What to do when you're out of your comfort zone?

[Kristy101081]

I have a story that I want to tell, but the best genre for it is out of my niche. Maybe it's just a mental thing, but I'm having trouble getting the pieces to fall into place with this script. I want to tell this story and do it justice. It's been in my head for a while, but when I put it on paper it's missing a lot of key elements and I just don't seem to have a solid grasp on the story.

Should I shelve this one for awhile and start work on something else that I'm more comfortable with? Or do I plug along?

[LIVIN]

I have no clue without further information.... I thought this was going to be along the lines of... "I know about gardens, and this is about space"... maybe not a good example... I thought it would be content specific, rather than genre specific... GET WITH THE GENRE... sorry, that seems to have seeped into my head somehow... only one way to learn... just do eeeeet...

[aceinc1]

it is easy to say no to writing. you'll develop a habit if you do so.

any story can be written in almost any genre. collateral was aa thriller with a horror move style. "a ghost chasing teenagers" can be changed to "a serial killer pais to kill 5 victims in one night" only the genre is the difference.

write in the genre you're comfortable it'll open a whole new world of possibilities, you never thought of. it has happened to me a lot of times.

regards,
Ace.inc1

[icerose]

My suggestion. Get comfortable with the format and writing scripts (this will take some time and work), then work outside your comfort zone. If you already have your rhythm with script writing, great, go for it, if not, then I strongly suggest getting it first.

Script writing is hard enough to get the hang of without throwing in complications.

Of course use your own judgement and feel free to completely disreguard what I say.

[kullervo]

In the MFA program at UCLA, you write a script from idea to first draft every ten weeks. Part of the reason is that that is the pace a professional writer is expected to maintain, but the other reason is to push writers out of their comfort zone. You may come in thinking you write comedies or thrillers or whatever, but when you're facing your third script of the year, you find yourself out of "comfortable" ideas. My advice would be to plunge in and see what happens.

[DevelopmentExec]

John Truby who is one of the masters of genre, has a bunch of different genre classes on dvd.

They're usually 4 - 6 hour seminars in the $100 - $150 range. Quick, effective way to learn the basics of a given genre.

http://www.truby.com/

[preyer]

who expects you to write a script every ten weeks? what is this a pace for, television? i mean, what if it takes you eleven weeks, does that mean you can never be a professional? lol.

i do agree, however, and plunge right on in. i believe in getting things out of your system.

[zagoraz]

who expects you to write a script every ten weeks? what is this a pace for, television? i mean, what if it takes you eleven weeks, does that mean you can never be a professional? lol.

Ten weeks is certainly not a ridiculous length of time to finish a script. If you want to be a writer-for-hire, you better be able to finish a draft in six weeks, maybe four when the clock is ticking. Everyone knows about development hell, where nothing can happen for months or years on a project, but the exact opposite can also be true. "Get it done in a month so we can sit on it for four without looking at it" is not an uncommon occurence in this bizarre industry.

[preyer]

i agree that ten weeks isn't necessarily ridiculous, i just don't understand the concept of pushing for a deadline that seems arbitrary to me. in other words, just because you can do something in that time-frame doesn't mean there's any kind of quality attached. sure, i'll bet some people out there get pretty close, but what about those who are still really good but it takes them just a bit longer? are they simply screwed? and that's what i was asking about, the kind of circumstances where ten weeks is applicable as opposed to the rather blanket statement, so thanks. :)

the math on it is simple: ten weeks, that's 70 days. figure a 110 page script and that's only 1.57 pages a day. while you may not get brilliance out of that given the time, a person with nothing else to do in a day other than write surely can do a helluva more than that in a day. frig, i can do two or three during my lunch break if i have the idea i'm working on, and i suck at writing and the format (hm, maybe that's why it's easy, eh?).

i'm just adverse to the idea that if all one aspires to be is a spec writer then they've only got ten weeks to git 'r done, because if anyone's life is anything like my own i can guarantee something messed up with happen in two and half months that puts me behind schedule.

[zagoraz]

I don't think there's a great difference between getting a script done in 10 weeks and getting a script done in four months. If you're banging out 2-3 solid spec scripts a year then you really can't ask for much more. It's the people who languish over one script for years and think it's the one that's going to be their big ticket who are a bit disillusioned about how it actually works.

I write on my lunch break too!

[Kristy101081]

These are all really great comments! Thanks for the input.

I guess I'm just having trouble telling the story because it is different than what I know. I can write a script - that part isn't the problem. Normally I stick to action/sci-fi/fantasy genres. I watch them, read the books, and read all the scripts. I'm comfortable in that genre and I know what it takes to make it good and what makes it bad.

However, the idea I'm working on is a drama/love story. I'm really out of my element - even though I read and watch these types of books and films. I feel like I'm missing important moments - they're coming too soon or too late. I'm not getting what I want to say across in a way that others understand. Ultimately, what it comes down to, is that I'm second guessing myself and I don't do that when I'm in my comfort zone. Has anyone else experienced this, or am I just making this too hard?

[preyer]

'It's the people who languish over one script for years and think it's the one that's going to be their big ticket who are a bit disillusioned about how it actually works.' ~ i can certainly agree with this. sometimes folk can keep working and working on something and just wind up making it more and more complicated, then doing a bad edit on it, then lose faith and try to salvage what's left of the mess based on someone's comment, 'what you have here isn't a love story in present day manhattan about two struggling lawyers, it's a prehistoric drama about how space-faring conquistadors turned locusts into vampires.'

the worst thing about writing at work is people who think you must be bored so they strike up a conversation. yeah, right, i'd rather not, you know, escape from this hell for a few minutes, so by all means tell me how your brat did at his baseball game this weekend and i'll dredge up enough interest to barely make it seem as if i give a shit.

i've gone through this, kristy. tried my hand at writing a romance. unfortunately it was romance... preyer style. i think i hit on just about every cliche known to man and maude. were this about writing fiction i'd say check out the genre's cliches first and make sure you're not killing your story before you even start. especially in a script you're bound to find a cliche or two, but not teeming with them unless it's a satire or farce. or just not a very good movie. :)

[John61480]

'It's the people who languish over one script for years and think it's the one that's going to be their big ticket who are a bit disillusioned about how it actually works.' ~ i can certainly agree with this. sometimes folk can keep working and working on something and just wind up making it more and more complicated, then doing a bad edit on it, then lose faith and try to salvage what's left of the mess based on someone's comment, 'what you have here isn't a love story in present day manhattan about two struggling lawyers, it's a prehistoric drama about how space-faring conquistadors turned locusts into vampires.'


Unfortunately, you have described my writing process.

Except for the last line about someone's comment. I'll eventually be on that path soon.

[Kristy101081]

i've gone through this, kristy. tried my hand at writing a romance. unfortunately it was romance... preyer style. i think i hit on just about every cliche known to man and maude. were this about writing fiction i'd say check out the genre's cliches first and make sure you're not killing your story before you even start. especially in a script you're bound to find a cliche or two, but not teeming with them unless it's a satire or farce. or just not a very good movie. :)


I think the cliches are a big problem for me too. There are many of them and I think on occasion I have fallen victim to using them. *sigh*

[Snowstorm]

Is there any way for you to experience this topic firsthand you want to write about? If not, can you research (books, movies, etc.) to educate yourself as much as possible? Are there people you can interview to get their perspectives and learn their experiences?

If there are no opportunities, then immerse yourself mentally and emotionally in what it is you want to pursue, and jump in! Good luck and good for you in trying to tackle something outside your comfort zone.

[preyer]

it happens, john, it happens. again, were it a problem in fiction, that would be good reason to come up with an outline and stay on course as well as you can. i personally love the tangents and don't outline, but that works for me. or at least i think it does.

there are so many ways to get distracted and veer away from what you originally had intended. but, there are many ways to stick to that main idea, too.

to actually *answer* your question, kristy, what i do when i'm out of my comfort zone is simply research. i can only speak in terms of fiction writing at the moment, but i think the same holds true for each ~ you have to read (watch) what's in the genre and pay attention like a writer and not look at it from an audience point of view. that is, the audience doesn't need, want or care why something works, but you need to know that stuff.

and you need to know your target audience. if you don't provide them what they want you're screwed anyway. what kind of movie do you want it to be?

i always think in terms of templates. you add this template and it's got part of a roadmap. add another and more of the path is revealed. now, i'm a hack, so this whole template business may seem a bit easier for me. for example, i know that one rom-com is basically not terrifically different from another ~ what changes is the premise, and most of the time even that is predicated on the characters' occupations. i think we all know what has to happen in a rom-com, don't we?

you know what needs to happen in a dramatic love story. you probably have a premise and a theme and a logline. you know all about character arcs and whether or not you want them. you know all about character development and subtext. in fact, you certainly know a helluva lot about the story than you might realize, or at least about the characters and plot and what has to happen.

for me, the initial concept begins with a mix of the character and his occupation. combined with the genre, there's a huge template right there. i also know how i write and what entertains me, but i have to balance that out with the target audience's expectations. i never realized i thought about B stories in fiction, i considered it adding another genre but to a lesser extent (which usually turned out to be romance of some kind). usually for me the setting is implied, but when it's not, or is itself part of the premise, it's whatever interests me personally.

note that i could have written that romance had i really wanted to. the problem was a developing lack of interest in it. and guess what? i don't see me ever doing a project i wasn't interested in again. i know what will happen. it won't be because i can't do it or am afraid of missing a detail, rather i realize by now that experimenting with an idea is fine and dandy... but it doesn't tend to produce results. after all, it's not like i'm going for a grade here. and just because a producer calls you up and wants a draft of so-and-so for something you aren't interested in doesn't mean you have to do it. i mean, is it going to hurt you more turning down a project or turning one in that sucks? (really, though, i don't know why a producer or agent (whomever it may be) would ask this of you unless you give him an indication you can do it. does it bespeak that you're not a consummate professional just because you can't write every single genre known to man? i doubt it.

when out of my comfort zone for whatever reason, i rely on what makes things entertaining to me. for a script, i'll have a logline and theme (probably) (maybe) to keep me in check. ...and to fall back on when i come to a bump in the road.

i'd imagine most of us come to a screeching halt on ocassion then try desperately to find a way to get things kickstarted. i think sometimes we need to be reminded of all these great tools we've already set in place that act like guides. and even then there are times when we just have to wing it and, gasp, use some imagination and creativity even if it might possibly go against the grain just a bit.

as i just walked by the t.v. to ring up a customer, i caught sight of a pair of lovers running through a green field and into each other's arm. puke. there it is ne'ertheless, the idea being that whatever you do to get yourself over a hump probably won't be worse than that old embarassing saw.

the most important tool for writing? in my opinion it's confidence. i know that whatever i write that there will be people out there without any standards whatsoever, so i can just let 'er rip to a certain extent.

does that begin to answer your question, kristy? cuz it seems to me no one ever really did answer it, lol.

[preyer]

cliches can be a bit tricky, imo. on one hand there's no thought involved so it can come off as lazy and unispired. at worst, people will think you're a bad writing. then again, some things people would call cliche others will call an archetype (as in characters). some things are cliche but they're real, and because they're real they can't be ignored.

what i actively try to avoid is a cliched plot that's been done to death. and even then you make the setting entirely different and what's old is new again and you've done exactly what 'they' want you to do when they say 'give me something different but the same.'

i'm of the opinion that what kills most artistic endeavours of any kind is operating from ignorance. and ignorance is a byproduct of laziness (raises hand).