I have writer's block. But not regular writer's block- I mean, I can barely write this.It's like - i've been trying to write about my life, make it realistic and present a film that reflects stuff I went through, but the movie seems so fake. it's like my life was a drama to begin with. Its like My life is unrealistic.
I keep starting over. Over and over. I've done that with other movies I've written, but its like this one has to be absolutely perfect, it has to be exact- in a certain way I can't explain. Furthermore, last night I read the foward to "A Clockwork Orange" where Burgess explains something about writing. In America, the book (and film) left off the last chapter, where Alex reforms and becomes a new person, settles down, etc. He beleieved people changed, but the American publisher believed to be more realistic, it should have Alex never change, and show that people sometimes dont change. Burgess argued people do change.
I've heard both arguments, and believe some people DONT change. Today I saw Adaptation., which basically said people do change. Now- well Im just a mess. I dont know anymore. I dont know what you SHOULD or SHOUDLNT do in writing. Ca you just do whatever you want and try to fit it into a structure? Or begin with regimented approaches. Now I watch movies that used to inspire me and hit me in the gut, and now I see nothing. I dont get it. Im- I need help. Please.

if your having this extreme trouble with writing a movie about your life then you should drop the subject all together, its much too close to you, and if your gonna stress about it this much in the writing process, imagine once you start shooting and the actors dont nail it, or the lighting outside is all wack , THATS EVEN WORSE.
try dropping the subject altogether, you may be like
"but i'll never come up with anything else"
If its caused you this much pain, your obviously approaching it the wrong way and should just drop it altogether or take a break. forget about it.
one time i was developing an idea and i watched Adaptation, I realized that kaufmann nailed what i was going for in the best way possible, and i thought i would never ever succeed. this depressed me for about 3 days.
My point is you cant get so hung up on one single idea and think thats all there is , or youll break down when some little piece doesnt fit.
If this piece is about you ( its that one you posted before right? ) and it makes you seem unrealistic, then your too caught up in doing it in one way to convey some meaningful explanation for whats gone wrong, or right, or whatever. so, just take a break dude.

good luck



leir-bag

Not again Larry, seriously maybe you should just take up knitting or something. You seem afraid to write crap. Truth is, all good writers started out by writing complete nonsense. You're not going to skip right to brilliance, all artists must suffer first.

(Here's where I'll be the abusive simplton father you never had, picture a beer stained wife beater and handlebar mustache) QUIT YOU'RE BELLY ACHING AND JUST WRITE SOMETHING DAMNIT!

to say all artists must suffer is just an excuse to comfort people who dont know how to access their talent.

im not sure wether to believe redking, or gabriel.

anyway larry just take a break, then write something else, write anything, write a movie that already exists i dont care, then you will get back into your writing groove and could write anything, thats what i do.

and you said it has to be perfect since its your life, then just write a rough draft you can always change it. Also you should do some prewriting. otherwise idk BECAUSE THERE MUST BE ABOUT 1 MILLION DIFFERENT WAYS OF WRITING METHODS. or im just crazy.

One thing that I do when I get stuck writing, and I already kinda have the scene etched out in my head, I'll just write the dialouge (or vice versa and just the action). Then when I have all the dialouge/action written I go back through it, read it aloud and make sure that it all sounds like it would really flow from someone's mouth. After that, I go back through and write all the action or dialouge that happened while they were talking or doing their certain action. It just gets what you already have in your mind down, and then it makes it easier to fill in later, kinda like aa math equation. Just think of the action or dialouge as a variable you're trying to find so the equation is complete. It works for me, but idk how well it'll work for other people.

Also I read this in the "Ask" section of imdb.com's indie section. John August ( a screenwriter, Big Fish, Charlie's Angels, Titan A.E., and the up coming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) said that if you have trouble writing what you do know about, try writing what you don't know about. So maybe you could kinda do an inbetween and just throw in some things you don't know about. Make it about yourself, but just make some things fictious, spice it up, make something happen that you'd like to happenb to yourself. Just cause it's based on You doesn't mean it has to be perfectly about you.

I am spicing things up. Its like- I feel I need to make this statement, in this way- other things come to me- and I could probably write them- but it would be like I wouldnt be making the statement I want to make- like this final statement for highscool. I know it sounds dumb- but its important. I dont want to write anohter comedy, I want to make something serious.

quote:

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Originally posted by Gabriel:
to say all artists must suffer is just an excuse to comfort people who dont know how to access their talent.

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Just the good ones, I have a feeling you won't have to worry.