A collaborative sport

The other night I had an "Ah-ha!" moment. And I cannot tell you what a relief it was. I was sitting at the table with my classmates and instructor and I just couldn't figure out why my instructor had given me the same note on my script multiple times. It just didn't make sense. I got that there was a problem with the plot but I couldn't grasp what it was. I'd spent several hours that afternoon sitting there, thinking it through (remember Victor Hugo's quote: A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor.), re-reading the notes I'd received and I just wasn't getting it.

And then "bam!" right there, at that moment, I got it. And it was a relatively simple problem to fix. Some characters had to interact earlier, a few scenes needed to be changed and voila! the whole was filled. But it took me several weeks to get there.

As I was driving home that night I thought about how I just couldn't get to that realization on my own. I'd tried and tried and tried. I'd made outlines and notes and charts and nothing worked. It wasn't until I was talking with other people that I finally saw the light. And that led me to think about how for most of my life writing has been an individual activity. It's been a process I do alone, with a computer or a pencil, sometimes with music but mostly just alone. Me and my thoughts. Me and my crazy brain. (My grandmother once asked me where I came up with my stories. I didn't have an answer, they're just there, in my head, and once they're there, I have to get them out.)

But now my writing life is changing. It's becoming a group activity. It's becoming collaborative and I like that. I like talking about my characters and storylines with others. I like trying to come up with ideas for someone else's characters. I like working through the beats and the outlines, working together, discussing, creating.

I think that's what drew me to screenwriting at the beginning. I love the idea that I'm just the start of it all. I'm just the architect. And I love when I watch a movie or a television show I'm fully aware that those characters would have nothing to say if it weren't for some writer sitting around with a computer and a few friends. I love that.

But that's not to say it's easy. At least when I write my Bones or NCIS: Los Angeles or Big Bang Theory spec scripts, I know that I'm drawing from someone else's world, I'm just visiting for a while. But now, starting this week, I'm going to be responsible for creating the world again -- as I embark on my first pilot writing experience. I'm taking a class on how to write an original television show, so once again I'll delve back into my mind, to my own ideas and work out from there.

But now I know something I didn't know when I began my writing journey: that I don't have to do it alone. There's so much to be said for spending time with other writers. For learning from, helping out, just going along the path with them. And that's exciting...