Writing Advice That Stops Writers From Writing - Adam William Ward

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Adam is a Jewish-American born in Abington, Pennsylvania who grew up in Bucks County, PA. At age twelve his family relocated to Roseburg, Oregon; a new and unfamiliar small town. As the middle child of three, Adam realized he had to stand out to gain any measure of attention, if he wanted his rightful place at the dinner table. His antics started purely as a way to amuse his family, but quickly blossomed into a desire to entertain a bigger audience. This desire, however, was abated by a nearly crippling case of stage fright that lasted until he joined his high school's drama program as a teenager. Through his teacher and classmates' encouragement, Adam gradually let go and confronted his fear. It seemed to work. After receiving much local acclaim in his first year on stage, his high school named the A-Ward Award after him and it is still given annually to the most outstanding newcomer. It was because of this success Ward pursued his love of film as an undergrad at Hawaii Pacific University where he graduated with a Communications Degree. After graduating from college, Ward made his way to Hollywood! During his first day in town, he used his charm to land a position in post production at Dreamworks. From there, he segued to a gig working for Todd Phillips at Warner Brothers. But pursuing a career made him temporarily lose sight of his dream (dream of what?) It wasn't until Ward bumped into Jimmy Smits at LAX that he was convinced to go back and study acting again. At Smits' recommendation, he began studying at the Joanne Baron DW School of Acting during which he found time to star in eleven short films. The following year ward was a lead in three independent features. But it wasn't until the year 2011 Ward, took his destiny in his own hands and wrote, directed and starred in a tv comedy called, "Three Guys and a Couch" (On Amazon Prime). In 2013 wrote Directed and Starred in "Parole Officers" another tv pilot. (On Amazon Prime). Later in 2014 Ward co-wrote a feature film called, "Wally Got Wasted". [See more of Adam's bio on IMDB]
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Комментарии : 62

@filmcourage 18 дней назад

What is writing advice that you hate?

@ConceptualVision 18 дней назад

I heard Lee Child tell people to stop writing if they didn't have success early on. I think writing is almost a personality trait, so telling people to stop writing if they don't make it, felt harsh. Some good advice on getting better would've been in place.

@Randallpaulwriter 18 дней назад

@ConceptualVision well that is a piece of advice obviously from someone who hasn't had a lot of physical experience. Like travel, doing several different types of jobs, knowing how to do many things, having many different types of relationships. That is the most idiotic piece of device I have ever heard.

@Novastar.SaberCombat 17 дней назад

Any advice that violates the foundations of proper storytelling and production. And especially any questionable notes coming from people who obviously want to get your MONEY, or who simply don't want the competition of exemplary work being crafted. As a matter of note, I have 30+ years of experience in production (acting, directing, writing, sound design, video editing, fight choreography, graphics, V.O., props, etc.) so I generally defer to my own counsel on what I should and should not do. 💪😎✌️ 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨

@Theomite 17 дней назад

It's a tie between "you have to write every day" and "you have to thrive on pressure." The first one is BS because when you work all the goddamn time to not starve (like, most if not all of us), you can't even think straight enough to write when you get home. SOME people can do it, like Dickens and Trollope, but their creative process was cumulative, so it worked for them. The second piece of advice I got from one of those bro-writers at a panel at a con. The other writers disagreed with his whole "you will fail if you can't grind" that they actually called me over to their table at lunch the next day to tell me to ignore his advice. They were relieved when I told them that I already had.

@mickeyaugrec7560 12 дней назад

@@Theomite "one of those bro-writers at a panel at a con" made me laugh. Trumpeting that you "thrive on pressure" seems really Bro-.

@ScaryStoriesNYC 18 дней назад

Stephen King says he never keeps notebooks to write ideas down in. He says if i's not good enough to remember, then forget it. I can't even remember what I need at the grocery store, so I can't follow that advice LOL I write the parts I need to remember under the title and keep referring back to the notes as I write. That's not to say I'm any good LOL but that's now I do it.

@Ruylopez778 17 дней назад

David Lynch said, always, *always* write down your ideas because there's nothing worse than having a great idea and not being able to remember it! I think far too many writers follow the "advice" of artists they admire instead of looking for, discovering and refining a process that suits them. I think most of King's advice is not helpful, other than how focused/prolific he is with output - which again won't necessarily work for everyone. Most writing advice is really dogmatic, I think in order to get attention, and the core sentiment of the advice might be helpful but not how it's presented.

@bekindrewind335 17 дней назад

I keep detailed notes and outlines all the time. Sometimes I forget something I wrote and by the time I get to that part of my notes I think, “Wow, that’s good.”

@katium9176 17 дней назад

@@Ruylopez778 "there's nothing worse than having a great idea, and not being able to remember it" Yeah, this is where Stephen's writing advice rings true. How great is the idea if you know you're not gonna remember it anyway? Even if you write down a bunch of ideas for the art you're doing, almost none of them will be used. That's why I think Stephen's advice works so well when it comes to stories, because it all comes down to what you REALLY want to do with it. If you have an idea that you fell in love with, without forgetting about it in a week, why write it down when you can do something else with it instead?

@katium9176 17 дней назад

For groceries, that's a completely different story, and I agree. For stories though, I think his advice made sense to me since I never thought about writing down my ideas, yet I still managed to make quite a few stories out of it.

@Ruylopez778 17 дней назад

@@katium9176 David Lynch said he's forgotten great ideas, and there's nothing worse - so I take him at his word. It all depends how you generate ideas, how you process them, and how you incorporate them. Lynch is into transcendental meditation. I'd also say that at first you might reject an idea as being bad, because you haven't thought about it enough. Or that idea needs the right approach to make it work. Frankly, I don't think King is a great source of advice. The only thing I've heard him say that wasn't highly contentious is that he got a bigger nail to stick his rejection letters to the wall with when they were too heavy to hold with the original one. Perseverance is really great advice. Everyone has their own way of doing things. King's works for him, but it's no better than yours or mine for me and you. Pretending that his own process automatically deserves more merit than Lynch's or our own is unjustified. King is all about high concept and not everyone thinks in that way. "almost none of them will be used" That's not the point. Generating ideas and listing them for a project, is not the same thing as having a great idea and wanting to write it down. Maybe the specific context in which you think of the idea is important. Maybe writing it down right away helps generate a train of though based on that initial inspiration? It allows you freedom to think about something else. If you keep returning to a particular idea, maybe you corrupt it and twist it into something different in order to keep it in your head? It's not necessarily the best way to work, it's just a way to work. "If you have an idea that you fell in love with, without forgetting about it in a week, why write it down when you can do something else with it instead?" What you're talking about is an idea you've been thinking about. What Lynch is talking about is writing down ideas when they come to you. It's not the same. Lynch isn't saying write down lists of ideas for the sake of writing them down rather than working on them. That's you misinterpreting the advice to find an easy reason to dismiss it. My comment was entirely that while one "successful" artist will tell you not to write down ideas - as if this is a secret to success - another one will tell you the opposite. Conclusion: no other artist, "successful" or not has all the answers for you to emulate them. So pick and choose from wisdom, make it your own, and reject the rest (Bruce Lee's advice). But don't presume their advice "rings true" to everyone.

@johnnydavidcreative 17 дней назад

Knowing your worth vs ego - yes, a balance is needed 👌 really good advice! 😊

@RickJJohnson247 18 дней назад

I wrote the ending, then worked backwards...... Best decision I've ever made.... Love your channel xoxox ❤😘

@Novastar.SaberCombat 17 дней назад

David Ball would have agreed. 🙂 #BackwardsAndForwards

@muratisik6956 4 дня назад

John Irving would agree.

@cindyblount8621 18 дней назад

Most writers find the ending changes and they have multiple endings to choose from! S.King writes with no idea of where it's going aside from a vague idea. That terrifies me, but, guess maybe that's why he likes it ;)

@mikesmithz 16 дней назад

I don't really understand how people can write without knowing the ending. As soon as I think of a beginning, the ending comes naturally as the opposite of the beginning. The entire creation process for me is the linking up of the beginning to the ending, and if anything, these 2 things are the easiest part of storytelling. It's the middle bit that is the hard bit.

@ogelsmogel 14 дней назад

For me, the ending is the hardest part. How people can come up with an ending before they even start, baffles me. I have a compelling idea, maybe even a vague notion about where the story might take me, but the ending? Nope. But that's the fun part for me. Going on an adventure and meeting new people (characters). Who knows what'll happen?

@YokozunaNumber1 13 дней назад

I sometimes have the ending in mind first, and the excitement to write the story can be incredibly fun. Other times, I don't know how it's going to end, or why events in the story took certain turns to get there, but the surprise factor (not knowingmy ending) can be just as thrilling for me as it could be for a reader.

@boilingtakes1060 13 дней назад

Making the ending automatically “opposite of the beginning” becomes a bit predictable, no? (Not being a smart ass, genuine question)

@mel3687 17 часов назад

Because theme and subplots determine endings and the best endings often aren’t the first or simplest solution that comes to mind. In most cases, the initial ending that comes to mind is also the most cliche and predictable or doesn’t appropriately reflect the theme (a tragedy requires one type of ending whereas redemption requires something entirely different, for example).

@mikicoal 17 дней назад

I almost always start writing without knowing how it will end. After a chapter, or even the first 20 paragraphs of seeing where it goes, it provides my mind the fodder it needs to extrapolate a complete story. Then, I go back over it multiple times and rework what I first wrote to fit what came after.

@katium9176 17 дней назад

3:00 I like how comedic that response was when he pointed out that you're talking about ego lmao!

@ghani666 17 дней назад

I don’t think you need to know the ending before you *start* writing, but I definitely don’t consider my idea a “story” until I know how it ends.

@Lark572 18 дней назад

Writing advice that I hate? Oh boy this is a great question. And I’m writing this before I watch the video. The easiest one to hate is “write what you know.” Because it’s incomplete. And sometimes wholly misleading. Yes, if you’re writing a story that involves a war or grieving over a loved one, it really helps if you have some first hand experience with those situations if you are going to say something meaningful about them. However, It seems like too many people mistake this for “my story about moving to LA is interesting”, or “I experienced this so it’s interesting.” Find the intersection of your deepest, most meaningful insights and experiences and our common humanity. What we can all recognize. What else do I hate? This “write every day” nonsense. Make notes, brainstorm, just think. Feel. Go live life and accumulate knowledge and pain and humility. You don’t need to write everyday, and, there are many ways to write. I also don’t like when so called experts bombard you with over complicated structure mandates. Eight acts? No. Writers have a hard time grasping actual structure when you put so many requirements on them. You don’t want to crush the instinct to let the story wander and meander and breathe naturally. I have more of these if you’re interested but I’ll stop here since I’m at a bar and my food is coming

@mikicoal 17 дней назад

I always found the write what you know advise to be good, but it's all down to interpretation. If you have first hand experience of something, then embellish upon it in your writing.

@Lark572 17 дней назад

@@mikicoal If it helped you, then more power to ya brother

@Ruylopez778 17 дней назад

I think "my story about moving to LA" is probably going to be a better work of art than "generic superhero cop gangster movie rip off of movies I like that doesn't need to be made". And the more specific something is, the more universal it feels because of the details that feel real. So while I agree "write what you know" isn't about "write your own life", we certainly need more stories that aren't generic. Yeah, voice makes something feel original and less generic, but voice can also be powerful when conveying a lived experience, even if that's a humble one. The problem is that many humble stories are written in a boring way, not that the subject matter isn't worthy.

@Lark572 10 дней назад

@@Ruylopez778 Swingers was made. It’s the movie about moving to LA. If your movie isn’t going to be ten times better than swingers, don’t bother. Most people will never move to LA and don’t want to. It’s not interesting anymore. It’s a lazy storytelling choice. These are just my opinions.

@Ruylopez778 10 дней назад

@@Lark572 Very superficial take. I imagine that if you could be bothered, you could make comments with more nuance that express your thoughts in more depth, but social media makes people behave this way. There are 100 different ways to make a moving to LA story. And it's not 1996 anymore. But the story could be in 2022 or 1947 or 1977. As I said, the problem is not a boring premise, but boring execution. As McKee said, bad writers have nothing to say. And to paraphrase Charlie Kaufman, all any writer has to share with others is who they are and what's important to them. You may disagree with both comments and both individuals, and all their advice. Also, you didn't define what makes a movie better or 10x better. I agree that the general audience don't care about Hollywood as much as Hollywood wants to think they do - except from the perspective of being sick of getting lectured by Hollywood. Now a movie/screenplay where a wannabe writer moves to Hollywood and hates all the pretentious and immoral people, and insults them all, would probably be really popular with audiences, just like Ricky Jervais' speech. I don't mean just satire, but actually metaphorically rips them to pieces, and yet still has basic compassion for humanity and individuals (doesn't get plain nasty). I don't mean like a psychopath or anything. Just showing how shallow and annoying most of these people are, especially the suits. Of course, Hollywood would never agree to make that, and that script would get rewritten into a pile of shit if it even got the greenlight. Probably would have to be an indie, for someone who never wanted to work for the studios in the future. Could be a mockumentary. But then the point of writing stories is not to be "better than X". The point of writing stories is to write them, and show them to others, and let them judge them. Or not.

@Whyiadda 18 дней назад

Thanks Adam! You seem like a good dude. Great stuff per usual film courage

@filmcourage 18 дней назад

Thanks for posting! And for watching!

@kattimate 18 дней назад

I find this interesting, personally I was able to write down ideas and write many pages that develop and change when i re-read it. On the other hand, I'm now planning and trying to organize, and I've only written 3 pages over 2-3 months :/. I don't believe there's a wrong way to write, because every person works differently, whether planning or not really planning, neither of them are wrong, it just depends what works for the person.

@PowersBenzoCoaching 17 дней назад

You don’t need to know the ending, but you better find the story. If you lose inspiration to tell a story because you know the ending, then you shouldn’t tell the story.

@interestedparty7523 16 дней назад

Yup.

@gregoryashley7963 17 дней назад

Great interview!

@hailberseker5387 17 дней назад

If Blaise Pascal followed Stephen King advice, pensées wouldn't exist, because it's basically a compilation of notes from him made by his relatives. And there is a lot of similar case, Stephen king advice is ridiculous

@BlueJGilbert 17 дней назад

Some of the worst advice that keeps me from writing is "Make sure it makes sense," or similar, "Male sure there's a good reason for something to happen." I basically end up in planning limbo.

@Novastar.SaberCombat 17 дней назад

"Discipline. Consistency. Deadlines. Creativity. Reflection. Repeat." --an award-winning author Also, I'll advocate for knowing the GENERAL ending prior to digging in deep with writing scenes. The reason for this is threefold. One, if you don't know your destination, what purpose would it serve to get into your car (or on a bus or whatever)? Two, if you don't know your ending, extensive writing on scenes X, Y, or Z may be futile since you might CUT them--possibly entirely--later on. Finally, number three, if you know the general ending then you can easily begin to WORK BACKWARDS (hint: read David Ball's "Backwards & Forwards") and understand what events *must* occur in order for your characters to arrive at their intended destinations. TL;DR VERSION = "Before I start, I must see my end." --DD1 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨

@wexwuthor1776 18 дней назад

Different strokes for different folks. Seems to take some of the surprise out of the journey to know the ending.

@peterobinson2153 17 дней назад

Did he just compliment Titanic as they knew the ending 😂.

@MikeHoffey 14 дней назад

I know my ending. Least of my concerns. It’s the grind to get the other 100 pages perfect.

@jonathanrivlin6248 17 дней назад

I never liked, "Kill your darlings." Also, SK's aversion to adverbs, I mean, if there wasn't a use for them, why do we have them? Also, this notion that a happy ending isn't realistic or that a realistic ending cannot be happy is nonsense.

@Gaywatch 17 дней назад

The blanket ban on adverbs is definitely silly. The caution around adverbs is more about using them either improperly or when they weaken the writing: Phrases like 'violently murder' are redundant, murdering is inherently violent. Ideas like 'speak delicately' can be better expressed with a more descriptive verb like 'whisper' or 'utter.' Only use adverbs when there's no verb/noun that accurately describes what you need to convey, therefore making the adverb necessary to creating the moment/feeling/image/etc.

@Guigley 3 дня назад

I think it's best to just write with no outline or plan. It's far too easy to spend all your time outlining and not actually writing. If you have a scene or a beginning/ending in mind, you can build a story around that.

@Randallpaulwriter 18 дней назад

I think you can start writing without the ending I know with my new script I had no idea about and ending and bang about 22 page into it came to me. Just like characters I found I had to add when revising. I say just write it. Because the magic reveals itself as you go along. Great interview. Thank you!

$@fracnis6309$

@fracnis6309 17 дней назад

How can you find an ending without a direction? And you only find a direction by writing.

@mel3687 17 часов назад

Some people discover the story as they write it, other writers pre-plan the story before committing words to a first draft, in which case their direction is outlined ahead of time. I can always tell an outlined story from a discover-written story because outlined stories enjoy better structure snd precision whereas the latter meanders pointlessly, sags under the weight of its bloat to the point where pacing is compromised, always includes plot holes, and has either an ambiguous, rushed or otherwise unsatisfactory ending. Stephen King’s greatest weakness, in my opinion, is his ending. He can rarely nail them to my satisfaction for the exception of a handful (Shawshank, green mile, 11.22.63, etc), because they feel carelessly slapped together for the sake of completing the narrative rather than reinforcing the theme and story/character arc.

@ryanhowell4492 18 дней назад

I love it

@NewClimax-d6l 14 дней назад

Start Sir Li.🖋📕📖

@BoomerZ.artist 18 дней назад

Steven King not knowing his ending shows in just about every story he writes. They mostly are bad.

@Novastar.SaberCombat 17 дней назад

Those with coin, connections, crews, clout, computer code, control, corporate communities, and opulent opportunities can pretty much say and do whatever they wish. Doesn't matter if what they claim isn't applicable to the other 99%; people will take it as the gospel truth, unfortunately. 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨

@grahamjones5400 18 дней назад

Worst career advice I ever got was from my mother,when I was a teenager she said with a college degree I can be a head janitor instead of an assistant janitor. I won't be attending her funeral.

@Theomite 17 дней назад

Yes you will. How else can you be sure she's dead?