Here's a question that many aspiring screenwriters ask: "Which books on writing are most helpful?" And the answers in Ask the Pros are across the board. Doug Wallace says "read everything you can . . . you never know when or where you might find a golden nugget." David Goyer says, "I find very few writing books helpful. Honestly, I can't think of any." Craig Moss says that Story helped him, while Robbie Fox says he has "no interest" in books on how to write, and adds:

I know people go on and on about that Robert McKee guy, but I really believe he's had the most destructive influence on Hollywood since the beginning of film. I swear, every project, every batch of notes, people start quoting to you what page the inciting incident has to go on and at what point this character must be challenged by something from his past.

The point is, the differences of opinion on this topic highlight the essential truth that writing and inspiration must be an individual pursuit, and sometimes those things which are helpful to one person are not always helpful to another (personally, I like McKee's book, but we're not here to talk about me). There is frequently far too much emphasis on formula in the circles of the "aspiring," as if writing can be broken down into a science experiment. Reading the responses of these pros to these questions one realizes that the only formula is to keep trying and keep growing as a writer and as a person.

Other questions have equally disparate answers, be it whether they write with specific actors in mind (some say yes, some say no) to how much preparation they make before writing a script (some are very meticulous researchers, others are not). As a father of four I was truly struck by Robbie Fox's response to a question about daily writing schedules:

My work schedule experience is divided up into two categories: before children and after children. Before children, I slept as late as my little heart desired, woke up fresh, made a few calls, took a swim, played some tennis, and then wrote into the wee hours of the morning - not for caffeine or bills, but for the sheer love of it and the need to express myself. Since children, I spend four or five awkward hours in bed with my wife, feeling rejected and claustrophobic, occasionally visited by a child who has had a bad dream or wet his bed. God forbid they sleep through the night, no doubt the stupid bird will have a bad dream and start squawking or the dog pisses in the house. So you wake up at like 6:00, and you go to Starbucks and you get this cup of coffee for three dollars and you have to treat it well, because you will refill that f**ker all day long, until midnight and maybe later, so that after all the calls are made and the bills are paid, and you pick the kids up at school and you remember to go to your in-laws for dinner and your wife spends every f**king penny you have on crap you don't need, then, and only then, can you write for about eleven minutes.