Skip to content

Screw up

David Gane
David Gane

Back when I was working in a movie theatre and learning to run the projector, I was given a great bit of advice.

I was told that once I got past the learning curve and figured things out, I was going to screw up and break something big. Then, deal with it, learn, and move on.

I think this applies to writing, as well. You learn the basic rules of story structure, you repeat the process several times, and finally, thankfully, you get bored and start breaking things.

You try different things. You see how you can bend the rules, and use it to your advantage. Sometimes it will work and sometimes, hopefully, you will fail.

These are the moments you grow and discover your true voice as a writer.

Blog

David Gane Twitter

Co-writer of the Shepherd and Wolfe young adult mysteries, the internationally award-winning series, and teacher of storytelling and screenwriting.

Comments


Related Posts

Happiness and pain

When asked what they want, people often say they want happiness or pleasure. However, in Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman argues that people are loss-averse, meaning they are more likely to act to avert a loss than to achieve a gain. This finding means we are more likely to

Fast Fiction

Before writing the daily blog, I had been experimenting with fast fiction—fiction that was written and shared quickly. The first time was during the summer of 2021 when I wrote a new story every day for 31 days. I then tried to do it once a week for a

Mistakes happen

Yesterday's newsletter didn't go to the right group, so I had to resend it tonight. It may even come out after I'm finished with this blog post. I finished it early yesterday, did several edits, then had my wife read it before I sent it. Yet, it still failed—but