by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
As I continue to spin my creative wheels with the first act of the third draft of my first novel, I find myself pondering yet again a second creative track: a screenplay.
I already have the infrastructure to do so — I have Final Draft. But the thing that stopped me from plunging into screenwriting remain: there is a sharp learning curve when it comes to writing a screenplay. So much so, that I honestly feel like just redoubling my efforts with my main creative track of a novel.
And, yet, I’m not getting any younger and I’ve progressed far enough with the novel that I think maybe it would be fun to piviot to writing a screenplay whenever I feel overwhelmed with the main creative track of the novel. I think, in general, what’s going on is I’m ready to expand my creative horizons beyond just one novel that I keep tinkering with.
I’m very much in a put up or shut up moment. I have GOT to finish something. But there are a lot of problems with a second creative track being screenwriting.
I’m Too Old
I’m just too old. At 50, I’m so old that I fear that any hope of being a screenwriter is kind of an even bigger delusion than being a novelist. But, lulz, it would be fund to just tinker around with screenwriting despite my decrepit age.
I’m a Kook
This is a problem because I have no friends and no one likes me. If I was “normal,” I could maybe find a creative collaborator who could help me develop a screenplay.
I Live In The Wrong Place
I really live in the wrong place. I live in BFE Virginia. But, lulz, it would be fun to have a few screenplays done so if I ever happen to find myself in Hollywood I might be able to pitch them.
The upsides to screenwriting some on the side as I progress with writing a novel is that I could flex a different creative muscle or two in my mind. I have a few really great scifi concepts in my mind that would be fun to explore. I think what I’m going to have to do is do treatments for these screenplay concepts before I sit down to actually write anything.
The temptation will be, of course, to simply use those treatments for novels, rather than screenplays. But, lulz, as long as I’m being creative, I guess that’s all that matters, right?
