The Process

The process of writing is a joy for the most part. I wouldn't say I'm prolific or even that great but I find the more I do it, the more I'm finding my voice.

I'm fascinated with the whole creative process that goes into writing, or goes into anything for that matter. Everyone has there own way of doing things in order to get into as we say:The Zone.

It usually takes me months to finally sit down and write something mostly because I spend that time thinking it out thoroughly. I must have a clear picture in my head, at least something to go by before I sit down at the keyboard. This process is where I think I've done some of my best writing.

Lately however I've been coming by other ways to write. Recently I've hitched my wagon to a local comedy group in my city. They are full of people who I have gotten to know and trust very much. We write all our original sketches, bring them to the table for the others to peruse and then we sometimes do re-writes. I must say I'm finding working this way with a group of people very gratifying and fun. Even if a sketch isn't working out, we sometimes come together and try to make it work. It's very give and take and you have to leave your ego at the door.

It's also becoming a stronger way for me to understand comedy. As I was going on in my last post, there's an art to comedy, and it has its own formula. When I'm writing a comical situation, I ask myself why is it funny. Sometimes I can't find an answer, and that's when I think it's not as great as it could be, but I must put those petty things aside when working on a deadline, in hindsight there have been only two sketches I have written so far I have been proud of, one of them in particular became good only when we rehearsed it with the actors.

One thing writing tends to do is keep me isolated, and that's when it becomes almost hard to take. I love discussion, and dissection which is something I think you can only perfect when with more people, but there is that time when you have to be alone with your own thoughts. This however isn't always an agonizing situation, for I have found many times I couldn't wait to get home and write, to be with my characters that I love so much. This is probably a description of being in the zone, when everything seems to click and all you need to do is put it on paper.

Even what I'm doing right now, I feel is part of the process, it's a recording of thoughts, trying to express something sometimes not all that clearly other than to myself, but it's a way of wiping away the cobwebs of my brain to make a clearer picture in my head of what I feel is what I need to express.