Monday, December 27, 2004

Writing Life

Some friends have pointed out that although I am occasionally amusing, the only thing that makes me interesting at parties is that I'm a working screenwriter. If I have any value on this vast cyberplain of narcissism, it's as a window into a world a fair number of humans would like to live in.

Taking the point, I'm going to start posts about the process of writing for a living. Not about the lifestyle, spiritual satisfaction, "Where I get my ideas", that crap. Day in, day out, if you write for a living, you fill pages. One just doesn't vomit up a story and allow the world to bathe in its genius (sorry, message-board boys, not how it works). Storytelling is a job. And no, I'm not saying scriptwriting is, I'm saying storytelling itself is a bone-breaking, grinding goddam job. The best job in the world, the only job I know of where you can make yourself cry because somehow the little imaginary man on the page did something you weren't expecting, but a JOB. Jobs have techniques, tools, problems and solutions.

And then, beyond just managing to craft a narrative that even makes sense, each medium has its own little quirks. Scripts themselves are like sonnets -- infinite variety (and quality) all within a quite formalized structure.

This will be a light blogging week, as I'm in the final sprint on the Transformers first draft. After that, though, I'll try to bang out at least two posts a week on some aspect of the art and science of writing for a living. Even if you believe there's no one right way to tell a story, you need certain tools to tell it your way. I'll show you how my particular toolbox works.

If I hear back from Nick over at CHUD, we'll begin by excerpting an article I wrote for their magazine MOVIE INSIDER on adaptation.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you have an RSS feed? Can't find it. If not, please set one up. Your blog looks promising.

Anonymous said...

Having seen you at parties, I can say that your being a screenwriter is not the only reason people find you amusing. It may be one of the BIGGEST reasons, but certainly not the only one.

But all ego-llatio aside, I'm looking forward to reading further posts on the subject.

Drew said...

So how did you get your gig at Cosby? That seemed to be your springboard.

Rebecca said...

Just stumbled in today, and I look forward to your words. Bookmarked, baby.

Gary Williams said...

Looking forward...

Obviously, you have some cool things to talk about, none of which seem to have prompted any comments except from people who actually know you.

Good. Keep it up.

(Think of this as the place where you can ignore the audience and write what you think of...)

Unknown said...

Stunningly, this site is currently getting about 300 hits a day -- and sadly, I don't know that many people. Leaving aside the Transfans, there's got to be a couple dozen strangers kickgin around here. The least I can do is try to create some added value to my ramblings.

david golbitz said...

I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more about the screenwriter's life, given that this is one of the areas I'd like to work in.

I know how difficult it is, believe me. I must have been crazy to move out here, right? I mean, they say you can write anywhere, which is true, but figuring out what to do with something after you've written it (and rewritten it a hundred times), it helps to be where the action is, so to speak.

At least, so I've read.

I've been curious about that Transformers script, myself. Adapting things has always been something I've never fully been able to grasp. Like, writing pre-exisiting characters...I don't know if I can do it.

I've heard it said amongst comic book writers that everyone has at least one Batman story to tell, that that's one of the characters that everyone and their mother has an angle on, but, to be honest, I have no idea if I could write a Batman story.

I have ideas for the character, sure, things that I'd like to comment on, but as they also always say, there are no new stories anymore, and I believe this to a certain extent. Every story has been told, unless, of course, that's just a cop out by people too lazy to think of something, too lazy to sit and stare at the blank page until something coherent appears.

What was my point again? I haven't gotten much sleep this past weekend. I'm a bit tired.

Oh, hey, John...don't suppose you're in the market for an assistant, are ya? I work cheap and retail is boring the shit out of me.

Unknown said...

My assistant defends her position rabidly. You can beat her in hand to hand, you can have the job. But I wouldn't count on it.

Anonymous said...

Just for the record, I'm not the one who left the earlier post about how utterly "fab" John is at parties, though now I'm obsessed with figuring out who did. No one in our little circle uses the nifty word "ego-lattio" so far as I know, except me, because starting immediately I'm going to adopt it.

--John Rogers' Pal,
Mark Waid

Morrigan said...

I'm one of the strangers kicking around your site recently. Quite a good read and my kids love the Transformers. With that kind of combination - how can I not link to you?

david golbitz said...

Violence never solves anything. But it has been known to be both fun and stress-relieving.

I wouldn't think of challenging your assistant to a duel, unless she's into Playstation...

(I have no illusions as to her hand-to-hand combat prowess, or mine, for that matter. I'm quite certain she could take me.)

Unknown said...

Mark, this is disasterous. You can't be "john Rogers' pal." I just pitched DC the book "John Rogers, Mark Waid's pal." I even got a goddam signal watch and everything. What am I supposed to do with this now?

Anonymous said...

Consider me on the list of people who's going to be checking back frequently to see your thoughts on writing. I used to love writing (terrible) scripts when I was younger, thought I'd go to college and major in film, and subsequently switched majors after the fifth or sixth instructor told me how minute my chances were, regardless of the $50,000+ education I was receiving. Strangely enough, this wonderful level of encouragement led me away from screenwriting. I'm not expecting pep talks on the blog, but I'm hoping you can part the veil a little bit for us plebians and give a more realistic picture of the process, and maybe even a little of what happens once you've written the darn thing.

On the up side of the whole parties thing, at least you can say you're a working screenwriter. I could only say I was working on a script or a novel... since everyone else in California is doing the same dang thing, I was probably below the cheese cubes and cocktail weenies on the interesting list out there.

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