Reader Question: How can I immerse myself in the story I’m writing?

“I find I get way too many projects on the front burner, which is overwhelming.”

This is really two questions: How to stack projects? For my thoughts on that, check out a Business of Screenwriting post I did back in 2010: The Art of Stacking Projects.

The other question is this: How can I immerse myself in the story I’m writing? If you are one of those writers who believes yourself to capable of working on more than one project at a time, yet you struggle with fully immersing yourself in your stories, while you may think you’re being productive, I suspect it’s more likely you’re doing this:

You may get to FADE OUT on each of those projects, but odds are the scripts will have little chance to be good… and almost no chance to be great. Why?

Because one of the keys to writing a good story is to… say it with me now…

GO INTO THE STORY!

Special emphasis on that word INTO.

Definition: expressing movement or action with the result that someone or something becomes enclosed or surrounded by something else.

When you go into the story, you become enclosed in it, you are surrounded by the environment.

You need to live, breathe, ponder, wander, observe, listen, and give yourself over to that story universe.

How best to do that, to immerse yourself in a story?

THE CHARACTERS!

Get curious about them. Ask them questions. Study each one and their interrelationships. Listen to them. Watch them. Think about them. Put them in scenes together. Speculate about their personal histories and backstories. Reflect on the influence of their upbringing and cultural context on their personalities. Lean into them. Engage them directly. Consider their respective narrative functions.

I call it Inside Out writing and the best way to start: Your Protagonist.

Just as the Protagonist is most commonly the main conduit for a script reader or viewer into the story, so it is with the writing process: Use the Protagonist as your vehicle to steer you into and through the story universe.

Here’s what you hope to experience by engaging the Protagonist and the core group of characters connected to that central character: You will become passionate about your story… because you are passionate about them.

And once you are truly passionate about your story, you will almost naturally find yourself immersed in it.

You may or may not discover you can switch from one story universe to another, immersing yourself in multiple stories at a time. Regardless, you absolutely must have the ability to immerse yourself in a story. And in my view, the very best way to do that is through your characters.

For 100s more Go Into The Story Reader Questions, go here.