Regardless, whether you’re a screenwriter, playwright, novelist, standup comedian, or any other type of storyteller, you are well aware of the politics you run up against. Everyone has an opinion of “what’s in”, who’s reading/watching what, what will sell, what will win awards, and all that jazz. Sometimes those trends or beliefs will match your stories perfectly, but more often they won’t. Some storytellers try and keep up with the trends, while others stick to what “feels right”. In my mind, there is nothing wrong with either approach. There are up sides and down sides to both approaches. Whichever approach you choose, what matters most, is that you create something you can feel pride in.
The rejection gets discouraging, especially when you sacrifice time, and put in massive amounts of effort, and get little in return.
There is value in you liking your own stories. There is value in other people liking your stories. Money aside; if someone reads your story and feels inspired, touched, curious, or are left laughing their head’s off, then that has tremendous value. That is pretty much what storytelling is meant to accomplish.
If you come up with a story that people enjoy, that is something worth taking pride in. I enjoy writing. I enjoy creating stories and characters, and experimenting with unique scenarios. Experimentation is a big part of the fun for me. I enjoy entertaining others and making them laugh. There is a lot of sadness and fear in our world, and cutting into that with some humour is gratifying.
I love pondering what might be. I’m drawn to science fiction and fantasy. I’ve always been a daydreamer and curious beyond the norm. Even if I wasn’t a writer and a filmmaker, I’d still be coming up with stories, I can’t help myself. It stimulates my mind and it feels good.
It’s too easy to look at your pile of work and the accompanying pile of rejection letters and feel ashamed and feel like a failure. That’s a natural way to feel; but we can’t forget the things we’ve created and the people we’ve connected with along the way. We can’t forget the things we learned about ourselves and the people around us, while we were exploring character and drawing from ourselves and others to create those characters. We dared to take an honest look at ourselves and put ourselves in other peoples shoes. If there is one thing a writer should gain, regardless of recognition and money, it would be a deeper understanding and empathy towards the rest of humanity. I see that as having tremendous value. It’s something to take pride in.
You can learn more about the author at About Me.