So now that you know the gory details about how to format your script, it’s time for the fun part – the writing!
As a writer, at least in my experience, the process goes something like this: brew coffee, check email, open the word processor, check the actual mail, brew some more coffee, take a walk in the park, organize the linen closet, brew a third pot of coffee, write one line, erase it, take a nap, remake all the beds in the house, go out for coffee, watch a movie, go back to the word processor to make sure it’s shut down properly, go to bed.
That’s what makes challenges like Script Frenzy and NaNoWriMo fun. You only have time to brew two pots of coffee, and you have to choose between organizing the linen closet or making all the beds, but there’s certainly not time to do both.
I love having a challenge to keep me on track. I often fall victim of feeling like I want to write, but then procrastinating my time away until it never happens. I need a goal or a deadline. Even so, I’ll wait until the last hour and then with no time to spare come up with something completely out of the blue that I never knew existed in my brain. I don’t know what it is about a looming deadline that makes my brain actually work. There’s no time for writer’s block!
But how do you get through it, day after day? What keeps you motivated to plug along for thirty full days? The two pots of coffee… Duh!
Seriously though, the goal here is to write a 100 page script in 30 days. We’ll call this what my wonderful professor in college often referred to as the “%$^&*@! first draft”. Just write until you’re finished. Don’t let the small details stop you – because in my experience they really will stop you, dead in your tracks until you can’t move on. Who cares if you are trying to send your character to the moon but can only think of how to get her across the street? Don’t stop and beat your brain up if you can’t get her to the moon – get her across that street where you never know what will happen. Maybe she’ll run into a hunky young astronaut in a coffee shop two blocks down who is part of a new space program to take civilians to the moon.
Huzzah! She’s found her ticket to the moon!
Just keep writing. Don’t let the small details stop you or hold you back. There will be plenty of time in May to rearrange scenes, remove scenes, delete scenes. Maybe the whole thing will be a piece of garbage other than that one encounter with the hunky young astronaut. But if you love that hunky young astronaut, maybe he could be the starting point of a new script. I’d call that a win too! (My husband get’s a real crazy look in his eye when I refer to men as hunky… so I have to always find a way to throw hunky in and get a giggle out of driving him mad… it’s just so darn fun!) No matter what, just stay motivated to keep trying. Maybe some days the words will come easier than others, but always try to at least write something.
And oh, all right… go ahead and brew that third pot of coffee you’ve been eyeballing. You’ll probably need it.
What helps you stay motivated through big projects like Script Frenzy?
Limebird Writers 