The Curse of Plotting
I’m extremely jealous of other writers and their ability to be creative. I do not get to be creative. Ever. Allow me to elaborate.
I read what they say about creating a story. How they “find” the story as they go along. How they set out with their characters and go along with them for the ride. Heck, some of these talented people even *gasp* have control over what their characters do. Like… what?!
I have tried to write like that. It has never gone well. I wish I had even the slightest degree, a slight semblance of freedom when I write. I really, really don’t. I have no freedom. I have no choice. When I have an idea for a story, it is just that: It is the entirety of the story, start to finish. The characters, their names, their backgrounds, their motivations, their downfall. I have no creative input into the process, and zero say.
Yes, I know. The fact that I am the one creating them must mean that there is, somewhere in there a creative spark that brings them into existence, but for once I’d like to see, feel, hear, or otherwise sense that spark. It’s like I’m assigned a task, not given a creative moment of enlightenment.
When I have tried writing “on a whim”, or to subvert the plot I’ve been — for lack of a better word — “given”, it does not go well. If I try to subvert the plot, take back the reins, I am punished with a discombobulated, disjointed, dis-something plotline and characters that look at me like I’m crazy.
No. For me, it’s much more constricted. I start each new project with this:
I get two pages, maybe three of “creative” input. This is where I write down the logline, the plot points (that are already fully formed, remember), and a few major lines of dialog that happen at pivotal moments. Maybe, maybe, if I’m lucky, I get to choose the name. As you can see in the picture, this script originated as something to do with Guatemala. It ended up being named The Finca.
But once that is written down, it’s a task that has nothing to do with draft and everything to do with craft. It’s a professional approach, a deadlined, tightly knit, have-to-get-this-onto-paper kind of approach that feels almost the same as writing this. It’s a non-fiction feeling for fiction material. The story is there, it already happened inside my head, now all I do is to report it.
On the one hand, I get a lot of things done. My output is high, and my ok-to-shit ratio for scripts is also acceptable (about 6 out of 10 feature scripts I write are good). So for productivity, this approach is very good.
But on the other hand, I never feel like I own any of these stories. I never feel like I worked particularly hard at them. I never feel like I created anything.
It’s not an adventure, writing about an adventure. It’s just… my something I’m really good at doing.
And I love my job, I love doing this, I would not trade it for the world!
I heard it once said that all his life, Picasso tried to go back to painting like a child. Just for once, I’d like to go back writing like a child. Writing with no agenda. Writing for the sake of writing, not for the sake of finishing a wonderfully plotted out storyline that has everything it could ever possibly need before even “Fade In” is typed.
But we must each play with the gifts we are given.