I've lost inspiration. Can someone help?

Cafe Society
1

I’m in the process of writing a movie (a couple actually). However, I seem to have lost my muse and I can’t seem to sit down and write anything. Its been like this all week now. What got me started in the first place was reading about really awful movies that got made, and I’m wondering if any dopers can help.

Are there any really terrible movies that I can watch and say “Hey, if THIS got made…”

I would also appreciate any movies that you guys watch that make you want to write/make your own.

I appreciate it.

2

Behold, the horror that is Black Beauty, 1971, distributed in the U. S. by MGM. Headliner on the posters was Mark Lester, Oliver Twist from three years prior.

Terrible piece of dreck. Bore only the slightest of features in common with the story in the book. And yet, it not only got made, it eventually found its way into the MGM Family Classics home video series. I guess Hollywood really does hate families.

3

I don’t believe you can write anything with that as a motivation. It won’t last, and writing takes time; in fact, it benefits from time.

If you want to write anything, you need to write. Write. Don’t just sit there, write.

You might write crap, but from all that crap you write, you can squeeze one ounce of gold. I’d recommend you to drink one or two glasses of wine and write your crap. Write tonnes of it. Edit it mercilessly. Then you might have something. Or you could just sit there and wait for your muse, but no muse gonna write for you.

4

[QUOTE=Wakinyan]
I don’t believe you can write anything with that as a motivation. It won’t last, and writing takes time; in fact, it benefits from time.

If you want to write anything, you need to write. Write. Don’t just sit there, write.
QUOTE]

Well, that isn’t my only motivation. I enjoy writing quite a bit and I do just write, I try for a good half hour to an hour a day, even if it isn’t anything good or for a movie. However, I really enjoy writing after watching or reading about a crappy movie. I don’t know how to explain the feeling, but I believe it does help me.

5

Laserblast. Trust me, it’s horrible.

6

0% on the tomatometer just from 2006.

7

Whenever I get stuck while writing, I go back to what I already have done and do some editing. Often, while I’m there, I’ll see something I want to change or add to and it’ll sometimes take the story (or just the chapter) in another direction. At the very least, I often find things that give me inspiration.

Another exercise I’ve tried:

Make a list of the best, the worst, the funniest and the most dramatic things that could happen to your character. Don’t give yourself any boundries on this.Even if the ideas as written don’t help, they might give you an idea.

8

If you’re stuck for an ending just use “then, suddenly, everyone was run over by a truck”.

For a large cast, use “then, suddenly, everyone was run over by a giant truck”.

For an Anime, use “then, suddenly, everyone was run over by a mammoth truck”.

9

I made the mistake of watching Tim Burton’s ED WOOD & reading Roger Corman’s HOW I MADE (however many) MOVIES AND NEVER LOST A DIME. A friend had a pretty decent romantic melodrama script & I had credit cards.

Ten years later, I finally paid the movie off.

10

Michael O’Donoghue, “How to Write Good,” National Lampoon, March, 1971. Misquoted.

11

Correct.

I had forgotten where it came from; or, indeed, that I had read it.

My apologies.

12

My advice is…take a break

I have found in my music career, I always benefit from taking some time now and again for a complete break from music. Go away for a week if you can.

Of course if you’re on a deadline this won’t help at all.