Post by Daw912 on Jan 10, 2013 16:39:58 GMT -5
Are You in Creative Handcuffs?
Written by Hal Croasmun
QUESTION: When you look at your current script, are you taking each part to its creative limit? Without going overboard, are you entertaining the reader and viewer at the highest level for this story?
If not, you probably own a pair of creative handcuffs.
The goal of every page, every scene, and every lead character is to be as creative, dramatic, and interesting as possible...within the scope of what the story is about.
Sometimes, the boundaries of a story become so set that they hamper a writer's imagination. That's when you start get a lot of "there's only one way" kind of thinking.
What's the solution?
Expand your "creative range."
The exercises below are about breaking out of your shackles. Their purpose is to free you from the boundaries you may have placed upon yourself without knowing it.
KEY STRATEGY: Take these exercises to an EXTREME.
Remember, when you are doing an exercise, your purpose is to develop yourself as a writer, NOT TO WRITE PERFECTLY.
If you write a sentence or a scene perfectly, it may not improve your screenwriting by more than 1%. But if you develop a new skill or new understanding, it might improve every script you write from now on by 10% to 100%.
So focus on development as you do these exercises.
SITUATIONS
Amateur screenplays are filled with cliche situations.
Over and over, we see the situations that have been in other movies and worse than that, they often play out just like the movie they were copied from.
Having unique and interesting situations in your script is one way to keep the reader fascinated by your story.
Read more: www.screenwritingu.com/screenwriting-articles/96-are-you-in-creative-handcuffs.html
