by Jenna | Oct 14, 2015 | Writing Articles
Today I'm continuing a series I started last week about choosing writing projects. This is the first post of the series where I'm delving into HOW to choose a project. In the last post I wrote about the issues and challenges that tend to come up for writers around choosing a project and what underlies them (spoiler alert, it's often some kind of perfectionism!) so that we can start to shift how we're thinking about it.
** Check out the newly updated version of this series available
for download here (or scroll to the end of this post) **
More on mindset first
But first, a bit more on mindset before we explore "decision criteria":
I remember when I started the ProSeries at ScreenwritingU in 2011. I was concerned about picking the "right" project to work on. And I remember that our instructor (Hal) seemed to be relatively unconcerned about my choice, which at the time I found somewhat disconcerting. Hindsight being 20-20, however, I can see now WHY he was unconcerned. He knew that -- especially for someone like me, a then newbie screenwriter -- it didn't actually matter that much what I chose. It would be a learning script, and if I continued screenwriting, which is of course an assumption of the program, it would be one of dozens of scripts I would write.
It's hard to hold that in mind when we're choosing projects, especially because of the things we talked about last time ("It's so much work!" "What if I choose the wrong one?!" etc.), but if we take an eagle's eye view of our writing careers we can see that yes, this next project will be just one of many projects we work on in our lifetimes. Will it be a best seller or a runaway hit? Maybe, maybe not. But you can see that if you try to choose on that basis alone, you might get somewhat paralyzed.
Enter criteria
Hence the concept of criteria.
When you use criteria to select a project, you systematically narrow your field of ideas using a list of criteria that you choose in advance to help you make the decision.
Everyone has to choose their own criteria, there's no point in me telling you what they "should" be. I can, however, share with you some of the criteria I use and think about (and why) so that it might spark your thoughts about your own.
(Side note: I'll write about OTHER methods to choose projects in the rest of this blog series, including some intuitive methods. So if this particular method doesn't resonate for you, not to fret, there's more to come.)
Okay, so on to project selection using criteria.
Start with where you are right now
The first step is to think about where you are in your writing career and what you are hoping to accomplish.
For instance, are you trying to:
- Establish yourself as a writer?
- Figure out your brand?
- Choose your first project?
- Build an audience?
- Break into Hollywood?
- Something else?
I think you can see that each of these intentions have different outcomes, and so a project to fulfill them would ideally be picked with a specific intention in mind. And since the project you might choose to build an audience may be very different than the one you might choose if you are working on figuring out your brand, you'll use different criteria depending on what you are hoping to accomplish in order to narrow the field.
Have a list of projects
Also, assuming you're a writer with a ton of ideas you're trying to pick from, you'll want to have a list of projects that you can refer to as you make your decision. (If you're a writer who is struggling to come up with an idea -- any idea! -- that's a different issue that we'll have to tackle another day.)
Choose your writing project criteria
Here are some ideas I've used for writing project decision criteria (and I like to frame mine as questions). Although I've listed quite a few possible criteria, I ask my clients to come up no more than three to five criteria to when we make their project choice. More than that and they just get overwhelmed.
I've listed more than three to five here to give you some ideas of various criteria I've used at different times to get you thinking about possibilities for yourself.
- Would I be thrilled to write this project? First off, I want to think about my attachment to the project. As long as I'm committing to a long form project, I want to ENJOY myself. This is my life after all, and it's too short to waste doing things I don't feel excited about. (You can also use the question from The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, "Does this spark joy?" as an alternate here.) This is about thinking about your level of passion, curiosity, interest, and attachment to a particular idea.
- Does this project have a high level of clarity for me? Even though I love most of my project ideas, certain projects have more clarity for me. I know what they are about. I know why I want to write them. I know who the characters are. I know what the basic story is. If I don't know those things, perhaps I still have a good sense of the concept and feel that it will be relatively "easy" to develop, as opposed to something that has a lot of blank spots in it and feels hard and/or overwhelming.
- Is this project marketable and/or high concept? Going in, I want to have a sense that the project will have legs in the marketplace. This can mean a number of things, for instance, that there's a trend or market interest in a specific genre, or that there's kind of a built-in audience with a high level of demand for a specific kind of project. Personally, I'm not that thrilled about chasing market trends because I know that they can change and/or that I might not catch the wave at the right time (I've read that what's on the marketplace book-wise right now was bought 18 months ago). However, I do like to know that there's a potential audience for what I'm writing, like time travel (my favorite!). I also like to know that I have a high concept if at all possible -- a project that people instantly "get" and want to know more about.
- Does this project fit within my brand? Although there's a lot of resistance to branding, it's particularly helpful in the screenwriting world. This is because it helps potential buyers of your work recognize you in the field of writers. Without a brand, you're just one of many in a sea of thousands and thousands of writers. With a brand, people start saying things like, "Oh, yeah, I know a sci-fi writer, you should talk to Jenna Avery." So it behooves me to stick with projects that support and enhance my brand.
- What's the potential budget for the project? If I'm picking a screenplay to work on (as opposed to a novel), I'll look at the potential budget for the project. I do this because I want to flesh out the slate of work I have available. Right now, I have two spec scripts that are on the high end for budget, so for my next spec script, I'll want to choose something in the low- or mid-range. Other writers might choose to always write high or low budget. Remember, I'm not suggesting that everyone should do what I'm doing here, but I'm rather sharing the things I think about with the hopes that they spark ideas for you.
- Does it lend itself to adaptation? As a sci-fi screenwriter, I'm looking at writing novels and novellas that lend themselves to the screen, in that they are cinematic stories, structured like screenplays, and lend themselves to future adaptation for the screen. I'm exploring this option because oftentimes it's easier to pitch a screenplay in Hollywood (especially a big budget script) that already has a loyal audience in book form.
- Does this project challenge me as a writer and will it help me grow my writing skill set? I like to choose projects that help me grow. For instance, writing low budget sci-fi brings a whole new set of challenges (it has to be more character- than plot-driven). I had a fabulous time writing a low budget script on assignment over the summer simply because it pushed my edges as a writer and expanded my writing repertoire significantly.
- Will this project be easy to write? and/or Will this project be fun to write? On the other hand, sometimes when I'm on the more tired side, perhaps because I just pushed myself to write a complex, dark, or heavier project, it's nice to pick the next one to be on the "easier" or lighter side (notice I said easier, not easy) to create a sense of balance for myself.
Notice that most if not all of the questions have fairly simple Yes/No answers, they either are or are not true. And again, I wouldn't use all of these, I'd pick three to five to use, depending on what I was hoping to next accomplish in my writing career.
From here, I'd narrow my field of questions, then go over my list of potential projects, and see which of them meet the criteria. Then I'd sort them into an order and see which of them, if any, naturally rise to the top and/or fit the most criteria.
Over the next post or two, I'll write about putting projects in order of "best fit" to "least best fit for now" and a few more intuitive approaches to project decision-making. In the meantime, let me know what you think about using criteria to choose your project. Can you see any questions or criteria emerging for you that might help you choose what's next for you?
Download the Newly Updated Guidebook Version Here
There's an updated version of this post and the two others in the series, assembled into a How to Choose Your Next Book (Or Screenplay) Guidebook with an overview of the process in a PDF format, along with a workbook in a PDF and RTF format. You can import the RTF into Word or Scrivener and work with it there.
Click the image below to download the Guidebook now.
by Jenna | Oct 8, 2015 | Writing Articles
An issue a lot of writers get stuck on is choosing. Choosing what to write, what to focus on, which project to start with. I've seen writers longing to write but feeling paralyzed about making a choice. They come up with endless numbers of ideas but reject one after the other upon closer examination, or commit but then quickly run away screaming, or commit but then self-sabotage by hopping between projects or ditching it altogether and starting something new. This is the first in a series of posts about choosing writing projects and different ways of approaching it, and we're starting with how it happens and why it's a problem. As with most things with writing, I don't think there's one right way to do it, but it's worth talking about because for a certain brand of writer, it's a huge issue. (Other writers don't seem struggle with this at all, but face other challenges!)
** Check out the newly updated version of this series available
for download here (or scroll to the end of this post) **
Where we get stuck choosing writing projects
Let's talk about where writers get stuck choosing writing projects.
- Being afraid of choosing the "wrong" project. This is sort of the blanket, one-size fits all category for writing selection paralysis. It usually ties into a fear of one of the other issues following, like worrying that we'll get into a project only to find that it loses its gleam and then we'll wish we'd chosen a different one, or being afraid of wasting time and energy on something that doesn't have legs, or being afraid the best selling project will be the one we DON'T choose. The idea here, is that there is somehow a "right" answer or a "right" project to choose. I take comfort from a notion I came across once that we must learn to trust that ALL our projects share a convergence of theme, thought, or concept (they come from us after all!) and that whichever project we choose at any given time will become the "right" vehicle for us at that point in our writing careers.
- The potential disappointment of giving up on another project or projects. Usually writers with this "I don't know which one to choose" issue have tons of ideas and interests and project concepts and they are terrified to let any of them go.What I've found most useful so far for dealing with this concern is the idea of a "project queue", that is, having a running list of projects in an approximate order that you'll work on them. Sure, they might jockey for position a bit and one might miraculously appear that knocks the others down a peg or six but it reshapes the terror that we must choose ONE project to work on into choosing the project we will work on FIRST.
- Being afraid of investing a ton of time and effort into a project only to have a (or yet another) project that doesn't go anywhere. This is a big one, especially for those of us who have been around the block a few times with writing projects. We know what rewrite hell looks like, up close and personal-like, and it's no fun. So we hesitate about diving in the way we might have been willing to do earlier in our writing careers.Thankfully, I've noticed for myself that as my writing skills grow, my ability to write cleaner drafts (closer to what I intended for them to become) is increasing. I'm also noticing that I have less fear about how long something will take, now that I've learned how to outline better, break things down into smaller chunks, track my work, and just plain old write faster. So there's that. And yeah, it's a ton of work, there's no getting around it. For me, this falls into the category being willing to invest in myself and my writing. As far as something possibly not going anywhere, well, I'm starting to think that's the price of admission to a writing career. There are no guarantees -- this is art after all. We can rewrite, we can do our best to consider marketability, and we can elevate our projects as much as we can. And sometimes? Sometimes it's just a learning project.
- Worrying that a project will not be marketable or good enough. Speaking of marketability, I also see writers getting paralyzed by whether or not there is a market for their idea or if they will be able to write it well enough. The marketability piece seems easier to me to address with some research and study of what's selling in your genre or form.As far as being "good enough" goes though, the only way out is through (that means actually writing and then writing more). I console myself on this front with Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours rule for mastering a craft. I also think we have to find a balance of pursuing what appears to be marketable (I'm not one for chasing trends, but rather understanding what makes a book or a script work for an audience) and following our own curiosity (Thank you Elizabeth Gilbert!) and interests and ideas into the places they are calling us.
What underlies these issues is fear, of course, which is pretty much the only problem that gets in the way when it comes to writing. And a big clue here is the word paralysis. Underlying paralysis we will often find its close cousin, perfectionism. And perfectionism is, of course, driven by fear.
The perfectionist's safety net
What happens when we don't choose a writing project to focus on is that we hop from project to project, always starting something new and never finishing anything. Or we try to juggle multiple projects at once, working a little bit on this one, a little bit on that one. The result is the same with either approach -- no finished project, no feelings of completion and accomplishment. Also? The world doesn't get to see what you're creating. And there's the safety net -- if we don't finish, we don't have to share, and we don't have to face possible rejection, ridicule, or failure. Not finishing (and sometimes not even starting) is a perfectionist's safety net. That's the "upside" of not choosing.
In my next post in this series, I'll share some ideas about HOW to choose projects.
Download the Newly Updated Guidebook Version Here
There's an updated version of this post and the two others in the series, assembled into a How to Choose Your Next Book (Or Screenplay) Guidebook with an overview of the process in a PDF format, along with a workbook in a PDF and RTF format. You can import the RTF into Word or Scrivener and work with it there.
Click the image below to download the Guidebook now.
by Jenna | Sep 21, 2015 | Writing Articles
Overcoming resistance to writing requires more effort initially than it does later on, particularly if you build a writing habit and get into the swing of doing it every day without question, like brushing your teeth.
Before that -- and sometimes even after you have a writing habit in place -- one of your best tools for fighting resistance is insistence.
I suppose it's a kind of willpower but I think of it more as a blazing piece of magic and determination that tells resistance: "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"
Insistence means drawing a line in the sand and saying, "I WILL write today!" even if that looks like aiming for your rock bottom minimum of fifteen minutes or 350 words or whatever you've identified as your "no matter what".
Insistence doesn't have to be a ruthless warrior either. She can also be a gentle goddess, coaxing you to the page, kindly insisting that yes, indeed, you can write today, even just for five minutes. She's the one that helps you set the timer and get the file open and start typing.
There are days when insisting that I write feels exhausting, like one more thing to do on my overly full plate. But there's a deeper part of me that feels relieved and satisfied when I show up and do it.
Release the joy
I believe that writing is a calling. Something we can't not do. It doesn't come easy for all writers. For many of us, resistance is so overpowering that we begin to believe perhaps we just don't care enough about writing to actually do it.
Here's the thing. Where there is resistance, there also is passion, secret joy, energy, enthusiasm, and delight just waiting to burst out, to be freed from its prison.
You are the one with the power to release it.
Gently insisting that you will write today, even just a little bit, begins to break down the dam that holds back all that joy.
Is writing always joyful?
Will you feel joyful while you write?
Maybe not.
Perhaps it's the pessimistic side of me but I often feel more like a terrified deep sea diver putting on her scuba gear when I sit down at my desk to write. And while I'm underwater I focus on doing the work, as if the sharks and other unseen terrors might be show up at any time. And it's hard work too, extracting ores and hauling buried treasures back to the surface. It's only once I've returned to the surface, pulled off my gear, and taken a breath of fresh air that the relief and joy erupts through me.
I'm okay with that. But sometimes, I need a little insistence to help me get past the fear of facing all that hard work. :)
What about you? How does insistence help you show up and do the work?
by Jenna | Sep 9, 2015 | Writing Articles
Ordinarily I recommend writing first and cleaning later. I stand by that today, too. Do your writing, then clean your writing desk.
But today is still a good day to clean your desk.
Here's why.
As Fall takes shape, you're likely to start experiencing that "back to school" energy we all usually start feeling around now. You're probably even be feeling it already.
If you're like me, you're might be right between that lazy summer-just-ended feeling and sensing the forces of Fall coming down the pike. My older boy just started school and I can tell that I'm about to get swept up in the wave of production that usually strikes around now.
But it's not quite here yet, at least not for me -- today might actually be the first time I'm really starting to feel it as opposed to just knowing that it's coming.
Whether you're still in that in-between place, or ready to Get Moving, cleaning your space of the accumulated muck that's built up over the summer is a perfect way to transition into this productive phase and be ready to make the most of it.
For desk cleaning, here are a couple of tricks that work for me when I have limited time:
- Triage the mess and sort it into what-goes-where piles. Hopefully a lot of it will go straight into the recycling bin. One of my favorite tricks from Miriam Ortiz Y Pino is to use a "Belongs Elsewhere" box that I can toss things into that belong elsewhere in the house but have snuck into my space over time (those evil little monsters!).
- Put away what you can right now.
- Put the rest into a stack to sort later.
- Clean the desk surface.
- Behold the magnificence of your clear workspace.
- Get back to the writing. :)
- Over time, develop a system for the what-goes-where issues you discover as you clean and so the mess is less to deal with next time. (Miriam is great at helping with this. One of the best things about my office is that even though it's messy on top right now it's well organized underneath the chaos.)
And while you're cleaning, here's something to contemplate.
It's also a really good time to think about what you want to accomplish between now and the "end" of the year.
And let's be realistic about that for a moment, shall we?
It's not really December 31st for most of us that marks the end of the year. Realistically, it's more like late November or early to mid December somethingth. Because Thanksgiving rolls around, the kids are out of school for a couple of days, then suddenly you're in holiday mode. And sure, you'll still get stuff done, but let's face it, you'll also have one foot in holiday parties and shopping and the like.
(Unless maybe you're a true writer-hermit type, in which case you'll probably benefit from everyone else being so busy since you'll have all kinds of quiet time to yourself. :) )
So really, it's a great time to not only kick it into high gear with this back to school vibe, but it's also smart to think about what you're hoping to accomplish before 2015 rolls out like the tide.
You've got about three and a half months, give or take, before the holidays really start taking over the collective.
What are you aiming to accomplish before then?
While you're cleaning your desk, you call mull that one over and think about where you'd like to be at the "end" of the year.
And you'll have a nice, clear space to get to work in, too. :)
by Jenna | Jul 30, 2015 | Reflections
I got to thinking today, after hearing about a writing grant opportunity recently, that it would be amazing to one day be able to fund and operate a writer's grant program. Maybe even a residential one.
And instantly I started contemplating what I would want to see come in from prospective candidates with their applications.
Here's what's crossed my mind so far, in addition to the usual "proof of need" one might expect:
- A specific writing project and a description of its current status, i.e. concept development, rough draft, in rewrites, etc.
- A plan and timeline for completing it.
- A pitch for the concept that gives a sense of its marketability, audience, and reach.
- An outline of the writer's plan for marketing the project.
- Possibly also a slate of ideas for future writing projects.
- An amazing writing sample demonstrating the writer's potential.
- A personal introduction that gave a strong sense of who they are as a person, in terms of their spirit, drive, passion, and personality.
I imagine this might be something similar to what a publisher would want, though that's an area I haven't explored yet. Some of these things might be of interest to a screenwriter's manager as well.
What would be on your list?
I'm curious, if YOU had the money to give, what would be on your list of what you'd want to see from prospective candidate for a writing grant? Or if you were advising me on how to make sure I would attract and select writers best suited for making the most of a writing grant, what would you suggest?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not accepting applications yet nor will I be in a position to do something like that for the foreseeable future but I'm interested... :)
Can we use this now?
... Because:
What if we had those things right now for our current writing projects?
Would they help move us forward with a clearer sense of purpose, drive, and momentum? Or not?
What would it be like if we did?
