Out of My Element

I've been avoiding drafting out a short film idea, presumably because I've never written a script before and I'm not sure how to start. The feel of it in my head has me enamored, though, so today I set to work writing it as a short story.

I found myself out of my element again when I realized that half the subject matter required me to break out of the old write what you know comfort zone. I was writing an intense narrative about an experience I only knew peripherally.

When I'm evaluating an artist, versatility is one of the first qualities that comes to mind. When I watch American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance (no spoilers! I haven't watched the SYTYCD finale yet), contestants can really only impress me one of two ways: make the hair on my right arm stand up or give an amazing performance outside of their style. I love Chuck Palahniuk, but I'm often disappointed that his style and plot structure remain so constant across his body of work. The worst thing an artist can do is fail to evolve, grow, test new boundaries.

That said, write what you know is such ubiquitous advice it's become cliché. It's how I wrote 50,000 words in one month last November.

But it's important to remember, Annie Proulx wrote Brokeback Mountain as a 60-something-year-old woman who had spent all but a few years of her life in the northeast United States. She won an O. Henry award for the story, and the movie adaptation won a slew of prestigious film awards. That's pretty amazing, and it reminded me how important it is to stretch my artistic muscles.