In the end, being the writer on set is a bit like having organised a big party, but you're not allowed to eat or drink anything. You just have to stand in the corner.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Being on set is difficult for the writer. Your job is done, and you have to step back and hand it over to the director.
Some writers take to drink, others take to audiences.
Providing a writer isn't put off by conventions - and some are - attending them can be a nice break from the necessary isolation of writing.
When I'm on the set, I'll come up with ideas if I'm sort of just between responsibilities, because there's a lot of sitting around on set. Invariably, though, the stuff I come up with on the set tends to be bad.
I'm not the sort of writer who can walk into a party and take a look around, see who's sleeping with whom and go home and write a novel about society. It's not the way I work.
If I'd stayed on in London and carried on going to literary parties, it would have wrecked me as a writer.
If you can walk into a set and feel the reality of it, then immediately you're not having to work to bring yourself into the character.
There's a certain freedom in writing when you don't know if you'll ever have an audience.
For any writers at all, read everything you can and then put your butt in the chair and write. That's all there is to it.
Writing a novel is not method acting and I find it easy to step out of it at cocktail hour.