I've been writing scripts for a long time now... long enough that I measure that time in decades, not years. (ouch!) And I just realized something last week as I was really digging into a difficult screenplay that's been causing me a great deal of angst.
At my advanced age, I still don't know where I stand on the question of index cards.
When I first started writing plays, as a teenager, I used index cards religiously, in the way they are traditionally used for wrestling with plot and structure. Then I had what seemed to be an epiphany. In 1991, I wrote a play where I had no idea where the characters would take me, how the play might unfold, I just kept writing, following their voices, letting the characters guide me.
It seemed at the time that I had finally arrived at the best way of working for me: through intuition. And ever since every script I've written has been borne more or less out of this approach.
Now, as I find myself working on a screenplay adaptation of a book, I have returned to the index cards. And I have to say that I'm not happy about it. I almost feel as though, having been abandoned by me so long ago, they are annoyed by my neglect and are now punishing me for it. It seems the index cards are mocking me, weighing me down, harassing me and pulling me back.
And yet, what I'm attempting to do in my adaptation, pretty much requires the use of this approach.
I'm just curious. How many of you writers out there use index cards? And do you find you love them, hate them or... can't decide?
