{"id":96,"date":"2010-10-02T15:52:15","date_gmt":"2010-10-02T22:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mythmakersent.com\/blog\/?p=96"},"modified":"2010-10-26T10:12:14","modified_gmt":"2010-10-26T17:12:14","slug":"the-double-edged-sword-of-new-ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mythmakersent.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/02\/the-double-edged-sword-of-new-ideas\/","title":{"rendered":"The Double-Edged Sword of New Ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb_share_1\" style=\"float: right; margin-left: 10px;;width: 55px;\" name=\"fb_share\"><div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#appId=125029517579627&amp;xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/www.mythmakersent.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/02\/the-double-edged-sword-of-new-ideas\/\" send=\"false\" layout=\"box_count\" width=\"55\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>It&#8217;s funny how new ideas arrive. \u00a0I don&#8217;t get them a lot. \u00a0Maybe a couple of <em>really<\/em> good ideas every year, but definitely not more than that. \u00a0As a writer, though, we always have to be in search for those new ideas, and willing to open our minds to and chase nearly every idea that comes along. \u00a0 We must test whether or not it actually is an idea worth really thinking about.<\/p>\n<p>I read a lot. \u00a0Partially because I know I need to, but I actually love learning and gaining insight into other storytellers&#8217; minds. \u00a0I read the news a lot, and try to keep up on scientific developments &#8211; particularly in Physics and Astronomy (I&#8217;m just very interested in those subjects). \u00a0Recently however, I&#8217;ve been reading a 2400 page fantasy trilogy which has been a drag. \u00a0As with many fantasy books the concepts are great, the characters are great, but the author gets so carried away with the minutia of the world that he or she forgets to tell a gripping story. \u00a0 But this is where my mind has been for the last month or so, except for the 15 hour book-on-tape marathon I had in which I listened to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Elegant-Universe-Superstrings-Dimensions-Ultimate\/dp\/0375708111\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1286058654&amp;sr=8-1\" target=\"_blank\">The Elegant Universe<\/a> (all about String theory).<\/p>\n<p>So yesterday, I climb onto the orbital trainer at the gym, and start my daily\u00a0exercise\u00a0routine. \u00a0Within a few moments, no more than a minute, a new idea had spawned in my brain. \u00a0For the next 1\/2 hour while I was on the machine, I followed that spark of an idea and saw where it led me. \u00a0The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. \u00a0There are strong elements of every boy&#8217;s childhood in there, but with a fantastic sci-fi thriller angle, all set in a great location which I&#8217;ve never seen in a film before. \u00a0And the kicker &#8211; I tend to think BIG &#8211; and this is an incredibly small, contained idea that could be made for just a few hundred thousand dollars &#8211; if the production team was right.<\/p>\n<p>So I pitched it to Tess, just the concept, and she dug it. \u00a0It&#8217;s now been a full day, and I still think it&#8217;s got a lot of potential. \u00a0&#8220;Where&#8217;s that double-edged sword you mentioned? \u00a0Isn&#8217;t this a good thing?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Well&#8230; here it is. \u00a0Writing is hard. \u00a0And writing from a brand new idea is very hard. \u00a0So while it&#8217;s great to have some cool new idea that I can actually <em>see <\/em>specific moments in my head that are thrilling, that&#8217;s all I&#8217;ve got. \u00a0Will it blossom into a full and interesting story? \u00a0It can. \u00a0Will the idea be worthy of the time commitment it&#8217;ll take to develop and write? \u00a0I could. \u00a0But <em>will<\/em> it?<\/p>\n<p>This is the double-edged sword of a new idea. \u00a0It&#8217;s a spark, but nothing more. \u00a0Taking it from a spark to a complete, satisfying story full of lifelike characters, twists and turns, and hopefully interesting new ideas&#8230; well&#8230; that is very hard. \u00a0 And these sparks are dangerous. \u00a0Potentially very dangerous. \u00a0 Here I am now with at least 4 other scripts at some stage of completion, which can all develop into great scripts, and I am drawn to write something new before finishing those.<\/p>\n<p>As Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio say, &#8220;Your premise will make or break your script.&#8221; \u00a0That&#8217;s wonderful advice, but equally important is having the dedication and fortitude to actually <em>finish<\/em> what you start. \u00a0We are not writing ideas, and we are not writing premises. \u00a0We are writing complete, compelling, and satisfying stories!<\/p>\n<div class=\"tweetthis\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><p><a class=\"tt\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/home\/?status=The+Double-Edged+Sword+of+New+Ideas+https:\/\/www.mythmakersent.com\/blog\/?p=96\" title=\"Post to Twitter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"nothumb\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mythmakersent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/tweet-this\/icons\/tt-twitter.png\" alt=\"Post to Twitter\" style=\"margin:0;\" \/><\/a> <a class=\"tt\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/home\/?status=The+Double-Edged+Sword+of+New+Ideas+https:\/\/www.mythmakersent.com\/blog\/?p=96\" title=\"Post to Twitter\">Tweet This Post<\/a><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s funny how new ideas arrive. \u00a0I don&#8217;t get them a lot. \u00a0Maybe a couple of really good ideas every year, but definitely not more than that. \u00a0As a writer, though, we always have to be in search for those new ideas, and willing to open our minds to and chase nearly every idea that &hellip; <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link block-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mythmakersent.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/02\/the-double-edged-sword-of-new-ideas\/\">Continue reading &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[33,29],"class_list":["post-96","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-screenwriting","tag-inspiration","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mythmakersent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mythmakersent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mythmakersent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mythmakersent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mythmakersent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.mythmakersent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":180,"href":"https:\/\/www.mythmakersent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions\/180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mythmakersent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mythmakersent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mythmakersent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}