I was requested to mentor again at the Tea & Ink Writing Club and happily agreed. To do something a little different, this time I brought Matthew Kalil’s book “The Three Wells of Screenwriting” (a wonderful new MWP book on my bookshelf). It’s a book to get the inspiration juices flowing.
From the book, I introduced the group to Matthew’s three wells of creativity, and then we ran through the exercises to dive in and explore each one. Let me share a bit with you:
#1 – The External Sources Well –
The ideas and thoughts here are from external sources, like movies and books, etc. and from the writing exercises we noticed they were primarily visual. Tapping into this well was by far the fastest. Thoughts and ideas related to this well we found were very close to the surface and easily accessible.
#2 – The Imagination Well –
Wild and crazy ideas happened here. Some in space, some not. Wonder and personal philosophy inspired the ideas from this well, but it did take more focused thought to push past the external sources well to reach this well of uncharted imaginative ideas.
#3 – The Memory Well –
Finally, this well was the deepest and most personal. It triggered tender and teary emotions as well as memory of smells. No doubt it is from this well that we write most closely to the human experience, and it was clear that we required more thoughtful time than the previous two wells in order to access these memories honestly.
Gosh, we only tapped the start of Matthew’s book. He also highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each well so you know how far to wade in, that book goes on from there.
Now, in my book, “Write! Shoot! Edit!“ I see the creative process in three stages:
(1) Wild Inventor Brain (inspiration), followed by:
(2) Dr Structure Editor (the structural – but still creative – edit), and followed again by:
(3) Nitpicky Copy Editor (polishing)
As Matthew’s book is all about the inspirational stage of the creative process, you can (and we did) use The Three Wells to point one’s Wild Inventor Brain in a rough direction of where you want to go for a writing session and through freewriting explore, reveal and discover.
It was a wildly successful Tea & Ink session, and the range of writing from the participants was vast. No surprise there, as the group includes poets, novelists and short story writers.
So, if you need some inspiration to get yourself writing – or writing again – or if you have an active Wild Inventor Brain that needs a little direction in order for you to productive, dive into the three wells yourself.
Cheers & happy inspiration to you,
Deb
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Deborah (Deb) Patz is the author of Write! Shoot! Edit! for teens and Film Production Management 101 for the industry – both books are published worldwide by MWP. She’s also part of the editorial board for Prism International. As well as writing, she LOVES tea.
WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
Nov. 29-30, 2018 – Whistler Film Festival
Feb. 9, 2019 – Author Participant with Biz Books at Digital Media Youth Expo, North Vancouver BC
July 2019 – UFVA Conference, Minneapolis, MN
WHERE TO FIND DEB’S BOOKS?
Paperback or eBook: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chapters/Indigo, Waterstones, direct from the publisher and from plenty of other great bookstores worldwide.
