Forgive me. It’s been 21 days since I last blogged…
But something else has kept me quiet: a firey guilt that singes the inner recesses of my writer’s mind. It’s this painful burden that brings me to the keyboard tonight. I have something to confess.
I speak fondly of different genres of writing from time to time. But, I have been almost exclusively a card-carrying member of some unofficial union of short-fiction writers, working our way into novels. In fact, I was working a novel lately. And, then I stopped. Again.
As well, I go on and on about the love-hate-love triangle that inflicts the writing process. You might think I’m seething in the midst of a hate phase right now, but you’d be wrong. I have been writing, and doing so happily. Lovingly. Passionately.
And this is where the confession comes in. For the past few months, I’ve been writing a TV pilot. It feels so wrong.
For years, I’ve been the guy on record claiming TV is the source of all that’s wrong with humanity. And here I am engrossed in an HBO-style one-hour television drama, and enjoying pretty much every second of it.
I don’t think I’m some kind of Stephen J. Cannell. I haven’t returned my union card. And I don’t plan to give up my novel or the short stories I need to revise or the new ones waiting for me.
The way I look at it, it’s all writing, it’s all storytelling. For some reason the idea of spending some time this summer writing a TV pilot script grabbed hold of my imagination and didn’t let go.
Besides scratching an itch, this exercise has had an added benefit. Playing with this thoroughly different genre has helped me hone in on things that I feel like I neglected while immersed in short fiction: like structure, rising action, tension. You know, those little things.
From what I understand, too, scriptwriting is a form that tends to allow for collaboration a lot better than fiction. I’ve been putting that to the test by writing this thing with my wife. The partnership has been productive and fruitful so far — nice break from the usually lonely business of writing.
If we keep at our pace, we hope to be finished with a first draft in a couple weeks. When that happens, this will be the first completed work I’ll have in front of me since finishing my collection of stories for my MFA.
I confess. If this does turns out to be wrong, I don’t want to be right.
Happy writing.
Comments 5
That’s great! Good on you for finding what you want to do, when you want to do it.
Posted 22 Aug 2007 at 8:57 am ¶It’s nature, not nurture. I love to write essays. I read fiction and nonfiction, but I’m drawn to writing creative nonfiction.
Write what you love to write. If you aren’t bound for fame and glory, at least you’ll have the pleasure of it. If you ARE bound for fame and glory, well then, send me a percentage when it happens
– another USF MFA
Posted 22 Aug 2007 at 12:33 pm ¶It’s all writing. Go for it. You will learn something, have fun, and who knows, maybe earn some money, which, contrary to popular belief, is actually not a sin for a MFA grad. Good luck.
Posted 22 Aug 2007 at 12:34 pm ¶TV as a medium is not necessarily destructive. The problem is that our programs do not require one to think. I hope you write a show that engages the intellect along with the emotions. Otherwise, you’re right, TV is just a sedative.
Posted 22 Aug 2007 at 1:50 pm ¶Why not? Change the world. Be the one who takes TV to new heights.
Oh, and don’t forget us when you’re rich.
Posted 23 Aug 2007 at 2:28 am ¶Speak Your Mind