Surprise—Part Two

Last week I talked about surprise as a key element in good writing, good art and, in fact, all creative endeavors.

And as a writer, the first step you take in your writing is choosing what to write about. So how do you do that? How do you choose something surprising vs. something that people already know about? And wait a minute, aren’t you supposed to give the people what they want, what they know? Haven’t experts said you should find out what the people want and give it to them? Isn’t that a key element of marketing?

Well, yes, it is. But creating isn’t marketing. And what you invent as a writer just isn’t the same thing as, say, what an inventor of a new hair dryer creates. The hair dryer inventor wants to appeal to the most people possible in coming up with his/her new design and the writer… but wait, isn’t that what a writer does too? Come up with an idea that will appeal to the broadest audience base possible? Come up with an idea that every studio will want?

Well, no.

If your goal is to please someone—be it studios, actors or an audience—you’re a marketer, not a creator.

Is it possible to NOT think about your audience? Probably not. But that shouldn’t be the motivating factor. The motivating factor should be to do something that hasn’t been done before. Something original.

So wait a minute, weren’t we talking about surprise?

Well, guess what—if you come up with an original idea, or even an idea that has a bit of original dust on it, it will be surprising. Why? Because so many people aren’t doing that—they’re coming up with ideas that they think people want—they’re going at the whole creative process backwards.

Ask yourself, when’s the last time you saw a film and said: “Wow! What a great idea for a movie!!” Generally you walk out of a movie saying that was fun, or that was scary, or that was boring, but your reaction is often based on the acting or the special effects or how the story was told---not necessarily the story idea itself.

It may seem daunting, coming up with a truly original idea, but it’s what a script needs to have to be noticed. Especially as an aspiring writing, you can’t just write a good script in a genre that’s hot at the moment—you need to stand out from all the other good scripts being seen in that genre. And one way to do that is right from the beginning, right from the moment you pick that idea to write about—surprise us with your choice. Surprise us by picking something new and different.

Next week: an in-depth look at three films from the last couple of years that began with original ideas—and thus surprised us right from the start.

Copyright © Diane Lake

12Nov17

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com