Welcome back to my newsletter sub-series about the creative process, A Lot to Process. I’ve really enjoyed these conversations, and if all of us are lucky I’ll avoid turning it into a podcast.

I had a good writing day last weekend. I was brainstorming for something new, and I had one of those perfect moments where all the pieces clicked into place and I knew exactly where things were headed. This particular moment happened while I was basically writing a letter to myself trying to work through the story, which means I got it down on paper. (And I’ll be able to share it with you all in…maybe five or six years, if we’re lucky?)

These moments are rare, and they’re one of my favorite parts of being a writer. Usually they happen in the shower (that happened to me on S.H.O.O.T. First… twice!) or while you’re doing something else. People always ask writers “Where do your ideas come from?” but maybe a better question would be, “How do you make your brain cough up ideas?” Which brings me to…

Meet Todd Casey

As I mentioned last time, my main crew of creative friends is made up of the guys I worked with at Wizard and ToyFare magazines. More than a few of them are talented writers, but Todd Casey, to my knowledge, is the only one of us who’s written a whole-ass movie: co-writer (with Zach Shields and Michael Dougherty) of the Christmas horror classic Krampus.

He’s also written a ton of animation and is branching off into comics. And as someone whose full-time job is coming up with ideas, he needs to be keyed into how to do it in a way that works for him. One method, which he says he discovered through meditation, is to “draw your attention away from thoughts and toward a focus point - like a mantra or the breath,” Todd said. “Your brain will do ANYTHING to keep from being ignored. It seems to have waves of assaults on your attention that you have to weather before getting to the useful material. But if you continue to ward off thoughts by refocusing your attention, your brain will get desperate and it will start giving you ideas. Just like in meditation, it will feed you whatever it can to get you locked into thought, but you have to swipe right until you find one that you can agree on. Once you agree, then you can ease into a flow state, which is where the magic really happens.”

Justin: That reminds me of how David Lynch works in Catching the Big Fish. Was that an inspiration?

Todd: David Lynch - through his life and work - is a big inspiration. I have read Catching the Big Fish and it described a process that I didn't realize was happening. Once I was able to see it through his metaphor, I got better at "hacking the system," as it were.

Justin: Do you primarily use that method when you're trying to generate ideas? When you're trying to work out a specific problem on an existing project? Both?

Todd: To some degree, I'm always using that method. It really boils down to "Don't get distracted." So much of my work is collaboration, which means I have to be actively listening and avoiding any sort of wandering thoughts in the moment. I also resist the urge to go off topic - which happens all the time in writer's rooms (sometimes people just need a short break from focusing). There is a lot more laying around day-dreaming about ideas when it's a brand new project. Once a script or outline is in progress, I'm wide-awake at my desk.

At that point, things become a little more mathematical as story structure, set-ups/payoffs, and page real-estate become concerns. In a writer's room, ideas truly seem to pop into my head -- except when they don't. I absolutely have days where things just aren't appearing and effort doesn't seem to help. On those days, I just have to remind myself that the ideas will show back up at some point. In a writer's room, I am willing to toss out "bad" or "wild" pitches because they can spark ideas in other people. I'm shocked by how often the wild pitches connect.

Justin: In some ways it sounds like you kind of view your brain as the enemy, and you're trying to trick it into cooperating with you. Is that how you see it?

Todd: It's less that I see my brain as the enemy and more that I see it like an antenna that receives consciousness/thoughts. If it's getting static, I need to shift it a few degrees to get a better signal-to-noise ratio. People often talk about getting great ideas while they're in the shower. (Justin’s note: See?) I think that happens because part of our mind is distracted by the rote routine we're in. Showering is almost automatic - like walking or driving. That sort of distraction is somehow useful in thinning out the noise and I have no idea why. It seems to enhance my ability to get into a flow state. I've found it also works for me to have slight background noise I have to tune out, such as a TV in another room that I can just barely hear. Any visual noise, however, is a huge distraction for me. I can't work in cafes or anywhere with lots of movement.

I see my own mind like a collaborator who needs a lot of wrangling and encouragement to be useful.

Justin: So when you're starting a new project that's not an adaptation, where do you begin? How do you know when you've got an idea you want to develop, and how do you go about developing it?

Todd: It usually starts with a character or general premise/world. For a long time, I wanted to base a character on one of my closest friends because her life story was so, so, so opposite of my own. Specifically, she was estranged from her abusive mom and got word her mom had three weeks to live. She kind of shrugged it off, "She's probably lying. But either way, I'm not going to visit her." This sat with me for a long time and story ideas began to spring up around it. I love supernatural stories, so I knew that would be an element. But I never put it to paper because the story was constantly shifting in my mind. It took me a long time to realize that, while the premise fascinated me, I couldn't emotionally relate to the idea of having a fully adversarial relationship with a horrifying parent. Her mom did not pass, but, unfortunately, she did.

I knew I wanted to channel that feeling of grief and loss, but was still stuck on the idea of making her the central character. I think the idea of trying to inhabit her identity was a way of keeping her around. I made a lot of notes, but no premises ever felt like the "aha!" moment. I shared the problem with our mutual friend Alex Segura, who suggested I make myself the main character. That clicked. I realized I had a real fear of writing a character analogous to myself. The countless hours I've spent researching supernatural phenomena zipped together this experience of loss I had, and a story began to take shape.

Once I had a few loose puzzle pieces in my head, I started putting it all down in my notebook. Stray thoughts out of order. Anything that popped into my head - no bad ideas. More and more thoughts poured in as I got going, and now I have a dozen or so pages of thoughts. This is the "throwing spaghetti at the wall" phase. I find writing by hand is the most effective tactic for me at this stage. I prefer not to look at the computer screen until I have to. A story structure will soon form and I'll go back through the notes and stick it all on a timeline as a rudimentary outline.

The key steps in the process were a) not being afraid of being vulnerable b) writing for myself vs writing for a buyer. If I complete the project, it will be the most "me" thing I've ever written and that prospect has changed from being terrifying to being thrilling. I think that's the way to get the rubber to meet the road when it comes to the "unconscious mind" woo-woo aspects I've been talking out.

Justin: You’ve written in a bunch of different media. How do you decide if a project is going to be a movie, a TV show, a comic or whatever?

Todd: That is a great question! If an idea lends itself to a large budget or niche audience, it's going to be a comic. TV lends itself to really character-driven premises that are a bit open ended. Features are better suited to concepts/scenarios you can - and want to - resolve in 90-120 minutes. Krampus was never going to be a TV series

There are ideas that feel like they could go either way, in which case I lean toward the most likely avenue of success. A TV series is probably the hardest of the three to get off the ground. Mostly, I stick to animation because, to invoke another fish metaphor, I fish where the fishing is good!

My sincere thanks to Todd for his time and his insights! You can find Todd on Instagram, but he hardly ever posts. “I try to avoid going on social media because that gets all the wrong neurons firing,” he says. Sounds right to me!

I’ll be back soon with another “A Lot to Process” column. As always, if you know someone (or are someone) you think I should talk to for it, drop me a line. Thanks for reading!