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One of today's master writing teachers, Lucy McCormick Calkins, describes drafting as a mental teeter-totter: the writer goes back and forth between "passion hot" and "critic cold" as the draft emerges. Peter Elbow describes the Janusian dilemma all writers face: "Writing calls on two skills that are so different they usually conflict with each other: creating and criticizing."
When writing a first draft script, the emphasis should be on "passion hot." Your goal is to get "black on white." The ideal state of mind is "flow." Once you reach it-go with the flow. Keep your judgmental critic at bay. Here are a few suggestions to bear in mind while drafting...
Keep sight and sound linked. Don't fall into the trap of writing long blocks of narration without detailing the accompanying visuals. Writing with pictures in mind makes your narration more focused. Also, it forces you to make certain you know what your visual material will be. Unlike screenwriting, the media writer often deals with abstract subject matter. Your job is to find ways to visualize.
Don't bog down. Okay, so you hit a section where you have difficulty visualizing what the audience sees on screen. Or you're stalled on a particular content segment. Find a way to keep going. Skip the difficult section. Rough out the general idea, then forge ahead. Don't give your inner critic room to start messing with your flow. Stay in the "passion hot" writing mode. Move forward like a shark.
Accept Imperfection. Sure, you'll hit segments of the script that you know are really rough. Don't panic. Keep the momentum going. Your goal is a first draft and first drafts will, by nature, be riddled with blemishes and imperfections. That's okay.
Try to lock in on voice. We talked about the role of voice in writing for the ear. Voice results from individual writer speaking to the individual viewer. Voice carries the emotional weight of the message. Once you select an appropriate voice, do all you can to stay with it. But, should you find the voice drifting, just keep putting the main ideas down on paper. Make adjustments later.
In short, during the drafting process, don't let the inner critic's judgments create a writing block. Stay hot. Next week, we'll go to the cool mode.
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