I've been getting these Oblique Strategies from http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/oblique/oblique.html which has a random generator. There's 127 of them in total, and some of them are more oblique than others. Bizarrely though, they almost always seem to make pretty good sense to me or carry some greater than usual significance. I've been working on a screenplay, and "Just carry on" is definitely the best advice at the moment.
Apparently, Alfred Hitchcock said, "Once we have worked out the story in full, then we begin the screenplay," or words to that effect. It seems to me that different genres require different methods. TV and film are so unforgiving, over-structured and busy that I can imagine a series falling apart if you tried to just work through from start to finish. Stage plays and prose on the other hand, allow so much more freedom and creativity on the part of the writer, that I think the more you let your mind wander around the better (and then get to the editing afterwards). Much of the inspirational steps in art have come about due to mistakes or accidents, and yet the film/TV business seems to want to eradicate any originality.
I've been visiting a lot of writing blogs recently, and the diversity of opinion and technique differs wildly, from the institutionalised "you might think that sounds like selling out, but you DO want people to see your work, don't you?" approach, to the fresh and original voice of a talented playwright who isn't prepared to compromise his writing for commercial success. (And lots of opinions in between.)
Frankly, though, if I hear another word about "practical aesthetics" and "super objectives" I think I'll have an electronic paddy.
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