Writers Block | Donald L. Vasicek

August 3, 2017

“How To Beat Writer’s Block”

I am currently working on a short film script, but I’m unable to complete it. What should I do?

Award-Winning Writer/Filmmaker Donald L. Vasicek on Rabbit Ears Pass in Colorado

If you want to continue your career as a writer, then you need to go back into your script. Make sure your main character has a goal. Organize it so that you have a unifying theme, a main character, an antagonist (can be a person or a volcano or a radical political leader, etc.) or villain (in fiction, villains represent evil without any redeeming characteristics). The antagonist or villain must seek the same goal your main character is seeking. The difference between them is that the antagonist or villain represents a negative or evil way of doing it. Also, make sure you have a beginning, a middle and an end to your story. This doesn’t mean that it has to be in chronological order, just that you must have this in your script. Also, read your dialogue. Film is a visual medium, so you should strive to show in place of telling. Some dialogue can be changed to visuals in place of the dialogue. During this process, you will find that you will be able to complete your script with vim and vigor!!!

June 17, 2011June 17, 2011

Writing/Screenwriting Scenes

by
Donald L. Vasicek

JENNY'S LAKE — Award-Winning Writer Donald L. Vasicek - Jenny's Lake - Grand Teton Park

When writing scripts, always think of movies and how
they transition from scene-to-scene. This is imperative.
This approach gives you more of a director’s
“eye.” In turn, the visual dynamics of writing visually
become more prominent the more you do it.
This gives a rhythm and movement to the entire script
that binds it more tightly together. It also helps you
avoid writer’s block. “Stepping” back and
looking at a scene that you’ve written with the idea of
looking at it like it is already a movie, when your mind
is blocking out, will improve your visual writing dynamics
and the scene. Step into the scene and become your
character.

For example, you have a character coming into a room.
How should you write that? Step back and look at it
as though you’re watching a movie? Think of a movie,
or movies that you have seen with this kind of action
with respect to the genre and kind of character you’re
writing. How is the character coming into the room done?

You will find that most good movies always cut-to-the-chase
with each scene. They do not mess around with details
that hinder the movement of the movie. If a character has
to be thrown into the room because she is a prisoner of
terrorists, then, throw her into the room. If a character simply
has to walk into the room, then, cut-to-the-chase. Get her
into the room as quickly as possible. Just make sure that
it is consistent with the rhythm and movement of the entire
story/script/movie/character.

For example, a character in your story is mild-mannered.
She loves daisies and brandy. She reads James Joyce.
She is a certified public accountant for a large accounting
firm. Everything she does has a place. How would you write
her entering a room? She would enter the room with
grace. She would smoothly take in everything in the
room. She would then proceed with the reason she is
entering the room.

Making scenes sparkle like this enhances the screenwriter’s
ability to excel in their craft.

Donald L. Vasicek
The Zen of Writing
http://michaelc.nextmp.net/wordpress
dvasicek@earthlink.net
303-903-2103

April 6, 2010January 3, 2011

“How To Destroy Writer’s Block”

What I learned several years ago was
to push myself to write. By writing
at the same time each day, even if
it is for 15 minutes, I write. If it is
not writing an article, screenplay,
book, etc., but just writing, I write,
at the same time each day. This
approach to writing is vital to
the professional writer. It is like
professional athletes do before
a practice or a game, they loosen
up to reduce the danger to injuries.
A writer must loosen up before they
write, or they will experience an
injury, some refer to as “writer’s
block.”

I select something about which to
write. A pen setting on the table
in front of me, for example. I
study the pen. I think about the
pen. I ask myself, “What can I
write about this pen for 5 minutes?
I define the shape, the color, and
the angle to the table the pen is
laying. I define the metal clip
on it. I define the steel tip on it
I define the color of the ink in
the pen. I note the name of the
pen. I write about the pen in a
Zen-like story form. I take all
of these elements and put them
together in a fashion that tells a story
about the pen. The theme of
the story, is the pen. The theme
is what holds every story together,
like the roots of a tree.

One can always write. The question
is, how much brilliance does one
have to write, when the mind
refuses to give one anything to
write? This is when the writer
must take charge and write.

When one desires to write their article,
screenplay, book, personal letter,
business letter, etc., and has
difficulty in getting started for the
day, or night, or what have you,
do a writing exercise such as I have
described above. This warms up the
mind to turn to what one sets down
to write in the first place. Write only
long enough to get the mind to
working again, before you return to
what you want to write.

And remember, anything anyone
writes is brilliant. It’s just a matter
of how the writer puts what they
write together, that defines brilliant.

I hope this has been of help to you.

Best Regards,

Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
http://michaelc.nextmp.net/wordpress
dvasicek@earthlink.net