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By Charles Deemer |
New Year's resolutions are an American institution but usually have to do with correcting personal bad habits such as smoking or over-eating. But as a writer, or a budding writer, why don't you use the occasion to articulate your writing plan for 1997?
A writing plan for a "screenwriter in cyberspace" might look something like this:
What you do in 1997 obviously depends on your present skill level. It is not easy to become your own best/worst critic, someone who can take distance from your own work and look at it with a tough critical eye - but this is a skill every writer needs to develop early.
One way to fine-tune your critical tools is to read screenplays, as many as you can get your hands on. And read critical analyses of them by others, such as those that appear in Creative Screenwriting and other journals. Look at movies with a critical eye, paying special attention to dramatic structure. (A note of caution when reading screenplays: screenplay format changes often, so be aware that many scripts are not formatted according to current fashion, even if they are only a few years old.)
Become a screenplay critic and turn that critical eye inward.
Informally, you can improve your craft by applying that new critical eye to your work and asking yourself, page by page, why is this scene here? Remember, above all else, that screenwriting is a craft of extraordinary economy, a focused visual method of storytelling.
Here are some practical things you can do to improve your marketing skills:
Don't be in too big a hurry to enter the marketplace. Make sure your craft is good before you write agents and producers and probably it is a good idea to enter a few contests, testing the waters, before you begin marketing - although, at the same time, rejection in a contest does not mean you are not ready to market. Contests, however, are a relatively painless way to enter the commercial world of screenwriting.
Don't be discouraged by rejection. It comes with the territory. As long as you are your own best/worst critic, as long as you continue to study and improve your craft, as long as you enjoy writing, you will continue to grow - and then, it's just a matter of time before success comes your way.
Writers are people who write: it is that simple.
Set specific goals for the year - and meet them. This will help keep your writing in focus and give you the sense that you actually are not writing in the dark, a feeling that is all too easy to get.
This, then, is a possible Plan for 1997. I hope I've given you some food for thought and that you already are revising what is here into a plan more suitable to your needs.
The important thing is to take control of your writing career, to get your energy into focus and to make sure your various efforts (both in writing, studying and marketing) are all pulling in the same direction.
I have a feeling this is going to be a very good year for me. I hope it is a good year for you as well.