Over the years I have learned a lot of tricks to help a writer write better. Let me share a few with you.
How to Quickly Feel Like A Better Writer
Just watch some bad movies or TV episodes or read some bad scripts. Then tell yourself (as you probably already have a million times) I can write better than this s—! The truth is you can!
How to Get Your Creativity Flowing
If you’re jammed and feel overwhelmed while writing, you probably just need to get what you’re creating out of your head and into the real world. Take paper and pencil and start drawing out your ideas or diagram them. If I’m trying to figure out a complicated scene, like how to get a hero out of a difficult trap, I usually just draw a picture of it first. Then it flows much faster when I write it.
How to Cure Writer’s Block
If you’ve ever had writer’s block or blank page syndrome, don’t bother going to a psychiatrist. You can get the flow going again by simply starting to write anything. Good, bad, indifferent. It doesn’t matter. Just get the flow going. Then go back and improve it as necessary. What you must avoid at all costs are those sneaky little self-invalidating-bio-software ideas like, “God, am I ever going to be able to write again?” Ignore the thoughts.
Just write! Trust me, it will come, but you’ve got to start. Otherwise you’ll just sit there in Wait Mode. That’s when those devilish, self-invalidating voices will creep in. Once you start validating yourself and your creative ability, you’ll turn that trickle of ideas into a raging river. Believe that you are the master of your thoughts and you will soon begin to control them better. Eventually, your ideas will jump through hoops for you like a well-trained dog.
Be Professional
Ever since I started writing I have always tried to be a professional. A professional is not just someone who makes a living at a given job or profession. A true professional is someone who learns as much as possible about their work, does the best one can at producing that product, isn’t satisfied with mediocrity but only with top quality products, is willing to spot their mistakes and correct them, and demands this of those around them as well. I have always striven to be as professional as possible in my writing. It’s not just what you do. It’s also the way you feel about it. And believe me, it feels good when you can produce high quality products that others want to buy.
Set Targets
One of the best tricks for writing faster and getting more done is to set targets. I remember hearing my father say that five pages was a good day’s work. This seemed quite arbitrary to me. I decided to see if I could do better. After my second year running the Super Friends series I got up to five pages an hour! I did it by making a game out of it. I’d set a very stiff target—but one I knew was possible—then I’d start writing. I started with one page an hour. Then two. Then four. I still made sure to never sacrifice quality. If it was no good I’d throw it away. Time has nothing to do with quality. Good is good, whether it takes five minutes or five months.
©Jeffrey Scott, All Rights Reserved
(Jeffrey Scott has written over 700 animated and live-action TV and film scripts for Sony, Warner Bros., Disney, Marvel, Universal, Paramount, Columbia, Big Animation, Hanna-Barbera and others. His writing has been honoured with three Emmys and the Humanitas Prize. He is author of the acclaimed book, How to Write for Animation. To work with Jeffrey visit his website at www.JeffreyScott.tv.)
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