How To Write A Story For Film?
As I write this blog, I am mulling over the next story that I would want to tell and that makes this writing not only authentic but also a co-creation process in itself! Let’s hope by the end of this blog, I have an interesting story worth narrating as well!
Pushing your brain for ideas
So how do you really decide which story is worthy of a film? The beginning of this process is where most of us go wrong. We push our brain to give us ideas for a story and keep nagging it continuously saying why the hell doesn’t it give me a story? Come on, I want to write a story, I have to write a story! It’s such a courageous decision I have taken on wanting to write a story for film so why wouldn’t my mind support me and just give me the next blockbuster to work on! And just like a child busy playing, the brain would happily ignore your incessant demands. At most, what it would do is just frown and go back to singing all the songs you could ever think of!
Now that you are blank with no idea about where to begin and just beginning to think will I ever be able to find a good story, just put a pause on those self-critical thoughts avalanche coming your way. Contrary to what you might feel, this is actually a very fertile state to be in. All that is needed is a little bit of tweaking of your mind-set and thought process. In the absence of any ideas to work on, it’s quite natural to feel frustrated but one thing to remember here is that it’s the first step that is the hardest. So, when you are past that first step of racking your brain and do get an idea to work on, the momentum of idea will take over and the frustration levels are bound to lower down.
Finding a way to the elusive idea land
So how do you cross the state of being in an idea barren land to a land brimming with ideas. It’s said that the best ideas come to you when you aren’t busy finding them. Does that mean that you leave everything and go about your business as usual and the idea will come whenever it has to? What if your brain becomes complacent and that elusive idea never comes? Can you really afford to wait patiently and let ideas come in their own sweet time? The answer would most likely be no and to get some ideas to work on, we need to understand what works for most productive writers out there. As bizarre as it may seem, the answer lies in just picking up a pen and paper or laptop and start writing/typing whatever comes to your mind. It really is that simple! May be it’s just some random thoughts coming out on paper initially and not a real story but eventually when you keep writing, you will slowly start to get ideas to work on.
Think and write or write and think
Wait a minute, does it mean you start writing the next blockbuster the moment you pick a pen? No, not really, but you are definitely starting with the building blocks of writing a good story. And just like the blocks a kid plays with, you would build some things together, keep rearranging, may be even dismantle the entire building several times and put it together again, but with every attempt you make, you are further ahead in the journey of drafting a story rather than the stage where you were troubling your brain for ideas. There are also some triggers that can be given to your brain during this stage. For some people, music helps in getting ideas to flow, for others watching photos or researching on the topic of your interest provokes your brain into finding something that strikes and keeps moving the story forward.
The science and psychology of writing
A fact that is very essential to point out over here is that when you tell yourself that you are unable to find ideas, the brain willingly complies and doesn’t give you any ideas. On the contrary, when you condition your brain to find ideas, it will happily obey and give ideas. It does seem both funny and ridiculous but as strange as it may seem, mind-set is a very important aspect in everything and more so in triggering those creative cells.
So what is the next step when you have got some ideas to work with. We embark on the process of judging and weighing those ideas the moment we get them. I have fallen into this trap as well, several times. The fact is unless you walk a certain distance down the road, you won’t know where the path is leading to. So when you have some ideas with you, park the judging process for a while and let the story take some shape. If you are stuck on the plot line, work on the characters. Find out what are your characters’ fears and deep desires. What is it that motivates them, what brings out the worst in them? Just play with the character sketches. See what is the kind of relationship that exists between the various characters. Are there any conflicting interests between them? Typically, a TV show is driven by characters and a film is mostly driven by the plot and storyline. Whether you decide to focus on story first or characters first or whichever process you adopt to work on your story, developing the storyline and creating interesting characters generally go hand in hand.
Story hitting a dead end
It’s quite possible that after working on a story for a while, you may get a feeling it’s not working or going anywhere and you may want to pick another idea or tweak the story completely. This is nothing to be discouraged about and it only goes to show that you are reflective and aware of the merit of your writing. That’s why I said you may have to dismantle the building and build the structure again. This is all a part of the writing process and a good story is rarely created at the first draft. As more light is shed on your writing, the stronger would be its merit. It is also important to have a few trusted advisors that you can reach out to, for expert advice on whether your story is working or not. It does seem scary initially to expose your story to anyone especially when you are not sure of whether to take it forward. That’s why it’s important to talk to people who have not only been in the process but are also careful with how they give their feedback. Raindance pitching session is one such place where you have the industry experts evaluating as well as providing constructive feedback for your story. It not only helps to accentuate the mettle of your story but also helps in clarifying your own thought process and can help in enhancing the story further.
A film worthy story
Having said and done everything, if you feel very strongly about a story and have confidence in it, it is a story worth telling no matter what anyone says about it. A film is a medium and quite an effective one of conveying what you want to. No matter who you are or where you are, whether you have an experience of writing before or not, if writing a story for film is what you want to do, don’t hesitate and let those ideas flow. You can always learn about how to give a structure to your writing, how to get that script out, how to get the correct format in place. There are lots of wonderful courses on Screenwriting online and especially at Raindance to help you do that. What is most important is that if you have a story within you waiting to be told, wait no further. Gather the courage to get your story out, the world is waiting to hear it…
Did I get a story idea by end of blog?
A quote that I really admire says – Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. When I started writing this blog, I did hit a lot of roadblocks myself. I kept racking my brain on what to write initially and kept rejecting ideas one after another. Once I started writing, there would always be something else which would come up as a priority and I would have to leave this piece and attend to the urgent need first. But I had this resolve to keep picking the pieces and starting again. And since I had subconsciously asked my brain to find a subject to write a story on, a friend reached out and asked to revive an old project that we had started co-writing but left in between due to various reasons. So I did meet my objective of finding something to work on by the end of this blog! Not sure where the story would go but am definitely ready to start building those blocks again. Hope you aren’t too far from your writing desk because it’s waiting for you to begin. So what’s stopping you, pick a pen and let the words come alive!