10 Tweet Tips for Novice Screenwriters

10. Structure. Both in your scripts and in your writing practices. I have an unlimited amount of daytime hours open as do many of my creative friends. You know what we find? We tend to not necessarily write any more than our friends who are disciplined with small amounts of time. Why is that? Because the pressure's not on. It's too easy to say - wow, I have 6 hours today, I'll write for 6 hours.... then play on Facebook for 5 of those. Give yourself short increments with clear in and out times. You'll train yourself to write on command.

9. Turn off the internet. Oh gosh. I'm awful at this. I could stand to take this note better. Also, turn off your phone. I'm awful at this as well. There's nothing quite like getting into a comedic groove when your Mom calls and brings you down to reality about your "aspirations" your "singleness" or your "insert Mom guilt trip here".

8. Be nice and fun and socially adept. In retrospect this could easily have been number 1 but I'm writing out of order and so it goes in the 8 is great category. It doesn't generally matter how talented you are if you are a sucky person. Making TV and movies is all about collaboration over extended periods of time under high pressure circumstances and people want to work with people they know and like and trust and won't want to murder when on a deadline when the Titanic's sinking and you need to figure out a plot device to save the darn thing. (I vote for time travel.)

7. Do what works for you. I believe in this whole heartedly. Every class and teacher and hoo-ha in Hollywood is going to impose their tactics and techniques on you. Take what you like and ignore the rest. Do what works for you. My friend and his brother who are staffed on a big tv comedy right now wrote naughty naughty tv scripts that made basically no sense. They'd never written a spec in their life. But people thought they were hilarious and they loved them anyway. It got them staffed.

6. Read. A lot. A lot. A lot. This is still in my mind, much less important than number 1, but I recently sent a script to a friend and he said to me, "Wow, your writing has improved SO much in the past 8 months." And partly that's because I've written a ton more, but a lot has to do with reading scripts. Seeing how different writers have fun with stage directions, make character choices, set up scenes. Basically PLAY on the page. Reading all that lets you free yourself in making your own decisions.

5. Find a group of peers. Don't let this come at the expense of number 1 - but finding a great group of writing peers who will read out loud with you is priceless for improving scripts. 1 note from 1 person is all good and fine, but when it's a group of people and they collectively note that they don't understand something, or a scene is weak, or a character needs X, Y or Z - it's pretty hard to argue with that.

4. Write the bad version. We're all perfectionists and there's nothing more frightening than the evil eye stare of a blank page. But knowing that a first draft is just that - a FIRST draft - don't let getting a scene perfect stop you from catching your writing wind. Writing is like coffee. It kicks in - starts flowing and gets you amped.

3. Ever see that movie "Limitless"? Okay, neither did I. But as a novice writer I find one of two things happen - either you have no limits and write blindly and joyfully and make a whole ton of green mistakes. OR you write guarded, scared, am I doing this right? Will this sell? Will the industry like this? I'm a HUGE proponent of the first. Mistakes can be fixed. It's easier to reel someone back and in than it is to convince someone you're capable of fresh original thought.

2. Outline. Outline. Outline. You wouldn't go sky-diving out of a plane without a flight plan, so why would you jump into writing a script without a clear idea of at least the core elements (a beginning, middle and end). Especially in the middle sections of a script where a whole lot of stuff goes on - have a clear idea of scenes and work both to and from your outline. Save the Cat or a 3-6-3 or a Ven diagram. I don't care. Just promise you'll do it, kay?

1. Write every day. EVERY DAY. Even if it's just one page. If you write one page a day - you'll have a screenplay in a little over 3 months. If you read number 4 - you can easily do more than one page a day and cut that in half.

Written for @jonjohns65 by @thejudalina