Which project should I write?
I know you have addressed this type of question to a certain extent, but I was left wanting more of an explanation that I hope you can provide. I have four ideas in my head for four different stories. When I start working on one, I think I am making a mistake and I should concentrate on another one. I will then switch and after a little bit of time, I feel the same way that made me move to this story. When you have multiple ideas and aren’t certain which idea is the right one to focus on, how do you resolve that?
– kaz
This will never end. It will continue to be a problem as long as you write. I’m certain that Stephen King, even after umpteen books, wrestles with this problem. In fact, his prolificacy might be a coping strategy; rather than decide which thing to write, he just writes them all.
At this moment, there are no less than fifteen projects competing for brainshare in my head. Five of these are things I’m contracted to write, while the other ten or so are old ideas, recent ideas or things that just occurred to me as I walked up the stairs to my office.
So which projects do I write?
Well, I should write the ones that I’m being paid to write, and more specifically, I should work on the one that is next due. So I spend the bulk of my writing time on the project with the nearest deadline. Honestly, that may not be the project that excites me the most at any given moment. But I’m getting paid to do my craft, so I’m certainly not going to complain.
But what about those other projects, the ones I’m not currently writing?
They’re battling it out in my subconscious, each trying to get my attention long enough that I’ll recognize how worthy it is. Sometimes they’ll even gang up on me: The Nines was three separate ideas that conspired to fit together.
INT. JOHN’S BRAIN – DAY
PRISONER STORY
We’re sort of about the same thing. The difference between an actor and a creator.
HOLLYWOOD STORY
You’re right!
SPOOKY STORY
Hey guys, what are you talking about?
PRISONER STORY
We’re trying to get John’s attention.
HOLLYWOOD STORY
You’re new, right?
SPOOKY STORY
I’m a pilot!
PRISONER STORY
John’s not doing TV.
SPOOKY STORY
He might.
PRISONER STORY
He won’t. Go away.
HOLLYWOOD STORY
Wait! Wait! What if the pilot that they’re shooting in my story is actually Spooky Story?
PRISONER STORY
John likes things in threes. Like Go.
SPOOKY STORY
And what if...
(reeling with excitement)
What if your main character was my main character and also your main character? And we know that because they’re all the same actor.
HOLLYWOOD STORY
Dude.
PRISONER STORY
Quick! Get him while he’s in the shower!
Some “old” ideas get written this way. Others simply recede so far back they’re nearly forgotten. That’s okay. You’re not going to become best friends with every nice person you meet. You’re not going to write every good idea you have.
In some cases, simple timing makes a new project suddenly possible. For the Alaska pilot, I pitched it to the network within a week of having the idea. The Remnants was possible only because the WGA strike meant I couldn’t work on any of my “real” stuff.
If you have four ideas, all equally viable, I’d recommend writing the one that has the best ending. That’s the one you’ve thought through the most, and the one you’re least likely to abandon midway. But whatever you do, just pick one and write it without delay. If you have great ideas for your other projects, absolutely take some notes, but don’t switch. Finish what you’re doing, or you’ll have a folder full of first acts.
Filed under: Dead Projects,Psych 101,QandA,The Movie,The Show
Articles
February 11th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Ah, this post is great. I deal with this now and I guess as I build my career it will always be there. The more some stuff gestates and evolves the more endearing it is, and just because a project is the most pressing doesn’t mean it gets the most thinking time. :)
February 11th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Halfway through spec script for Science Fiction Television Show, I realized that the underlying premise was very similar to a pet idea I’d had years ago and could never build a movie around. A screenplay isn’t one idea, it’s about half a dozen big ones and a bunch of little ones. Letting ideas get melted down for scrap after a while is critical to have enough stuff to fill a story. At least for me.
February 11th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Thanks, John. Mucho gracias!
February 11th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I also tend to collect Ideas and let them evolve till they pop up in I combination I would have never thought of first time. And Yeah, finishing one is a good tip. One Question thou, what about extended notes, like a basis for the story, maybe one or two Pages of Ideas. I tend to let them rest and do the writing after a few month spooking around in my head (and writing notes what to change). Good Idea?
George
February 11th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
@GPSchnyder: I do that too. When an idea won’t stop nagging at me, but it’s not-quite-ready to start serious work on, I’ll go to the boneyard and see if I can pair it up with another idea and make something that works.
I was a victim of this “Nine ideas in progress at once” thing. I made a resolution in 2007 to never start a new project until I am at least finished a draft of the current project. It’s made me more prolific, because if there’s something REALLY COOL I want to write, then it’ll force me to finish the current project… which has lost its luster after being beaten down by my self-loathing.
February 11th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
In (novel) writing we call this sudden pull to write a different project the “slutty new idea.”
It works like this: you and your script are eating lunch together. There are issues. It’s not as easy as it used to be. Nothing seems shiny, or new. In fact, the script is nagging you. Heckling you, even. You shouldn’t have to take this, right? This script is not the boss of you. Then, at a far table, you spot a vision of beauty — an idea you know will be nothing but spectacular, and funny. An easy idea that will flow from your typing fingers and create the hard, fast love of writing you deserve. You’ve got to go for it.
So you abandon your project, sidle up to the new, slutty idea. Big mistake. Close up and in broad daylight, the new slutty idea has just as many flaws if not more than the nice, stable idea you just left it for. But wait, you spot a different idea… and the cycle continues.
It’s not writers block, it’s ideas block. You’ve come up against a problem in a script and instead of working through it you blame the script itself. Pick a project, stay with it until its written, then move on. Force yourself to — because you’ll never fix the problems (and there are always problems) of your current work by moving onto another.
February 11th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
I think if you have less than four ideas fighting for first place, you may be in the wrong business! ;)
I can’t write without at least one ‘other’ project. I have a junk screenplay that I throw a couple of pages on whenever I’m feeling the block and it clears things up.
February 11th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Carol, I have to take issue with you calling my new ideas slutty. I’m not attracted to slutty ideas. Only wholesome ones. That’s my thing. After I’ve been with them for a while though, they’re not wholesome anymore. The magic is gone.
Instead of a seven year itch, I get an itch around page twenty and then if I really like the idea, then I go back to it and start looking around at about page fifty. I often need some counseling after that.
February 11th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Great advice. I can’t wait til I can write what I’m being paid to write…
In the meantime I like pitching different ideas to friends and seeing what gets people excited. I told one coworker about my most recent feature idea and he said OMG U HAVE TO WRITE THAT! Other people started arguing about the premise, which I also take to be a good sign. Maybe it means I care too much about what other people think…but when they get excited, I get excited.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
LOL… I can’t believe it,… reading your brain’s conversation is like listening to my own one yesterday. Well, I finally do have some more time now to evaluate the stories I made up during college, but I refused to write, because I was always having a bad feeling I’d disregard my studies. However… yesterday, I finally found some time (usually before I fall asleep) and rethought my milk man story. Until yesterday I was always thinking this could become one of these great Jim-Carrey-comdies, but I always knew (while writing) that it didn’t work – it just didn’t feel right. And although I’d really love to make it a Jim-Carrey-comedy, I just couldn’t go on writing after page 8 or 10. Then I considered what I’ve been learning at college so far… let me see… there was a lot of 3D Animation and although I’m not a very big fan of 3D cartoons, I figured out this is the only way I can write it. Turn my beloved Jim Carrey idea into a totally 3D animated film in the style of “Up” (or the like).
February 12th, 2009 at 12:27 am
John,
you are contracted to write five (5??) projects all at the same time? How does that work out? Some of these deadlines must be quite far away then, and some of these projects must be nearly done, so the work that’s still waiting is more like a one-day-polish? I try having multiple assignments – but beyond two serious writing jobs, it tends to get real hectic. I run into story-trouble on one project, it slows down, another project speeds up – and there I am tackling two second drafts all at the same time… Which means: I do my best to keep projects apart, but in the end, that doesn’t always work out. So how do you get five projects organized? I never met anyone giving me a deadline further away than six weeks. A producer asks me for a 3-5-page pitch, that means: he’s got someone from some network waiting for that pitch. So if I tell my producer: Great, I’d love to write that thing, but because I’m just as busy as John August, I have four other projects in the pipeline, give me three months… Well – maybe he’ll just go and ask someone else… Or is that the John-August-factor? They’ll go home chanting: John’s writing me something, and it’s only three months!!!
If you find the time, I’d love to hear more about how you’re organizing your various projects!
Thanx for everything Magnus
February 12th, 2009 at 1:01 am
Hey John,
Not really sure to ask this question, so here goes… I was just curious as to what program you use to create your site? Is it a blog site, that u just have linked to through ur url? A Hosting script?? Both?
February 12th, 2009 at 3:48 am
@Marcus… WordPress – look at the bottom ;)
February 12th, 2009 at 6:25 am
John,
Thanks a lot. Your response helped a lot. I’m picking a project and just moving forward with it. Your line, “a folder full of first acts” definitely rings true b/c that is exactly what I have right now.
February 12th, 2009 at 7:03 am
Nothing to say other than thanks. :)
Oh, and that this is a great analogy:
“You’re not going to become best friends with every nice person you meet. You’re not going to write every good idea you have.”
February 12th, 2009 at 8:18 am
My solution is to write rough drafts in batches. I’ll usually write two to three rough drafts back-to-back, and just blast through a handful of the things competing for my attention. Then, while I recover, I have stuff to rewrite.
February 12th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Why am I envisioning a chalk-coated yard stick?
February 12th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Easy…get a day job, then you don’t have time to write anything! :)
February 12th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Hillarious.
And to tack on to that, would you recommend a writer going for representation with a high concept script and a low concept script, versus having two high concept scripts?
February 12th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
@Magnus:
Of the five, two are in first-draft stage, one is shooting this summer, one is a commitment for Fox, and the other is a stage musical.
@Marcus:
Yup, WordPress, self-hosted. Well, not on my own metal, but not part of a service.
@M:
There’s really not a thing called “low-concept.” But if you mean, one high concept (GHOST meets HOTEL FOR DOGS) and one script that’s more about the writing and execution (RACHEL GETTING MARRIED), then sure. It’s good to be able to show that you understand blockbusters and characters both.
February 13th, 2009 at 9:45 am
@John:
I hope you’re not trying to steal my idea for Hotel for Ghost Dogs, because I’ve already sent a treatment to Forest Whitaker’s people.
February 14th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Amazing. I’m a novelist (9th one coming out in 2010), and a screenwriter–but this ALWAYS happens with my novels. I’ll be 200 pages in and then keep thinking about that OTHER idea. For me, it can be counted on when the going is getting really rough, sort of a grass is always greener type deal. I know I just have to hunker down and push past it.
February 16th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Hilarious. Love the scripted debate inside John’s head. A little unclear as to what the interior looks like, however…would those be voice overs? Off-screen chatter?
Great site, man.
February 18th, 2009 at 7:27 am
I have to agree with Carol. You see this in all forms of fiction, whether short stories, novels or screenplys. By all means, jot those other ideas down and come back to them, but when the initial ardor wears off, you have to press forward and finish.
February 19th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
i agree with carol great advice! :)
February 19th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
My ADD gets the best of me, even when I am writing. Thanksfully, I typically only write short topics. I write down key words to my ideas in a central location. Just a few words to trigger the thought again when I return to it.
Whoa…. Shiny Object!!!