A bottled imagination.
I can’t describe the feeling I get when I complete a story.
It’s a little like joy mixed with a sprinkle of relief but with a triumphant base. I am never quite satisfied but I’m always pretty impressed with myself.
I never like to feel the pressure when I write stories. I like them to flow perfectly and I take my time making sure that they do. However, being a screenwriting student sometimes means that I’m working with deadlines. When that happens, my brain closes up.
I see this process like this;
To me, my writing ideas come and go in the form of blots, with little legs. They settle down in my imagination, which for some reason is shaped like a bell bottle. So these little idea blots are chilling out in this bottle and when I get inspired they all race to the exit.
Now because the bottle top is narrow, the blots get a little stuck, perhaps one or two make their way out onto paper. This is normal for me. They will all get their turn one day.
But when the word ‘DEADLINE’ escapes the lips of whomever is in charge of me that month… it immediately manifests itself as a giant cork blocking my bottle. So none of my blots can get onto a page, no matter how hard they try.
It’s frustrating. And sometimes it takes a lot of extra effort to squeeze out one idea, a slow and truly horrible process.
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But one little bit of light gives me hope in all this deadliney stuff. I know that when this cork gets unblocked my ideas will all still be there, still eager to be chosen, still craving to be embellished and nurtured.
So although it may seem like I complain about deadlines and writers block. I wouldn’t change it for the world; it gives me a calmer relationship with my imagination and makes me feel a little more human for a small time.
