Convergence

con·​ver·​gence kən-ˈvər-jən(t)s. : the act of converging and especially moving toward union or uniformity.

I love symbols! Some resonate more than others, of course. The world is overflowing with emojis for a reason. They’re shorthand for the many words we don’t have time to read or type out.

The scallop shell is the most iconic symbol on the Camino, alongside the arrow. It’s displayed on markers and buildings to guide pilgrims on the Camino. The yellow lines represent the many routes that converge on Santiago de Compostella, the endpoint of the pilgrimage in Spain - before you continue the pilgrim life at home. Aqui vive una Peregrina!

My pet peeve, as a directionally-challenged pilgrim, is that many of the scallop markers on the Camino faced the wrong direction. Maybe I was a bit OCD in noticing that, but a pilgrim - including one with a tendency to get lost - deserves every opportunity to get where they need to go. So does a script.

That’s where the shell symbol comes in…

Picture your story idea at the base of the shell. All the converging lines are the things you do to shape your idea into a polished, final draft. An idea is only as good as the skills you hone to get it there, the experiences that inspired you, and the people who have encouraged you.

There are “stages” on the Camino, a term for the distance you walk each day. Their lengths vary. A writing pilgrim’s life is the same, with periods of rest, detours, and roadblocks. My writing pilgrimage would never have taken off if it weren’t for my dear friend and mentor, Melinda, followed by a small writing group of three other women who helped me build my writing muscle. We all wrote in different genres and anything was welcome at the table. They helped me find and honor my voice, though it still gets a bit wobbly. They are all published authors now and I’m in awe of their talent.

There are many options for online writers’ groups as well. Find the right one for you and nurture it. Writing classes and conferences are good places to make connections as well. Create and carry business cards - quality ones. For years, I was on a starving artist budget and printed my own. I still am, but I decided that my business cards needed to represent the quality of my work and the shape of my dreams. This is the top side of mine with my info and photo on the other. Stick a tiny magnet on it and it’s fridge art! Down the road, business cards will be part of your marketing strategy.

My father was a computer analyst with a gift for writing poetry, mostly about his service in the Korean War and his struggle with sobriety. He was talented and inspiring, and he helped me pen my first poem when I was ten. I didn’t revisit that genre until I began to process my mother’s death after being one of her hospice providers. There are healing powers in poetry. I submitted several poems to a writers’ festival and was selected for a mentorship program with Patrick Lane, a great Canadian poet. It wasn’t my niche though, but often the poems I wrote served as seeds I could grow into another genre. Nothing is ever wasted. Keep a repurposing file.

Writing Prompts

My shift into prose began with writing prompts that led to slice-of-life pieces and micro-fiction, sixty-second stories! The thrill of getting a few stories published, paid and unpaid, motivated me to continue. My next shift was to write children’s fiction. I won two mentorships, and even had Random House interested in a series I wrote called “Life Bites.” Instead of publishing them as an anthology of shorts though, they suggested that I turn each of the stories into novels and I didn’t have the muscle - I’d tried and failed miserably - so the stories are just sitting there, collecting dust, asking me to consider transforming them into a TV show. Eventually, I discovered that my niche and passion is writing for the screen.

“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

There are a ton of books on writing out there that can help you find your niche, hone your skills and build that writing muscle. Find the ones that resonate with you. Perhaps begin with journaling or morning pages guided by Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way Workbook or Wild Minds by Natalie Goldberg. Both of these helped me generate enough story ideas to last a lifetime. Goal, Motivation & Conflict by Debra Dixon helped me with plotting. Creating Character Emotion by Ann Hood helped me do precisely that. Then I moved on to screenwriting because I found the seed of an idea that didn’t want to be the poem and short story I tried to grow it into. It wanted to be a feature film.

The first book I found, in 2000, was You Can Write a Movie by Pamela Wallace, the Academy Award-winning writer of Witness. It was so accessible and encouraging that it led to the first draft of Broken Glass, a screenwriting course, and stained glass lessons so I’d feel confident tackling the script’s content. Then came Robert McKee’s Story and Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat series, in print and on audible. I listen to audibles while I walk and pause to send myself voice memos when ideas pop up then make a physical note to paste on the relevant script. As for tips and samples of formating, The Screenwriter’s Bible by David Trottier sits beside my desk and I refer to it fairly often.

Converging lines also represent input from peers, coaches, and coverage providers like the one below. They help inform your revisions from the first to the Final Draft - that’s the screenwriting software I use. Find software that will support your genre. Don’t rush the creative and revision stages of the journey or send your work out until your project is honed. It may not get a second chance to make that great first impression. Value all the eyes on your work and the input you get whether you pay for it or not. “Notes” are gold, praise is silver - be grateful for both. They both keep you going when you or your project are stuck. Writing errors happen, but do all you can to catch them while you can. If you pay for coverage, the more time a reader spends distracted by typos, grammar, and formatting errors, the less time they’ll have to focus on the bones and meat of your screenplay. They have a rating grid and can be ruthless in using it. Here’s an example of what one looks like, from my screenplay Broken Glass. It earned a highly coveted “Recommend.”

For your screenplay, it is crucial that your work be read out loud, to give voice to your narrator and actors, scene by scene, page by page. Speak every word as part of your editing process. You can also use screenwriting software, like Final Draft which allows you to assign voices, then you sit back, listen, and hit pause to make corrections as you notice them. Share your screenplay with willing friends and family members, if that’s an option. Include a few questions so they can read with purpose as well as enjoyment. Host a cold-read event with copies of your script for guests along with snacks and libation. You likely already know what’s working, so you’re looking for what isn’t. What slows or stalls their reading? One page of screenplay equals about one minute on screen, so readings help you cut or edit the parts that may be slowing your story down.

Not everyone has a circle of willing eyes so consider signing up for online peer reviews or paying for professional coverage depending on your budget. Always check their ratings first, particularly the more recent ones. Enter competitions - when your work is truly ready - because sometimes it’s producers who read them and they might remember your “less than best” down the road. I’ve mostly entered mine through Film Freeway, a submission platform, and have been happy going that route.

Building a body of work - a portfolio - will be a long, blistering, amazing pilgrimage of the pen. You may want to have several screenplays in your portfolio before you try to market your work. It was advice that I headed and it motivated me to keep going when I felt stuck with a screenplay and needed to set it aside to breathe. I could put my writing muscles to work on a new one, or pull an older one out to polish, then return to the one I was stuck on with fresh eyes. A subsequent screenplay can help garner interest for an earlier one, or vice-versa. You might pitch one at a conference that doesn’t quite fit what a producer is after and be asked “what else do you have?” - so have it. And if they don’t ask, you can let them know you have something else worth their consideration.

If you have a portfolio, and you’ve done the heavy lifting of getting each screenplay as production ready as you can, it may also be time to find a mentor, one with connections who can push you and your portfolio. It won’t be cheap, so your portfolio must warrant it. Getting an introduction through a mentor is gold and it won’t happen unless they believe in the caliber of your work. They must protect the value of their endorsement.

Ultreia! Keep moving forward!

I hope this has either piqued your interest in finding your writer’s way or that it helps you to understand some of the hard work that goes into most of what you read or view. What you see is only the tip of the iceberg. If you’ve found this blog interesting, please share - and follow me!

Write about your pilgrimage of the pen:

What was your starting point? Who were your fellow pilgrims? What is your destination?

Design your own business card.

Ultreia! Forward, together.