I would add "Believe"... or "Pray for a Miracle", at least

Scott, you introduced me to the notion of "the only way out is through." Can't tell you how much that has meant to my work in this past year.

And you know its just that simple.

I don't believe the first draft is crap. Two of my first drafts (differnet scripts) got "considers."

But don't tell anyone. That's why I force myself to rewrite until the dialog sounds good and the story flows from beginnign to end.

After all, it can't be "wrong." If you say what you want, it's always "right."

Some people would say that Kaufman's scripts aren't "good," but they say what he wants so people gravitate towards it.


BTW, I do believe the first draft of the outline may suck but the script should never suck - at least in terms of formatting and story logic.

One man's bad dialog is another's first language.

Im going to print this out in 30 POINT and stick it on my wall.

@popularculture - Totally PC: As noted, I'll be doing semi-regular writing mantra posts based on this list and many more I've got on file.

Sometimes, it's just something as simple and to the point as a saying that can bring everything into focus. Just this afternoon, as I was driving around, I heard a poet on an NPR show say, "Life is a beautiful struggle." And that just hit me as being so true. You can say that about writing as well. "Writing is a beautiful struggle." Sounds like another writing mantra.

A difficult pleasure.