Writer's Block Daily

Starting to wonder if I should make my screenplay somewhat of a musical, being an animated film involving furries and such. The one thing I wonder is how they would all create the atmosphere.

I am finished with the first draft. I could definitely work on some musical numbers, however, just for kicks in the meantime, while I have some of the ideas coming down.

Edited by TheWhistleTropes on Jan 4th 2021 at 12:59:13 PM

Good luck to everyone and their writing this time. Bring your imagination to fruition.

As for me, I resolved to do 500-1000 words every time I sit down to write (note "sit down to write," not every day — gives himself some breathing room and built-in off-days to ease my mind) so I could finish at least three books this year. I have many half-finished products, both fanfiction and original literature, that I need to chip away and get done.

Edited by erazor0707 on Jan 4th 2021 at 3:36:34 PM

@Whistle: The best advice I can give you right now is to finish your screenplay first, then worry about changing up the format.

Good day! Just doing an once-in-a-bloodmoon check-in on how the Writer's Block community is going and if I recognize anyone back when I was a regular. It's always fun to spot megathreads that are still going, especially Character Development.

Keep on writing, writers!

Welcome back, Chihuahua 0

Here I am, thinking about thematic symbolism as I try to write my second draft, while struggling to write even a few lines of dialogue.

I think it's a good sign that you can think about both simultaneously.

I mean, I'm honestly a "Dialogue and narrative first, all else second" kinda writer, so I tend to have the opposite issue. I can write pages and pages of dialogue, but when it comes to themes and symbolism and setting details, I'm lacking.

I mean, I do seem to be thinking like an English teacher about how to convey visual storytelling in a screenplay for an animated film. But it's supposed to be an animated film. A very visual medium in and of itself.

Like, seriously, I keep wondering what the eternal sunlight of my other world symbolizes, let alone the symbolism of altitude, materials, or even my characters' states of dress^note e.g. my main character's going barefoot absolutely everywhere might represent how she tries to expose herself in ways that may get her hurt.

I've been inspired too much by how good films use symbolism, and especially AKIRA.

How does one deal with a writer-drought?

Used to write 5000 words a day but ever since a year back, haven't been able to write anything at all.

How does one break free from it?

Maybe write from a prompt of some sort? Or try writing an essay; those can help with your prose in ways you wouldn't expect.

How long is that?

Go for 1,000, but you can go longer. Just write whatever in the style of an academic essay. Helps with improvisation and ensuring your diction is right.

I've been in a motivational drought too, tbh. I can sometimes get some drafting done at work, but when I'm home the motivation is gone and I never end up transcribing it.

I had that feel as soon as I finished the first draft. But I had kept coming up with ideas after the fact to improve it after reading it with my speech therapist (who somehow enjoys it for some reason).

I do a lot of writing at work, but when I sit down at home in the evening and look at the sheets of nigh-indecipherable scribblings I came up with, I often lose all motivation too.

I've been considering the idea of a "character questionnaire" thread. I'm wondering what format would be best; having a list of character questions as the OP and let people fill out the questions for their characters at their leisure, or a game format, where people ask questions for the next person to answer.

Mix and match, probably. Maybe have a standard set of questions, but then the next poster can throw in their own questions as well.

A brief description of the character and the story they appear in (told as if it had actually happened) would provide excellent context for follow on questions.

True. It could be like a character interview game that combines both approaches.

So, say, if the character ends up losing a limb at the end of the story, the character would show up missing their limb? I don't know, just thinking about visual examples of it.

Well that's if you want to pretend it's actually an interview; it could be fun but I wasn't thinking in terms of role-playing

You could cap the number of questions per character/author, in order to keep the action going and give everyone a turn.

I'd say give everyone one (1) character to interview per post. Maybe with a per-page restriction too.

Also, if you redevelop your characters, would it make sense to be able to reinterview them again after a while?

Edited by TheWhistleTropes on Feb 7th 2021 at 1:34:38 PM

I presume that the ultimate purpose is to get feedback on your character design, so after a major re-design, sure.