Splat! Hitting The Wall With Writer's Block

By Christina Hamlett

Writer’s block (n.) a temporary inability to
proceed with the composition of a novel, play, etc.

            The bad news is that this malady isn’t confined to beginning screenwriters.  Even people who have been writing for eons can suddenly be struck with a mental paralysis that causes their heads to go as blank as an empty computer screen.  The good news is that the operative word is “temporary,” easily curable by engaging in creative exercises to get the juices flowing again. 

      What better time then the impending end of one year and start of a fresh new one to get your brain unstuck and explore some new territory for stage and screen?  This month’s column offers some holiday food for thought to get you started. 

      In addition, the end of the article offers a year-end opportunity for WOL playwrights and screenwriters to receive professional critiques of their work: the first step in readying them for competition and submission to production companies.

• If you could change anything about yourself (age, looks, status), what would it be?  You wake up tomorrow and your wish has come true.  Write a 1-page diary entry about your first day as the “new you.”  Would you keep this wish or revert to the past?  Why?

• Your hometown is giving you an award.  What is it and what did you do to earn it? Prepare your answer as you’d like it to appear in a magazine interview.

• In order of importance, list the 10 best things that have ever happened to you.

• If you were going to be marooned on an island for one month, what three items from your room would you take with you and why?

• Spin a globe, close your eyes and drop your finger on any spot to stop it.  You are going to be a foreign exchange student in this place for one year.  Write an essay about what you are most—and least—looking forward to in this experience.

• If you could spend an hour with anyone in history, who would it be and what would you most want to ask him or her?

• Write an 8-line rhyming poem about your favorite sport.

• Ten years ago, someone gave you a small, locked box and told you not to open it until now.  (1) What is in the box and (2) why did they make you wait a decade?

• Rewrite Cinderella set in 1943 and the ball is at the USO.

• Describe your most recent dream/nightmare and what you think it means.

• If you could have a different set of parents, who would they be and why would you choose them?

• If you had three wishes, what would they be and why?

• What are you the most afraid of?  Write 100 words about your greatest fear.

• You have the power and influence to enact a new state law.  What would it be and why?

• You have only 24 hours left to live… in prison.  What would your last meal be?

• Turn on the radio.  Whatever song is playing is the score for your next film.  What is the storyline and in what scene does this specific song first appear?

• You’re under a tight deadline.  You have actors waiting breathlessly in the wings of a theater for you to write lines for them to come on stage and perform.  Your production company is going to be closed if you don’t come up with something clever by the next performance date.  Such is the pressure for a tortured young William Shakespeare as portrayed by Joseph Fiennes in Shakespeare in Love.   Fortunately, he has a lovely muse in the form of Gwyneth Paltrow to inspire him.  Compare and contrast this film and its elements to Alex and Emma in which a novelist must complete a new book in 30 days or risk ugly retaliation by the mob.  Which of these two writers had the easier job? 

• Who is your favorite film hero?  Who is your favorite film villain?  The two of them have decided that they want you to write a plot that they can act in together.  What would that plot be?  Which one of them would emerge the victor?

• Pretend you are a teenager and write a 200 word letter in which you earnestly explain to your parents why you are dropping out of school to become an actor, a musician or an artist.  Create a fictional persona who has just penned this same letter to his/her parents.  If this were a feature film, what would the outcome be?

• Go to an art gallery and study all the paintings.  If you could spend a single afternoon in any one of them and actively interact with the subject matter, which painting would it be?  What do you feel your choice says about your personality?  Write a 100 word synopsis of a fantasy plot in which your lead character enters the same painting you picked.  Would he or she choose to remain in the painting forever or return to real life?

Former actress/director Christina Hamlett is an award winning author and script coverage consultant for the film industry.  Her credits to date include 22 books, 118 plays and musicals, 4 optioned features, and columns/interviews that appear in publications throughout the world.  Her latest book, COULD IT BE A MOVIE, is available through Amazon and her publisher, Michael Wiese Productions (www.mwp.com).  As an incentive to WOL subscribers to polish their scripts and start pitching them in 2006, she is offering her consultation services for 50% off between now and the end of December.  The comprehensive coverage addresses the areas of originality, structure, dialogue, character, pacing and commercial appeal.  For further information, drop her an email at authorhamlett@cs.com with the subject line “Script Coverage”.