Post 1 Technology, Creativity, Dialogue, Character, and Point of View…and What I’ve Interpreted from Aaron Sorkin

Attention Writers and Authors: This is a long Sunday morning analysis of dialogue, character, and point of view. It’s just some thoughts I put together…It’s not law. If you have something helpful to add, by all means, please leave a comment.

A little about technology and creativity first. Electronic devices can help you be more productive, but they can also hinder you with your work. I think about all the times I'm ready to sit down, and I really want to get into something creative, something that I had planned. I open my computer…

First thing that happens is I have to update something, or I have to make certain that the contacts are updated, or it's asking me a question, or it wants me to do something else. By the time I've gone through all that, I'm totally distracted. So, not having it attached to the Internet doesn't really help. Not having peace and quiet in the house doesn't help. Not getting sidetracked with other stuff around the house doesn't help. The only way to really deal with this is going through all of it making certain you're ready after all your equipment is ready to work for you. Or…

What I’ve started doing is dictating into my phone as soon as I wake up, while I’m making coffee, doing my mundane morning ablutions, and turning on the computer.

That being said I have friends who often write by hand like we did in the old days. We can pick up a pencil and a piece of paper or note pad anywhere and start with our idea immediately without interruption. Now there is the downside. You could break the tip of the pencil or your pen could run out of ink. Other than that, not much else can prevent you from moving forward. Therefore, I always have two pencils around, always have a backup pen, and plenty of paper to jot down my notes, because that seems to be the most effective way of actually writing without distraction from the minute I start. There are recent studies done with students that have determined handwriting notes is a more effective learning tool than keying notes into a tablet. There’s something about physically creating the words on paper that help the learning process. I feel it also helps the creative process. Like sculpting—feeling the object take shape and form.

How do you write? Do you start in the beginning and just think about it? I was listening to writer, Aaron Sorkin yesterday and some of the older interviews on videos that he had done, and I noticed he has a certain method or routine he goes through with all of his developmental writing. After listening to him, multiple times yesterday, I thought it probably was similar to all of our processes.

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He thinks about what he's going to do for a long time, planning it out in his head. I guess that's somewhat similar to the people who want to sit down and do an outline and get it all down on paper in some sort of order. Apparently he can remember exactly what he wants to do. It’s easier for him to move the story around in his mind so he can organize  the plot mentally before he actually sits down and writes the first draft. That doesn't stop him from thinking about the piece that he's going to write while he is watching ESPN and doing other things with his feet up with the music on, but he is thinking about where the story’s going. Sometimes he does mental erase sections, and uses backspace and delete in his head, then goes in and continues to reformat his thought process so he can move forward with the story. the way he wants to be sold and knows the end of the story when he sits down to write it which I think is pretty common to many authors. In my case, when I write, I have some idea where I want the story to go at the end, especially when I write romance. I know it's going to be a happily ever after. If it's part of a series, I know it has to segue into the next book. Continued

Return here tomorrow for Post 2