(1) A quick (unsolcited) #Thread about a mistake I see some new/unpublished/undiscovered talent make on social media: announcing and hyping projects that never get made. We know how exiciting it can be to find a "killer" idea and how thrilling it is to begin working on it. #write
(2) We writers often get ahead of ourselves, posting pages, paragraphs, story clips, partial artwork, screenshots, praise from family/friends/colleagues - all for unfinished and/or underdeveloped projects that clearly need more time to grow and become a "thing." #writerslife
(3) The scant validation we receive for this unfinished masterpiece spreads like a raging virus and overtakes the time and effort needed to get the project done. We begin to sell the IDEA of the project instead of turning the IDEA into a PRODUCT. I've seen this happen a lot.
(4) Eventually, we spend the majority of our day sharing pieces of the unfinished project on social media and blabbering incessantly about how "cool" it will be with our followers. Everyone else seems to share in your excitement (at first). Then time passes... then more time...
(5) One day, you find that your enthusiasm fades. All the cool dialogue and action sequences become muddled. The clarity of your vision becomes smeared like a bug on a windshield. You begin to doubt that the project is worth the effort because of (*insert whatever reason*).
(6) We move on. The dead project is frozen in the digital amber of social media feeds and we decide to look for new inspiration for our (*next killer idea*). Suddenly, we think of something AWESOME and the process begins again. Rinse, cycle, repeat. It becomes so easy. So simple.
(7) More time passes. We get excited. Share the stuff. Nothing happens. Well, that's not true, something DOES happen... people stop taking you seriously. No one ever says this to your face, but you'll notice less likes, less engagement, less positive energy and more silence.
(8) Your bibliography becomes a graveyard of unfinished manuscripts/screenplays/comics/etc. Sure, folks will engage with you once you complain about other people's products, but few will say "Yea, but where's YOUR work?" That's because they've lost faith in your word. Quietly.
(9) I am not here to shame anyone or criticize what you choose to share, only to offer encouragement to finish what you start. Even if you don't have a "perfect" product (few of us do), you still have SOMETHING to share whenever an editor/producer/exec asks "What have you done?"
(10) I've watched many talented colleagues overhype unfinished projects repeatedly over the course of a decade. I've watched others constantly churn out material and gain a measure of success. Which gets the benefit of the doubt in the long run? Another thing I learned...
(11) One of the core commodities of the entertainment industry: the benefit of the doubt. People hate taking chances on anything in the biz. Whatever you can do to reduce their trepidation only works in your favor. One of those things is consistently delivering quality product.
(12) Hope this helps someone. Lord knows I've been on both sides of this equation. Most of my advice comes from trial and error and a whole bunch of failures. Best of luck out there folks! #WritingCommnunity #WednesdayMotivation #scriptchat
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