Yeah, that was me after I got home from work yesterday. Except my robe was navy (I don't do pink). And I wear glasses. And it was night. You get the picture. Anyway, it's seven days into the first full week of Script Frenzy and I'm---behind. Life, as it tends to do, has intruded into my carefully-laid plans to write like a maniac this month. It was perfect. Character sketches, logline and plot were completed. Script writing software waited to be activated. Friends were alerted of my limited availability. A supply of dark chocolate, assorted teas and wine were on hand. April 1st arrived and I, along with countless 'Screnzy'ers', got to work. The momentum continued through the weekend, with short breaks to go food shopping and to church. Then, Monday arrived and back to work I went. Sounds familiar? Probably, if you're a writer. You learn to make time to write whenever you can and wherever you may be. That's the only way to grow into your craft, finish your proj
ects and ultimately, earn money. At the day job , that means knocking something out during my lunch break. Yesterday I worked on dialogue and conflict between protagonist and antagonist. A couple of days ago while zoning out on the commute home, a few ideas started crawling around in my brain and when I got home, I had the end of my script. You never know when ideas appear, so I keep a notebook handy. I'm looking forward to this weekend full of writing. Having taken a couple of scriptwriting workshops in the past few months and studying the scripts of various movies and T.V. shows has been helpful in . When Monday rolls around, the day job and rest of life taking up where it left off, the Frenzy will patiently wait for a convenient time for us to meet and create. So will I. In the Frenzy vs. life conflict, sometimes the Frenzy wins, sometimes life does. Now, if you will excuse me, my script---and some chocolate calls. By Jill Earl
By Jill Earl
If you’re looking for a way to develop or sharpen your poetry or scriptwriting skills, check out a couple of writing challenges happening in April.
First up is the Poetic Asides PAD (Poem-A-Day) Challenge. Created by Writer’sMarket.com editor Robert Lee Brewer, the goal is to write a poem each day; using the daily prompt provided by Brewer is optional. The submission deadline is May 5, 2011, and any received after this time will be disqualified. Poems should either be submitted either in the body of the e-mail or as a .txt or .doc file. Out of all the entries, Brewer will choose a ‘Top 50’ of the month. You don’t need to register and participation is free. Full guidelines can be found at the Poetic Asides blog.
Then there’s Script Frenzy, sister to November’s National Novel Writing Month Challenge. Participants write a script (or multiple scripts) of at least 100 pages total, individually or with a partner. Just about anything can be written: screenplays, stage plays, TV shows, short films, comic book and graphic novel scripts, adaptations of novels. There are lots of resources for Frenzy participants to use, including how-to guides, inspiring interviews, forums and a neat Plot Machine if you need some help coming up with a script idea. You must register, but there’s no fee to participate. Everyone who reaches the 100-page goal receives a Script Frenzy Winner's Certificate and web icon. I’ll be joining the over 10,000 (so far) in this year’s Frenzy myself. Go to the Script Frenzy site for more details.
Think you’re up for the challenges? Check one or both out, sign up--and get to writing!
by Jill Earl
I’m approaching the homestretch for
Script Frenzy, the annual event where you write a 100-page script during April. This is my first go-around with the challenge, and learning about scriptwriting and filmmaking are part of my writing goals for this year. I decided to try my hand at adapting a short story I wrote a couple of years ago into a romantic comedy screenplay, and was inspired by a critique received from an editor at a conference I attended some time ago. I generally shy away from romance as a genre, although I do like the occasional romantic comedy.
I prepped for the month by filling out worksheets, reacquainting myself with my characters, getting accustomed to the scriptwriting software I’d be using, practicing some writing, figuring out a writing schedule, and visiting the forums to get acquainted with some of the other participants. April started and the race was on.
Receiving emails from fellow participants and industry professionals has been a great encouragement for me, especially when I was trying to figure out where to begin writing my script. I came across a couple of articles where some writers were struggling with the same issue. One started their script at the end and worked backward, another started in the middle. For me, working out of sequence on various sections of my script has been the answer, and the writing has been coming along.
Then some of my characters decided to go their own way. One of the men, Dominic, decided he didn’t like the name I gave him, so he changed it to Damien. Fortunately, I agreed with his choice. Next, my protagonist’s best friend couldn’t decide whether she wanted a dog or a man, and then dyed her hair a very strange green to celebrate Earth Day. I couldn’t help her with the man-dog decision, but I made her turn her hair back to the original color. And somehow, some killer hamsters were planning to roam the city in little gangs. Um, no, not this story. Once I cracked the whip, they all got back in line, and I’m pushing through.
Recently, I did some training to be a camera operator for a project a local non-profit will be filming. For me, the process will be a great opportunity to witness the script to film process first-hand. And to continue developing my scriptwriting skills, I’m looking into taking WOW’s upcoming screenwriting course by Christina Hamlett.
I’m not certain I’ll finish on the last day with those 100 pages, but the keys will keep tapping in this marathon. I pinky swore on that one. Even better, there’s a long weekend retreat waiting at the end of this endeavor, and there will be dark chocolate.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to head back into the Frenzy.
by Jill Earl
Novelists have NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. Bloggers have NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month. The start of April later this week brings the fourth annual Script Frenzy for the aspiring scriptwriter.
Script Frenzy is a free international writing event where participants are challenged to write 100 pages of scripted material in the month of April, experience not required. No prizes are offered, but every writer that finishes receives a winner's certificate and accompanying web icon to proclaim your achievement. Any type of script is eligible: screenplays, stage plays, TV shows, short films, comic book and graphic novel scripts, adaptations of novels, radio scripts, whatever gets you scribbling.
Like its siblings above, entrants won’t be left adrift. Start with the ‘Writer’s Resources’ page to begin your pre-Frenzy prep with how-to guides and worksheets to map out your writing. Move on to the the ‘Writing Software’ page for advice on selecting the proper one for your needs. Peruse ‘Cameos’ for articles by industry experts. To get the juices flowing, hit the Plot Machine for script ideas like this one: “After waiting in line for a Wii, a near-sighted chemist must stop the space-time continuum.”
And when the Frenzy begins, don’t forget checking out the forums to network, ask questions, offer answers, see what’s up in your specific genre, discuss the latest tools of the trade, and many other activities.
There's still time to sign up. The festivities begin 12:00:01 a.m. April 1 and end no later than 11:59:59 p.m. April 30.
Script Frenzy’s tagline asks, “30 days. 100 pages. April. Are you in?”
I sure am. Let’s see how this baby turns out.
There's just two more days of Script Frenzy fun. Fortunately, I don't need them! I've already passed the 100 page winner's line!!! Yay.
I've got 102 pages of script for a musical, an adaptation of my 2008 NaNoWriMo novel. The musical drama is called THE ALCALDE'S DAUGHTER. It still needs about 5 scenes to reach the end. (Yes, I know I can use the last 2 days of April to work on these, but I probably won't. I'll leave it for the summer, when I'm on vacation!)
And of course, it needs music. But not until I've sorted out the script and revamped the lyrics, which I drafted in the speed of SF without any real consideration to rhyme, meter, "scansion" or anything else.
The script is a glorious mess, but I'm writing about the period in Saipan when the deportees were here, 1875, and it's all thanks to the excellent history by Carlos Madrid, published by the Humanities Council. Of course, they would be quite shocked at the liberties I'm taking with history, but that's what fiction is all about!
Now, to celebrate. Not. I just really want to sleep.
I received an e-mail from Mary Parker, who said that she is writing a story for Stars & Stripes on Nanowrimo/Script Frenzy here in the CNMI and in Guam.
If you've participated in Nanowrimo or SF, and want to give your feed back for her story, you can reach her at mary at theparkers dot org.
If you haven't participated, it's never too late. April is
Script Frenzy month. Join now! Write 100 pages of script on your movie or stage play or manga/graphic novel or whatever! It's a blast, a mind-wrenching, soul-bruising, but nevertheless radically fun endeavor.
It came as something of a shock this weekend to realize that Script Frenzy starts this week--April 1 is Wednesday. Just 2 days away!
A month-long adventure of writing a script. The goal-100 pages. Script types include screenplays, stageplays, radio theatre, graphic novels (manga), comic books, and even collections of shorts for film or stage.
I've been planning since last November to adapt my NaNoWriMo novel from 2008 into a stage play (musical style). That inspiration came during November as I was writing the novel and kept thinking it would work better on stage.
The only problem, as I realized this weekend, is that I never finished the novel! I have more than a dozen scenes of varying lengths to write on the novel. I estimate that I have about 12,000 to 18,000 words more to go. And I'll never get that finished before April 1.
So do I "adapt" the unfinished novel, and come up with the ending during Frenzy? Or do I latch on to some other idea now and wing it (which is truly the style that works best during these write-it-all-in-a-month on-line events)? I could bail this year--I have enough unfinished projects already, don't need another...
Is there any one else out there who wants to write a script in a month with me? It's fun! And it's easier with someone to share the experience.
The Office of Letters and Light has announced a change in the Script Frenzy event. They've changed the date from the month of June to APRIL!
That's less than 3 weeks away!
So if you're interested in writing that stage or movie script, a manga novel or cartoon, or even a radio script, now is the time to sign up and gear up. Great advice over at Script Frenzy .
I'm not sure if I can do this in April. I did join last June (I was on vacation.) and it was a lot of fun. Writing a script is difficult, though. Seemed much harder than novel writing!
Do you stagger out of meetings moaning how you hate, hate, hate meetings? Do you yearn for anything — earthquake, hurricane, building collapse — to get out of the meeting you’re in? Do meetings have to be so awful?
The bad meetings always stand out in my memory, but actually, I’ve attended many good meetings, as well. They had a few things in common.
1. Agendas. A good meeting has an agenda. It might be a very informal agenda, such as “Today we are all going to share for two minutes each on everything we’ve done this past week.” Or it might be an elaborate, three-level-outline agenda. But a meeting without an agenda is not a meeting, it’s an encounter group.
2. Openness. Unless the meeting needs to be closed (personnel issues, for example), the meeting is not only open to those who are required to be there, but to people who have an interest in the topic and want to sit in. That also means that meetings are held at times that facilitate this openness (for a major violator of this principle, see ALA Council, which does the bulk of its work a day after the conference has ended). This openness not only contributes to cross-pollination; it also makes meetings more broadly accountable.
3. The meeting is the meeting. That sounds either Zen-like or Seuss-like (or a little of each), but let me clarify. I have worked in a number of settings where the announced meeting was really just a showcase, and key decisions took place before or after the meeting among the informal leaders in the organization. A variation on this is the person who hangs around after the meeting and has a special one-on-one meeting with a key decision-maker which alters decisions made at the meeting or makes new decisions on topics that weren’t addressed. Obviously, the cure for this is fairly complex — these problems are symptomatic of a toxic organizational culture — but if you can affect real change at that level, then meetings have a chance of becoming meetings again, and not charades resented for the time they suck from activities that people have some control over.
4. Time management. The push is to get the meeting done so people can leave the meeting and Do Something. Meetings not only have start times, but end times. Meetings do not wander on and on; agenda items have time limits. It is true that good meetings contribute to outcomes, but meetings rarely are the bulk of the outcome, and a meeting should leave people jazzed about the issue at hand, not exhausted and burned-out. (Oh, and don’t you love the admin-type whose power trip includes breathlessly showing up late for every single meeting — often with a dramatic explanation of the Very Important Thing that made her late? Yeah, me neither: if you can, start the meeting on time and don’t let this person get it off course when she arrives. Otherwise, practice your patient half-smile.)
5. Democratic but not anarchic. On the one hand, the meeting is not a lecture; you do not sit there, wishing you were dead, while for an hour someone on high reads notes that should have been sent out by email, or asks “questions” that have predetermined “answers.” People have discussions, and discussions resolve problems or lead to problem resolution strategies. the convener makes a special effort to acknowledge all meeting participants and draw the best out of them. On the other hand, the meeting is not dominated by trolls who filibuster on every topic (often with extreme negativism and pronounced opinions) and drown out meeker voices as they hammer home Their Way of Doing Things. To keep a meeting democratic without becoming anarchic requires some adroit, situation-specific meeting management — some of it thought through in advance, with a strategic awareness of the participants’ behavior styles — but it’s key.
6. Not every issue needs a meeting. (Tangentially, see also my observation earlier that for every action there is an equal and opposite committee.) Sometimes a problem can be at least partially resolved by two folks standing around a cubicle tossing a nerf ball; sometimes it’s too early to meet because you don’t know what the issue is. Sometimes the issue needs slow, protracted online conversation (easier among people who work this way naturally) rather than the artifice of ten people, a room, and an agenda.
7. Not every issue can be resolved in a meeting. I’ve seen meetings where the participants were determined to come to a conclusion right then and there. But a meeting is not always the right venue. Sometimes you need more information. Sometimes it’s too early to make a decision. (Yes, this does have to be balanced with not having a separate meeting-outside-of-the-meeting structure.) Sometimes you need to send out the email that you think you need to read aloud at the meeting because no one’s reading it, and if people aren’t reading it, find out why. Sometimes the issue requires an innovator, or serial conversations — someone interviewing people sequentially. Sometimes the issue is too volatile to discuss in the meeting format; you don’t want people being agreeniks because they feel put on the spot.
8. Food, fun, and familiarity. I tend to like work for work’s sake, so it took me a while to learn that offering a nibbly or two can greatly improve someone’s opinion of a meeting, as can a little fun (sharing something humorous) and recognizing human, non-work-related events, such as birthdays, new babies, household moves, and other events that make us who we are.
But the yummiest nibbly in the world can’t compare to a meeting that engages the right people for the right reasons, starts and ends on time, and leaves you better-equipped to handle the issue the meeting addressed.
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Yeah, that was me after I got home from work yesterday. Except my robe was navy (I don't do pink). And I wear glasses. And it was night. You get the picture. Anyway, it's seven days into the first full week of Script Frenzy and I'm---behind. Life, as it tends to do, has intruded into my carefully-laid plans to write like a maniac this month. It was perfect. Character sketches, logline and plot were completed. Script writing software waited to be activated. Friends were alerted of my limited availability. A supply of dark chocolate, assorted teas and wine were on hand. April 1st arrived and I, along with countless 'Screnzy'ers', got to work. The momentum continued through the weekend, with short breaks to go food shopping and to church. Then, Monday arrived and back to work I went. Sounds familiar? Probably, if you're a writer. You learn to make time to write whenever you can and wherever you may be. That's the only way to grow into your craft, finish your proj
Yes! One week down! :)
I'm doing the poetry prompts at InkSeeds this month, which is so much more than just a poetry exercise: it's a conversation with your soul. Which is exactly why I'm doing it!
Good luck with Script Frenzy!
Kirsten
http://kirstencliffwrites.blogspot.com/
http://kirstencliff.110mb.com/
Kirsten,
Thank you! Just checked both your blog and website--your poetry is AMAZING!!
Best of luck to you with PAD and the anthology!
Jill
Thanks so much for checking out my sites, Jill. I really appreciate that :)
;-)