Screenwriting Secret: Invisible Writing

My writing has seemed invisible countless times, say when I’ve given it to a studio or network to read. It just seems to disappear. But there’s a way to make your writing actually invisible that can help your craft.

This tip applies to pitching or brainstorming, when you know where you want to end up but don't know what road to take. It might be a snippet of dialog you're trying to create, or a "beat sheet" of story points. Most word processors are capable of rendering your text invisible. In Microsoft Word for the Mac, for example, you choose Format | Font | Hidden.

• Render your text invisible via the appropriate commands, place your fingers on the home keys, focus on your goal, and start typing.
• Do not stop typing.
• Do not think (this is the easiest part for me). This is more of a meditative exercise than conventional scribing. You might type for ten seconds; it might go on for a minute.
• Rather than deciding to stop, let your fingers stop you. They will know when they are sufficiently confused to be unable to continue.
• Select the text you have written (you might use Edit | Select All since you can't see it) and reformat it to be visible again.
  

What you'll see is a mess of typographical errors, run-on sentences, fragments and strings of symbols that look like Popeye the Sailor Man cursing a blue streak. And perhaps, within this ore, a few nuggets of gold.

Unlike your text, the psychology behind this exercise is apparent: by short-circuiting your well-practiced and conventional writing process, you may tap into deeper portions of your creative subconscious. Your lobes are relieved of instinctively checking for proper spelling and grammar; your ego is robbed of its compulsion to rewrite a sentence even before you've finished it, lest someone see your terrible, awful work. And so a small voice, unheard in the din of your cerebral mechanism, may have a chance, for a few seconds, to be heard. It can be like having a writing partner in your own cranium.

Nowadays, some word processors permit you to turn already-typed text invisible, but won't let you type new text in the invisible mode. Under these circumstances, try formatting your page so that all text is white, on a white background. This achieves the same result.

Of course, you could just close your eyes while you type. But I don't trust you. You'll peek.

Let me know if you try this, and your results.