Does Your Day Job Influence Your Writing?

[mscherer]

I’ve been asked by Jeff if my day job was in advertising and by lizzo1014 if I am a copy editor.

Nope. Neither.

I’m a programmer by day – screenwriter by night. But this got me thinking -- a dangerous situation at best. It got me thinking: how does the day job influence my screenwriting?

As a programmer I have to be a problem solver. I have to be creative. And when I am coding, I have to think ahead – if I code this function this way, how can I use it somewhere else; if I do this first, what has to happen next? What happens four or five functions down the road? You get the idea. Programming and screenwriting – or writing in general – require similar skills: understanding structure; the ability to think ahead; solving problems in creative ways.

So, how does your day job influence your writing? We are now open for discussion.

Keep Writing!

[echenry]

The "bad guys" I wrote for the "The Judas Project" (2004/2005) were VERY close relatives to people I met in real life at a job. AND the story inside the "The Judas Project" deals with a core fear that developed over time from just being around them... Creepy people = creepy story.

The background for "Cupid Got Stupid" (Mercer Island, Lake Washington area) came from a job I had too; as a driver for a busy Seattle Electrical contractor. The boss/coworker affair that takes place in the script was influenced by something I saw from a distance at that job.

GREAT content post, Mike. That's one of the things I like about you the most -- CONTENT POSTS; you almost always have something interesting to say. This blog is lucky to have you as one of its regular attendees and contributors.

LOVE to write computer code. Took some C++ classes at the University of Washington and LOVED it. Don't know if that's the language you program in, but I likey... My dad was a COBOL programmer for Boeing for 25+ years; he worked on their payroll systems. Gooo programmers!!

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

[echomusic]

I have a day job where I can actually sneak away from time to time and write or do some editing, which is great. It's nothing exciting, standard admin work. But the location of my day job is kind of cool (and would a great setting for a script I hope to write some day).
The U.N. here in NYC

[brianhaas]

My biggest problem is that I have a job that is PERFECT to influence my writing, content-wise.

I'm a crime reporter. In South Florida.

What's the problem? It's this: I've done pretty well as a crime writer for almost a decade now because I have a very good mental wall erected between work and home life. When I leave work, I LEAVE WORK. Considering the fact that I deal with some pretty emotional situations (I've covered well over 100 murders), it's been an effective coping mechanism. If I couldn't separate the two, I'd be in a glass cage of emotion, a la Ron Burgundy.

My other problem is this: I write for 8 hours a day (well, not straight, but you get the point), so by the time I get home, it's hard for me to sit down and... write some more.

My final problem is this: I don't get joy out of crime fiction. Not reading or viewing it (I can't stand CSI, Law & Order, you name it) nor writing it.

On the other hand, being a crime reporter has absolutely helped my writing abilities, no doubt. I write around 200 stories a year. Since journalism has fairly rigid structure to stories (in general, the "inverted pyramid" method is most often used), I think I'm pretty malleable on screenwriting structure.

I think I write pretty natural dialogue because I'm constantly using it in my stories in the form of quotes.

And I'm used to some pretty brutal criticism from less-than-diplomatic editors.

I'd say it's a net win so far, but obviously, there's a huge untapped resource in my life for story ideas that I just can't seem to tap into right now.

[mscherer]

@ec,
Thanks for the kind words -- I'm one who believes that sharing is growing. Boy, does that sound real corny
Anyway, I am a self-taught programmer in assembler, C, Visual Basic, and a little VB Script -- whatever the job calls for.

echomusic,
The U.N.? -- very cool . I'm sure there are some stories to be told. Whenever I see the U.N. building I always think of North by Northwest -- love that movie.

Thanks again to both and,
Keep Writing!

[mscherer]

@brian,
I completely relate to sitting in front of a screen all day -- in your case writing, in mine, developing software. And I can also understand the need for that wall. You are very fortunate that you CAN do that. That being said, you do have a writing background and that is a HUGE advantage over most scribes.

I guess you're one person I won't have to implore,
Keep Writing!

[trellicktower]

I work for the federal government. I have filed away and written down dozens of situations that I've encountered here, both at the political and bureaucratic level, which I use in a few of my projects. So work majorly influences my writing in that vein.

Sitting at a desk for long stretches also gives me lots of time to write when things are slow on the work front.

[attatt]

@brian - you dont just mix in your writing with work writing? I sit at a computer most of the day and just work in writing scripts or stories when I have time/inspiration. I basically have 8-9 hours of seamless typing every day.

On topic, I work for the phone company. For some reason, we get an incredible amount of nut jobs here. Very entertaining, but I have not been especially inspired by any of them yet. I think in some cases real life is weirder than fiction. Too weird.

One thing this job has done for me though is teach me how to approach something methodically. I write the same way I would create software requirements, training material, or reports....I dig down to the very root of the problem, research thoroughly, then outline and review before I really write.
Working for a Fortune 50 company, a mistake or omission on my part could cause a huge financial loss or a lot of grief from other people put in a bad position. I take the same focus into my writing. I want to get every detail right.

Although, having no deadline in my script writing, all this probably works against me. I take forever to ensure I am happy with the end product. I should probably set deadlines for myself.

Anyone else have that issue?

[trellicktower]

Feb 12, 2010 15:44:02 GMT -5 attatt said:

Although, having no deadline in my script writing, all this probably works against me. I take forever to ensure I am happy with the end product. I should probably set deadlines for myself.

Anyone else have that issue?

Definitely! Lately I've been outlining at work. The problem is that I know I can continue outlining again tomorrow so I don't put any pressure on myself to finish today.

[brianhaas]

Feb 12, 2010 15:44:02 GMT -5 attatt said:

@brian - you dont just mix in your writing with work writing?

I'm just now coming to grips with that. We have a fairly strict IT policy, so I decided to play around with Scripped.com, which has been nice.

I'm hopeful that on slow days I'll be able to pop into my screenplays on occasion to do work, but usually I'm pretty busy.

I also have the issue with deadlines. I do well under the pressure of my day job, but when it comes to home life, I'm a complete sloth. I've been working hard on disciplining myself to write at least a page a day (hopefully more), but it's slow going.

[Deleted]

A lot of geeks up in here...I like that. I am a geek also.

I do high end technical support for a company. Writing during working hours gets annoying. You just start to write and get into the story and bam...another phone call.

I do try to leave yWriter or Celtx open during the day. If I have time I will click over and tinker a bit. I love slow work days so I can write more. I also leave Google Reader open as well and end up reading blogs about screenwriting while I am working. Anything to keep my mind on the story. Evernote is a pretty cool tool as well. If I find a website that relates to any of the ideas I am working on I can click the web clipper and save the link to reference later.