{"id":1039,"date":"2014-09-30T12:17:10","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T18:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/?p=1039"},"modified":"2014-10-08T11:22:33","modified_gmt":"2014-10-08T17:22:33","slug":"writing-about-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/?p=1039","title":{"rendered":"WRITING ABOUT WRITING"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Frustration\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>My friend and writer Andrea Nasfell<\/strong>\u00a0is\u00a0part of something called a “BLOG TOUR.”<\/strong> This tour does not involve cruise ships or pina coladas with tiny umbrellas, but you do “travel” through the blogs of many writers as they pass the torch by linking blogs. \u00a0Andrea’s answers can be found at\u00a0http:\/\/ahundredhats.wordpress.com.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

These kinds of questions forced me to analyze my own process… and hey, it’s been about 100 months since I wrote on this blog anyway (you can learn WHY when you get to question #2).<\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s get to the questions!<\/span><\/p>\n

Who are you?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a deep question. Personally, I am a husband, father of two boys and generally silly person. I love comedy and movies and geek out a lot on sci-fi stuff and pop culture. Professionally, I\u2019ve been a lot\u00a0of things — a cartoonist, editor, stand-up comic and art director. But for the past 20 years I\u2019ve mainly been a writer \/ director in the mainstream entertainment business. This means mostly feature films and good old fashioned \u201cpopcorn\u201d entertainment. The great thing about my professional self and my personal self is that they intersect quite a bit at the heart of what drives me: I am a storyteller.<\/span><\/p>\n

To be a \u201cwriter \/ director\u201d is a valuable commodity, and it also allows me to hop between those roles. It can be refreshing to move between both\u00a0jobs. I\u2019ve written for other directors, and I\u2019ve also directed things that others have written for me. But on\u00a0the\u00a0projects that are most near and dear to me, I am both writer and director.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes it can be exhausting to wear both \u201cwriter\u201d and \u201cdirector\u201d hats, but I also know that whatever I am putting on the page is something I can carry all the way to the screen.<\/span><\/p>\n

The writer part of me has been greatly sharpened over the past ten years… I\u2019ve come to discover that writing jobs come along much more frequently than directing jobs. Directing anything takes a lot of people agreeing on a larger process that usually involves pulling the trigger on a lot of money. That can take a long, long time. Writing is usually one of the first steps people are willing to pay for, and that means I get paid a lot more to do that part… even for projects that never get made. The other up side to writing is that I get paid right away to write things, while I\u2019ve been attached to direct projects for years and never seen a dime. Not many people understand this… the actual job of directing doesn\u2019t actually kick in as a paying<\/span> gig until very late in the evolution of a project. But in my heart of hearts, I love directing more, so I am a patient man.<\/span><\/p>\n

What are you working on?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

I am currently directing and writing an animated feature. It\u2019s a really cool concept but the frustrating thing is that I can\u2019t talk about it right now. I\u2019m a guy who loves to share, share, share on my blog and take viewers through the process. But my bosses are really concerned about keeping things under wraps right now.<\/span><\/p>\n

What I can say is that it is a fantasy adventure and that the original script and concept came from a couple other writers. I was originally brought on to do a rewrite, and that process started to unwrap a great deal of the story like the layers of an onion. Finally the producers wanted to see what I would do with the story on a much larger scale, reinventing the movie quite a bit. After that, they asked me if I would consider this as my next feature to direct. The more I write on something, the more I SEE it and the more I get attached to it. So I got hooked and here we are.<\/span><\/p>\n

How does your work differ from others of its genre?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The more I work, the more I see patterns emerge that tell me what my \u201cbrand\u201d is. What is a \u201cCory Edwards\u201d script? It’s frequently a “genre movie” and is usually\u00a0a combination of very mundane and relatable characters in fantastical situations. \u201cHoodwinked\u201d was that tone: fairy tale characters talking like you or I would talk. We pushed it quite far, such as scenes with\u00a0two caterpillars talking about dating or woodland animals as beat cops. The other heavy theme that I seem to write to is \u201cpurpose.\u201d Finding it, denying it, rising to the challenge of a greater purpose. Those kinds of stories are relatable to any audience member. I also love word play and dialogue-based comedy. I like it when dialogue sounds real and natural and messy, but I am also a fan of old-school quotable bits from Monty Python or Abbott & Costello. Language is wonderful and interesting to play with, and every word is important. Everything I write I also read out loud, and when a scene plays well its rhythmic, almost like music.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Daydreaming\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Why do you write what you do?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

In short, I think movies are magic. And any form of storytelling can change an audience, move them, inspire them to change their attitudes or think on big life issues while being entertained. I strive to write things that have two levels like that: on one level, pure escapism and fun. On the other level, they should ask\u00a0a fundamental question that any human being would ask. Those \u201cuniversal questions\u201d are embedded in the greatest movies we all love. And I suppose there\u2019s one more thin layer on all of that, which for me is comedy. I think any genre or story, no matter how dramatic, needs a little comedy for you to get invested in the characters and fall in love with them. Even the scariest movies need the release of a laugh after a big scare. At least the films I love have that. In most meetings I take with studio execs or producers, I usually end up saying, \u201cRemember when movies were fun<\/span>?\u201d Remember \u201cBack To The Future?\u201d Remember \u201cGhostbusters?\u201d When you look at the very first Star Wars film, almost every scene was punctuated with a laugh. I think a lot of movies these days are too concerned about being \u201ccool\u201d or \u201ctough\u201d or \u201cdark\u201d and somehow that\u2019s supposed to make them more “legit” to an audience. One of my missions is to bring fun back to the movies. Because when you\u2019re smiling, you are open to the story, you are open to receive.<\/span><\/p>\n

How does your writing process work?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

When breaking a story, it\u2019s enjoyable to do that with a lot of people in the room, because a kind of alchemy takes place in the sharing of ideas. I always come away from that process with more interesting ideas\u00a0than I would ever generate on my own. But when it\u2019s time to actually write the pages, I like to hibernate and work alone. I\u2019ve co-written with several different people, but never found that magical pairing that I hear about\u00a0—\u00a0where both people write for hours together in the same room. I need to get my thoughts out with no filters between me and the page. But before that, outline, outline, outline. The structure and the details have to be there before I just plunge into writing the pages. I may spend weeks on the outline of a screenplay. But then it makes the daily assignments of each scene much easier. It’s soothing to know that the road map is already there. \u00a0After outlining,\u00a0I like to write fast, just get it all down as it comes to me. Again, I need to do this alone. I\u2019ve found that with other people in the room for that part, there\u2019s too much premature editing and not enough \u201cflow.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say I like to write in a void, or off in some detached location. Setting up my laptop in a Starbucks with a big hot latte is like a perfect\u00a0day to me. There\u2019s lots of life around me, and usually some good music, but no one will demand my attention. It\u2019s a wonderful \u201cwhite noise\u201d that keeps me moving. I also think that when you are in a public place to write, you do a lot less staring into space and goofing around. You feel responsible to keep the machine rolling.<\/span><\/p>\n

I pride myself on writing fast, and I think hitting deadlines, whether for yourself or a client, is the key to becoming a successful writer. Even on days when I don\u2019t feel like writing or feel like I don’t have\u00a0any ideas in my head, I find that just by\u00a0hitting the keys, even writing badly, the creative juices will eventually flow. I guess I’d say that you have to start writing to start writing. And if you just have the faith to start hitting\u00a0the keys,\u00a0sooner or later,\u00a0the good writing will come.<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s it for my installment of this BLOG TOUR. You can read Andrea Nasfel’s <\/strong>contribution\u00a0here: http:\/\/ahundredhats.wordpress.com\/2014\/07\/29\/blog-tour-my-writing-process\/<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

And the writer\u00a0that shared her blog thoughts with Andrea\u00a0posted here:\u00a0http:\/\/ritasravings.blogspot.com\/2014\/07\/my-writing-process.html<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

(Sorry, my LINKS are not working like they usually do. Very frustrating.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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My friend and writer Andrea Nasfell\u00a0is\u00a0part of something called a “BLOG TOUR.” This tour does not involve cruise ships or pina coladas with tiny umbrellas, but you do “travel” through the blogs of many writers as they pass the torch by linking blogs. \u00a0Andrea’s answers can be found at\u00a0http:\/\/ahundredhats.wordpress.com.\u00a0 These kinds of questions forced me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1039"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1064,"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions\/1064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/coryedwards.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}