We were lucky to catch up with Melinda Bryce recently and have shared our conversation below.
Melinda, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
Creativity is really a symptom of an active imagination reacting to a life well-lived. Don’t misunderstand when I say “well-lived.” That does not necessarily mean “wealthy” in the common sense of the term. It means that you must live a life rich in all of the things that are important to keep your mind fertile: diverse experiences, real human connection, hardships and challenges, laughter and tears, love and frustration… all of those things come together to create a fertile ground for creativity.
Oscar Wilde said that “life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” Of course, I understand what he means: that our society is far more influenced by art than art is influenced by society. He was looking at the macrocosm of society, and while I feel that it’s true, our culture is highly influenced by all forms of art from film and fashion to Broadway plays and Hip Hop music, but the personal experiences (the life) of the artist makes up the very fiber of their work. That’s why it’s essential that an artist not become so hyperfocused on their art that they forget to live. That’s a very good way for creativity to fizzle out and die. New experience = new ideas = new art!
For me personally, I find there is so much to absorb from studying human beings and truly getting to know people. I love to travel, to go to shows, try new things like Kayaking or revisit old favorites like ice skating… I explore the city of Detroit right here in my own back yard… I also love watching movies of all kinds, reading every genre of book, and listening to people when they tell stories of their lives and experiences. I believe that you can’t separate art from life, and when one is thriving, so shall the other.
So, as a writer, I must constantly remind my self to take sabbaticals between projects. When I have rolled one right into the next, or done multiple projects at the same time, that’s when I end up with writer’s block… or get so burnt out that I want to quit writing altogether. Fortunately, I have my family to keep pulling me back into life and pushing the limits of my comfort zone. My husband and three adult kids keep me moving. Around our house, it’s always something, like, “Hey let’s go play whirlyball,” or “How about we visit the Museum of Death.” Our next family adventure is to Puerto Rico where we are looking forward to exploring the rainforest and the bioluminescent bay… and drinking flights of Pina Coladas.
Whenever you step outside your comfort zone, and whenever you make meaningful contact with other human beings, whenever you go through a challenge or overcome an obstacle, it’s like you’re filling your trough to come back and drink from later. That’s how to keep your creativity alive. At least, that’s how I do it.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I have been a writer since I was a little girl. I remember getting my first typewriter and creating a story about a character named “QWERTY,” the first six letters across the top of the keyboard. I went to college, got married at twenty to my amazing husband of twenty-seven years, and first went into education. After my second child was born, I became a full-time freelance writer. I wrote everything from articles on the housing market in Mumbai to the joys of parenting. I was a writer-for-hire, and that worked for me when the kids were young.
Fast-f0rward about fifteen years… My daughter, Kayden Bryce, was thirteen and started getting passionate about film acting. I would be on set with her, working on my laptop, and pretty soon people would ask me what I did for work. When it came out that I was a writer, I started getting asked to write screenplays. Of course, I’m going to walk through open doors– that’s what keeps life exciting! And I quickly found that I loved writing films.
At this point, I have a handful of films that have been produced and are available to see via streaming: “If Nothing Changes” is a short based on the concept for a series. It’s about the difficulty of overcoming addiction and how it affects your relationships with the people you love; “Crow” is a really well-done fan-film based on The Crow movies with Brandon Lee; “A Holiday I Do” is an LGBTQ holiday film that’s very near and dear to me, it stars Marsha Warfield, Rivkah Reyes, and Jill Larson with a lot of local talent as well; and I was writer and showrunner for a comedy series called “The Agency” that’s in post-production now. I have a single-location psychological thriller called “Delirum” that I wrote alongside another talented writer named Matt Santia, which is now in the pitch process with a producer; and I’m very excited about a film that I wrote with Frankie Jason Turner called “Gigs,” which we are lightheartedly describing as an apathetic musical.
I also co-wrote two books with the incredible Daniel Crag0 (aka drag queen Monique Madison): Serial Showgirl and Serial Showgirl 2: The Shequal. We have the third book of the trilogy in the works, as well as the screenplay written and being prepared for pitch. You can watch for information on the official book launch party and more info on the film as it goes into pre-production phases… all coming soon.
I think as I grow as a writer, one my primary focuses is to use my talent and my passion to move people. My films and books are incredibly character-driven; they highlight the human connection between us, and push you to think about how we can all reach to better understand one another. Even in the comedy genre or the horror film, even in the lighthearted holiday RomCom, there should be an underlying message that resonates with people– a bit that leaves the viewer or the reader with something to think about when they walk away from it.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I learned how to learn at a very young age, and I was raised with a love of knowledge. I know that my ability to say, “I don’t know how to do that, but I’ll figure it out,” has been the key to my success in any arena I decided to pursue. When my husband and I wanted to open a coffee shop, I taught myself how to write a business plan for the loan. We opened our shop and operated it for several years before we made the decision to move from the small town we were in back to the Detroit area. When I worked in Montessori education, I was offered a promotion to head teacher then admisinistrator– as a teacher, I was put through Montessori training, but as administrator, I just said, “No, I’ve never done that, but I can learn.” And I did.
Over the course of my career, I have had to learn a lot of different types of technology to stay competitive. I taught myself photoshop, how to use tools like Dropbox and Google Forms, spreadsheets, and yes… to promote a book that I worked on called “I Don’t Care if You Like Me, I Like Me: Bernie Mac’s Daily Motivational,” I taught myself how to use TikTok and grew the Bernie Mac is Back Tiktok to over 100K followers and monetized it. I also taught myself how to write and properly format a screenplay. When you stop learning, you start dying… and I want to live my life to the fullest.
The next most important area of knowledge that I have is in the area of marketing. I have a degree in English Literature with a minor in Business, and for that minor I had to take Marketing. Best thing I ever did, because when you’re an artist of any sort, you have to understand not only how to create art, but how to package it and sell it. If I were to give any starting artist a peice of advice, it would be to learn marketing and stay on top of the trends.
Ultimately, I think the overarching quality that has helped me success is that I’m not afraid to try and fail. My father always used to say, “Do something, even if it’s wrong.” You have to stay in motion, and you have to make mistakes– otherwise, you don’t learn anything. The most successful people fail the most, and they do not let their failures define them; they make their failures work for them. If you make a mistake, don’t let it crush you. Get up and keep going. Learn from it and adjust.
As far as advice to new writers, I have two things: One, learn everything you can about the industry. If you want to write novels, read novels. Lots of them, and then read even more. Then go study publishing options and how to approach getting your work out there. You can literally learn everything you need to know on the internet. So, start there. Then talk to people who have done it. If you want to screenwrite, read screenplays. Get on film sets and learn what it takes to make a film, even if you have to be a PA for a student film. It doens’t matter. Surround yourself with the culture. Then, get yourself a screenwriting program like Final Draft or Celtx and learn it. Again, learn everything you can before you launch. Two, take full responsibility for your life and your decisions. Period. Once you can do that, you will be open to learning. You will be able to make mistakes and move forward. You will have the humility necessary to be mentored by someone who’s done it before you. Finally, when you take responsiblity for yourself and your life, you have also taken control. It feels good to know that you are driving your own bus. You can then own it.
I remember the first time someone asked me, “What do you do?” and I answered, “I’m a writer!” It was this overwhelming feeling of accomplishment, of ownership, and that’s when my career really plunged forward. You know who you are… own it.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
“Passion or profit” has always been the issue with artists, including writers. I tend to lean toward taking a project that has a guaranteed payout rather than spending my time on a passion project that may or may not lead to financial gain. I get it. We have to pay our bills. We need security… yes, even artists. It’s been an issue in the independant film world that writers (and even actors, etc.) tend to either not get paid or they have to chase their paycheck. Or, it’s the people with celebrity connections that get their films made or their books published. It’s terrible, and it really needs to change… but until then, I’ve tackled the issue in a couple of different ways.
First, I’ve become the “contract up front” person. Yes, I believe that good contracts make good relationships. So, I do nothing (even and especially with friends) without a contract up front… AND a deposit. I’m not going to put my time and energy into a screenplay or a book that someone else comissioned me to create only to have them walk away from it, or to have it not get funded after all. Nope. If I wanted to write for free, I’d focus on my own passion projects.
Second, I’ve realized my worth, and trust me, that took a very long time. No good movie is made without a good script. That’s where it begins, and once I understood that, I was able to charge what I knew I was worth. Having people pay my rate happily, and be overjoyed with the final product, it has really helped me feel validated as a writer.
Third, I have come to understand that it doesn’t have to be “or.” It isn’t “passion OR profit,” it can be both. In fact, the projects that I’m most passionate about are the ones that are seeing the most success. The ones where I’ve partnered with people who were making the film or writing the book because they had a burning desire to tell a story within their given medium, those have been the people I’ve most loved working with, and those are the projects that have been (and are becoming) the most successful.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melinda_bryce/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melinda.bryce/
- Other: TIKTOK: @amusedwriter
