I am writing this without having anything to write. I thought it'd be best to warn you of that now, so that if you're bored already you don't have to keep reading. I always write when I have an urge to write, when I have something to say. Right now I don't.
But I'm curious to find out how I write when I really don't have anything to write about.
I find my creative juices are similar to playing sport. Practice helps. Warming up helps. And the best work comes when you're in good form, writing great line after great line. But if you play too often, you burn out, you use up too much energy.
The mistake that's easy to make is to come back too soon, or to force ideas when really you need to be resting. We all need rest. The problem that creative people have is that they feel guilty. We can't watch four minutes of a daytime tv show without screaming at ourselves to do something more meaningful.
But the resting is important. Seeing your friends is important. Sitting out in the sun is important. Its important to get through new experiences without cutting them short because you want to take the 'new experience' juice and turn it into a story idea.
You may live to write but you also have to live to live, too. A screenplay, or a story, even an acting performance; they need life and wisdom. What you get from writing, is a lot is experience, and craft; you learn the shortcuts and you figure out how to turn mediocre into good.
But to be great, you need life. And so often we forget that, because we're too busy fighting with ourselves, demanding that we create masterpieces. But when we demand it of ourselves, we often create hostile work environments within our own minds. Inner discipline is good, but inner chaos will stop you completing projects.
I used to cause myself a lot of distress by constantly having a voice in my head screaming "Write something! Make a film! Make some money! Make a masterpiece! Write a blog! Do something worthwhile with your life!" and it was constant, and aggressive.
But that voice, constantly in your head, is as powerful and energy sapping as if there was literally a person standing there screaming the words at you.
So now I take the pressure off. I am still extremely prolific as a screenwriter, film director and as a blogger, and I'm very demanding of myself; but when the creative well is dry, I don't use up my reserves; I just see it as a sign that I need to rest, or refuel on life, or on reading.
The voice in my head demands things instantly, as if I must write a masterpiece or create something magic before 11am. But not only is it impossible, it's unnecessary. And the pressure gets me nowhere.
I wrote this post without major pressure; just out of mild curiosity and wanting something to do before going to bed, and maybe it didn't turn out so badly.
Whether you're a successful professional or a hopeful amateur, I'm giving you permission to have the night off. Please take it. You undoubtedly deserve it.
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Saturday, 2 April 2011
The Film I Always Go Back To: You've Got Mail
Today I'm running a blogathon called "The Film I Always Go Back To", - where bloggers write about the film they always find themselves re-visiting after stressful weeks, or messy break-ups, or maybe just because they love it so much. I will be sharing other blogs on this theme over the weekend through the Facebook Fan Page.
I love "You've Got Mail", I've seen it countless times. I've never really blogged about it, apart from the time I compared it to 'Sleepless In Seattle', but as I started to think about this blogathon I set up on the theme of 'The Film I Always Come Back To', it seemed to be the only choice that fit.
I think Nora Ephon is a wonderful director. There's no-one better at creating a warm and welcoming environment for two hours. I don't think any other director could make me enjoy a film about women cooking for two hours, but that's exactly what she did with 'Julie & Julia'.
'You've Got Mail' is about love in the modern age. It was made before Facebook and Twitter, but it's still in the same world. A world where we tweet and update statuses incessantly, and we like to believe it means something, or someone's listening. 'You've Got Mail' is the fantasy; that words over a computer can mean something. They can make people fall in love.
'You've Got Mail' paints a beautiful New York City; autumn leaves and beautiful cafes on the Upper West Side. It's a New York I believe in. It'd be 'cooler' for me to see NYC the way Scorcese does, or even Woody Allen; but the New York I love is the Nora Ephron version.
And I never thought about it until writing this article; but YGM is essentially about a corporate company fighting with an independent local store, which is basically what I blog about every day, maintaining a bit of 'The Shop Around The Corner' in a world dominated by the 'FOX Books' equivalent.
I like that films can be fun and have a sense of joy and romance. This film nails it. Too often films get self-conscious about being romantic, or they make the joy too big, like some daft Will Ferrell flick. 'You've Got Mail' just tells a good story, with engaging characters and memorable dialogue. The conflict between Kathleen Kelly and Joe Fox is played perfectly by Hanks and Meg Ryan; two actors who have done their best since this film to steer clear of their natural talent for romantic comedies. Tom Hanks is masterful in this. He gets the recognition (deservedly) for films like 'Forrest Gump' and 'Saving Private Ryan', but here he has an ease and playfulness that is a pure delight to watch. Nobody can do this the way Hanks does. I just hope he does more of it-- because the smug-I'm-a-good-actor version of Hanks we've got since Da Vinci has been extremely disappointing.
I like rom-coms. And it's great when they're done right. Truth is, the indie films generally do it better (Before Sunrise, In Search Of A Midnight Kiss) but I think when it comes to big budget fare, Nora Ephron is the best there is. There's a lightness and sweetness to her work which we rarely see in film, or the world. And lightness ain't always so bad.
'You've Got Mail' is a delightful, humorous breeze; one of my favourite movies-- every time I watch it I sink into its version of New York. I love it.
If you write a blog and like the idea of this blogathon, please get involved! Write your version of "The Film I Always Go Back To" this weekend! Meanwhile, I also recommend watching "The Shop Around The Corner", the fantastic Ernst Lubitsch film that "You've Got Mail" was based on.
If you write a blog and like the idea of this blogathon, please get involved! Write your version of "The Film I Always Go Back To" this weekend! Meanwhile, I also recommend watching "The Shop Around The Corner", the fantastic Ernst Lubitsch film that "You've Got Mail" was based on.
Friday, 1 April 2011
ADAM DURITZ On The Struggle Between Art & Real Life
Adam Duritz, lead singer of Counting Crows, on that decision every artist has to make.
And there are those that go.
And those that stay.
And you walk out on the edge of the world and you balance yourself there for a little while, and you try and figure out which one you're gonna be.
And a lot of our friends are doing other things right now, and we're up here singing on this stage."
Roald Dahl Quote On Writing From "Boy"
I've just re-read Roald Dahl's 'Boy' - the author's autobiographical tale of his often exciting, often painful childhood. The book is about his life from birth to eighteen. Most of the stories he shares are quite heartbreaking; the death of his Father, the constant canings from headteachers throughout his childhood, etc. But Dahl being Dahl, he is able to take you on an enchanting and beautiful journey, full of magic, mischief and mystery; just like in his children's books.
He only addresses his writing for one brief paragraph, near the end of the book; but he does what he is always magically able to do -- explain everything you feel and believe, whilst making you feel the pain and the joy of the subject all at the same time.
"I began to realize how simple life could be if one had a regular routine to follow with fixed hours and a fixed salary and very little original thinking to do. The life of a writer is absolute hell compared with the life of a businessman. The writer has to force himself to work. He has to make his own hours and if he doesn't go to his desk at all there is nobody to scold him. If he is a writer of fiction he lives in a world of fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not. Two hours of writing fiction leaves this particular writer absolutely drained. For those two hours he has been miles away, he has been somewhere else, in a different place with totally different people, and the effort of swimming back into normal surroundings is very great. It is almost a shock. The writer walks out of his workroom in a daze. He wants a drink. He needs it. It happens to be a fact that nearly every writer of fiction in the world drinks more whisky than is good for him. He does it to give himself faith, hope and courage. A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it."
He only addresses his writing for one brief paragraph, near the end of the book; but he does what he is always magically able to do -- explain everything you feel and believe, whilst making you feel the pain and the joy of the subject all at the same time.
"I began to realize how simple life could be if one had a regular routine to follow with fixed hours and a fixed salary and very little original thinking to do. The life of a writer is absolute hell compared with the life of a businessman. The writer has to force himself to work. He has to make his own hours and if he doesn't go to his desk at all there is nobody to scold him. If he is a writer of fiction he lives in a world of fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not. Two hours of writing fiction leaves this particular writer absolutely drained. For those two hours he has been miles away, he has been somewhere else, in a different place with totally different people, and the effort of swimming back into normal surroundings is very great. It is almost a shock. The writer walks out of his workroom in a daze. He wants a drink. He needs it. It happens to be a fact that nearly every writer of fiction in the world drinks more whisky than is good for him. He does it to give himself faith, hope and courage. A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it."
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Kid In The Wrong Row
It's funny how everyone fits in at school apart from all the ones who don't. How do you know you're a misfit, is it gradual, or do you know from day one?
When you're 12 and not cool, it's kind of painful. Cause everyone is laughing at jokes you don't find funny and everyone is talking to the girl but she just won't talk to you.
And for a while you're just nowhere, until you find out you're you. It's like a bolt at 15 when you realise you don't just like the movies you like but you think they're important. You'd die for them. Because when you're a kid in the wrong row you find what you love at 13 and you know it holds the secrets of the universe, and everyone else is just passing the time, but you're falling into your passions. I don't know why you're this way but you are.
And pretty soon you're 22 or 36 and you're still certain of who you are even though the world around you doesn't get it. But you live for it because it's what you believe in, it's why you get up in the morning.
You're a movie star or a painter or a writer and the world doesn't know it yet. You turn 46 or 28 and you're just being who you became at 13; because you are who you are and you love what you love. It's something you know that you can't quite explain and any day now you're going to capture it in a character or turn it into a lyric and finally you'll nail it. And everyone who never got you will find something out about themselves all because back when you were a kid you found out who you were and went a different way.
When you're 12 and not cool, it's kind of painful. Cause everyone is laughing at jokes you don't find funny and everyone is talking to the girl but she just won't talk to you.
And for a while you're just nowhere, until you find out you're you. It's like a bolt at 15 when you realise you don't just like the movies you like but you think they're important. You'd die for them. Because when you're a kid in the wrong row you find what you love at 13 and you know it holds the secrets of the universe, and everyone else is just passing the time, but you're falling into your passions. I don't know why you're this way but you are.
And pretty soon you're 22 or 36 and you're still certain of who you are even though the world around you doesn't get it. But you live for it because it's what you believe in, it's why you get up in the morning.
You're a movie star or a painter or a writer and the world doesn't know it yet. You turn 46 or 28 and you're just being who you became at 13; because you are who you are and you love what you love. It's something you know that you can't quite explain and any day now you're going to capture it in a character or turn it into a lyric and finally you'll nail it. And everyone who never got you will find something out about themselves all because back when you were a kid you found out who you were and went a different way.
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