1/ There are so many parallels between directing and novel writing. A short thread as I watch a few lessons on Ron Howard’s Masterclass on directing...
2/ First off, I’ll just say that Ron Howard, as I’ve generally seen him in interviews in the past, comes across as a very humble, personable man. And in his Masterclass, he’s sharing a lot of hard-earned knowledge, and complex topics, in a way that’s easy to digest.
3/ It’s interesting to look at the director, as opposed to the screenwriter, since the director no only has ultimate say over the script, but many other aspects of the film. They bring a vision, of which the script is only a part.
4/ Yes, it’s true that the director isn’t going to be the one who makes the changes to the script, nor do they have ultimate power. But for the purpose of this conversation, let’s agree that they have the power to make changes as they see fit to enhance their vision of the story.
5/ One of my favorite parts so far is the notion of taste, our own, individual taste and how that can’t be taught. We simply have it. All of us. Whether it’s a predilection to tell stories that are big canvas, or tight and personal, fast or powerfully emotional, or what have you.
6/ If we can agree on that basic premise, one of the ways we can stand out as storytellers, then, is to simply recognize our individual tastes and to enhance them. Expand on them. Define them further.
7/ It’s not often talked about in books or in classes on writing, but recognizing your tastes will help you in several ways. In identifying the stories you want to tell, and also in putting your personal spin on them. It's one of the great keys to successful storytelling.
8/ Because it’s very easy to fall into the trap of telling a story that’s already been told. In fact, it’s almost impossible NOT to do that. One of the greatest weapons in your arsenal in combatting that is just this: expression your personal taste in your story.
9/ Another absolute key for my writing process that Howard mentions is enjoying the excitement of your story. This is easy to do when it’s in the formative stages. It’s why many writers enjoy that protean stage so much.
10/ But over the course of writing the story (which can take months, a year, or, eek, multiple years) it’s sometimes easy to lose it. It’s one of the things that can cause or add to writer’s block.
11/ It’s important to love your story. To love the ideas packed in it, the excitement, the sorrow, the world, the fantastical elements, and so on. It helps to make you WANT to write and helps you to write BETTER while you do.
12/ I’ll admit that, in the course of every day life and the grind of writing, it can be easy to lose hold of. But the first key, IMO, is to simply recognize this as a goal. Identify the things you love the most, the things that give you juice.
13/ This is one reason this concept is so closely related to taste, and why it’s important to foster you sense of it. But don’t simply use it to choose project—use it as a well of inspiration and energy to continue, complete, and enhance your project.
14/ I recognize it’s easy to lose hold of that sense of enjoyment and excitement. There are plenty of little tips that can help. Playlists that you use only for that particular project is common.
15/ I also recommend Pinterest boards very early in the project. Use it to collect the “boundaries” of your project. Characters, places, magic, tech, and more. It helps in the ideation stages, but helps greatly when you get stuck.
16/ Or for when you’re just not that thrilled about it anymore. Why? For the simple fact that you were so excited when you collected those images. It helps you find your center again, brings you back to that place of initial thrill. Which helps to move you forward again.
17/ One last thing I’ll mention. Another parallel between directing and writing. And that’s in choosing your projects. Directors have lots of choices over what project to tackle next. As do we writers.
18/ I’m about to touch on the business side of writing, which many writers rail against. They almost cringe from it, thinking that’s not part of the ART of writing.
19/ And sure, if we’re strictly talking about the art, then perhaps there’s no need to discuss business. But I’m a pragmatist. I do this for a living. I NEED, to some degree, to consider that side of my art.
20/ Where I’m going with this is that as directors have a wide array of scripts to choose from, we as writers often have a ton of ideas that build over time to choose from. Those ideas are our scripts. And we should evaluate them before we tackle them.
21/ Certainly we should consider our excitement for the project. I’m not advising you to ignore the artistic element. But also consider the project’s audience. Who is it meant for? How widely can it conceivably go?
22/ Some projects will just naturally be more mainstream than others and will strike a chord with a wider readership. This isn’t to say that you adopt the projects with the largest potential audience blindly.
23/ This is merely to say that you should be honest about a story’s appeal. And once you do that, you can then do some more analysis. Could it reach a wider audience? Does it not resonate enough? Is it not exciting enough? Could you accentuate it to make it “more of itself."
24/ Sometimes doing this sort of self-reflection can make a story that is working on one or two levels and lift it so that it’s firing on all cylinders. And THAT may make you more excited to spend your (let’s face it) limited resources tackling.
25/ On the flip side, if you recognize something is more mainstream, DON’T BE ASHAMED IN TACKLING IT. We’ve already agreed that you’re pulling from a list of projects you WANT TO WRITE. There’s nothing wrong with taking the one you consider the most marketable.
26/ That doesn’t take away your artistic license. You can apply your art just as much to that as you could any other project.
27/27 I suppose what I’m advising here is to be critical of how you choose your projects—including altering basic ideas if the changes resonate within you—and then choosing your project by weighing the drive you feel, the art/skill you can apply to it, and its potential audience.
