that dang writer's block has got me again."

 

No, it never did in the first place. You are just going about this whole thing incorrectly. This is my process, compared to this flawed one that many writers use:

 

1) Sit down on my couch or somewhere fun and comfortable with a delicious drink in my hand and lots of snackages nearby.

 

2) Conceptualize a group of scenes in a relaxed fashion while slowly thinking about the story I am trying to tell, the objectives my characters are currently trying to achieve, and how they would logically attempt to go about them, and what conflict gets in the way to prevent them from easily completing the objectives.

 

3) Repeat 1 and 2 until I have 20 pages worth of material that I think flows well and is correct for the story I am trying to tell.

 

4) Sit down at my computer. No snackages! Okay, that's a lie.

 

5) Look at my list of scenes and pick out the one I like the bestest. Write it! Look at the list for the next scene I like the bestest! Write it! Do that until there are no more scenes on the page.

 

6) Go back in and do editing work on all 20 pages in the batch, that'll keep me busy for awhile.

 

7) Start the process over with the next 20 page batch.

 

If you do that 5 times, you have a screenplay draft complete. Do it less times for teleplay writing!

You will find if you adopt this system that you will never be prevented from writing scenes. When you sit to conceptualize the scenes, it will come easier because you aren't trying to multi-task and actually write the scene in the moment. You are just thinking, and taking scrupulous notes. Many writers get a recording device and brainstorm out loud. That's good too. I don't do that, but who cares what I do.

 

Find an outlining process that absolutely works for you. The rule is this: If you look at or listen to the notes and then can craft the scene exactly as you originally imagined it without squinting your eyes and trying to remember what the hell that thing you wrote is referring to -- congratulations you outlined correctly.

 

Work your system until you've perfected it. I like outlining in 20 page blocks because often things will happen while I am writing that changes things. And if I have outlined 50 or 100 pages but this thing that I did while writing causes a huge change, then I did a whole lot of outlining work that I will never use. And that's a waste of time and energy -- two of the writer's most valuable resources.

 

If I outline 20 pages and there is a huge change that occurs in the writing, I can stop writing and adjust the outline to reflect that change, and it still feels relaxed and comfortable, not frustrating. I don't have soul searching arguments with myself the way I used to when I either didn't outline at all or outlined an entire story start to finish.

 

So that's my system and it really works for me. If you have an outline process that absolutely works for you then keep doing exactly that.

 

But if you have no outline process then guess what? That's a huge symptom of the myth called Writer's Block. It means you are always attempting to multi-task and craft pages while you conceptualize scenes. And that is extremely difficult to have long term success at. And as we know, even 22 page teleplays are long projects because you generally have to do at least 5 drafts to get them to a professional caliber level.

 

Let's quickly recap the work needed to overcome this problem.

 

1)   We need to understand and accept that writing scenes is a very different skill than conceptualizing scenes and we should not try and do both simultaneously.

 

2) We need to pick a place that is different than where we write to outline. We want our brain to think differently than when we write. Pick somewhere quiet and relaxing. Pick somewhere fun and where you can eat and drink without being reprimanded by an authority figure.

 

3) Don't conceptualize and then write individual scenes or you will put yourself in a start-and-stop situation that is not healthy for the creative process.

 

4) Understand it may take several brainstorming sessions to get a nice healthy batch of scenes so plan for that in your schedule.

 

5) Bring your list of scenes with you and write them in an order that is fun and comfortable for you.

 

6) Go back in and edit every scene you wrote in one go. Improve them every way you can, from the technical issues to the story and character issues.

 

7) When satisfied with that batch, start the process again.

 

There are plenty of things to do in between drafts that will also help your script quality. But this blog is specifically about how to overcome Writer's Block so I'll save those for another day.

 

If you suffered through staring a blank screen because you were trying to write and conceive simultaneously, now you see that you never had writer's block. Myth destroyed!

 

We'll continue examining other symptoms of Writer's Block in this blog. Next up we'll examine how we accidentally burn ourselves out with mental fatigue and call it writer's block, and methods we can use to maximize our mental energy.