Writing Difficult Scenes

I'm finishing up a short script that is my final project for the screenwriting class I've been taking all summer. I've just hit the most difficult scene in the whole movie - a painful scene - and I wasn't sure how it should be done.

I asked my writer's loop (ACFW) for their help, and several writers responded with beautiful testimonies of how they handled similar situations in real life.

Then I began writing the scene. I got through the hardest part, tears streaming down my face, and then began writing some dialogue for a secondary character. But he seemed to take over and I ended up writing in an idea I'd never heard of, or thought of, to help my character. I know the idea was inspired by God.

How cool is that? Now I'm going to write an article about that topic - maybe the idea will help real people, too.

How do you handle writing difficult scenes?

Me - a Storyteller?

This past year has been an interesting discovery of myself, my purpose, my calling. In the midst of all the changes, I focused on God - what He wanted me to do, more than what I wanted to do, and was pleasantly surprised that I had matured in my faith enough that I can honestly say that I want what God wants for my life - no more, and no less. Being in that position makes difficult decisions (like closing businesses or opening new ones) much easier. It also lessens the worry - who would open a business in this economy?? Unless He has a purpose. So I trust.

One thing that has become apparent to me in the last six months. God has been molding me and crafting me all these years for a purpose that I'm just beginning to accept, acknowledge, embrace.

Nia Vardalos, screenplay writer of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, said she once thought to herself "Who am I to charge people to hear me speak?" Then she had a revelation, "Why not me?"

We are storytellers. We have stories to tell that no one else can tell the way we tell them. So why not me, too?