So You Want To Write About Movies? Here’s How.

Do you want to write movie reviews? Just write about the movies? Would you like to showcase your unique point of view to readers? Well, I’m here to help, but don’t start until you realize this vitally important fact..

*drum roll*

Your ego poisons everything.

I recently received an email from a reader asking for advice on writing and starting a blog. This is a brand new blog, so I was a bit surprised at the question, but nevertheless I believe I have an answer. He asked..

“Hey Brad, you seem to get a lot of writing done but where do you find the time?! I don’t know if I could do it. Doesn’t work and movie watching get in the way? Very curious! Any advice? ha ha. Cool blog.”

I don’t know if he wishes to remain anonymous since he hasn’t gotten back to me yet, so let’s call him John Doe and get right into it then.

Do you think LeBron James is a well-rounded person? Do you think that in addition to being an elite basketball player, he’s also a master chef, world class guitar player, and up to date on all the latest breakthroughs in the medical field? Of course not. The majority of his time is dedicated to activities surrounding basketball and becoming a better player. That’s great, because that’s his passion — what drives him — and it’s what’s makes him successful.

So, why then, do those who want to be writers, do almost everything but WRITE?!

How many times have you split your time into equal pie slices? One piece to finding the best widgets, one piece reading on how to be a better writer, one piece checking up on all your social network accounts and email, one piece on your SEO, one piece working on your layout, one piece messing with your cell phone, and then maybe if there’s time left you’ll get a bit of writing in.

This is not progress.

I recall reading Stephen King in his memoir discuss the fact that he blocks out all distractions and simply writes. He sits solitary in a room with zero outside interference. Do you think Stephen King would have written 50+ novels by splitting his time up between 6 different things at once? Imagine for a moment that writers like Thomas Paine lived in the internet age. Do you think he’d be sitting on Facebook chatting, or busy and unavailable because he was writing The Rights of Man?

Which brings me to my next point.

When people ask me why I choose to write I always have a definitive answer — I do it because I want to. I enjoy it. The art of writing is generally a thankless business, no matter how often people read your material, but that’s entirely the point. I write for me. I don’t fill this blank white space with my thoughts to worry about praise or achievement. My hope is that there are others like me out there that also enjoy this endeavor I’m undertaking or share similar sensibilities. If I’m not putting myself out there completely–writing from my heart–why bother? I have no inclination whatsoever to please anyone with my writing. Bruce Lee once said “I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.“

Too many potential writers focus on things that are out of their control. They become so focused on comments that they become disinterested after a few weeks when they aren’t the flavor of the week or the most popular blog in their niche. If your goal is to interact, I can tell you from experience that it takes a while to build up a readership. My experience with this comes from some years ago when I wrote for a newspaper. When I started, I was unsure of myself and how I should tackle such a wide audience. Should I give them my unadulterated and unedited writing? Maybe I should be writing in the classic newspaper style and leave my feelings and opinions out of it? It took me a while, but I found that the articles were well received when I wrote them based on how I felt, and not based on the idea of eliciting a certain positive response from the reader.

No matter how good of a writer you are, there are people who will hate you. This should not discourage you and is to be expected. No one is immune from criticism. Did I receive hate mail at the paper? You bet, but I made no apologies. For every hostile judgment, I’d get 5 others who thanked me for the articles.

Ask yourself, what is the goal you’re hoping to achieve by writing or starting a blog? Do you want to use it to make money, become popular, be respected as a great writer? You have to pick your goal and roll with it. If you start out with the end goal of “I want to be respected as a great writer” and start second guessing yourself, changing posts in order to become more popular, or accepting advertisers all over the place, you’re finished. I don’t worry about what others think about me. That’s for other people to decide. All I care about is finishing an essay (or post), reading it over, and feeling like I’ve done a good job. If people like it, then what a bonus that is.

How many more “tips and tricks” are you gonna read before starting? Do you really need another batch of “7 tips to better writing” or “5 ways to be a great writer” articles? Stop looking for all this wisdom and shit and start writing! The fact is that the internet is an information super highway. There are millions of pieces and bits of information everywhere. This can only help you right? Wrong. There’s always conflicting advice, and it does nothing but you make insecure about your abilities. There’s a lot of bullshit out there these days, and the time spent trying to decide what is and isn’t is a waste of time. Do I have advertisers on this site? Am I talking for someone? Are my words sponsored? I think you know where my line in the sand is drawn. Don’t be affected by information overload.

You’re not going to start off being the best writer. Sorry, but odds are you’re gonna need some time to work out the kinks. If you do start out on top, then consider yourself lucky, because it’s rare. Generally, as you write more, you progress. Check out your favorite blog or website and try to find out when it was opened. If a blog claims to have been established in 2008, then go back and read the January 2008 articles. Now try reading the January 2012 articles. Hopefully, you’ll notice a vast improvement over prior efforts.

If I told you that tomorrow you’re forbidden to write ever again and you have to take up cooking or something other hobby– how would you feel? Angry? Relieved? In the answer to this question lies one of your greatest truths. If you’re relieved or at the very least not upset at this notion, you’re probably not cut out to be a writer. The reader emailing me claimed that I “wrote a lot” in a short period of time and such a task seemed daunting and tiresome. Reel Maniacs may be new, but I’ve been doing this for years. The movies are my passionate interest in life and it’s what I consistently write about every day. I have journals and journals full of writing that date back to as early as 2003. I wrote them as personal memoirs with no intention of having them read by another person.

Why does keeping a journal help so much with blogging? Well, when you’re writing in a journal, what’s the one thing you aren’t consciously doing? Correcting yourself! You write in a journal without judgment because you aren’t thinking about what words help you come off the best to a potential reader. New bloggers (even some not so new) are constantly restructuring sentences and shaping the article so that it comes off neutral and without bias.

I’ll tell you straight out: Reel Maniacs is unfair and biased. I don’t apologize for this. It’s my thoughts. Why would you want it any other way? Am I a great writer? I don’t know. Never asked. When you admit that you’re the same way, you can grow positively and take a tire iron to that monkey chattering in your head about what you can’t do. Strip away the posturing and you’ll be much better off.

So, thanks to the reader for the question. Consider this your kick in the ass. I wish I had some magic potion for sale that suddenly gave you the burning desire to write, but the fact that there isn’t one is what this essay is all about. Do you want to write? Then do it! No writing pill, no 30 days to the best writer product, nothing at all. Remember American History X? “Derek says it’s always good to end a paper with a quote.”

“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy, and that hard.” ― Neil Gaiman