Exciting News! Settle Stories; New Guest Blogger.

A good few months ago I liaised with Settle Stories, a traditional storytelling charity in the Yorkshire Dales about posting on their blog, and now my first post has been published.

Settle Stories are all about oral stories as once told around a camp-fire and look at how stories might be useful in all walks of life, from self-help to business. They're home of the W.R.Mitchell archive (a local magazine editor and author of many books on local Yorkshire history), run an annual storytelling festival, and have regular updates on twitter with many links to interesting articles.

My first post on personal storytelling looks at the range of stories you could tap into to inspire and entertain audiences, and how it's a good thing to share our experiences to each other. Take a look, here.

Finding your Character’s Voice: Angela Street's Role-Play Exercise

Last week at the Salisbury Playhouse, I went to the first summer term class of playwright and mentor Angela Street’s Emerging Writer’s Workshop, which aims to nurture new writers and provide a platform to discuss opportunities, successes and how to overcome physical writing problems. We looked at how to avoid on the nose dialogue and how to find and write the unique voice of characters by using an interactive role-play task.

It’s important to have each of your characters speak differently. A limp and an eye-patch as Blake Snyder liked to say. What you certainly don’t want is every character to sound like you. They are individuals, and you need to express their unique attributes on the page.

To get inside the head of our characters, Angela had us write a few pages of their interior monologue, then write a few interesting facts about them and what they’re afraid of.

The role-play needed two people to have a conversation, answering and speaking as their characters as if they were stuck in a lift together. We weren’t allowed to tell each other about our characters, everything had to come out of the dialogue. This presented a few problems, mainly gender and race; all the observable qualities of character. My role-play partner took a while to figure out my character, Fran, was a girl, and that changed the tone of dialogue considerably. It was interesting though, as my character is a bit of a tom-boy, so perhaps this is something that could happen to her, like Arya in Game of Thrones.

I did have a few surprises. The character in the lift with me was a drunken defeatist, and Fran told him off for swearing and drinking. When the lift started to smoke (an action given by Angela who was supervising the exercise) Fran sprang to life and tried to figure out a way to get them out the lift. So I learnt she’s morally strict, resourceful, and a natural leader.

Doing this exercise can show you how well you know your characters and indicate if you need to do more development. I found it hard to think of what to say, and most of the dialogue was simple hellos and Fran commenting on things going on around her. I think it showed I didn’t know her very well, which isn’t surprising as she’s a new character.

I think next time I would specify the setting a bit more. As the lift was just a random lift with no indication of the type of building, city, town, country. I found it hard to think of how she would react to things around her. It was hard also not really knowing why she was in the building in the first place, so perhaps a few useful things, such as, it’s a gratified lift in an apartment block, or it’s an immaculate shinny lift with a sofa, each indicating the type of building and person she might meet, enhancing dialogue with values, and possibly conflict.

It’s important to understand your characters personality if you want to capture their unique voice. This role-play can help you imagine what they’re like, what they value, what they desire and what they’re afraid of. I’ve never taken much stock in writing a character bio with every detail including favourite type of cereal and TV show (if they even like cereal or TV), but I suppose it is useful to try and think of more than the bare bones of story and spend a bit of time hanging-out with characters, learning as we do with a new friend what it is that makes them who they are.

The next Emerging Writer’s Workshop takes place on the 15th June, where Angela will be looking at a sample of our dialogue to give us useful tips. You can find more details on Angela Street and her upcoming courses (including a summer residential in Salisbury) on her website.

Witty Dialogue in Double Indemnity

Besides drafting a one page treatment for my new play, (which I realised is an ugly new-born baby) I’ve spent my spare time this week catching up on a few films. Firstly, Kiki’s Delivery Service from Studio Ghibli, a wonderfully uplifting story of a young witch coming of age when she trains away from home for a year to develop her powers. I highly recommend it. I also watched  Double Indemnity for the first time, and was really impressed with how the characters set up the story with only a few lines directly stating their intentions, creating dialogue with depth and intrigue. In this post I look at DI (okay yes a highly looked at film) but also talk about my experience of writing dialogue and how I’ve tried to improve it.

Alexander Mackendrick’s great film, the Sweet Smell of Success, is another example of great dialogue, and in his book, On Film-Making, Mackendrick says that dialogue works best when the emphasis isn’t on the words but the ‘real intentions and motivations of the characters.’ In this way, it might be better for a character to talk around what they want or mean to say, encouraging the audience to dig beneath the surface. 

The following extract is from the beginning of DI on the second visit that protagonist, Walter Neff, an avid insurance salesman, makes to client Phyllis Dietrichson, who is enquiring about accident insurance for her husband, but her dialogue creates the feeling that she's really talking about something else.

NEFF
Wait a minute. Why shouldn't he know?

PHYLLIS
Because I know he doesn't want accident insurance. He's superstitious about it.

NEFF
A lot of people are. Funny, isn't it?

And then a few lines later…

NEFF
Of course, it doesn't have to be a crown block. It can be a car backing over him, or he can fall out of an upstairs window. Any little thing like that, as long as it's a morgue job.

PHYLLIS
Are you crazy?

NEFF
Not that crazy. Goodbye, Mrs. Dietrichson.

PHYLLIS
What's the matter?

NEFF
Look, baby, you can't get away with it.

PHYLLIS
Get away with what?

NEFF
You want to knock him off, don't you, baby.

The dialogue is bouncy and witty mainly because we can tell something else is going on, and then we get that line at the end which acts as a dramatic full stop, a direct line to make her intentions crystal clear. Phyllis then visits Neff at his apartment to return his hat.

NEFF
How were you going to do it?

PHYLLIS
Do what?

NEFF
Kill him.

PHYLLIS
Walter, for the last time –

 “You want to knock him off,” and “Kill him,” are the only direct references in the entire set-up of the film. This scene is great because instead of saying, “you know how hard it’ll be,” he just reels off past examples where people have failed to fake a claim. She says how hard it is for her in her relationship, whilst still denying her intentions, and then finally, Neff, whose dialogue and voice-over has implied his desire for her, agrees to help.

NEFF
-- you're not going to hang, baby. Not ever. Because you're going to do it the smart way. Because I'm going to help you.

I can’t claim to have written anything nearly as exciting as that, but here’s an example of a line that came out very on the nose at first and had to be tweaked. It’s set in a diner where the protagonist, Steve, stops whilst on his way to a Native Indian Reservation, where he will discover lots of things he didn’t know about his recently deceased ex-wife, Justine. In this scene, he finds she became a great painter, and I thought it’d be cool to have someone make it clear these were painted by Justine and imply a few things about who she had become. 

WAITRESS
Yeah, by a real famous local artist. A saint of a woman. Sad story though. She died recently.

And later changed to…

WAITRESS
Yeah, Hounslow’s. We love ‘em. I saw her in Santa Fe. She’s a hippy volunteer type, but lovely though.

The first example was on the nose, as it heavily states, yes, we’re talking about your ex-wife who recently died, duh. The second is a bit more natural. It implies Santa Fe, a very arty place, and how wonderful (and different to Steve’s expectations) that Justine is.

It’s Justine, dead, but still looking beautiful. Steve studies her and notices a braid in her hair, turquoise earrings and a necklace, and native markings on her skin. Lisa takes Steve’s hand and squeezes.

Steve just stares at Justine’s body.

STEVE
She looks so...

LISA
Peaceful.

STEVE
Yeah. She looks peaceful.

That’s probably one of my favourite lines. I think it reveals Steve’s true reaction without actually saying it, though because of what we know about Steve, we understand what’s really going on.

Witty dialogue isn’t just people saying cool stuff all the time, like when Neff flirts with Phyllis (although this again is a fantastic example of talking around what you truly mean).

PHYLLIS
There's a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff. Forty-Five miles an hour.

NEFF
How fast was I going, officer?

PHYLLIS
I'd say about ninety.

What it seems more about is having characters a little more indirect (remembering they are their own people, not just a device to get across the story), perhaps saying the opposite of what they truly mean whilst implying what they think. Mrs Dietrichson being concerned about her husband having accident insurance whilst her questions state otherwise, or Steve look like he’s about to say one thing, but says another. Doing this might draw an audience in by making them have to dig a little deeper beneath the surface, and it certainly does make for a more entertaining film.

Can you think of any more examples of films with witty dialogue, perhaps less well known ones than this? If you can (or disagree with my ranting), tell me in the comments section.

Read Double Indemnity script here

Check out Mackendrick's book, On Film-Making, here

Read the Sweet Smell of Success script here

When the Cool Character of Your Story Isn’t Your Hero

Sometimes you dream up an amazing character with a really gripping struggle, and then, as I’m sure as happened with the BBC’s latest zombie drama, In the Flesh, you realise they’re not your hero. This post analyses the first episode and looks at how to write a story about an interesting character through the eyes a character you might have overlooked.

Dominic Mitchell’s, In the Flesh, was developed after submission to the BBC Writer’s Room Northern Voices scheme. It became a three-part series, though I felt there needed to be a lot more episodes (unless there’s a season two?), but regardless, the first episode was bit of a gem. Spoilers follow, so if you like you can read the script here as it’s no longer on BBC iPlayer.

Episode one follows Kieren, a Partially Deceased Syndrome Sufferer (PDS), which basically means zombies walked the earth and were then treated with a special drug to restore brain function, controlling their rabid urges, and allowing them to reintegrate into society.

At least, that was the plan. Kieren is sent back to his home in Roarton, where, unlucky for him, the Human Volunteer Force (HVF) is determined to kill zombies, rabid or otherwise. Kieren is forced to hide in his bedroom for fear of his life. This is where Kieren’s sister, Jem, a metal loving teenage badass and respected member of the HVF, takes over the story.

Jem has a meeting with slightly crazed HFV leader, Bill, who states that he will kill any PDS zombie he finds, and as Jem’s family are planning Kieren’s arrival, we get a sense that she’s caught between the values of her HVF buddies and the love she once had for Kieren.

Jem’s goal isn’t very tangible, but she does interrogate Kieren for proof that he is her brother and not just a monster. I suppose she’d like him to be a monster, in a way, because then her HVF buddies were right and she can kill this monster and go back to life as normal.

There’s a fantastic moment when Kieren describes past events that only he could know, and Jem realises in a teary moment that he is her brother after all. Jem’s change is cemented in the climax where the HVF come to kill a PDS suffer on her street, and Jem stays at Kieren’s side with her gun loaded, ready to protect him at all costs, which proves her love for him.

It doesn’t end until the final twist (major spoiler) where Jem witnesses Bill kill a neighbour’s wife (a PDS sufferer) in cold blood, revealing they weren’t after Kieren after all. It is, however, a mirror to what could’ve happened to Kieren, and as we’ve just seen Jem ready to defend him, we know that when she sees Bill do this, she is thinking of him, and is the punch that switches her allegiance and ends the story. Jem changes from hating Kieren to loving him, and from supporting the HVF, to adamantly despising all they stand for.

It feels like it should be Kieren’s story, his struggle to survive when he goes home to possibly the worst place on earth for him to be, but once he goes into hiding, there isn't much else he can do. It’s a world change story, as now Kieren’s sister accepts him, and perhaps in time the rest of the world will too, but it isn’t Kieren driving the story. He does have his own struggle, the same as Jem, but is dealing with his own crisis of whether he is a man or a monster, and I think that’s what makes it work. Jem is the active character who discovers Kieren isn’t a monster, giving Kieren an insight into himself. “If Jem loves me, I can’t be a monster.”

If you have an interesting character you want to be the hero but seems passive, you could try and give them a goal, or follow In the Flesh, and pick another character whose struggle mirrors the interesting character, one that directly involves them, and allow this other character to become the hero and drive the story. Once this new hero has a revelation and changes, the interesting character might get a glimpse of change themselves, and the world might change to one where they can live, even if that change is a small as a sister’s love.

Getting an Idea Through Re-Writes

I spent the last few weeks writing a two-minute film, but gradually, through re-writes, I saw it morph into a longer, deeper, and hopefully more interesting piece. I had to rely on my own reactions to the script as my usual writing group were busy with their master’s scripts, but I did make some interesting observations, summarised as a sort of self-review guideline at the end of this post. It reminded me of the importance of re-writes, but also how not assuming you know what you’re writing at the start (ten-minute short, sixty-minute drama, feature) can give you the flexibility to develop the best possible story from your initial idea.

My film focused on a fussy guy at a new year’s party who struggles to find a girl to kiss before the countdown ends, and can't even get a kiss from a granny in the end, the joke being that the granny could’ve been good for him. I thought it was a fun idea, but once it was written, I found it really dull.

I wondered if I had too much going on, until after I had written an article about empathy, I realised it was boring because I had no empathy for the main character. He objectified women and got what he deserved; not a character I could follow or feel anything for.

For draft two, I made the hero insecure about the way he looked, which made him a bit of a cliché geek up against a handsome lad, but it did make for a more interesting read. This version came crashing down, however, because the story of a guy trying and failing to get a kiss became repetitive and unsurprising. I made him kiss the old woman in the end, but it didn’t mean anything. A guy struggles to get a kiss, and gets one, and that was about it.

I remedied this by focusing on what was interesting, which to me, was an older woman in a nightclub. I fleshed out her character, focusing on her strengths and weaknesses, and made the story about the hero (Chris) having a relationship with this older woman (Linda), but had Chris worried about being with her because of what his family and friends might think. Chris kissed another girl in an attempt to move on from Linda, and Linda saw him and ran into the bathroom, where Chris came in to apologise. It felt nice to set it in a small location after an event had occurred, and allowed me to surprise the audience when Linda opened the cubicle door and revealed her age.

Thanks to feedback from a trusted friend, I realised my theme was unsatisfying. Linda had to stop partying so hard, and in the end, became friends with Chris, which was basically saying when you get old you can’t act young or have a relationship with your true love if they’re too young for you.

My final version had Chris too afraid to reveal his true self to the world (and thus clubs to meet girls when he’d rather be out hiking and writing poems) and therefore is unable to accept being with Linda, and ends with a revelation that if he did have Linda, he wouldn’t be alone.

My final problem was even though Chris realises his true fear is being alone, he was still too afraid to choose Linda over friends and family. I ended up playing off the 'Linda-as-older' idea that she'd been clubbing so hard (in an attempt to not become what she perceived as a 'dull old-person') that she became exhausted and fainted. Chris realised he couldn't live without Linda and openly loved her at the end. It felt good, but I had trouble bringing in this new element without having set it up, and it made me wonder where to open the film.

It’s great to have flexibility, but there comes a time to decide upon the best path to take. I’m not sure how interesting it’d be if I began at the start of their relationship, and really I'm just starting to get the idea, but re-writing the script has shown me what has and hasn’t worked, and brought it to the point where I feel I have something to say. So if you feel you have an idea worth telling, tell it, but don’t be afraid to change and re-write.

Gareth’s Self-Review Check-list

• If your script is dull, perhaps it’s because we have no empathy for your hero.
• If your story feels unsurprising or unsatisfying, perhaps you’re being repetitive or aren’t expressing a theme.
• Perhaps you can find a theme by focusing on what is interesting in your story.
• Shorts work well with fewer locations, when they start after an event has occurred, and are really interesting with a ‘surprise’ at the end (although one organic to the story).
• Have you thought about the resolution of your story, and what it might mean?
• Have you introduced a rouge element half-way thorough? Perhaps it needs to be set-up to not confuse the audience and create anticipation e.g. if we knew Linda was suffering from exhaustion, it would play out the whole scene until she faints.

Iron Man 3: Review

Iron Man 3 is built much like Tony Stark’s machines; it generally blasts super-power and awe, but on a few occasions, it flies into a wall and blows into smithereens.

Read the rest of my views on this latest kiddified yet dark-enough instalment of the Iron Man series on Yuppee Mag.com

Do You Know the Story of Each of Your Characters? See the Benefits in Nordost

"On Wednesday October 23, at 9:05PM, 42 Chechens attacked a theatre in Moscow. They interrupted a performance of the musical Nord-Ost and took the entire audience hostage."

A piece of paper handed me by one of the young actors set the stage for this hugely gripping Company of Angels and Salisbury Playhouse theatre play, but despite its blockbuster feature film sound, it’s told on a static set through three monologues. It shows how inventive theatre can be, but more interesting, from a scriptwriting perspective, shows how knowing the journey of each of your main characters, and considering fresh perspectives, can help you write a better story.

Nordost follows the attempt of a Chechen leader to use young women who lost their husbands in the struggle, known as black widows, to hold hostage a theatre until Russian troops pull out of Chechnya. The three monologues are from the point of view of Olga, a lady who treats her husband and nine year-old daughter to the family musical, Tamara, a doctor whose daughter is in the theatre with a friend, and Zura, one of the black widows.

It gets off to a choppy start as each character introduces life before the event, but when it becomes clear that each is heading towards the theatre, the monologues rapidly cross-cut to a spectacular midpoint where the terrorists take over, and things go from bad to worse.

Although it’s dramatic to see victims endure their ordeal, it’s Zura who really brings Nordost together. It’s her story and follows her change from loving death to loving life. She’s less driven by revenge for her husband than she is her desire for the terrorist leader, who takes a liking to her when he asks her to remove her Burka so he can take a look at her skin. She’s thrown into a dilemma when her nerves take over before the event, and gradually starts to question the raid when she befriends Olga and admires her courage with which she protects her family and others, and gradually, after a betrayal from the leader during the final siege, she manages to escape. It’s tragic as we know she’ll be on the run forever, but she wants to repent for her sins and embrace life, and there's hope she’ll find peace in the future.

The end was once again choppy as we followed the resolution for each character, but there was something interesting in the depth of knowing the ins and outs of each journey. I felt empathetic and didn’t want anything bad to happen to any of them, creating real moral grey areas, making the play more about inherent evil in the world, and the impact of war on individuals and how it can drive them to extremes.

Even more impressive was the choice to tell the story of one of the black widows. It could easily have been told from the point of view of Russian forces and their attempt to save the hostages, making the terrorists cardboard cut-out evil. Instead, it made Zura the protagonist and showed us how she was lured into this by another, misguided and misled, grappling with loss, anger, her place in her community, and its moral and psychological implications.

When writing a story, don’t just know your characters, like favourite hair products and breakfast cereals, know their stories. Tell us how they change. Even Olga changes from bubbly to vengeful and bitter, a great mirror to how Zura starts the story. Think also about whose point of view it would be more interesting to follow. What would happen if we focused on the criminals rather than the heroes? The victimiser than the victim?

Check out Nordost until Saturday 27th at Salisbury Playhouse, 7-8 May at the Egg in Bath, and 14-15 may at North Wall, Oxford. Nordost is written by Torsten Buchsteiner.

A Leap or a Tiptoe of Faith? The Artist’s Way, Check-In – Week 12

I’ve reached the end of the Artist’s Way, and feel bad for not posting this a few days ago. I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come; a decline in creativity and positive action. I’m sure it’s not, but this is how I feel as I reach not only a close to this great programme, but my masters as well. It’s as if all these doors are closing, which of course means many new ones are set to open, but like the focus of this week, I need to regain a sense of faith and trust all will be okay.

There are many competitions I’d like to enter, such as the Little Pieces of Gold Writing showcase, and I’ve recently found many opportunities through Ideas Tap, Literature Works and BBC Writer’s Room. I saw how much I could do and forced myself to come up with as many ideas as possible, but ended worried I’d never have a great idea again, if even I had already.

Cameron talks about the gestation period for ideas. That we must allow these ideas to grow in the dark before we force them out into the open. I took a few deep breaths and stepped back from my blocking pattern and took myself a little lighter, and soon, away from my computer and notebooks, I found new perspective and came up with a story I think in time could work.

It’s okay to mull on the page, says Cameron, and comments on the value of hobbies as a way to find inspiration. Since following this course, I’ve allowed myself to sign up to the Ramblers, a Tai Chi class, and this weekend I’m doing walk leader training. Through all these things, I have a greater chance to cultivate ideas than I do staring at my computer. I've started a report about the process of writing my script, and after staring at my machine for hours it feels like I have blinkers on. Perhaps if I go for a meditation or practise my Tai Chi, I’ll find the distance I so desperately need to get into a creative, fun having mind.

It’s all about succumbing to the great creator and trusting we’ll get there in the end. Slaving away for hours till numb does nothing for creativity, as much as we hope it might. We get the creative spark through fulfilling our desires, something I’m working to change as I look to the future.

I’d like to go travelling, but I think I’m afraid of failure or coming home poor. If this were a movie I’d need a shove out the door, at least I would if I thought I had to take a drastic step. A leap of faith sounds terrifying, and I think in reality it’s about a tiptoe of faith. Despite being unsure if I want to travel, I’ve gone for a meeting at a local school and secured a week’s worth of work experience to see if teaching abroad is the thing for me, as well as having researched countries and course providers. I didn’t wake up one morning and say, I’m off, boom. Instead, I listened to my intuition and took little steps as they came. Before I know it I’ll be in Taiwan thinking, “urm, excuse me, how did I get here?” I had a similar, surreal, suddenly in the moment awakening when I slept my first night in New Mexico. It’s a sign of the little steps you’ve taken, and a new adventure is your reward.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my journey along the Artist’s Way and will keep up morning pages and artist dates. I get anxious still, but can now identify what’s going on before I get too worked up. I hope I’ll get more scenes staged and find time to enter some competitions, but whatever happens, I vow to believe in myself, and go forth with excitement and anticipation for what comes next.

Has anyone else followed the Artist's Way or a similar course? How was it for you?

This article is based on my experiences from following Julia Cameron's, The Artist's Way, a twelve week course designed to help blocked artist's rediscover their creative selves. 

The World's Most Irritating Movie Baddies

Have you ever watched a film thinking it could really go some place, when a really annoying character comes on and you almost audibly boo them off the screen? Maybe it's just me, and as much as I love to watch a character do something really bad but still find myself drawn to them, I'd rather not spend a few hours with someone I'd like to punch in the nose. There are so many great baddies throughout movie history, and this article takes a look at why some work, and some really don't.

Read the full article on Yuppee Magazine.

Theatre Writing South West – The Art of Adaptation Workshop

The Salisbury Playhouse was buzzing with creative minds during Saturday’s latest workshop from Theatre Writing South West. Both new and established creatives came for a series of lectures and workshops on developing and adapting stories, with a networking event, and hot drinks and lunch bundled into an intense, yet highly rewarding and informative day.

Playwright Nell Leyshon gave a speech about the benefits of developing stories across multiple formats, and discussed the different features of novels, radio and theatre.  She put emphasis on working out what kind of a writer you are, whether you write alone or devise ideas with others, and suggested no play be entirely written in a vacuum. She encouraged writers to think about their scenes visually, for example, she uses A3 charts with boxes for key theatrical moments, which she adds to in later versions. Her session ended with the group considering the challenges of adapting the short story, Ashputtel to the stage, which revealed a bad habit of writers using narration and other non-visual cheats to get out of problems, and once again emphasised her point on developing more story through visuals.

The Playhouse’s creative director, Gareth Machin, spoke on his keenness for new writing, which he feels will allow him to stage something more modern about the issues of today. He favours unique pieces that stand up on their own, and gets excited when he has to adapt moments that are seemingly impossible to stage.

A session of speed-networking had delegates darting between tables and discussing what they’d like out of theatre and skills they can offer. It was great not just for finding out about initiatives, like pop-up venues and fringe theatre groups, but for working out what it really is you want out of theatre, and discovering useful skills you might not have thought you had.

It was interesting to hear from Paul Milton, creative director at the Everyman theatre in Cheltenham, and his challenges staging Nick Dark’s adaptation of Laurie Lee’s, Cider with Rosie. Paul was unable to show the darker side of the original piece as his hands were tied by the Lee family. These restraints are often something we don’t consider as writers, and perhaps emphasises Nell’s point that adaptations require more collaborative development.

The day closed with Rebecca Manson-Jones and her work-in-progress adapting Henrik Ibsen’s, An Enemy of The People into a modern day setting (which I was interested to hear was the inspiration behind Spielberg’s Jaws). Her final advice on writing a compelling story made for a nice close; “Show me a story with people affected by the world in which we live.”

I got a much needed confidence boost after hearing from all these passionate, creative people. Nell reassured us not to take writing so seriously; we don’t necessarily need any formal training, just the willingness to write every day. With people willing to collaborate, opportunities for performances in theatres and pop-up venues, and producing theatres keen to support new writing, it’s certainly an exciting time to be a part of the theatre scene.

You can find out more about Theatre Writing South West on their blog page

Going Against The Grain; How To Embrace An Artistic Life. The Artist’s Way, Check-in – Week 11

I felt good this week. I’d hit the nail on the head when thinking about creative blocks, and started to regain a sense of self-belief through affirmation. This week focused on accepting who we are, and being brave enough to be ourselves in the face of the opinions of others and society. It’s about believing in yourself, your dreams and lifestyle, regardless how irresponsible you might feel.

We live in a success driven world, at least that’s how I feel when I tell people I’m a writer. “What have you written? Isn’t that hard? I hear only people with connections get in?” The concept of getting in suggests you can’t be a writer until you have films commissioned. Talking about the difficulties is about a business plan, and if you don’t have one, why even try? I know writing is more than typing away at a secluded desk, and we need to gather connections to get films made, but did anyone say we need to do this overnight?

In job applications, you need to specify your skills and how you’ve used them to make a difference. This makes me feel I need to win competitions if I’m to call myself a writer, and instantly sparks up doubt. If I’ve not won anything, perhaps I’m no good. Perhaps I should call it a day and find a responsible job with a clear path to the top of the career ladder?

And where is this top, I ask? As a creative, whenever I finish a project, no matter how good or how bad, I’m left with a sense of dissatisfaction. There are other ideas to write and new things to try. Cameron calls artists spiritual sharks; we need to keep on swimming or else we die. If we take the career ladder notion, then how does it apply, for surely at the top there only more rungs to climb? Perhaps then, a creative life is not about a business plan, but the lifestyle we enjoy as we do that which we love.

This week helped me find things I enjoy and embrace my life, warts and all. I looked over changes I’d made on the Artist’s Way, and noticed I’ve started listening to classical music and film soundtracks. I’ve identified people I like to be around, and people I don’t. I’ve realised my urge to travel is real and needs to be embraced. And how have I done this? Through morning pages, artist dates, and the other exercises of this course. What lies at the root of these exercises is the ability to listen to my inner-child. To focus on me and what I like.

Affirmations have been the key to allowing me to be myself. I’ve posted them all around my Story Fort (my workstation), and most key to these past few weeks have been the words, “I get what I enjoy out of my writing, and that’s what makes it great.” It reminds me true greatness comes not from awards or glory, but through embracing my passion. Of course, films are made to entertain and inspire others, but I believe the key starts here. If I allow myself to re-work and re-write ideas and stories, embrace my artist and say what I have to say with true passion, then perhaps the story, script, play, will have something that audiences can enjoy.

This article is based on my experiences from following Julia Cameron's, The Artist's Way, a twelve week course designed to help blocked artist's rediscover their creative selves.

Before I Set Out; a Poem

Following my journey along the Artist's Way, I've started to allow myself to write more poetry. I mostly write single stanzas at the moment, but perhaps I'll develop some longer pieces soon. This poem is inspired by my weekly walks and my love of tea. 





Before I Set Out

I bow the laces on my boots and pack
Essential kit; a flask of water, a map,
An extra layer and coat, and most of all,
A flask of tea to warm my spirits
And bring me safely home.

Creative Blocks; The Artist’s Way, Check In – Week Ten

What is a creative block? In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron suggests work, alcohol, sex; anything to prevent us from facing the page. I never thought drinking with friends was a block, until I wondered if I aimed for a next day hangover to give myself a day free from writing.

This week was particularly hard for me as I freaked out about the value of my writing and desperately sought jobs to help me feel secure and successful, but after working though the exercises, I was back on track with some ground-breaking insights into why I sometimes pick up a creative block.

I started the week in a stupor about money and damned my writing. “This is so irresponsible,” I thought, “I really have to get my act together.” I wanted a back-up plan and a more secure career, something to support me and prove my greatness to others, a quick way up the ladder to success. I’m not actually all that competitive, but I do get jealous of other peoples successes and sometimes get angry at artists who're happy to get on with their creative work. It’s a defence mechanism. I’m not mad at them, but rather at myself for lacking the self-confidence to get on with my art.

I think it's okay to be sure of our abilities and rave about our latest ideas, as often it’s not us raving about how clever we are (although for some, it might be) but us getting excited about our art. This is passion. Happy, unblocked artists are happy to create till the cows come home and call themselves artists no matter what people think or how successful they are. It's like a musician friend once told me; "you can't please everyone," but you can certainly please yourself.

My desire for success stems out of a need for a success to hide behind. If I work in a pub, this is a threat, as how can I prove to others I'm an artist? I crave something tangible to show for my hard-work, otherwise I only have my creative projects to prove it, and what if they aren't any good? What am I then? I know I can’t not have a job for however long it takes for me to go from aspiring to published (although surely it's all about the journey and not a perceived goal of glory?), but I shouldn’t worry about the work I do in the meantime. As my passion is my writing, it doesn't matter what I do as long as I write. I am an artist no matter what it looks like to others.

Creative blocks seem to pop up when we are struck with fear, but as I learnt from the documentary, Finding Joe, fear doesn't go away. We can't get rid of it, but we can act in the face of it. Write despite our money fears and our insecurities about our day jobs or how we're going to pay the bills. This is my aim for the rest of this year. To become a carefree, happy writer. To become more me!

How to Cure Procrastination and Start an Artistic Project - The Artist’s Way, Check In – Week 9

Laziness. You might feel it as a painter who puts off buying a new canvas and starting a project, or a writer with a great idea that never makes the paper. Thanks to Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, I’ve come to re-word laziness as the fear to start, no longer damning procrastination or beating myself up when I can’t face the page, but instead recognising my hurts and healing them with compassion. 

We might sometimes flog ourselves when we don’t write in a disciplined way, as we assume other great artists do. “Look at them go, they’re so disciplined, and here I am, making my fourth cup of tea.” As much as Cameron doesn’t slate discipline, and does mention we might still rise early to create, she talks about an even greater asset; enthusiasm. As a guitarist, I remember jumping out of bed at university with a song in my head. Two hours later, I hadn’t showered, and even when I did, played for half an hour in my towel. Discipline bought out of enthusiasm is a loving, creative exercise. We create because we must! We can’t expect it every day and shouldn’t be hard on ourselves when we're not. We’re not slaving machines. It’s okay to not be so disciplined.

That is, unless we’re so paralysed by fear that we don’t start at all. 

Since those towel guitaring uni days, I’ve stopped playing. This week’s exercise had me think about why. Firstly, I entered a competition for the second year running, and got the same score, despite practising hard. I read the winner’s comments on how this was their first entry, how they didn’t prepare, and must have a natural talent. These caused hurts, but not enough to quit. I played open mic nights in Norwich, and people hated it, at least I felt. I was actually invited to come to a new musicians group, but did I? No. I harboured my failings and started giving up. I guess I was also afraid of success. What happens if this group like me? Will I have the time? I joined a band, and that fell through. It seemed all my efforts were in vain, and it was easier to quit.

Cameron calls this process, where an artist stops in their tracks after failure (and success), a Creative U-turn. It’s fear, and can cause an artist to procrastinate, call themselves lazy, and give up entirely.

Oddly enough, I can feel lazy when I do write. If laziness is fear, writing makes me afraid. I often write feeling I should do something more productive, perhaps something that pays. I’m afraid writing will cause me to starve and should buck up my ideas and start a more serious living. I also fear my writing sucks and should leave it to the pros. This was a huge revelation for me, and I’ve started to heal through affirmation, telling myself writing will support me both financially and emotionally and bring me joy if I continue, and allowed myself to do so.

We need to be compassionate to cure procrastination and start an artistic project, which means embracing our paralysing hurts, being understanding of the creative child within, and encouraging it through love and understanding. I think it’s also about allowing our artist child to be a little silly. I visualised myself at a Q+A of a film I’d written, and made a cut and stick of me at the Oscars with an award. It was a silly but fun task, just the sort of thing my artist child needed. I vow to tread softly, and look forwarding to learning about self-protection in next week’s tenth week of the Artist’s Way.

Do Little, Achieve Much; The Artist's Way, Check-in - Week 8

After a weekend away, anxiety and guilt had me geared up to write a stream of pages, when disaster struck; I fell ill. I panicked about time and fell into desperation. Thankfully, this week of the Artist’s Way was about re-working our perceptions of time to regain a sense of strength, realising how much we can achieve through baby-steps towards our goals.

I became empowered after the previous week when I discovered many opportunities to further my career, until I realised I wasn’t doing those things, and spent hours clogging my head with jobs, freelancing work and competitions, forgetting my main goal of the week; to write my pages.

That’s where the exercises came in. Julia Cameron talks of filling the form, which in essence means taking small steps to reach your goals. One exercise had me state my true goal for different projects. As a songwriter, the goal was to have an audience enjoy a performance, and as I worked back from the big goal in five years, to join a local band, the steps got smaller, open mic in three years, record songs in a year, write songs in a month, play each week, eventually reaching today; buy new strings. 

It’s about realising we don’t need to act big to get things done. I often feel I must write in order to quantify myself as a writer. I must find opportunities and I must excel and be at the top of my game, but all of this is a distraction to actual writing. 

Why do I feel this way? 

I’ve not had a commission. I’ve not had a creative job in a long time, and failing as an artist is not an option. I don’t want to be a fool or fail parental figures. The hurts I’ve built up over the years force me to dwell on what I don’t have and waste time and energy contemplating them. 

But what do I have right now? When I think this way, I realise I’ve almost finished my first screenplay, so right now, I can finish it, and tick it off the list. I’m writing a lot of blog posts at the moment, so I can keep on doing those. I may not yet have paid work as a writer, but if I keep moving forward with projects regardless, I might just find some paid work in a few years’ time. This is empowering, taking stock of what I have, celebrating it, and using it to reach new heights, eventually.

The difference between how I felt at the start of the week and how I feel now is a subtle one, but it’s about realising how much we can do to better ourselves, but not worrying about it or thinking big, but thinking what we can do now to get there soon.

I got my power back by taking life a day at a time and accepting the time I had. I reduced my task list and eliminated the distractions of job hunting and everything else to get my pages done. By filling the form, I found time to submit an entry for a workshop I previously didn’t think I had the time to do.

Filling the form gets us active and moving, and helps us do what we enjoy. I’ve not written a poem in a while out of fear and the thought I should enter competitions. If I just get on with it, and write some poems, an activity I enjoy, I’ll not only end up with a poem, but a sense of bliss. That’s what it was like when I took my artist date, which I almost missed due to my anxiety. As I finished my walk, one I’ve wanted to do for a while in a new town, I felt like myself again. I can’t really explain it, but it was a mixture of joy, excitement and peace.

I think it’s all about acceptance of our situation and our needs; we can only do so much in a day. It’s also about thinking small, that by doing very little we can achieve so much. I can become a poet with a few daily words, a musician with a few minutes practice, and a writer with a few pages. When anxiety hits, I trust I'll eventually reach my goals if I just get on with it, one baby-step at a time. 

Following on from last week, I said I’d get back into poetry, and so as promised, is my first entry, Silly Poem, to reflect my approach of fun. It's only a stanza, a small poem, for a small step.

Silly Poem

A little ditty, a poem of fun
To free the child within
And cure the pain of work not done
For boredom is a sin

Jealousy; Negative Trait or Useful Guide? The Artist's Way, Check In - Week 7

This week of my journey along the Artist's Way focused upon cherishing ourselves by doing things we enjoy, but also asked a more difficult question; can jealousy be useful, and if so, how? I realised how many interests I'd left unexplored and my need for balance between achieving my goals and nurturing myself.

Julia Cameron includes many tools throughout the journey, but one very useful tool came up this week; the jealousy map. It's a list of people who make you jealous, what of, and what steps we can take to diffuse the jealousy. In this sense, jealousy can lead to interests, activities, hobbies, careers, and lifestyles we might enjoy, but for some reason have found a reason not to do. 

When I saw a friend had added her credit with the mountain rangers on her LinkedIn profile, I was hit by a surge of jealousy. I was glad for my friend's success, but felt I was missing out. I wrote down my feeling and instantly knew what was going on. A few weeks ago I'd considered joining the UK Charity, Ramblers, but I still hadn't. I'd put it off, and told myself I'd put my name down when I had less to do (whenever that would be). To cure my jealousy, I put my name down for the Ramblers and requested to join a local walking group, countering my negative reaction with a positive action.

I've put off Tai Chi, going to the theatre, baking, doing so few things I enjoy that I'm hardly ever me. Why? Anxiety, pressure. I'm heading towards the final deadline for my masters and I'm trying to write shorts, apply for jobs, ready, study, and once in a while, live a little for me. Not that I don't enjoy writing, but after being stuck in doors at my screen all day, I do tend to find my brain a little scrambled and crave a chance to get out and be me in all the other ways that my soul desires.

As much as allowing time, it's about taking risks. Not writing for an afternoon is a risk. I could miss a deadline for a competition or a great job. There are other risks too. What if I drive all the way to the martial arts centre and I don't like anyone? What if I go to the theatre alone and people look at me funny? I liberated myself with a trip alone to the cinema this week, the first step on my mission to act in the face of my fears, and embrace the things I love.

Cameron also talks about the fear of failure. I think the perfectionist within has stopped me writing poetry. This inner critique dates back a few summers where I'd spent it practising poetry and feeling quite good about it, so good that I entered a poem into a competition, heard nothing back, and didn't write for a while after. I may not be the best poet in the world after a summer, but I still won't allow myself to try, which is something I should fix, perhaps with weekly poems (watch this space!).

It's important to cherish ourselves by doing the things we enjoy, and doing them often, but I also think it's about slowing down and taking stock of what we have, and how we feel. One activity had me stand in a sacred space. This could be anywhere; a shop, museum, gallery, or for me, a grove of trees on my latest walk. I spent a few minutes being still and found the space filled me with energy. I think it's important to step back a while each day to just be you, as I often find I can loose sight of the world around me after a day of writing. This task helped me re-connect and find a sense of peace.

The hardest task of the week was making a collage of images to represent my past, present, and future, my dreams, and images I like. I found it hard to motivate myself as I've never really been cut and stick fan, but I loved it once I got started. I only had five out of ten magazines as we tend to read everything online at home (a sign of the times) but I found plenty of images. One magazine was from my old university which worked nicely for the past, and I included lots of images of hikers and places I'd like to travel to. It's now sitting proudly on my shelf as a testament to all things me.

I think, for me, a balance is needed between the time I put in to achieve my goals and connect with my true-self, even if it's work I enjoy, like writing. This comes back to my earlier post on creative workaholics, but now I can add the importance of nurturing ourselves by doing the 'me things' that make us happy. I think this could not only help us become happier in ourselves, but more active, creative, and ultimately, stronger, which is good, as next week is all about gaining a sense of strength.

As a little extra, listen to Scriptnotes Podcast episode #78 for an interesting discussion on jealousy and envy.

Berberian Sound Studio; Review

It was strange to be thrilled and puzzled at the same time, yet that's how I felt at the end of Peter Strickland's Berberian Sound Studio, a bizarre film about a timid sound engineer in the depths of an Italian Horror Film Studio.

It bugged me so much that I had to post a review.

In the end, I think I liked it.

Money; How Much Do We Need to Be Happy? The Artist's Way, Check In - Week 6

This week’s journey along the Artist’s Way explored how we think about money, how we can encourage it to flow freely into our lives by doing that which we enjoy, and how we can embrace family, friends, experiences, and all that makes us happy to regain a true sense of abundance.

I started the week in the wake of major life changes, and feelings of anxiety and loss. I’d arranged a six week unpaid holiday from work to focus on writing and ended a long-term relationship, which although both were my choice, had changed the world significantly around me.

The exercises helped me embrace the small things in life. I remembered Cameron spoke of the joy of owning things uniquely yours, and that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to be happy, and spent two pounds on a cup and saucer from a charity shop, which made a pot of tea taste even better.

I treated myself to a DVD box-set when I realised I had a ton of films I wanted to watch, which although a little extravagant, filled me with joy when it came through the post.

It wasn’t just about spending money. One of the exercises had me collect rocks and leaves from the garden, some of which I put on my desk to remind me of my creative path. Saying yes to freebies was another great task. Too many times I’ve been offered a coffee and let it go cold as I won’t give myself two seconds to drink it. I started to say yes to simple pleasures, enjoying a glass of lemonade, a piece of cake, or even a two second sit down, and found myself feeling happier. 

Experiences can be a great way of feeling abundant. I cooked exciting meals to practise a hobby and enjoy comfort food. Friends can also fill us with abundance, and I arranged to meet four of them during my time off. I ended the week realising how much I had in my life, and became grateful for every second.

Did I see any changes in money matters? Well, not much, but I did check my car insurance and it’s not too expensive this year, and forgot about tips at the hotel and had a lovely £55 surprise.

I mainly realised I hadn’t been treating myself, nor doing my artist dates very well. I’ve been on weekly walks for my blog, but never much else. I realised how hard it was to let myself go and have fun in the face of projects and deadlines, so this week I’ve already taken two artist dates, one a walk, and the other a trip to the cinema. I watched my favourite shows on Netflix, read more, and had a few meditations, which helped me relax.

I started this week feeling anxious, alone and too tired to write, but with a few extra luxuries, dates with my friends, and ideas for travel plans during my time off, I felt a sense of joy creeping in. I guess we don't need much money in order to be happy, but of course we do have to support ourselves. I think it's a leap of faith, of doing what you enjoy and trusting the universe will take care of you if you do, at least that's how I hope my experience goes as I take my six week break.

When Writing Meets Directing; How Listening to Your Characters Can Bring Your Scene Alive

A few weeks ago, I had my scene performed in front of an audience, which was an absolute blast, but the real joy came from seeing a director at work. She understood my characters better than me, and saw under the surface of every line, emphasizing juicy subtext to create a bouncy, witty opening. In this post I hope to give some thoughts on how writers can develop their characters to create more dramatic scenes.

We'd each been asked to write a new scene of a play as part of the Out of Joint Writer's Academy at Salisbury Playhouse. I normally spend months writing treatments and was totally unprepared to be writing scenes, but the deadline was fast approaching.

I was a little nervous when two weeks later I entered a room of actors and a director working on a fellows piece. I'd never worked with a  director before. I wasn't really sure what they did beside organising the actors and perhaps telling them how to say their lines. I dreaded it. My work was unready, but thankfully, the director could see its potential, and did so much more than I thought.

She summed up her thoughts and started to go through line by line with the actors, refering to me when a question came up. What was interesting to see, was the level of detail with which she worked. With every line, she asked, why are they saying that? What does that mean? What are the relationships to the other characters? Do they like each other, and how much? An interesting thing Max Stafford-Clark likes to do is show a card with a number, and that number is how much a character likes another character. It's not just like or dislike, there are levels.

With this in mind, a few interesting discoveries were made in my scene.

Firstly, I had a group of pals role-playing, two boys, Danny and Robb, and a tom-boy called Fran. The joke of the scene is that Fran wants to be the knight so forces Robb to wear the dress, and Robb, hiding in a make-believe tower, moans as he itches and scratches at the uncomfortable dress.

At which point, the director asked about a particular line, where one of the boys asks the other, "You all right mate?" In my mind, this was a genuine, are you okay? They're friends, of course they care about each other. The director looked past that. She looked deeper. These 'friends' are forcing this guy into a dress and have a go at him when he doesn't want to. Would Danny be concerned about Robb? Really? We changed a few actions, and had Danny pull Robb out the bush when his moaning puts them off their game, and say the line. Now it had subtext. It was the Beta animal telling the Omega, don't you mess up our game. You'll wear that dress and like it.

Now I hadn't picked up on that, so a lesson there. Ask yourself why is my character saying that line? Ask deeper. Why are my characters doing the things they are doing, and what does that say about them, and how can I use that  to show how they interact with others? Consider unseen hierarchies within groups of people, even friends. How can we play on those to make a scene more dramatic?

Second, when the group need money to buy a costume to enter a role-play event and discuss how they will afford them, Robb tells the group when asked, "I'll probably buy one." Again, the line I delivered was matter of fact. He told us what he was going to do. The director asked why he said the line, and we looked. Robb finally had a one up on Fran, the top dog. He was sticking it to her in a play for more power. Knowing this, Frans later snap comment to Robb was her putting Robb back in his place.

I was amazed at how much I'd missed, and it made me see every single line of dialogue should have a deeper function. How can we make this? How is this possible? I'm still not one hundred percent sure, but seeing as hierarchies helped this scene, I'm willing to say they could help most other scenes too.

The top-dog has power and wants to keep it. The runt has no power and wants to get some. With this running in the background of your scene (as long as it's relevant), you can create more conflict than previously possible, for now when characters debate how to fix a problem or how to overcome whatever conflict you invent, they can do so with an air of subtext. They can battle out for power.

Of course, you could create a number of things running in the background, it doesn't just have to be a power play. You could have scene where some characters know more than others, playing up to their friends lack of knowledge. A scene where one dislikes the other yet the other is far nicer, and play up a series of fake pleasantries. That's why I think it only works if it's relevant. I think Fran has a lesson to learn about being bossy, and needs to understand she can be an imaginative girl and have a job at the same time, and I think the power-play hierarchy will help show her character growth at the end.

That's about all I have to say how you can write a more dramatic scene. I will add that it was a lovely experience to have my scene performed. I was able to see which lines didn't work, and was able to see which scene directions got in the way of both director and actor, and thought about cutting some back. Even if you can't find a workshop like this, a group of friends around a table can help bring your scene alive too.

Is it selfish to be ourselves? The Artist's Way, Check In - Week 5

I turned my world upside down this week and took a leap towards being honest and true to myself. I realised an on-going battle between my desires and a want to keep the status-quo. I thought about activities I enjoy and vowed to do them no matter the harm to my bank balance, or the guilt I might feel. This fifth week of the Artist’s Way is about discovering a sense of possibility by putting others on the back-burner and putting ourselves first.

Have you ever wanted a drink with friends when your partner has a stressful day and needs you home to give them a massage, and you've called it off? Or perhaps you're tight for money and need to save for that holiday and a subscription to your favourite magazine seems unfair?

That’s what Julia Cameron calls the Virtue Trap. At first it seems wrong, “surely it’s good to put others first, something we should aspire to do?” Well, not if you want a happy and fulfilling life. At the end of the day, we’re our own number one, and that's what this week was about.

I often find myself with resentment and anger when I can’t get what I’d like, and feel like a stroppy kid who can’t get his own way, leading myself to put others first again. And it’s okay to put others first once in a while. The odd chick-flick you have to sit through for a teary friend or a few chores around the house you’d rather not do but do because you’re helping someone. I think this is different. You want to do these things as you care about the people you’re doing them for, and know this will genuinely help them out. It’s charitable and kind.

But when it becomes about simply going along with others to keep them happy with their choice of activities, or sacrificing a deep seated desire of your own to please them, that’s when the virtue trap kicks into gear, and you have to step back and think about yourself. My anger wasn’t because I wasn’t getting my own way, but because I wasn’t doing the things that make me feel whole.

I started an image file, a little plastic wallet pinned to my desk with images of activities, places and things I’d like to do, visit, and try. It's there to remind me what I enjoy, and will hopefully get me out there doing more of it. It mostly has pictures of hikers, but also Angkor Wat, snowy mountains and skiers. I've got images of a base guitar, X-box, and a home recording studio. It's about recognising the things I enjoy to remember what makes me me.

Cameron suggests we’re afraid to show the world our true colours by following our desires as we have no mask to hide behind if we fail. We can’t blame not having the time to write for that sucky article. I can certainly say I’m feeling more exposed now that I’m being more me.

That could be why I'm in a job that gives me extra stress and limited time to write. It’s also because I feel selfish towards my parents and girlfriend. If I quit my job I won’t be able to take her places, and I’ll be living in my parent’s house without an income, leaching off them whilst I pursue my selfish needs to become a writer. It’s a combination of fear of showing who we really are and the guilt that comes with putting ourselves first.

That’s why I've taken a six week unpaid holiday to get my thesis written and have set new boundaries for getting my work done. I’m starting to do what I enjoy without feeling selfish. I'm still a cheapskate. I tell myself I can't afford something, and therefore can't do it. Thankfully, week six looks at our views and opinions around money, which will be useful in shedding my financial insecurities, and hopefully will help me to do more things I enjoy.