Writing goals never include the day you can quit writing. The idea that any one person knows when another writer should quit is completely incorrect and reckless. I believed after I began teaching and I read the work of my students that some students might not be able to “make it.” I’ve had several students over the years ask me that very question. Should I stop working on this script? Should I quit writing? Do you think I will ever make it as a screenwriter?
I’ve heard of podcasts that actually discuss when you should consider giving up. I’m sure if you google the topic you will find plenty of advice on when you should quit writing.
No one should quit writing and here’s why.
The Future is Unclear
You don’t know what’s going to happen today and neither does anyone else, including “successful” writers who have “made it.” No one can predict the future. The same student suddenly submits different pages two months later, much to my surprise. The script that has a world of problems suddenly one day becomes somewhat special, and then the hope returns for the story and the project. Anyone who has written has been shocked at how scripts change and writers grow. Have you ever looked back on your own scripts and thought, wow, I am a much better writer now.
No one knows what will happen for you as a writer, and neither do you. To stop working on a script or to stop writing altogether is a form of suicide. It is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. You can’t know what’s next for you as a writer. Guessing or letting someone else guess for you will form a regret you will own forever.
Everything Changes
As your writing changes over the course of the years, your screenplay will also change. The longer you live with your story, the more it will change. Stories and characters are not static if we continue to work on them. We change as people. We look at the world differently. Have you changed at all? Yes. You’ve seen the changes. Why do you think your script will never change for the better? Why would you abandon something you have written because you think it will never get better?
If you believe that you can change as a person, that you can continue to learn from your own life experiences, it only underscores the idea that your work will change as well. But if you quit, again, you miss out on the value inherent in the changes that will come. Continue to show up for your work and refuse to quit and invite the changes to your story just as you allow for growth in your own life.
Writing Goals Include Failure
Think about how not having an answer to your script problems feels. No one likes this feeling. We don’t want a bad story. We want a great story. A classic. But when we are stuck, we don’t feel well. It’s frustrating and it makes us feel bad about ourselves. This feeling is the start of the road to giving up on a script and possibly giving up on writing. If writing made us feel good, why would anyone quit?
Every day the writer fails. If we expect to not have all the answers, if we know this is what makes writing special, then it will never form the basis of quitting. The only reason it feels wonderful to finally figure out your story is that we have to suffer to get there. Invite this confusion and despair. Know that the boredom is the job of the good writer. I always have something I know is not very good. I know what will happen if I persist. If I refuse to quit in the face of this awful feeling of writing unsatisfying work today, I will ultimately deliver the solution and my story will suddenly be special and different.
Yes, you can stop writing
Of course, there’s always a reason a person might stop writing. Everyone is free to do what they feel is best for themselves. Something else might become more important in their lives. Life is short. Priorities change for people.
But nobody actually quits writing for these reasons. Everyone quits writing because they told themselves they couldn’t write or someone explained to them how to quit.
They lied to you and you lied to yourself. Don’t take it personally when your story sucks. Keep going. Writers should never stop writing for any reason, for life is a mystery and writing is never a mistake.
By: Gordy Hoffman
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I saw the original draft for “Out Of Africa”…. written by my agent w/original author of novel. It was terrible….. pathetic! Four years later the script was revised per some of my changes and producers were able to attract A-List talent…. the major studios still hated it. Not until the first teasers, location footage and sizzle reels were released did the studios and critics admit…. ahhh, it might work….!! OMG
Nice! Thanks for sharing, William.
Thank you for this as I’ve often wondered should I, a casual writer pack it in. I see now I should not, and I shouldn’t be so lazy in the first place!!
Eloquent and perceptive as always, Gordy.
Thanks, Heidi!
Great stuff Heidi…helped a lot. Back to the screenplay…
I’m at an age where I will not be making a career out of movie making, but if a producer never gives me tumble, if I never win a screenwriting contest (or make it to the top ten, even), I will keep going. Who knows? Maybe somebody will pick up on the scripts I leave behind and produce something of note. Thanks for the pep talk.
though I have had several 10-minute plays produced and short stories published I’ve never been able to sell a screenplay (came very close twice, though). But I’m not writing to sell, though, of course I wish it would. But the reason I’m writing to see how my screenplay turns out. I want to write the best story I can, and that’s my motivation. And that’s why the fact that I can’t sell a screenplay doesn’t depress me or even discourage me. My main goal to write is the end in itself.
Thanks Gordy, we all need encouragement, especially a writer who wants to”emerge”, yet writes a huge TV series, biblical story, called “Joseph and the Holy Grail”. It’s so expensive to produce, therefore so, so, difficult to market and sell. Woo is me! LOL!
Thanks for the positive post BlueCat! Just what I needed after a big weekend of writers block, which eventually turned into a massive breakthrough idea that was staring me in the face all along. I just wasn’t ready to realise the true power of self discovery in story, until I saw a part of myself on the page. Love those missing puzzle pieces that you find at all the right moments. Being patient paid off. Love the BC community!
Thank you! I did quit writing for a while and have regretted it ever since! I got back into it seriously around 2014 and have been plugging slowly along since. I am older now, much older, so I know my ‘breakthrough’ may not happen, but I rewrote my current screenplay as a stage play and now have producers and directors interested in doing it after the pandemic lifts. So, never give up!
Timely, this is the first time I felt like quitting; it’s not a good feeling.
If I don’t write the screenplay, I may never know what happens. I write to see where story takes me. Sometimes, into the woods. Sometimes to a ballet company or a farm house. But the setting is where the words live. Pair the characters with drama, sling in some comedy, a side of fantasy and one is on their way. The last thing I ever think about is quitting. But I am glad to see others care enough to be encouraging. Writing is demanding. Not everyone is an addict, but it is my drug of choice. lol. Thanks for caring for writers.
Great advice.
Take a look at the first Indiana Jones script and see how poor the dialogue is compared to the finished version. Writing is rewriting. Never, ever give up.
Great perspective and pep talk. For first time writers like myself it is encouraging to follow your lead and never give up. If the Story still breathes in your soul keep writing, re-writing- it’s all part of the journey
Never give up. Never surrender.
Thank you Gordy.
You are always an inspiration.
I have the opposite problem. My crazy never gives up. I have, at the moment, 3 projects that are equally exciting to me. It’s driven me to therapy. almost like I need to flip a coin… and yet not…