Writer's Block

First, the title seems to make the assumption that I might be a writer. Yes and no, emphasis on "might be".

I have not written a book, ever, but have one or two in my head that I would like to get on paper.

Perhaps I'll rephrase that...

Although I have not yet written a book, I have one or two in my head that I intend to get on paper.

That feels better. "liking" and "intending" are as different as "dreams" ad "goals"...  a whole other topic.

The trouble is getting past the beginning as the beginning seems to be very tough to nail down. I figure that once it gets rolling it should just take off on it's own.

I also expect that that assumption is far from the truth partly because it overlooks the editing and re-writing stages but mostly because "taking off on it's own" is a very broad over simplification. I did pick up a few dozen books and re-read the beginnings in order to see if I could find inspiration in style and form there. That didn't make any difference as there were as many styles as there were books in my hand.

Stephen King wrote a book, "On writing", that I have read through, only once. Interesting read. It has led me to start reading more of his work. Although I am not a big SK fan, I have read "The Stand" and a couple of others. I have watched more screen adaptations of his books over the years than I have read books, but I also know that reading a book far surpasses watching the movie in almost every way. Perhaps unconsciously judging his various stories based on what I have "seen" has been a mistake as this may have been the largest reason for not reading more of his books. I've since read a number of short stories and started the "Gunslinger" series with an eye toward some of his processes that he talks about in "On Writing". Even if the story may not be exactly my thing, reading with process and technique in mind make the effort worth it.

Novelizations or books written for the sake of turning it into a movie, of course, are exceptions to the book is better than the movie rule... I have inadvertently bought one or two of these in the past and wondered "why bother writing these?".

Well, from a money making standpoint novelizations squeeze out a few more dollars in profits, OK. From a writing experience standpoint I figured the "why bother?" might be a good idea for me. My thinking came from SK's book, in a round about way, as he talks about his first writing when he was a kid. He had copied another's short story and initially claimed that he had written it himself... kids. I can assume that, if nothing else, it gave him the experience of putting words on paper in such a way as to make it feel as though he were creating a story that was at least half decent.

It's the "feel" that may make a difference. I can imagine the end product but have no concept of all of the in between steps and the actual writing that it takes to get there. Sort of like imagining topping Mount Everest without all the trudging up to base camp and most of the real climbing involved in order to reach the last few hours of the climax. Looking out over the world shrouded in fluffy white clouds is a great day dream without the real work of the climb.

I decided that I can take a movie and write a novelization in order to experience the act of writing. The putting down of dialogue and scene summary in an effort to get the "feel" of writing without having to think hard about creating the story sounds like a cheat, but may be a good experience starter. While I have hundreds of movies in my collection, choosing the right one might be problematic, only due to the wide selection. I expect that this exercise in writing may also be an over simplification but I am determined to persevere in this particular endeavour.

Off to the movie library.

Jeff.