Pressure of Perfection: When Your Story Won’t Speak (& Your Characters Don’t Either)

Feeling like you have to land on the perfect idea can often freeze you in your tracks. What do you do when it seems like every idea isn’t good enough? How do you keep moving forward when the pressure to create the perfect story is overwhelming?

You’ve probably heard other writers talk about their characters “speaking” to them, but what happens when that doesn’t happen for you? Is something wrong, or are you missing an essential piece of the writing puzzle?

Join us in this episode as we explore these common struggles and share insights on how to navigate through them. You’ll want to tune in to hear how to keep your writing moving forward, even when the pressure is high and your characters are quiet.


This episode has been pulled from one of the live coaching sessions that you'll have exclusive access to by purchasing any one of the online writing courses offered by The Storyteller's Mission. Check them out!


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Transcript

[00:00:00] sometimes I find that in writer circles, there's sort of these phrases that get overused or that everybody says is happening, but nobody really understands what it means. And then if you're not experiencing that, you feel like you're doing something wrong or you're on the outs.

[00:00:20] You must not know really what's going on because that's not happening to you. 

[00:00:35] Well, it's been interesting because I've had a lot of different projects going on I have a book that I'm writing right now.

[00:00:44] for the story structure class. I've been writing a bunch of satirical sketches, and then I've also been writing my stand up material, and on top of that, I'm writing my screenplay.

[00:00:55] So, writing is the name of the game right now. Like, I am writing all the time. And it's interesting how you can have A lot of experience as a writer and still totally biff it. Anybody know what I'm talking about? So the other day I wrote a sketch. And I even submitted it to my partners, my producing partners, because we have a shoot day coming up.

[00:01:27] And like three days later I re read it and I was like, oh no, this is so bad. And so I had to write them all and say, hey, I just re read it and it's really bad. Don't bother. Don't waste your time. And it's just interesting how that can happen. And so I guess what I'm saying is I'm proud of you guys for being here because the truth is it doesn't matter how experienced we are or how far we are in the project.

[00:01:56] We need feedback. We need help. We need, we need to be in community. We need people that are reading our stuff and are honestly, Able to evaluate it. We also need to be honest about reading our own stuff. Sometimes we need a little break Between when we write it and when we read it back and then we can evaluate whether or not it's any good Sometimes it changes even within three days.

[00:02:20] So, um, anyway I'm, just proud of you for being here for that reason and just know there is nothing that you can say that is going to be Stupid there's nothing no questions that you have that are silly or That don't matter We just need help. So I want you to know that there's, there's nothing that you can bring up here that is going to make any of us, or certainly not me, look down on you, 

[00:02:51] I'm glad to hear you say that Xena. So, uh, it's not really a question so much just more of a check in. So I'm about halfway through the course.I'm still at ground 0 on figuring out what is my story even going to be about? So I have written no words because I'm not even I have a vague.

[00:03:13] Ballpark generalist idea, but I mean that's kind of as far as I've gotten. I mean I finally narrowed down that it's going to be a drama and not a thriller, so for me that's progress from last month to this month. So there you go. I am like ground stinking zero. Okay, is that normal for you? 

[00:03:34] Yeah, last time, last time I wrote a screenplay, it didn't go well. And so I'm back writing after like a screenplay after like a several year hiatus. And so I want to do this, but I'm also reluctant. And I want to make sure I pick. An idea that I really feel passionate about and that regardless of whether it's ever produced or not Whether it's optioned or any of that.

[00:03:59] I at least want to feel good about having written it when i'm done Okay, and I did not feel good about the last time so kind of that's where i'm at Okay, david. Let me ask you a question. so how many screenplays have you written? full length and one short. Okay. That's a total of two,Okay. So, I'm going to Make a radical suggestion. I'm going to encourage you not to write a full length screen play and instead write a short, it is, it is hard to write a good short. Uh, but what's nice is that it doesn't suck up two years of your life and, and you can fix it quicker and you can, and you practice all the things that you have to have in a long form story.

[00:04:52] By the way, the same principle applies to if you're a novelist. This is why people like Stephen King start with short stories because the short story doesn't take as long to get there. You don't have to be as invested. It doesn't have to be the exact right idea because you're practicing the craft. And let me tell you something.

[00:05:13] I I've had some students, um, that's what we do when I teach screenwriting at the college level is they have to write a solid. Short film and when they, I know if they can, if they can write a solid short film, they can eventually write a screenplay, but it, but everything they need, all the skills, it comes out in the short, but it just doesn't eat up so much of your life.

[00:05:41] It's not so demoralizing. If you fail, you can fail much more quickly and you can fix it much more quickly without feeling like you've wasted six months of your life. It also allows you to focus on the characters and the, the arc, which is so important. And even milking the genre for all it's worth. You know, Flannery O'Connor wrote short stories.

[00:06:07] She was brilliant. Because short stories allow you to do everything that you have to do in a long form story, but without the intensity, the commitment, the time suck. It just is not such a risk, and I think it gives you the training then to go on to do it. So, I would recommend that whatever you're working on right now, you make a shift in your head, So that it's not so important.

[00:06:36] See the problem is, it's really hard to land on something when it has to be everything. Because this is your chance to do it. You've got to write, you know, you put this pressure on yourself for this perfect, you know, screenplay that you're going to come out with. That's going to be fantastic. And that in and of itself is paralyzing.

[00:06:57] Whereas if you approach it as it doesn't matter if I fail, I'm playing, I'm exploring, I'm learning. Now you can write five shorts as you're going through the course, rather than One full length screenplay. Does that make sense? Yes. Thank you That takes a lot of pressure off. Wow It does 

[00:07:24] I mean, I this is what i'm doing with my shorts That's why I mean my shorts the other day, which was a little um, You know, so it's a it's a sketch comedy, you know comedic satire 10 pages And it sucked, but guess what? I spent one day on it as opposed to one year. 

[00:07:46] what's the difference between the short and a full length in terms of pages or typically a full length feature screenplay is going to be anywhere between 100 and 120 pages.

[00:07:59] There are screenplays that are longer, but you have to earn the right to have that. A good short is gonna be, ideally, 10 pages, but it can be longer if it needs to be.

[00:08:15] You know, I've seen excellent shorts that go up to, say, um, 15 pages, 20 pages. My, my short that I won a bunch of awards with, um, was nine and a half. 

[00:08:26] the reason why you typically want it to be around 10 pages is because that's 10 minutes of screen time. And when, then you want to submit it to film festivals and in the film festivals, um, if you have a 20 minute film, that means you have to beat 

[00:08:43] You know, two 10 minute ones. And the problem is, you know, they want to get as many People accepted as so it has to be really good if you have to beat out two places So it's better to have it be a little shorter, but you can even be shorter than that like I did a short recently called The Wife. 

[00:09:02] It's four and a half minutes long. I think the script was about 10 pages but it was, um, you know, a lot of snappy dialogue and we cut a lot in the editing.

[00:09:10] So it ended up being, maybe it's five and a half minutes long. I can't remember. But the point is for a film, you're looking at doing a complete arc, usually anywhere between five and say 15 pages. 

[00:09:28] So that's what I would recommend, David, that you switch gears and whatever it is that you're working on, right? Here's the thing. You can always write a great short based on this character that then becomes a long form project later. If you write a stellar short, but you just start with the short and then it's just not much of a risk and you're not putting so much pressure on yourself.

[00:09:51] Okay. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. 

[00:09:55] I was just gonna maybe update a little bit because I had seen you at the conference back in May, Blue Ridge, that project has developed into a novella at this point And I guess the hardest thing for me, not having ever written, fiction before, really,is really.

[00:10:13] experiencing like the character talking to you and all this kind of stuff. You know, that I hear a lot of people, you know, the character takes over and, you know, kind of dictates to you what, what you're going to write, that kind of thing. I, I, I haven't exactly experienced that. So, I don't know. Let me address that.

[00:10:32] That is excellent. Because sometimes I find that in writer circles, there's sort of these phrases that get overused or that everybody says is happening, but nobody really understands what it means. And then if you're not experiencing that, you feel like you're doing something wrong or you're on the outs.

[00:10:56] You must not know really what's going on because that's not happening to you. I can tell you that in my own experience, my characters don't take over. They don't speak to me. I'm not having conversations with my characters and I'm not. Waiting to see what they want to do in the story. And and this could mean different things to different people, but i'm just going to share with you what that phenomenon means to me What it means to me when the character quote takes over Is it means that I am able to be in the moment in the story?

[00:11:34] There's a saying that I'm sure you've heard that when you're planning, you're thinking, but when you're writing, you're feeling. No matter what plan I've come to the table with in the story, when I'm writing a scene I have to basically check all of that at the door and really be in the scene.

[00:11:55] You have to feel it unfold. You have to feel the tension. It's the kind of stuff you can't really teach that well. You either kind of feel it. And let it unfold. Or you don't, you know, where the rhythms are, you know, how to build the tension, how to make that conversation go like how to, how to increase the stakes or the conflict, You're feeling it and because you're feeling it, you're not in your head.

[00:12:26] You're, you're in touch with the creative side, the muse. You've checked the planner at the door because the planner can't help you when you're in the scene. But that's not quite the same thing as the character speaking to you and dictating how it goes. No, it just means you've become, you've, you've managed to embody.

[00:12:47] I mean, when I'm writing. An emotional scene.

[00:12:51] I mean, there should be a hidden camera on writers when they're writing these scenes. Because I bet it's hilarious. Like, I, I'm like, making all sorts of expressions, and I can get angry, I can, I'll even type harder, and, I mean, I'm just like, I'm in it, I'm emotional, I'm feeling it. Feeling it no matter which character I am, you know, really as writers, we are actors.

[00:13:24] We, we embody the characters and that's why if you don't embody a character, that means you've probably created a prop and not a character. When you've created a, a, a good character, you feel their argument too, just as much as the one that more maybe represents your argument. Because a lot of times we, we, we like to create the person that's um, the, you know, we're the victim in our own story and so for somehow basing it off of us, we've created a caricature in the other person who's just wrong and we get to write the injustice that happened in real life and that usually means you created a caricature.

[00:14:06] But if you're in a scene where there are two characters arguing, about what the right thing to do is, what the right approach is, 

[00:14:14] But either perspective of that argument, I'm feeling it. I'm in it. So we're actors and that's what it means. You should be able to embody your characters and their emotions.

[00:14:30] If your characters aren't having emotions, that also means your scene isn't working. Every scene, your character should come in, start the scene at a certain emotional place. And then, as the scene unfolds, It should actually move them to a new emotional place.

[00:14:53] That's actually how you know When to end the scene and by the way, sometimes this can even be really subtle, especially Uh in screenplays a lot of times you

[00:15:03] You've got a character who's doing, you know, a training sequence and they're doing their jumping jacks and their pushups and, and they're full of determination and then, somebody walks into the gym and has a fight with the boss guy and the office. And then they leave.

[00:15:20] And now your character is doing their, Jump ropes, but their focus is on that. That's very subtle. But it's a switch. They've switched. They're now more curious and interested in what just happened over there. They're not focused on their own thing. there's an emotional shift to what they're, they are experiencing because before they were very focused.

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[00:16:44] So anyway, my point is.

[00:16:47] Going back to, what Jasmine brought up. A lot of times people will say, Well, my characters are talking to me. I just have to see where they want to take the story. But what they really mean, Is that they're following the genuine emotions of the character In that particular scene Because they're in it.

[00:17:07] They're not dictating what's happening to the characters. It's staying present because you're feeling it as you go, which means you can't just jump to the end that you want. You've got to find a way to get there. It has to organically unfold to that. So you're, you're not allowed to just sort of impose upon the text and ending that you want.

[00:17:30] You have to feel it. You have to drive it. You have to allow it to get there organically. I think that's mostly what people mean, Jasmine, Does that help? Thank you. Yeah, yeah, I think it, it, um, reinterprets it in a way that makes sense and it doesn't apply this pressure that you're always looking for this to be in this way, you know.

[00:17:53] Right, because the other implies sort of like this magical approach to writing, like, like you have to be half genie to be able to tap into the muse or something. And I don't think that's true. I just think it's like life, right? You want to be present. You want to be in the moment. That's all. Just be in it.