by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Ugh. I’m old. And I’m about 30 years too late when it comes to what I’m suddenly interested in doing — getting into screenwriting. And, yet, being old — and delusional — is rather freeing. I’m old enough that I’m quite aware of how delusional I’m being to begin the process of learning how to write screenplays.
And, of course, there are the other obvious obstacles of my background and where I live. But, like I said, I’m really delusional and it would be nice to have three solid screenplays finished if I ever find myself with a little extra scratch so I can physically go to LA and see what fate might bring me.
But, like I said — I’m delusional. Very, very delusional.
And, yet, sometimes these screenplay ideas I have rolling around in my mind can be very, very potent. They jump out of the depths of my mind and demand to be told.
The reason why I like screenwriting as opposed to novel writing — at least when it comes to these stories — is all I have to do is know the proper structure and formatting. I can just tell some prospective director what should be on the screen and it’s up to them to make it a reality.
Novel writing, meanwhile, requires I actually show the reader in their minds what is going on. This is very stressful and and wear one out if you spend all your time thinking about storytelling — which, of course, I happen to do these days.
Anyway. This, just like the novel I’m working on — is a long term project. I continue to just drift, in fits and starts, towards some general goal. I need to be a lot more clear with myself that I have a very, very window of opportunity to knock something, anything out that I can point to and say, “Look, I’m not all talk and blog posts.”
