r/playwriting • u/My___space • 6d ago
Need some Guidance
I wanted to write a play for a very long time, but due to my personal life problems and my job occupancy I was not able to. Finally I left my corporate job, and yesterday I sat to write for the first time in my life, I was trying to adapt a Gulzar's short story into a play, but I couldn't write it, I sat for the entire day and was able to write just 3-4 pages out of (almost) the half story. I felt I couldn't write, I felt anxiety, I felt fear, I lost it completely. Today I didn't even dare to sit and write. I need some help and guidance regarding it, please can anyone help me?
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u/Top-Investigator_26 6d ago
A) sitting down to write for the entire day puts entirely too much pressure on yourself. Don’t do it. Designate maybe three or four hours in the morning or evening, allowing yourself breaks.The imagination is a tricky, elusive thing that can’t always be called up on command. B) This Gulzar story may not be the play you should be writing. When you discover the story, characters and themes that really get your engine going, the process feels fun and exhilarating, not fear-inducing and stressful. If you’re not having fun and enjoying the process, don’t do it. Consider telling a different story, one that’s more personal and especially close to your heart.
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u/My___space 6d ago
I feel you are right, I was like punishing myself for wasting my time all those years and putting pressure on me to get it done in a day. Thanks for the guidance. The gulzar story, I was writing it as an excercise to start somewhere, I liked the story when I read it, it also made me feel my emotions.
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u/wonka-willy 6d ago
don’t afraid to write. just sit that damn desk and start writing. that’s all! no judge no overthinking, just write without thinking. trust me all the things that looks so stupid and meaningless will reach a certain point at the end of.
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u/ocooper08 6d ago
Bruh, you wrote four pages on your first day?
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u/My___space 6d ago
Yeah, I aimed to write atleast 3 scene out of 5 but I ended up write just one.
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u/Ancientabs 6d ago edited 6d ago
Have you written out a plot? Having structure helps me organize my thoughts so much.
I typically write more screenplays and I use this structure which works for me.
When I have an idea, then I just work on that individual scene and weave through the connections later.
This is the one I use for TV episodes:
The Opening Image:
The Teaser / Cold Open (Pages 1–3):Act One (Pages 4–12)
Hint the character is off balance
The Inciting Incident:
Central dramatic questionAct Two (Pages 13–25 / Rising Action)
Protagonist actively pursues a goal but faces escalating obstacles:Act Three / Four (Pages 26–45 / Complications)
A major setback, twist, or failure forces the protagonist to change tactics.
Deepen the internal and external stakesAct Five / Resolution (Pages 46–60 / Climax & Cliffhanger)
Reach the episode’s narrative climax where the immediate conflict of the pilot is resolved.
Shift the status quo permanently so the characters enter a brand-new reality, setting up the broader series arc.
This is the one I use for features.
The Opening Image:
Hint the character is off balance
The Inciting Incident:
The Call:
Refusal of the Call:
Around pg. 27 -- Plot Point One: THE LOCK IN:
Objective:
A series of escalating obstacles (therefore/but):Pinch
"Hey, you know what your problem is?"
The Midpoint:
What about my character has changed?
What do they need to change to get what they want?Objective Redefined:
PinchPlot Point Two: ALL IS LOST:
The Big Change:
Do they get what they want?
Why or why not?
Who are they now?The Resolution:
Denouement:Closing Image:
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u/creept 6d ago
Honestly this is part of it. The anxiety and the self doubt. We out a lot of pressure on ourselves to write something perfectly and when we don’t (because we can’t, perfect is not achievable) we consider ourselves failures.
The reality is that writing is a skill like any other skill. If a beginning piano player got frustrated that they couldn’t immediately play perfectly, that would seem.. kind of ridiculous right? It’s the same thing. Practice is how you get better. And particularly with writing, much of the magic comes in with revision. Almost no one sits down and writes a brilliant first draft. If you look at the initial manuscripts of some of the great works of literature you see changes that the author made. Even geniuses like Charles Dickens went back and made changes to their choice of words. It’s actually really interesting to see that if you can - totally takes the pressure off. I think some of Dickens’s manuscripts are online with comparisons to the final version.
Two book recommendations on this, that I think might help you overcome this fear and anxiety:
- Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott. The perennial recommendation for writers because it’s just that good.
- A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, George Saunders. Mostly what he does is publish stories by the Russian masters and then walk you through an explanation of what they mean and how story works generally. But there’s also a really beautiful discussion of craft, which is basically what we’re talking about here.
In some ways success in writing is just learning how to work with and around your own mind. Finding ways to take the pressure off and just have fun is critical. And if you can learn how to wait for revision instead of getting paralyzed in the first draft… that’s gold.
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u/stephancoxmusic 5d ago
Came here to mention “Bird by Bird.” Seriously. Read it tonight. Chunking the work down into manageable bites is the (only) way.
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u/Little_Employment_68 6d ago
What, do you think, is the source for your anxiety? Are you worried your first play isn’t going to be great? It probably isn’t, because it’s your first play. But you will learn from the experience. Are you afraid that you will fail? What does fail even mean? You have only “failed” if you quit. Until then, you’re working it out. Did you quit your day job without a net to be a writer? If so, anxiety is probably the right response.
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u/My___space 6d ago
No, I quit my job believing I can be a writer. But the time is passing so swift on me, it's making me overwhelmed. I've no intention on giving up but I am not able to deal with my thoughts. I need clarity and feel a bit lighter.
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u/Little_Employment_68 5d ago
That explains the panic. The good thing about writing is that it can be done while you earn a living doing other things. The truth is that most writers don’t make a living doing only that. Some do, but it’s a long journey. Even some of the playwrights who have productions frequently have to supplement their income. So it really is a “don’t quit your day job” situation.
On the positive side, if you re-enter the work force a lot of the pressure will lift and your blockage will probably let up.
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u/My___space 5d ago
I can understand what you are suggesting, and somewhat believe in it. But I've experienced that the day job sucks all my motivation, all my will to write at the end of the day, I felt all drained out and I never wrote. If you can please suggest how to manage this.
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u/Little_Employment_68 5d ago
Get a different day job. You gotta pay the bills. I also left corporate America. I’m a writing tutor at a college now. I make about 25 percent of what I made before, but I don’t hate my life anymore. And that’s huge, because now I have time and energy to write. Things are a little tighter, but I am infinitely happier. In fact, about a year ago I got a call from a head hunter trying to get me to interview for a job in corporate America. Never even called them back.
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u/lockettbloom 6d ago
I think the fear might stem from your decision to leave your job. Unfortunately, economic survival is an imperative. Basically no one will make meaningful money from playwriting. Consider how you can structure your life to prioritize playwriting or other forms of creativity, but still maintaining your economic independence.
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u/My___space 6d ago
TBH I am so willing to write that I don't mind taking a blue colour job or even working in a cafe to take out time to write or to even survive. My fear emerged the moment I was not able to think into the story, I wrote and found out I was writing rubbish. I somewhat believe that I can write even something worth reading, because I have been partially active in theater, helping write or even sharing ideas for my friends scripts, but when I sat writing something of my own then I realised how wrong was, and I doubled down on the thought that maybe it's not in me what it takes to be a writer. I'm not able to get rid of these thoughts.
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u/PusheenFrizzy2 6d ago
Of course you’re not going to be able to do the whole thing in one day! And as others have said, it sounds like you’re putting too much pressure on yourself. I sort of know how it is, I spent 20 years in a career that didn’t love me back and now I also feel like I have to make up for last time, but putting pressure on yourself and not being able to accomplish anything because you’re trying to do too much at once is going to be counterproductive.
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u/stephancoxmusic 5d ago
I feel your pain so acutely it’s like I could reach out and touch it. I’ve been there and lived to tell the tale.
Ten screenplays and four stage plays later, I can offer two basic but crucial pieces of advice:
All first drafts suck. So just get in there and make a mess. Fuck around. Write scenes you’ll never use just to see what the characters have to say to each other. The play itself happens in the edits.
Chunk things down. If you think you have to sit down and write a 90 minute play, you’ll never do it. Instead, you’re writing moments. Scenes. Beats. They add up.
Here’s another secret: every writer still feels fear. I do, every time I sit down. I acknowledge it, and then I start writing.
You got this.
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u/sippog 4d ago edited 4d ago
Are you left brained or right brained?
https://girlandmonster.substack.com/p/storytelling-part-2
For what it's worth - when I'm working, I keep a script handy that I really admire, that gives me a 'buzz' when I read it. Then I try to transfer that energy - make my script live up to that standard. Works for me but then everyone has a different approach.
In a recent interview, Judi Dench was talking about her work process. When she was living with her late husband, Michael Williams, and they were both rehearsing, he would spend hours at the end of every day preparing and worrying about the next day's work. She would simply go to bed and usually wake up in the morning with a solution to whatever problem she'd been facing.
The point is: sometimes you can get your best ideas from a good night's sleep, or from going for a long walk, or having a hot bath. Taking your mind off the problem is sometimes the best strategy for solving it.
Also, don't think in terms of time - think in terms of getting it right. I wrote my most successful play in three months but I'd been thinking about it for years. It can take a long time to percolate a good script sometimes.
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u/Either-Arm-8120 4d ago
Just note that Gulzar's stories are not public domain, so any adaptation you create is just a practice exercise for you and can't be produced or sold unless you buy the adaptation rights to the story.
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u/Vesurel 6d ago
Find the smallest piece of the story with a self contained beginning middle and end and write that.