output

Some appropriately metaphorical posts

Maximum Z Buster Keaton, determination, draft, output, pace, perseverance, persistence, productivity, running, screenplay, screenwriting, script, social media, Uncategorized, writing , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

While I continue to chip away at progress for my assorted projects, I’ve been seeing more than a few posts from other writers on social media about their significantly faster results.

“I finished this draft in two weeks!”

“Just wrapped up my third script of the year!”

Jeez, I’m hoping to get three scripts done by the end of the year. If I’m lucky.

All of this reminded me that everybody writes at their own pace. Some people are more productive, some not as much. It all comes down to “just get it written”.

It also reminded me that I’ve written about this before, so thought this was a good opportunity to revisit a few of those posts, along with some that are kinda-sorta related.

Enjoy.

Run at your own pace

My race, my pace

It is most definitely NOT a sprint

Second half is all uphill

Comfortable shoes will also help

Not writing? What does that mean?

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Had a great catch-up call with my manager this week (still gives me a charge to be able to say that).

As part of our respective “here’s what I’ve been up to”s, mine included work on the two rewrites and the slow but steady progress of the first draft of the action-comedy spec.

He responded with “That’s really great. Some of my other clients will say ‘Oh, I haven’t written anything in two weeks,’ so I’m really glad you’ve been keeping at it.”

Keeping at it? To me, any day where I don’t write anything is a wasted opportunity. Even if it’s just one page, a few scenes in an outline, or just a few attempts at a better logline, I’m one of those writers who has to write something. It’s hard-wired into my system to do so.

I’d rather write something already knowing I’ll have to totally redo it as opposed to not writing anything because “I’m just not feeling it”.

My manager added that ideally each of his writing clients would have an arsenal of scripts (at least 3-4) ready to go, and not be “some one-trick pony with a single script to their name. What do I say if a producer asks ‘What else have they got?’ and the answer is ‘nothing’?”

Quick aside about writing the action-comedy spec: It’s going to need a ton of rewriting when the draft is done, and the outline remains incomplete, but writing a few pages a day has been exhilarating. I’m doing my best to keep each scene tight and to the point. Tempting as it is to go back and tinker, I’m forcing myself to stay focused on moving forward. Fixing and fine-tuning is what every following draft is for.

A lot of writers I know are very productive and prolific, some even cranking out a few feature scripts a year. I’m definitely not one of those, but still happy with my output.

I find it astonishing that a writer wouldn’t feel compelled to write. Something. Anything. Not that you should be chained to your desk until you see the results, but you get the idea.

I’m one of those writers who can’t not write. I love doing it, and to paraphrase Dorothy Parker, especially love having done it.

A verbal solution for a writing problem

Maximum Z adventure, characters, community, determination, encouragement, goals, ideas, Indiana Jones, output, patience, perseverance, persistence, productivity, progress, quality, rewrite, science fiction, screenplay, screenwriting, script, story, storytelling, strategy, success, writing, writing process , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Even despite a temporary lapse, output on the sci-fi adventure rewrite was progressing at a decent pace.

I already knew there’d be more work to do once it was done, but something still felt off. A piece of the puzzle was missing, and it felt weird to keep pushing forward. Like building a house with incomplete blueprints.

Although my original intent was to finish the rewrite, I wanted to take care of the missing puzzle piece. This in itself was quite challenging.

Once again, my network of savvy writing colleagues comes to the rescue.

I’ve been doing more one-on-one Zoom calls with writers I’ve only known through social media. It’s a great opportunity to get to know them as people, as well as talk a lot of shop about screenwriting.

Such was the case earlier this week. Another writer and myself were discussing some of our current projects, and the sci-fi adventure came up. Despite my stumbling through the “pitch”, my friend got really into the concept, prompting them to ask a lot of thought-provoking questions about the story and the characters. Some I had an answer for, some I didn’t.

(side note – I used to be embarassed about not having all the answers when it came to my stories, but have since embraced it and am now willing to say “I don’t know” or “no idea” because this usually leads to a discussion where everybody involved helps me come up with an answer.)

This led me to realize that some aspects of the story weren’t as defined as I thought. That, in turn, had a ripple effect on the rest of the story. The same story of which I had just passed the halfway mark with rewriting.

It was like taking a piece out near the bottom of the tower in a game of Jenga. Not that everything came crashing down; more like things got a whole lot more wobbly.

We talked things through some more, and did some impromptu brainstorming, all of which which helped point me in the right direction.

Long story short: the rewrite’s on hold and the reset button’s been pushed. But like I mentioned during the discussion, once those fixes are worked out and implemented, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get back on track.

While I originally hoped to be done with the rewrite around now, or at least mighty close to it, I don’t mind making another trip to the drawing board to take care of this. I’m already looking forward to taking this on and seeing how it goes.

Bonus – the chance to make any other fixes in the 50+ pages I’ve already written.

Yet another reason to be active and interactive within your personal writing community.

–The final chapter in the Indiana Jones series opens today. The characters and storytelling have been a huge influence for me and my writing, and I can only hope that my scripts can someday be compared to them.

I also hope the movie’s good.

From out of the archives

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speedreading

The latest draft of the horror-comedy is complete – clocking in at a respectable 102 pages. It’s out to my savvy readers, so now the focus shifts to some semi-overdue reads for a couple of colleagues.

So while I dive into those, here are a few classic posts from days gone by…

Enjoy.

May I be of some assistance?

More work now, better results later

I know the rules, and do not hesitate to break them

Same destination, different route

Send it. Forget it.

An overabundance of words

Maximum Z adventure, editing, output, pages, pulp fiction, rewriting, scenes, science fiction, screenplay, screenwriting, script, story, storytelling, writing , , , , , , , , , ,

word pile
First on the agenda – get them in order. Second – get rid of the ones that don’t belong.

April has been a most productive month for working on the new draft of the pulpy sci-fi adventure spec. This week saw me reaching the midpoint – page 73, which is about 18 pages more than it should be. (Not to mention that a spec script of approximately 150 pages is just ludicrous to begin with.)

Part of me wants to put the writing on hold and go back to page 1 to start editing and clearing away the excess, but I sort of like the idea of just pushing forward, finishing it. and THEN going back armed with the Red Pen of Doom.

When it comes to a first draft, I always tend to put in too much. More “kitchen sink draft” than “vomit draft”. Even taking a look at some previous pages, it’s easy to see where I’ve written more than what’s needed – of practically everything.

The silver lining here is that when it comes to rewriting and editing, there’s a lot to work with. Stuff thought necessary during that initial phase might prove otherwise, and out it goes.

My storylines can be a bit complicated – too many moving parts, so to speak. A combination of “I really want to wow you with this” and “there needs to be more here”. While the first definitely rings true, the second runs the risk of overdoing it and bogging things down – something I don’t want.

It used to be a lot tougher for me to kill my darlings, but time and experience have shown me it’s all about doing what you need to to achieve the end result. As much as I might like a particular something, if it can be cut (or at least drastically shortened) without any significant impact to the rest of the story, that’s fine by me.

If I can maintain my current pace of page output, there’s no reason to think I couldn’t be done with this draft by the end of the month, or maybe the first week of May. While I usually take a little break after completing a latest draft, the always-developing ideas for potential fixes and such may cause me to forego that and just jump right back in.

In the meantime, I’m just having a good time spinning what I can only hope will be an entertainingly ripping yarn.