Okay so I started writing sketches for the first time last night. I wrote about ten and posted the majority on them of here. Then I have woke up this morning and I can't think of any more ideas. My mind has gone blank, I'm trying to think of something.. and it's just not coming. Is this writers block? And if it is how do you get past it? Does anyone have any techniques they use to come up with new ideas? I would love some tips/advice if anyone has any.
Best advice is just not to force it. Sometimes the harder you think the less ideas you'll have. I think. The funny will come when it's good and ready. Or it could be that you'll never write anything again and should consider killing yourself. One of the two.
I usually do a mind-map/brainstorm-y type thing on a piece of paper. Write the subject down, then write some emotive sort of things around it (ie. 'Love', 'Hate', 'Weird') and then search for things that fit the bill. 99.9% of the stuff you write down is rubbish, but I've got quite a few sketches out of that method. Very useful if you need a sketch about a specific thing (ie 'Modern Communication' for the recent Recorded For Training Purposes brief).
For character-based stuff, list a load of personalities/jobs/functions and a list of character traits or descriptive words (pessimistic, optimistic, depressed, funny, urban, etc) and mix them up till something strikes you as interesting. (I once got 'rural terrorist' and that started off a whole strand of sketches...)
Hope this is useful.
Dan
Quote: Sammy @ November 17 2008, 10:26 AM GMTOkay so I started writing sketches for the first time last night. I wrote about ten and posted the majority on them of here. Then I have woke up this morning and I can't think of any more ideas. My mind has gone blank, I'm trying to think of something.. and it's just not coming. Is this writers block? And if it is how do you get past it? Does anyone have any techniques they use to come up with new ideas? I would love some tips/advice if anyone has any.
I read a couple of yours Sammy and to me they all felt a bit self referential. Writers talking about writing etc. The only real motivation for writing a sketch is for it to be performed or made/recorded etc even if you are only doing it for you own amusement. (Like myself)
So the best thing to do is to have a project in mind first. If you think about it a landscape painter doesn't sit in the middle of an empty church hall scratching her head and wondering what she is going to paint that day. Get the external focus and the internal will come.
Forget about writing and do other stuff. Especially reading. I find that's great for getting the creative juices flowing. And you can never hone your old stuff enough.
Write loads of notes and then put them together.
Catch phrases, TV titles, places (e.g. school), then start puting them together or taking them apart.
Also scan through tabloids there's loads of good ideas there.
One of my favorite sketches I came from asking, what would happen to any Daleks that survived the last episode of Dr Who.
They'd be refugees/immigrants, what do many refugee communitees do?
Set up restaurants.
What would a Dalek restaurant be like?
I got about half a dozen sketches out of that because it grew.
Also, writing ten sketches is quite enough for one night's work. Have a lie down and listen to some Killers or whatever it is you young folk like to boogie to.
Quote: David Bussell @ November 17 2008, 11:30 AM GMTAlso, writing ten sketches is quite enough for one night's work. Have a lie down and listen to some Killers or whatever it is you young folk like to boogie to.
The High School Musical soundtrack does it for me.
Also, don't be afraid to pilfer other peoples ideas and put your own spin on them. Pablo Picasso once said, "Bad artists copy. Great artists steal."
I would not worry about writers block after a day. In fact I would not worry about writers block at all, it will just make you anxious, and then you will find you do have writers block. If you are relaxed and mentally alert the ideas will come, often like buses, all at the same time.
You can't force it, if you do then everything comes across as a bit stilted.
My first attempt at sketch writing earlier in the year yielded about 10 sketches - that was over a week. I thought 'Right, that's it, I'll never come up with another idea ever again'. I just didn't see where it was going to come from.
As a writer I tend to let the ideas come to me (Pretentious wanker alert) I start with a basis of no more than 'Two policeman at a door' for example (actually, that'd make a good sketch . . .) and go from there. And what comes to me is what I'll go with, if it's any good.
So I tried to think of more, but failed. Then, later, I wrote about 20 pages of sketches, again from nowhere. After that, I thought 'Right, no more sketches ever. I can't think of anymore'. But low and behold, many months on, over a weekend (in fact, over a few hours with half an eye on the Sex And The City film waiting for any of the the non-lesbian ones to get their tits out) I wrote a load more.
I wouldn't even entertain the thought of writer's block, or mental blanks. Just forget about it, and something will come to you. That's what makes you a writer.
If you're struggling with sketches, then turn to sitcom. Or vice versa.
Quote: Seefacts @ November 17 2008, 1:43 PM GMTIf you're struggling with sketches, then turn to sitcom.
My advice is if you're struggling with sketches, then turn to drink.
Quote: Dolly Dagger @ November 17 2008, 3:56 PM GMTMy advice is if you're struggling with sketches, then turn to drink.
^This. Have a couple of pints and start typing something odd.
Quote: Seefacts @ November 17 2008, 1:43 PM GMTYou can't force it, if you do then everything comes across as a bit stilted.
As a writer I tend to let the ideas come to me (Pretentious wanker alert) I start with a basis of no more than 'Two policeman at a door' for example (actually, that'd make a good sketch . . .) and go from there. And what comes to me is what I'll go with, if it's any good.
That's sound advice.
I used to force writing and it meant that I wrote a lot - sometimes up to 4 sketches in a day - but 99.9% of them were awful. Now I just write when I have a good idea.
Sometimes I may come up with a premise that is ripe for comedy, but can't think of anywhere to take it. In those instances, I'll leave it and come back to it a few weeks later and have another go.
There's no point getting down about a lack of ideas. If you've had a good idea once, you're capable of doing it again.
Write the bad as well as the good.
The bad may teach you more...