Sidetracked, but in a good way (x2)

Maximum Z action, Bullitt, comedy, determination, draft, fantasy, goals, perseverance, persistence, polish, progress, rewrite, screenplay, screenwriting, script, tone, westerns, writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Much as I’d like to give a status/progress update on the first draft of the action-comedy spec, I can’t because there ain’t one. I didn’t work on it at all this week.

But what I did work on fulfilled one of my goals for 2026: a quick polish on my western.

While many readers have enjoyed it, more than a few said it was uneven in tone. Parts of it were a hard R, while others were more PG/PG-13. Since I’m going for a wider range of audience, I’m leaning more into the latter.

(This could also contribute to the script’s lack of success in the big contests, but that’s another issue)

One batch of comments had suggestions of more creative ways of having those scenes play out. It didn’t require as much overhauling as I thought. So I hit PAUSE on the action-comedy and dove in.

Wrapped it up a few days later with the page count still the same. Waiting to hear back from a reader.

Work was going to resume on the action-comedy, but I decided this might be the perfect opportunity to check off another 2026 goal: a light rewrite/polish on the fantasy-comedy. Figure once I got that out of the way, I could dedicate the rest of the year to the action-comedy.

Earlier this year I’d written out a brief scene-by-scene outline that hopefully addresses that which needs to be fixed. Armed with that and 3 previous drafts, I’ve been slowly working my way through it. Currently around p65, with a good chance I can wrap it up in the next week or so.

Once that’s done, it’s all about the action-comedy. With how these two rewrite/polishes have gone, feeling pretty confident about how that’ll go.

From the archives: One scene, three points

Maximum Z action, Back to the Future, characters, comedy, determination, draft, encouragement, perseverance, persistence, plot, screenplay, screenwriting, script, theme, writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Lots of jumping around between projects this week, but focus has shifted back to the action-comedy. Even though it’s still the first draft, doing what I can to have each scene effectively advance plot, character, and theme.

With that in mind, here’s a post of a similar nature from August 2016.

Enjoy.

After some thorough self-imposed analysis, the revising of the comedy spec is underway. It’s getting easier to spot trouble spots.

There’s one scene in particular that’s giving me some trouble. It’s a pivotal scene involving the main character and offers a revealing glimpse into his backstory. The problem was in figuring out how to best do that.

After much drumming of fingers, rubbing of chin, and a whole lot of attempts, a potential solution may have presented itself. It’s still in the development phase, but for now, quite workable.

One of the first things I learned about screenwriting was what each scene needs to accomplish:  advance the plot, the character, and the theme.

Regarding plot, does the scene move things forward? Does it fall neatly into place in terms of how the overall sequence of events plays out? If you took it out, would it totally mess things up?

I’ve read a lot of scripts where something happens and I don’t know why. Maybe it’ll pay off later? Sometimes it does. Other times, well…

Another handy tip when it comes to advancing the plot in a scene: do it quickly. Get to the point of the scene as fast as you can, then get out. Don’t wait around. Just get out now. Too many times I’ve seen a scene drag on much, much longer than it needs to.

Regarding character, does each scene show them changing a little bit more from when they were first introduced? This doesn’t just apply to the main character. Every character needs to grow/develop. Wouldn’t it be kind of boring to read a story where nobody changes?

And tying it into the advancement of plot, every situation the character experiences should help move their own development along.

Which brings us to theme. The message of your story. This can be a little tricky.

Each scene should tie into the theme, or have it on display in some manner. I recently worked with a writer having trouble tying everything together. We discussed the story and the main character’s internal and external goals. What was the message they wanted to convey? Based on those discussions, we were able to come up with a theme that worked for both the story and as it applied to all of the characters.

One of my favorite examples of a theme in use is BACK TO THE FUTURE. Early on, Marty says “History’s going to change.” And boy, does it. We get a ton of set-up in the first act, and then everything does indeed change in the second act as all of those setups are paid off. Amazing.

Take a look at your latest draft. Does each scene advance the topics in question? If not, do you have a way to fix that so it does? The more you get in the habit of doing this, the easier it’ll get and the faster it’ll become second nature to do it all the time.

Focus: forward

Maximum Z action, characters, comedy, determination, draft, editing, perseverance, persistence, plot, plot points, scenes, screenplay, screenwriting, script, spec, theme, writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Some good progress on cranking out the first draft of the action-comedy spec this week: reached the end of Act One.

One potential snag – my outline lists this as the p45(ish) plot point. This may be the start of more problems, but I’m not going to worry about it just yet. It’ll be added to the list of “Stuff requiring my attention”.

Primary objective: get the whole thing written.

When I started, I was taking a “just write it and DON’T go back and edit”. Naturally, I did a few little tweaks here and there at the start of each subsequent writing session, but nothing major. Maybe cutting a word or tightening a sentence. That was one rabbit hole in which I did not want to keep digging.

Now is all about completing this draft and then going back to figure out what needs to be fixed, added, cut, moved, etc.

Taking an approach of continuously asking myself “Does this scene advance the plot, theme, and character?” also helps. I may not have consistently solid answers every time, but even some kind of placeholder answer works – for the time being.

Still looking at 2-3 pages per day when possible. Anything more is a bonus.

San Diego Comic-Con: A look back

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A few days later, and I’ve recovered from my first Comic-Con experience.

Biggest takeaways:

-huge crowd

-even bigger venue

-didn’t see as many cosplayers as expected

-lots of panels covering numerous topics from which to choose. More than a few at the same time, so had to pick which one to attend

-planning out your schedule ahead of time makes a major difference

-figuring out dining options ahead of time also really helped

-comfortable shoes and hydration cannot be emphasized enough

-give yourself a big window of time to wait in line to get into pretty much anything. I was lucky to make it into a few panels that had to turn people away

-most vendors will not say no to cash; only a handful only accepted credit cards

-if I decide to go again, leave the jeans home and bring shorts. San Diego was hotter than predicted

-not as many comic-oriented vendors as expected. If you’re looking for older (and more expensive) stuff, you’re set. A few of the books I’d hoped to purchase – nobody had them.

Among the highlights:

-attending two panels featuring the legendary Leonard Maltin. I took advantage of the opportunity to get a photo with him (taken by his daughter Jessie)

-got to meet a Marvel/DC comic book artist and ask him about character designs while he signed an issue he drew

But what was probably one of the best parts was discovering the work of several writers and writer-artists and talking to them about it.

A majority started by their display catching my eye. Full disclosure – I enjoy art featuring an attractive female protagonist.

I’d approach and ask “Tell me about NAME OF PROJECT”. They’d go into their well-rehearsed pitch. I might have a couple of follow-up questions (i.e. “What was the inspiration for this?” was a common one). My interest piqued, I’d fork over the cash and ask them to sign the book, which they were more than happy to do.

Apart from the obvious satisfaction of making a sale, I got the strong sense that all were very appreciative to not only have somebody ask about their work, but to show a genuine interest in the material.

I bought more stuff than expected, but they were all books. Fortunately, my luggage was able to handle them without any difficulty.

Others will no doubt fondly recall waiting several hours to catch a panel in Hall H (no thank you) or acquiring some exclusive convention swag (pass), but I thoroughly enjoyed working my way up and down the aisles – mostly in the Small Press area – and talking to creators about their work.

No idea if I’ll ever return, but if that does happen, I’ll have a much better idea of what to expect and how to go about it.

And to wear shorts. Definitely shorts.

Let’s ______ go

Maximum Z action, comedy, Deadpool, determination, draft, editing, outlines, pages, polish, scenes, screenplay, screenwriting, script, sequence, spec, subplots, Wolverine, writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m currently enjoying my time at Comic-Con in San Diego, so this week’s post is a short one.

The outline for the action-comedy spec is more or less wrapped up – some of the smaller subplots still need figuring out, but the primary storyline and subplots are at about 95 percent, which means…

Time to start on pages.

Going to take a “write it and don’t look back” approach. No editing, no polishing. Just write a scene or sequence, move on to the next one, repeat as needed until “The End”.

Objective: a mostly all-there first draft, which will be much easier to work with than a non-existent one. There’ll be time for all that fixing and tweaking and stuff the next time around.

Bonus – when I feel the need to take a break, I can shift to the continuing work on other projects.

Fingers crossed.