Mind of Migg

I recently completed the first rough draft of a TV drama pilot I’ve been working on.  Finishing a piece of longer work is strange.  Not only does it feel empty once it’s complete, but it also is a challenge to go back to it.  After all that effort, after all those sweat and tears, reaching “Fade Out” or “The End” is really only the beginning.

The real writing doesn’t begin until the rewrite.  This is a fairly recent discovery for me, mostly because I got away with turning in rough drafts hot off the presses all through college.  In fact, there may have only been one or two papers I actually even read before turning in.  I was lucky to pass, and extremely arrogant in my writing abilities.  I didn’t realize how much that approach hurt my writing potential.  It’s a habit I find hard to break.  Many times I have to force a deadline upon myself to finally get words to paper.

The difficult thing about editing is that the process of writing the first draft is so mentally draining.  Why edit something that already took so much effort?  Add to that the fact that once I’ve stepped away from something for a bit, I can look at it more objectively.  When that happens, my “work of art” quickly becomes a “piece of crap”.  I seriously hate going back to pieces I’ve written.  It’s like going through your digital camera after a drunken night.  You cringe wondering how sloppy those glamour shots you felt you were taking the night before actually look.  I have that same dread when I sit down to edit something I’ve written.  I go through a period of self-doubt and questioning why I keep doing what I’m doing.

At least, that was how it used to be.  Two things have happened over the last year of my writing development.  One, the pictures don’t look so bad, and two, it’s not so hard to fix the ones that do.  I suppose you could say, metaphorically speaking, that I don’t get as drunk as I used to.  Learning how to edit has helped my initial drafts.  I’ve accepted it as a natural part of the process so it allows me more freedom in my writing.

Also, I’m no longer so stubborn and defensive.  I would convince myself that what was already written was not only correct, it was as good as it could get.  Not so anymore.  I won’t hesitate to chop out what was my favorite line or paragraph.  I’ve learned that nothing is written in permanent marker.  I’ve also accepted that just because I didn’t get it right in my first go-round, doesn’t mean it’s a lack of knowledge or talent.  Re-writing is a vital part of the process.  It’s okay to edit.  It took some time to convince the “me” of college of that fact.

Knowing how to rewrite – how to recognize where to edit, what to edit, and how to edit is vital to creating a good piece of work.  I know now that it is one step of the process and not a knock against my writing to edit.

Some writers prefer total silence.  For the most part, I prefer to write to music.  It has to be loud music though, and it has to be music that captures the tone of what I’m writing.  In a way, it’s similar to silence, because I use it as a way to drown everything else out.  I work best when I blast the music through my headphones instead of speakers and can’t hear anything else besides what’s in my head.

I used to think it was a way of cheating – stirring the specific emotion in order to write more easily.  I’ve realized that using the emotion from music is really more like a warm up though.  Sometimes I’ll leave one song on repeat to capture a specific beat or mood.  It would be torture to anyone casually listening, but once I get going, I don’t even notice it’s there.  There is also the rare occasion when I use the music to warm up and then go with silence when it’s an especially difficult scene.   Most times though, I opt for instrumental music.  When there are lyrics in a song, it can get in the way of the dialogue in my head.

So what do I listen to?  A wide variety.  A lot of it isn’t even my general musical taste.  It’s not like while I’m driving in my car I ever think, “you know, I could really go for some Clint Mansell right now.”  Okay, that’s not true, I’ve played his music in the car too.  But in general, it’s not music the same music that I would listen to while working on non-writing things or while driving.

Here’s a few of my current lists:

My TV drama pilot playlist –

• The Bravery – Believe (I’m so sick of this song, but it works great while writing)
• MGMT – Kids (Same with this one)
• Regina Spektor – Laughing With (I do this one on repeat a lot)
• Silversun Pickups – Substitution
• The Killers – Shadowplay

These songs make no sense together and have completely different vibes.  Granted, they don’t all work in the same section, but for any given part of the script so far, any one of them will do the trick.

For my sci-fi writing:

• Muse
• Zoe Keating
• Clint Mansell

And for my novel:

• Bon Iver
• Fink
• Regina Spektor
• Jamin Winans – Ink Complete Soundtrack (also works well with sci-fi)

I listen to a few of these artists outside of writing, but not much.  They get the job done while writing though.

I have to be very self-disciplined with my schedule since I have nobody to answer to but myself.  It means outlining clear weekly goals and trying to stick to them as best as possible.  The toughest thing about this is that because I’m following so many different leads for work/pay/creative outlets that my weekly schedule is tossed out the window by Monday morning.

While I might plan on say, working at Borders Tuesday morning, and then working out of the home office on Wednesday, I might end up on an unplanned conference call that keeps me from leaving, or end up with a meeting on the other side of town that I hadn’t known would happen.  All very productive, but maddening when trying to have clear, set writing time – especially when you throw in late night dealings with India, since our night is their afternoon.  It means that many times, I go to bed hours later than planned and then don’t wake up for the early morning writing that I would love to do.  With my schedule out of wack, I obsessively try to track my timesheet and hit weekly goals, knowing full well that it’s just not going to happen.  There are too many unknowns from week to week to be able to balance the business side of film with writing, reading, and watching movies.  Something gives each week, but I still wear myself out trying to prevent that.

I’ve decided on a few new strategies going forward in order to give me some peace of mind.

Writing time is set in stone

This is non-negotiable now.  Too often my writing is what loses out to other things going on.  I am going to drag myself out of bed in the mornings, and stick to set writing hours in the morning.  The problem I have is that I usually chase whatever new issues arise as quickly as possible.  That means that if I sit down to start writing, but get an email of an issue that needs addressing, I’ll handle the email first.  Before I know it, a few hours of business work have replaced my writing time.  Not cool for the writing.  If I want to keep building momentum with all of my writing I have to always treat it as a priority.  I can always get to my emails later.

Schedule free time

I always forget to do this.  My mind is mush by the end of the day, but I’ll tell myself I can squeeze in some late night reading.  One, it’s not enjoyable to read as a task when I’m exhausted, and two, I don’t get as much out of it as I should.  It defeats the purpose of trying to do more reading if I’m always dozing while I do it.  Taking time outs, especially to break the day up between business and creative, makes a huge difference.  Knowing that I have some scheduled time to just relax goes a long way in being refreshed for work.

My work day should end.

This is another tough one.  I try to squeeze things in (unsuccessfully) from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed.  What ends up happening is that I slack off or get distracted in the middle of the day, feel guilty and work late, oversleep, repeat.  It’s a vicious cycle.  I think the combination of scheduled free time, and knowing that I have a stopping time will make the hours in between much more productive.

In all, I think these new strategies allow me to be more productive instead of constantly trying to stay “busy”.  Staying busy just wears me out without accomplishing as much.  Hopefully I can apply these ideas and they help make a difference.

November is NaNoWriMo month.  This is the first year I’ll be participating.  What is NaNoWriMo you ask?  Well I’m glad you asked.  NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month.  It takes place every November.  The goal is to write an entire novel (50,000 words) in one month.  You can outline, plan, do whatever you want in the month’s prior, but you can’t start writing the actual thing until November 1^st.  You have to put your pens (or laptops) down at the end of the day on November 30^th.  Everyone who reaches the 50,000-word goal is a “winner” of NaNoWriMo.

This might sound cheesy to non-writers, but this amount of writing is no simple task.  Add to that the fact that many people, like me, are doing this in addition to their normal daily work and writing, and it’s a huge feat to accomplish.  I’ve struggled to consistently reach 1,000 words a day for at least five days a week for the last couple of months.  Doing this will be a huge leap in the amount I write each day.

The great thing about NaNoWriMo is that the goal is to write, write, write.  You have to go as fast as possible with no looking back if you want to get everything on paper in such a short amount of time.  You can go back, edit, and make things look pretty after the fact, which is actually the way I prefer to work anyway.  This is why I’m so excited to participate and give it a try.  I really want to get in the habit of getting more on paper and spitting out everything that’s in my head.  Let me tell you, it’s a lot more satisfying to see a bunch of crap written out then to see all kind of potential float around in my head while I beat myself up for not sitting down and writing.  That’s my goal – write more and the rest will come naturally.

I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to write about.  Keeping with the habits I’m trying to break, I failed to put down on paper a proper outline until Halloween candy was being passed out.  I had decided about a month ago that I was going to write a story about a suburban Phoenix neighborhood (easy enough for me to relate to, right?) and the different lives on a street.  I’ve tentatively titled it, “Epic Adventures of Suburban Lives”.  I didn’t want it to bash suburbia as other stories so often do.  That’s too easy.  That’s not to say that what comes out of the stories will all be positive, but I’m trying to approach it without a jaded viewpoint.

I had nothing more than that idea and title to go off of until I had a breakthrough about a week and a half ago.  Now I know exactly where the story is going – I’m using the neighborhood of John and Sarah, my main characters from the “Monsoon” screenplay.  This novel is going to take place a year before the events in the script and their two families will be characters in the story.  Excited by this new approach, I sketched out on paper their half of the block.  I narrowed it down to 10 houses, 5 on each side.  My plan is to tell the story from the viewpoint of all the people on this street in these houses.  Each chapter will be from someone else’s perspective.  There will be overlap, but I’m not sure if it’s going to come out as a straightforward narrative or a collection of short stories.  The writing will lead the way.

I really recommend that anyone who enjoys writing give NaNoWriMo a try.  It’s a ton of fun and it looks like they have a very supportive community.  At the very least, pitch in a few bucks to support the cause.  I plan to.  I will update my progress this month as I go, tracking the ups and downs of trying to create something from scratch.  Wish me luck!

What is science fiction?  How would you define it and categorize it?  There are so many types; it’s hard to lock down one clear definition.  I’m taking a Sci-Fi writing class through the UCLA Extension Program this semester and the instructor asked for our own definition.  I had never thought about this and it’s tougher than I thought.

To make our jobs easier, he first gave us his interpretation of science fiction.

“Any story that relies on science for its narrative advancement.”

This helps cover the variety of different sci-fi genres, but I don’t think I like it.  I believe what makes sci-fi so compelling (at least to us sci-fi nerds) is that it holds a mirror up to society better than any contemporary story could.  The science is a way of telling the story in a unique way.  However, the science can be stripped away from many of examples of science fiction and still leave the main story.  When the USS Enterprise visits a warring planet and tries to make peace, it’s a diplomatic story.  No warp drive is necessary to tell that tale.  District 9 deals with apartheid, it just uses aliens to effectively get its point across.  Doctor Who is sci-fi at its finest, but some of the best episodes require the Doctor to make do without technology – his TARDIS can’t be reached in “The Satan Pit”; he is a human in “Human Nature”.

I don’t believe a story has to rely on science in order to be classified as sci-fi.  A time travel story requires the technology to time travel, true, but it’s what happens in the past or future and the characters’ interactions that make up the majority of the story.  The narrative is driven by their actions and attitudes while in a strange new world.  It becomes a reflection of our own thoughts and ideals in our time and how they differ either in hindsight or in potential.  I think in nearly every case of sci-fi, you can tell the same story in a different way without the science.  It just wouldn’t be as interesting.

So how would I define science fiction?  That’s a good question.  I’m sure anything I put forth would be full of more holes than my instructor’s attempt.  The problem is, there’s so many types – military, time travel, distopia/utopia, steampunk, hard, soft.  The great thing about science fiction though, is that it always stirs debate.  Debates about the realism of technology in the story, debates about the moralistic views of the characters, debates about how the characters are reflections of modern day – even when going for pure entertainment, there is something special about the multiple layers of any science fiction story.

I would say any story that invokes science as a story element in a speculative or fictional manner can be defined as science fiction.  That’s to say that, this fictional science is used in order to create the world of the story.  It’s a structure, but it’s only one pillar of the whole.  It creates a world, but it doesn’t necessarily drive the narrative.  That is left to the characters.

A phaser is no different than a gun in the sense that it’s used to achieve the same end.  But how cool is it to see a laser instead of a bullet?  And how cool is science fiction that writers can imagine all kinds of impossibilities that may someday come to pass?  As technology continues to advance at breakneck speeds, the range of sci-fi storytelling continues to grow. The problem with trying to define science fiction is that it knows no bounds.  It speaks to us in many ways, through many forms.  That is the beauty of it.

All I wanted was a mentor.  Someone from inside the industry, someone already established, who would put up with me.  There’s nothing better than a person more experienced than you are letting you hang around and ask questions.  I thought I finally had one.  I found someone who was instrumental in improving my script.  I think working with him helped my writing tremendously.

So imagine my excitement when he talked about wanting to work as a Producer on the script that he had helped with.  I thought I was set.  I knew it was still a long, uphill battle, but I had someone on my team who had been through it before and instantly added credibility to my cause.  He talked about the importance of collaboration and why he wanted to work with me.

“When you make a movie, you spend a long time with that group of people.  There are a lot of bad people in this town, but I want to work with good people.  If I’m going to spend my time working with someone, I’d rather surround myself with the good people.” he said.

He cared about the attitudes of those around him as well as their quality of work.  I really appreciated that.

The lesson here is, when push comes to shove, good people end up in the same place as nice guys – left alone.  In a business proposition, someone who says he wants to work with “good people” usually only does so at his own convenience.  And why not?  It makes sense.  I should’ve known better.  It is, after all, a business.  But what do you do when a mentor disappears for months?  When e-mails go unanswered and you discover by chance that he’s moved on to produce another project, suddenly realizing that it was silence with a middle finger you were getting? It sucks.

There are lessons to be learned from an experience like this.  Here’s what I’ve taken away:

1. I stated it above, but it bears repeating – when it comes to business, being a good person, and wanting to work with other good people can only get you so far.  If it would be tough for a family member or childhood best friend to go above and beyond for you, don’t expect a person you don’t know very well to come through just because you’ve started establishing a working relationship.  That’s not to say you have to be a jerk, but don’t be too naïve or optimistic about things.
2. Keep your eye on the ball.  I knew I wanted to make this outside the system – DIY style.  I knew we were developing a good plan to get the film funding and start growing a community around it.  I put it all on hold when this person showed interest.  Granted, I told him what I wanted to do, but then I listened to his more traditional approach, and I’m not sure if my desire to make it happen without a studio’s help turned him off to the project.  It’s a scary prospect to do things differently when you’re used to a certain system.  I shouldn’t have dropped what I was doing at the first hint of help from the inside.
3. Be aggressive.  Honestly, I was a little intimidated.  I deferred to his opinion and that of an actress he introduced me to that was also interested.  In hindsight, I had only worked on the script with him.  He had no idea of the amount of work I had put into the development of the film itself.  I think making that clear in the beginning may have helped the business part of the relationship.  Instead, I brought it up later, after they had already started cementing their, “when this is our project…” mentality.  I know that was partly my fault.  I let him rip me and build his own design without letting on right away that I had a clear vision for the project.  To say I had one later only looked defensive.

It hurts from a business side.  Having a Creative Producer with a track record definitely helps.  However, I can find another one of those.  What really stings is the lack of returned calls or e-mails from someone I thought was a mentor.  What stings more is that the last communication was about him being away for a while due to an illness.  Most subsequent replies were to make sure he was in good health, but apparently those didn’t even warrant a response.

What have I learned the most?  Rejection is going to be personal as well as professional along this path.  It’s going to be often and going to sting a whole lot each time.  I’d better be ready for it in the future.  I’ve also learned to not be so trusting, no matter how genuine the other person seems.  But has it made me jaded?  Nope, not one bit.  I’ll always wear my heart on my sleeve, and I’ll always want to collaborate with good, passionate people.  And in the future, when I’m a whole lot more experienced and there’s an aspiring filmmaker talking to me (if I’m so lucky), I will at least give him the courtesy of a response.  It’s the least a person could do.

Sometimes, you have to wash your hands of a bad experience before you can move forward.  So, hands washed, I say, “Enough.”  Back to work.

Yep, that’s right.  Because everyone else wanted to drop his or her two cents on Josh Olson’s article, “I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script”, I thought I should join in on the fun.  So here’s my take:

Why all the anger?  That was my initial reaction to the comments I read in response to the article.  It was as if he had personally rejected these aspiring writers while slapping them in the face.  On one side, a large group of people said, “Bravo!  It’s about time somebody said it.”  While on the other side, there was a, “How dare he!  His stuff is crap anyway, I wouldn’t want him to read it.”  Because adding personal attacks legitimizes their disagreement.  Those who disagree are missing the bigger picture of the article.  I’m not saying his thesis is perfect, but it was about more than him being a bad person for not helping another writer out.  His essay addressed two issues in particular: one, that screenwriters are not treated with much respect, and two, how to best manage relationships in your network of acquaintances.

I’ll address the lack of respect issue first.  It seems that those who were supportive of the article really saw this point above all others.  He compares it to asking a house painter friend to paint your house in his free time.  A loose comparison yes, but the point is clear: you’re asking for a big favor, for free, from a professional.  I think that is lost on a lot of people.  People who aren’t writers think, “how hard can it be?” and the fact that they don’t know the answer says a lot.  In no other profession does someone follow up your response by degrading it.

“What do you do?”

“I’m a screenwriter.”

“Oh yeah?  I had this great story idea…”

Now try it this way:

“What do you do?”

“I’m a doctor.”

“Oh yeah?  I was thinking of trying an appendectomy on a friend…”

And I’m not likening screenwriting to being a doctor either.

“What do you do?”

“I’m a truck driver.”

“Oh yeah?  I drove from Phoenix all the way to Houston once.”

In what other situation is that response not a slap in the face?  Yet, it’s the typical response to the “I’m a screenwriter” statement.

Addressing this first point sets up his overarching story related to the douche that asked him to read his synopsis.  This brings us to point number two – managing relationships.  The most important thing to realize, for those who disagree, is that the article title was not a sweeping, all-encompassing statement.  He was not pledging to treat anyone that approaches him like trash and never read another script again.  Keep it in context.  He was tying the two points together.

The second point relates to the presumption that as soon as you meet anyone of stature in the business you have to fling your script in his face and pray.  Add to that the audacity of asking for honest feedback and it borders on ridiculous.

His point, I believe, was that you should treat a relationship you have with an established writer with the same respect you would any other business relationship.  Yes, business relationship.  He made sure to mention that it’s different for friends.  What value are you bringing to the relationship?  Are you pro-active?  Asking advice?  Offering help?  No?  Then why should the other person?

There are writers I have met multiple times, got along great with, but wouldn’t trouble them with reading my scripts.  I have a close group of friends that I circle all my drafts too.  I really value their opinions and it helps my writing.  I would love it to expand and include people in the industry I fawn over.  All in good time.

If there were a subtitle to his article it would read – “If you’re not going to put in the same effort as I am”.  You can’t ask for brutally honest feedback and then get upset when someone thinks it’s crap.

So if you’re an aspiring writer, looking for a mentor, keep in mind two things.

Ask for the sale after the presentation

If you’re on speaking terms with someone you’d love to read your material, build some equity in the relationship before asking for a favor.

Not everyone is a mentor

Some people make great mentors – they go out of their way to teach and to help others.  Some people are just writers.  Some people can take a younger employee under their wing and show them the ropes, while others prefer to do it their own way.  That doesn’t make them an asshole.  I’m sure they’re not cold and unfeeling when they’re around their group of close friends.  They don’t owe anyone who doesn’t respect their profession or relationship anything.

Yesterday was my first day of class for one of two UCLA extension writers’ program. This class was the short story one I wrote about last week. It was strange being on a campus walking to class again. The first thing I noticed – UCLA’s campus is HUGE. It’s not like walking around CMC or even from CMC to Pitzer or Pomona. That might cover one small section. I had to check a map before leaving, and then scour the map to first find my building and then to find the nearest parking structure. After parking I knew which direction to go and the general area, but I still managed to take two wrong turns and walked into class a few minutes late. Another ten people walked in after me, so I didn’t feel too bad as class got underway.

The class is set up like a workshop. That means no desks: we sit in chairs in a circle. I wasn’t sure exactly how it was going to go, so I brought my computer and also a fresh pad of paper and a pen. I had to go with the paper and pen. I’m pretty sure I’m losing the muscle memory of how to write, because my writing has always been pretty bad, but now it looks like a four-year-old’s. I haven’t written so much in such a short period of time in years, and all I did was take simple notes.

The instructor seemed very knowledgeable and gave the group a laid back feel. As we went around the room introducing ourselves, my first thought was, “finally”. “Finally” meaning, finally I was in a room full of other artists and finally I was being proactive about writing. It was an eclectic mix – from high school to late 50’s, writers, filmmakers, visual artists, teachers, and book lovers. It’s going to be an environment of constant reading and writing, and everyone going out on a limb and submitting their work to be dissected by the class. I’m so excited to read the work of others, and have my work scrutinized by peers. That’s one thing I haven’t done and it’s long overdue: meet with other writers, and put my work out there for others to read. It’s frightening, but after the first class, I realize it won’t be so bad, and extremely valuable.

The other thing I thought while we were going around the room was that I don’t read nearly enough. People were rattling off books the way I do indie films. I had no clue what any of them were, but I knew this was a problem. It’s part of the reason I took the class. In fact, I introduced myself as, “a writer who is a horribly irresponsible reader”. I’ve been improving, with scripts, at least, but haven’t read much fiction at all. That’s going to change dramatically this summer.

After the success of this first class, I hope that I feel the same way when my other class starts next week. I’m looking forward to the first real workshop class next week. Three people volunteered to have their stories handed out first, and after briefly glancing at them, I’m impressed. I’m looking forward to a summer full of books and writing.

I received an email today from the instructor for a class I begin next week. I’ve enrolled in two classes this summer through the UCLA extension writer’s program. One is a course about writing a drama pilot for television. The other is a creative writing course on short stories. The latter is the course that begins next week and the one I received an email about. The instructor was looking for three volunteers to make copies of their short story for the class to read on the first day. My first thought was, “holy crap, our stories will be read out loud?” My second thought was, “holy crap, am I supposed to have a completed story already?” My final thought was, “holy crap, I haven’t even read a short story in months. What was I thinking?!”

After glancing at the class refund deadline date and calming down a bit, I looked through the course description again and realized that I didn’t actually have to have a story already finished. That was a relief, but I do know that whenever I do complete one this summer, it’s going to be read by the entire class. A little intimidating, but I’m sure it’ll be a huge help in the long run as I try to branch out from screenwriting. I’m excited to get one down on paper, because I’ve tossed a few ideas around, but haven’t actually written a short story since high school.

As for the reading aspect, I know that’s a vital component to being a better writer. I’ve tried to be a better reader of scripts lately (I read Good Will Hunting two days ago), but I’ve been a terrible reader of fiction. If I’m not reading a script, I’m reading about the film industry, the craft of writing and directing, or trying to stay up on current events. That doesn’t leave much room for fiction, but I’ll have to try and make time now.

So I decided to do the good thing and start prepping for the class. Just earlier today, Violet bought The Best American Non-Required Reading 2008 at Borders because it was on clearance. How can you say no to a cool little book like that for $4? Violet also has a few other short story books already, but this one had a cool cover so I opened it first.

I flipped through it, looking for a random story to choose, and then I saw it: Stephen King. I didn’t think I’d see a name I recognized in the book, and I’m a fan of King’s so I had to read that one. It was the story about a miracle tied to a death. A single touch from one sick person to another leads to a miracle recovery, and a responsibility. I found it very touching, and a wonderfully written story overall. It flowed nicely, and had a subtle, mysterious sense to the whole thing. I connected with it, for many reasons. I know he had an accident of his own years ago. I don’t know how much of his experience went into this story, but I feel like it had to play a part.

One of the first books I read after my accident was his, On Writing and it left a lasting impression for me. I just find it at once strange and exciting that I would happen upon a story like this, written by him, at a time when I’m preparing to push myself as a writer more than I ever have before. Maybe there is a little something more than coincidence at play in situations sometimes. I like to think there is.