To the moment you decided you wanted to write, what advice would you give?
I realised I wanted to write in Debenhams in Portsmouth, December 2010. I didn't actually write anything until February 2013.
So my advice to me would be..get stuck in. You'll never know unless you try.
I think you're spot on.
Do lots, because your first efforts will be shit.
Also, it took me a while to realise that routine is vital - none of this "I write when the muse takes me"
It's bum on seat gets it done.
Write often, expect to fail a lot, settle in for a long journey, enjoy it.
And on a technical front, don't start writing a script until you have the whole thing planned out. Go in blind and more often than not you'll either get stuck, lost, and not finish, or what you end up with will be terrible. Put in the hours laying the groundwork first, you'll be thankful you did.
My advice to my younger self would be to do something different or he'll end up like me.
Listen to the voices telling you to set fire to Woolworths, the writing ones don't know what they're talking about.
Listen to the voices telling you to set fire to Woolworths, the writing ones don't know what they're talking about.
Now that's funny and I'm gutted I had to come clean!
I'd tell my younger self, to 'Write ALL your ideas down' because there are so many good ones ive forgotten.
Quote: RyanWinter @ May 27 2013, 9:14 PM BSTI'd tell my younger self, to 'Write ALL your ideas down' because there are so many good ones ive forgotten.
Again - bang on.
Plus get one of those internet blockers that lets you work undisturbed.
You'll get more done in a straight hour than in three if you keep flipping back to this place (or worse!)
I don't remember 'deciding' to write but it was something I felt drawn to after I joined here...so my advice to anyone would be don't try to go it alone, though writing is a very solitary thing in many ways, it helps to have a hub to go to...though be careful of spending too much time trawling the 'what are you drinking while cutting your toenails and do you ever eat the clippings?' threads..
(Tea, only when under considerable stress and there's no digestives left)
I type in the nude with an aggressive posture and a flask of oxtail soup.
I can totally believe that Teddy.
Quote: Teddy Paddalack @ May 27 2013, 11:19 PM BSTI type in the nude with an aggressive posture and a flask of oxtail soup.
Heinz, or Campbell's?
A writing partner is probably just Dutch courage.
You can NEVER tell how funny something is until it has been performed in front of an audience, so find an audience at all costs.
Write & write & write.
I've never followed this properly but it's the thing I tell myself now so I might as well tell myself then.
Yeah, keep writing is important but 'getting it out in front of an audience' can be a real eye opener.
I've seen audiences laugh harder at my stage directions than the words themselves.
It really makes you think.