Glad to have you here and a major congrats on following your dream and landing your opportunities! Have you ever dealt with motivation issues? As someone with ADHD, I struggle a lot with finishing my screenplays, as my mind is all over the place. I'm working towards medication soon (Which should help a lot), but what are your tips for motivation and staying focused on finishing your work?
Thanks! Sorry, I ducked out as soon as I hit post (thanks MoviePass).
Honestly, I deal with motivation issues probably every day. Some writers like to block out a specific time during the day just for writing, but that never really worked for me. It's easy for me to get distracted with everything else going on around me and in the world. And just because I set aside a block of time doesn't guarantee that I won't STILL be staring at a blank page and blinking cursor an hour (or four) later. I really have to be in the mood though, creatively speaking, and that "mood" fuels the work.
Knowing that about myself, I've tried to implement different little tactics to spark creativity, because I do recommend trying to write *something* every day. Even if it's terrible, because at least it's something that you can improve upon tomorrow.
I like to impose deadlines on myself, albeit arbitrary in most cases. Telling myself things like "I have to finish the outline by the end of the week," or "I'll only hop on Destiny 2 after I finish this monologue" help me stick to a semblance of a writing schedule.
I also like to tell other people about what I'm working on... as long as I'm not contractually obligated to secrecy, of course, like was the case a couple of times. If I'm working on a spec, I'll say to a family member or a friend, "Hey, I've been working on this new idea. It's about X doing Y until Z happens. I think I'll have the broad strokes of the story figured out in a week." So now there's a deadline and somebody who I can be accountable to, and I find that that added bit of pressure keeps me focused as well. I can also gauge how interesting/exciting an idea is based on that person's reaction.
Research. I do a lot of it. I like to know as much as possible about the city, culture, or subject matter I'm writing about. I attempt to become an "expert" on those topics for the period of time that I'm working on the project. "They" always say to write what you know, well, that's absolutely true in my experience, and the more I know about my story the easy it is to write.
But I also totally believe that watching TV shows and movies count as research! I think it's a great reminder about what it is we're trying to accomplish with screenwriting -- we're trying to make art that entertains and/or elicits some kind of emotional response from the reader/audience, and "studying" how others have done it can spark new ideas and inspirations about the project that I'm working on.
It's like how some people browse the gaming side of the forum more than they actually play games, right? You can get so caught up in the discussion, nuances, techniques, and criticisms that you begin to lose touch with what the game is trying to accomplish -- it's supposed to be fun to play and potentially evoke some kind of reaction from the player with its characters, stories, and worlds. I look at movies/TV the same way as a writer.
I'm also into free association writing, which has helped with writer's block, especially when I'm trying to find the voice of a character. Being able to just "talk" as them, ramble on the page about their mother, boyfriend, career, fears, future, etc. has really helped me in the past when breaking a character and their story, because once I can "hear" them, once I know who they are (their motivations), then I can have them say or do anything needed within the context of the story.
