Monday, January 21, 2019

Situations where writers need help from others.

When it comes to me being a writer, it's not exactly a secret that I like doing things alone. Whether I'm working on a screenplay or something else, I prefer doing things by myself, so that I could concentrate on the task and figure out what I'm supposed to do.

The reason for this is that as a writer, it's up to me to come up with those quality screenplays. I'm in charge of the project and can't expect others to bail me out if I screw things up and don't manage to come up with stuff that is good enough.

At the same time, just because it's my responsibility to write the stuff, that doesn't mean that I'm never supposed to get help from others. There are situations in which it's pretty obvious that we need advice and guidance as writers.

For example, when it comes to learning the basics and the fundamentals of writing, you shouldn't be learning them all by yourself. There's very little point in 'reinventing the wheel', if there are other ways to learn how the craft works.

So in practice, if it's only possible for you as a writer, you should learn the basics from either reading some well written books or attending some classes about the craft. This is a pretty easy way to get ahead of the learning curve as a writer.

The next situation in which we all need help has to do with the rewriting and the polishing process. This is when you let your trusted readers - friends usually - take a look at your writings, after you have finished your first draft.

The reason for this is that once you let your readers take a look at your script, they will help you fix those (hopefully) minor problems that can make it better. They will fix those annoying typos too, which are almost impossible to notice by ourselves.

The third and perhaps the last time when you need help is when you have written and finished that script (with feedback and corrections). This is when you're supposed to start marketing the script, so that it could perhaps be sold at some point to someone.

After all, there's nothing worse than writing a solid screenplay / manuscript and leaving it to gather dust in your drawer. You need to find someone who pushes you and controls your projects so that you won't leave them once you're done with the script.

In retrospect, the reason that I finally managed to gain some traction for my career is because I got myself a manager. I was lucky to get myself a project manager who supervises my tasks and makes sure that I contact the right people and don't slack too much.

After all, without her efforts, there's almost no chance that I would have turned my movie screenplay into a book. There's no chance that I would have contacted a publisher and done all those other things that have mattered lately.

In the end, even though it's me who writes and has written every word that I've ever published, me writing is still not the only thing there is to the process. It's clear that there are other things too that count and that have benefited me as a writer.

After all, me becoming a solid writer is a result of having gotten help from all kinds of sources. I've read the right books, I've asked my friends for feedback and I have also gotten a manager who takes care of the rest of the things.

In that sense, even though it's not always easy to ask or to get help from others, there's no reason not to do it. There's no reason not to do it, as long as the advice and the guidance that you'll get will help you and will make it easier for you to succeed as a writer. 

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