Where do ideas come from?

There is nothing more satisfying in the world than having that moment of inspiration that leads to a fully formed idea, or even just half of one, flashing across the inner movie screen in your head. When you start seeing things come together in your mind, scene after scene from fade in to fade out with the credits rolling. 

But where is it that ideas come from?

It’s one of the questions that people have been asking me a lot recently and to be honest I don’t really have a clue how or where ideas for screenplays pop into my head. They seem to happen at random and without much warning and often as quick as they come unless I write them down – they’re gone!

I’m a great believer that everyone in the world has a story to tell that would be great on the big screen. That great love lost, that passion that you have for something no one else knows about, the big secret that you’re still keeping from secondary school.

Though how do you know that one story your bursting to get out on the page will be any good? That’s the beauty, you don’t and you never will unless you start writing it and let the inner movie in your head run free. Start looking at your flashes of brilliance as a window box that you have to nurture each and every day adding a little water (ink) here and there, letting it see the light (giving it some breathing room) trying new things to help it grow – taking your characters on a journey that might not have an ending just yet but by the time you’ve finished writing you’ll have a beautiful little herb garden prospering around you. I think that I might be confusing metaphors here; but I think that you get the picture. Write every day and let your imagination run wild – you can always edit it later.

Anyone who says that: “I’m not creative enough to be having ideas all the time” wind me up. We’re all creative in our own ways – we find ways to express ourselves all the time and you have to take your own way of expressing yourself to the page. I once got told that the muscles you need to write are just like any other in your body – if you don’t use them they get weak and flabby. You need to write to be able to learn to write – so basically what’s stopping you!

Finally, for those of you who still might be struggling to find your opus or muse I know that actually getting started is the hardest part, that’s until you get to the middle of ACT II and you feel that you’ll never see the end, and after that there’s how you get to the end look back and realize that you hate everything that you’ve written. What I’m trying to say is that writing can be hard, but only as hard as you make it. When I’m ever struggling to write I just remember this little ditty and it all seems so simple again:

Want to be a writer but don’t know how or when,

Find a pad of paper and grab a humble pen.

So you’ll be pleased to know that I’ve finally finished the self-empowerment seminar and here are a few tips that in my six months of writing full time that I’ve found have helped in the creative process:

-          Write little – Unless you’re one of those people who can sit at a screen for hours on end typing away work in short busts with little breaks in-between! You’ll get more done in that time and can reward yourself with treats and breaks that helps structure your work day. I’ve found it really helpful to buy myself a desktop egg timer (called boss). She makes sure that I work for 20 minutes straight (with no break or internet) and then get 5 minutes off after 20.

-          Write often – I don’t entirely believe in working on the same project every day but you should at least be writing something 365 days of the year. Put simply writer’s write stuff. Get a blog, a twitter account, email people, just get something down on paper at least once a day every day. My address is 4pagesormore for a reason – it’s what I aim to do every day without fail.

-          Write to a deadline - It’s amazing what having a self-enforced deadline can do to you. But don’t just trust yourself to keep to the deadline tell everyone you know that you’re going to complete this screenplay in a month and they are to hound you to read it if it’s not done. You’ll be surprised how a little peer pressure can get you working away rather speedily.