A Process Breakthrough
Finally figuring out how to manage inspiration, my brain and a writing process.
I’m one of those people who sometimes receives ideas at the end of a firehose. You can start the flow by just giving me information and a question. I’ve learned that in my consulting work, this might be one of my greatest strengths because I can almost instantly give so many ideas about what it’s possible to do or create next. In my own creative endeavours it isn’t always that productive without the guides of specificity!
Learning to dance with my own version of inspiration and try to capture it into something workable has been difficult. As I’ve shared with you here I don’t see a whole story and a nice neat plot progression when I work on my story. I get flashes of scenes, feelings, and rabbit holes of research. And where I’ve struggled is where to keep it so I can put it neatly into order and write the space between. I’ve tried notecards, whiteboards, spreadsheets, file folders, and so many many notebooks. I really wanted it to be beautiful notebooks! But until now I’ve never found a space flexible and big enough to contain this expanding universe that feels like it supports me. I keep writing down things without having them at my fingertips to slot into the story when it’s ready for them. I find myself starting from scratch over and over and losing some beautiful things I know I’ve already written… somewhere.
Yesterday I had a brilliant breakthrough in that! You won’t be surprised that my particular firehose of inspiration doesn’t cooperate and only focus on one thing at a time. I’ve had an idea for a tv pilot for over a year and, like this much larger Medieval universe, I was stuck trying to sort out pieces of character and place trying to make into the narrative I wanted. Sick of having the idea in my head I started researching script writing software. And you won’t believe what happened.
I found it. I found my spot!
I discovered a digital beat sheet and storyboard to live next to a script or manuscript. The way the beat sheet expands indefinitely and you can move and categorize the little pieces as much as you want… well swoon this is how my brain works! Zooming in and out. I now have a place just to capture a fragment. Write it regardless of the rest of the context and then be able to grab it and put it in the story sequence as it fits. I can also just cut and paste the writing and put it in the main manuscript without rewriting it from scratch. Oh. My. God.
I am not exaggerating when I tell you it felt like home and how easy writing was yesterday. I feel like I’ve just jumped up a level and with the right equipment for me I will be able to write forward so much faster now. That’s so exciting.
Oh and the software’s name? Celtx. I’m not kidding. The universe is funny.
Love it!