acts

Narrowing things down

Maximum Z acts, antagonist, ideas, protagonist, scenes, screenplay, screenwriting, script, spec, writing, writing process , , , , , , , , , ,

Sometime in the fall of 2024, I started working on this new script. As is my standard practice, I came up with the main plot points and then started filling in the blanks.

Made some good progress – to a point. Act One came together pretty quickly, so now it’s all about Acts Two and Three. Those are proving to be a bit more challenging, so work has slowed a bit. But not stalled, which is important.

Part of this stems from not wanting to have things come across as too similar to the films that inspired the idea (so much that they’re the comps). Obsessing about finding the perfect solution won’t help, so I’ve opted to write down any and all ideas, see which ones are the best fit, and then figure out a way to put that “familiar but different” spin on them.

As is usually the case, there will probably be a ton of ideas that end up unused, but better to have a lot of those rather than fall short.

I already had a list of possible scenes/ideas, and have started expanding on each one while also considering how it could involve or affect the protagonist, the antagonist, or possibly both.

It’s also very important to not get frustrated about how long this is taking. It’s better to spend time figuring things out now while still in the early stages rather than have them cause problems later. Also good – not having everything locked in. Flexibility is a good element to work with.

And by coming up with a lot of ideas, if something doesn’t work in one spot, maybe there’s somewhere else in the story that might be a better fit. Wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened.

I’m making a deliberate effort to really take my time with this one, and am confident it’ll all pay off.

A little re-educating never hurts

Maximum Z accountability, acts, development, draft, education, genre, ideas, outlines, patience, progress, protagonist, rewriting, screenplay, screenwriting, script, story, title, writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’d already been working on the new spec for a bit when a friend offered up the chance to be a beta tester for his new screenwriting course.

It offers a lesson a day to help you get your first draft done. He admits the course is geared more towards newer writers still learning the ropes, but thought I might enjoy it – as well as provide feedback about my experience with it as needed.

I figured “Why not?” and signed up.

Just a few days in and I like how it’s going.

I’m following the lesson plan, which so far has involved the very basics – What’s your idea? Which genre is it? Tell us about your protagonist. Do you have a few ideas for the title? What’s the logline?

It would be really easy to blow all this off and just jump ahead, but I said I’d adhere to the guidelines, so that’s what I’m doing.

In some ways it’s helping take some of the pressure off and avoiding the trap of the whole “just write it!” mindset. Taking it nice and slow, and being slightly more reflective than usual is reaping some benefits. Getting the more manageable tasks out of the way has also resulted in a few more bursts of creativity – which is especially helpful as I continue to work on coming up with story ideas.

It’s almost zen-like in the approach.

I also like the accountability factor. It’s great for me to work on this, but I want to help my friend make the course as effective as I can, which is why I’m being diligent about completing each day’s lesson. I’d call that a win-win.

This is a 60-day course, and I’m still in the single digits and about to get into the outlining phase. Like I said, I’d already been working on this, so I have a lot of the first act in place – it’s the second act that’s proving to be the challenge.

But I’m not stressing about it. One lesson/task a day equals slow but continuously steady progress.

If things work out the way the course intends, then I should have a pretty solid first draft in just under two months, which is fine by me.

Then the rewrites begin, which will probably a totally different course.

Did it before. Can do it again

Maximum Z acts, animation, characters, comedy, determination, fantasy, notes, perseverance, persistence, progress, protagonist, rewriting, screenplay, screenwriting, script, structure, westerns, writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The biggest note I’ve received on the animated fantasy-comedy is that my protagonist needs to be more involved; be the thing that drives things forward, and how what she does affects those around her.

The challenging part is figuring out how to do that while keeping a lot of important story details.

Challenging, but not impossible.

Just as I imagine this task becoming more insurmountable the more I think about it, I’m reminded that I did a major overhaul on my western that involved the same thing. The protagonist needed to be more proactive in driving the story forward.

The end result had A LOT of changes that required a new approach. It took some time, but I was able to accomplish that, and the script ended up being better for it.

No reason to think I can’t repeat it this time around.

Thus the revising is underway. Slow, but steady.

I’ll get there.

More work now, better results later

Maximum Z acts, adventure, characters, development, outlines, pages, patience, productivity, rewrite, science fiction, screenplay, screenwriting, script, spec, strategy, writing, writing process , , , , , , , , , ,

lalanne

It can be safely said the extensive overhaul of the outline for my pulpy sci-fi adventure story is just about wrapped up. Still have a lingering handful of small details in need of fleshing out, but I’m eagerly anticipating jumping into cranking out pages in the very near future.

Figuring all of this out – including several attempts on the beginning, and then working out the development of events over the course of the first act and the first half of the second act- took a lot longer than I expected, and definitely longer than I wanted. There were many times all I could think was “am I EVER going to figure this out?”.

A lot of writers feel that way while working on a project. We’re an impatient lot, and the ongoing struggle to find solutions doesn’t help. We want it already written. But learning how to do so effectively is necessary. How else will we improve?

It’s probably a safe bet to say that my development skills are stronger than they were – even compared to a couple of years ago, or else this overhaul wouldn’t be where it is now. Every story problem would require a lot of thought and mulling-over, and maybe I’d come up with a slapdash, roughshod placeholder of a solution – just to be able to move on.

A bad and counterproductive idea.

I like to put together stories with a lot of moving parts, and each one requires the same amount of attention in order to make the whole thing a smooth-running machine. If that means taking a little more time to do so, then so be it. I’d much rather make sure as I go along that everything works and connects the way it’s supposed to than have it come to a screeching halt because of something I overlooked or forgot about, or even worse, felt was “good enough for now”.

An added bonus to all the work on developing this story in the outlining phase is that since I’ve already written down what’s supposed to transpire in each scene, including the purpose and the conflict, it’ll make it easier (and in theory, a faster process) to transfer all of that to the actual pages.

Once I do start on pages, I can only hope to see a slight increase in my daily output. After having gone through the outline a few times, editing and tweaking as I go, I’m getting a stronger feel of flow for the story, seeing ways to incorporate more development for the characters, and just an overall sense of “I like the previous draft, but this one feels so much closer to what I set out to do”.

And I most definitely would not have gotten to this point if I hadn’t put in the time and effort to make sure every single part of it did exactly what I needed it to.

Taking it scene by scene

Maximum Z acts, comedy, draft, editing, horror, pages, patience, scenes, screenplay, screenwriting, script, spec, writing, writing process , , , , , , , , ,

dufresne
Fortunately, I don’t expect this to take 17 years

The daily churning-out of pages for the first draft of the horror-comedy continues – still in Act One as of this writing – and now that November is underway, if I can maintain my current output of approximately 3 pages a day, there’s no reason the typing-out of FADE OUT couldn’t happen by mid-to-late December.

I’d probably be a little further along if it weren’t for my ongoing desire to keep going back and editing/revising what I’ve already written, which is a lot more tempting than you’d expect. But doing what I can to just write a scene and move on to the next one. Once again, the more you do it, the easier it gets.

And since this is supposed to be a horror-comedy, I’ve also gotten into the habit of trying to make sure each scene features some element of each genre – something scary and something funny. Trying being the key word here. This is a much bigger challenge, but again, doing what I can. Also helping – recent touch-up work on my two other comedies.

With one of the definitive screenwriting mantras being “it’s a marathon, not a sprint”, I don’t have any problems with taking an evenly paced and semi-methodical approach. There are some writers who can sit and crank out a draft in record time, but I’m not one of them. I lean towards the “hope I can hit my page goal today” camp.

But most importantly, I’m just trying to not stress about it and enjoy the whole process. It’s a fun story, and I like the concept, so why not make it a positive experience rather than fret and obsess? That way, it seems a lot less like work and more like “here I am having a blast being a writer and stuff”.

Because I’ll take that mindset any day.