Try to think back to the last time you left your local multi-plex thoroughly and completely entertained. Or if movies aren’t your thing try and think back to last song or novel that had you completely enthralled, turning every page with anticipation. What you enjoyed was a product, a product of inspiration. Inspiration, at some point has to become idea, and idea, has to become a written blueprint. Because this is such an integral part of the expression, it can often be the most frustrating. So over the next couple of paragraphs we’ll try to streamline the process that gets you there.

1. Capture the Moment

So you’re walking along, being brilliant and an idea suddenly strikes you like a bolt of lighting. Your immediate mission becomes not to forget it. If it’s a great premise, WRITE IT DOWN. If it’s somehow visual, take out the camera phone you over paid for, and make a digital memory of it. The good thing about this part is that our ever evolving technology means you can probably do all three things on one device. If you are a naturally creative individual you’ll find that you’ll eventually have a plethora of ideas cataloged, and you can begin to pick and choose which ones merit development.

2. The “Maybe” Stage

So you have your idea, you’ve chosen it, and now it’s time to flesh it out. One of the best ways to do this is to just try things. If you saw a Kung Fu master on TV with one arm, and you decided you wanted to write a film about a one armed action hero, it’s time to throw some maybes at the story. “Maybe” he has one arm because he was tortured by an evil mad scientist. “Maybe” that mad scientist was his brother who wanted to take his arm to build a genetically perfect clone of him. Maybe he has been imprisoned while the clone has impersonated him all over the world. Now your film begins with his escape, the middle is him rebuilding his image and the end is the confrontation with his clone. All the while you have the emotional conflict with his brother and the betrayal to give him some much needed depth. You have built one character that your story can flow from. You can’t always use every “Maybe,” but pondering what could be in your story is always an important step to figuring out what will be.

3. The Construct

This part is multi faceted, and every writer does it differently. Me personally, I look at this as building a dictionary for your story. It includes everything you need to know about it. First plot out your characters and give them a little backstory. This way, when you come to crucial decisions that they might make, you’re not guessing. You have past fictitious events in there lives to ground them. You don’t have to go crazy on it, just little tidbits about them, make them real, audiences are like bloodhounds, and they smell inconsistency. After you’ve got your characters laid out, go ahead and outline your story in some way. Even if you just handwrite a story arc, give yourself some type of reference that you can go back to when you get stuck. You don’t have to be married to it, but it will certainly eliminate some of the potential problems you could have.

4. Walk Away

After you’ve completed the first three steps, put it down for a second. When I say a second, I mean what a second implies; which is a short amount of time. I’m saying that before you open Final Draft or Movie Magic, take a weekend away from it. Go dancing, go to a ball game, go to another film, give your mind time to reboot. Look at it as a job, you wouldn’t leave your old job on Thursday and start your new on Friday would you? No, you’d give yourself a little time to re-tool. Apply this same theory. Then come back to your project re-invigorated and ready to create.
Now you’re ready to start crafting your masterpiece, hopefully it’ll be more Last of the Mohicans then Last Action Hero. Either way, you’re creating, keep doing so.