I was just talking to a great TV comedy writer, who was stuck in the middle of a feature film script. He was bored of the characters and had lost touch with the excitement and momentum that got him started on the project in the first place.

Kubler-Ross famously ennumerated the stages of coping with death (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance). Writers face these stages when finishing a project too, but before you get to that there are other stages to be aware of. Each one has their challenges, and it's really helpful to know which stage you're in because that helps you focus on the right challenges instead of getting caught up in problems you don't have yet - or anymore.

A screenwriter friend shared this piece of oral tradition that lays out the stages of a Hollywood project:
1) Unbridled Enthusiasm
2) Total Despair
3) Desperate Search for the Guilty
4) Punishment of the Innocent
5) Promotion of the Un-Involved

Sad/funny, but true. On the creative side, and outside the Hollywood studio system, you'll probably experience these stages in any large-scale creative project:

1) BLUE SKY - Anything goes. Enthusiasm rules. No boundaries. No limits.
2) DUE DILIGENCE - Start asking around and googling to see if anything like your project already exists. This can be painful, but it's better to know now than later.
2) MAKING PAGES - Try to stay away from being overly self-critical at this stage. You're just generating words/scenes/pages.
3) SELECT & FOCUS - This is when you have to take a second look at your assumptions and decide what story you're telling and what genre it belongs to. This is also the time when some prized material is going to have to leave the project and go to the outs file/compost heap. It might be a great scene. It just might not be part of this project. This also could be the phase when you freak out and get sick of the project all together.
4) SHAPE - This could be the time to re-structure and re-organize the material. This could also be the phase to get some input from trusted advisors because you've probably lost all perspective.
5) REFINE - Otherwise known as polishing. This is kind of a great phase but don't pretend you're here before you're here.

Stage 1 gives you the joy of accumulation and the thrill of channelling creative energy. Stage 2 gives you the grounded feeling of living in the truth. Stages 3-5 give you the satisfaction of problem-solving.

What's next? Tune in next time for Beth's Stages of Waiting.

Write on.