Script Frenzy - Pep Talk

Writing a novel in November?

jenniferarzt — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:48:33 -0700

Your NaNoWriMo username and password get you into Script Frenzy, too.

We’ve had six months since April to travel about in the land of re-writes. How has it been going?

The revision process for me has been filled with moments of euphoria followed by heartbreak and tears. I’ve settled somewhere in the middle if you average it all together with some sort of writerly happiness barometer.

How are all your revisions coming along? Drop me a line!

See you all in NaNoLand in just a few days!

Averaged,
Jennifer

Storms and Sunshine

jenniferarzt — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:48:47 -0700

Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working.
~Pablo Picasso

If you're signed up to get Pep Talks emailed directly to you, this one will be delivered via owl post later today.

Dear Script Frenzy Participant,

We are in the home stretch my scriptwriting friends! You have made it through the hardest part of the Frenzy, and the great FADE OUT is around the corner.

If you've crossed into the latitudes beyond Page 70, your journey is nearly at an end. You're likely typing away leisurely from some shipboard hammock, enjoying the light breeze on your laptop.

Like most Frenzies, I'm many, many leagues away from that hammock. I'm four days behind schedule, still trying to right my page count from the storms that have blown me off-course these last few weeks.

But the way I see it, a little struggle is a good thing. It means we're getting in over our heads, tackling something larger than we are. Sure, our wrists are sore, our brains are tired, and the quest for 100 pages has brought a little chaos into our lives. But chaos is a sure sign that we're dreaming big dreams, and daring to get these oversized dreams down on paper. Chaos rarely befalls couch potatoes.

Which brings us to the key question: What happens when we reach 100 pages?

So much happens you won't even believe it! People will ask for your autograph on the street. Traffic will part and let you pass. Your kitchen will magically produce three gourmet meals for you everyday. (This is all true.) The grumpy memories of having forgone all those prime TV-watching hours will fade, replaced by a lifelong sense of pride.

Do whatever you need to do to reach 100 pages if you are within striking distance. If you are roughly a third of the way to your goal, the finish line is within your reach. It may mean less staring out the window daydreaming, less people-watching, and definitely many more cups of coffee. Tell everyone you died, or have been relocated to Middle Earth, but do not let the storm push you off course. I'll be watching.

If you are less than a third of the way along, you also have to keep going. Even if you're absolutely sure that there's no way you're going to hit 100 pages, every page you write now will do a couple great things for you in the long run.

First off, it will build up your idea bank. Each situation, plot twist, character tic, and witty line of dialogue you write in the next eight days can be filed away for future use. These are ideas you can draw from for the rest of your writing life.

Second, every page you write now will be a tremendous gift to your future self. There is a huge difference between needing to write the final 20 to 30 pages of a script and having to draft the second and third acts of a script. Because of the helpfully menacing deadline of Script Frenzy, it will be easier to write now than any other time of the year. Use and abuse this writing window. When April is over, there will be a sad 11 months until the next time we'll all get to write with thousands of others.

And now, a quick word about winning. Starting April 25 our official page-counting robots will go to work checking script lengths, handing out winner's certificates and web icons, and adding names to our Winner's Page. In order to be crowned a Script Frenzy winner and receive one of the amazing 2008 certificates, you'll need to upload a PDF version of your script to the robots for verification between April 25 and April 30.

You can practice uploading a PDF to our validator nowjust head to the Script Info tab of your Edit Profile page. Remember: Winning goes live April 25. You can read the ins and outs of scrambling and winning on our site.

Good luck to everyone this final week of the Frenzy!

Writing for sunnier skies,
Jennifer

PS. Back up right now!

Midway and Rocketship Underpants

jenniferarzt — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:44:23 -0700

Calvin: "You know, Hobbes, some days even my
lucky rocketship underpants don't help."
~Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes

Dear Script Frenzy Participant,

I can't believe we're already halfway through the Frenzy! What is even more astonishing to me are the people popping up on the Script Frenzy site with over 100 pages. The lesson, especially for those of us stuck below 50 pages, is that you can do the whole enchilada in two weeks.

Just in case that didn’t sink in, let me say it again. People have written 100 pages in 15 days. Though I don’t know each and every participant personally, I can tell you that our rigorous screening process did not reveal a single participant who was also a registered superhero. These folks are just like you and me. We can do this.

The key is in getting through this next week. There's an interesting thing that happens in the writing process that warrants investigation by NASA engineers and brainy brain surgeons. Somewhere mid-story, about where we are today, many stories simply sink.

They do this for a number of reasons, few of which have anything to do with the worthiness of script or the talent of the storyteller. The sinking happens because…

1) You're as far as possible from the exciting beginning and the heart-pounding ending. Starting a project and finishing it are both moments packed with built-in energy and excitement. Confetti rains down. The red carpet rolls out. Champagne corks pop. Being in the middle of a writing project feels very different. The midpoint is more litter than confetti, and more flat soda than champagne.

The thing to remember, though, if you're feeling down right now is that being at this low point (and moving along out of it) is just part of the process. Every script has sailed through these same rough waters of doubt. Which leads us to the fact that…

2) Middles are just plain hard to write. You can begin a script pretty much anywhere. And the ending is really just an outgrowth of the actions that preceded it. But second acts? They can be complete head-scratchers, even for professional scriptwriters. Which is why I’m giving you permission to skip ahead if you need to. Maybe you've been tearing your hair out trying to figure out how to get your character from A to B so they can do C.

You know what? Just do C. Go ahead and write the wedding scene or the epic monster battle. It may feel like cheating, but anything that gives you the writerly momentum you need at this point is good. You can go back next week and fill in the connecting scenes.

Sometimes, though, you may not have a C to jump to because…

3) You've completely run out of outline. You had a handful of scenes and ideas when you started, and those carried you through Week Two. But as you've tried to improvise a story from the point where your outline ends, you've found it slow going. Maybe writing sessions have started to feel less like a joyride and more like a stab in the dark.

If that's the case, it's time to hit the outline again. Decide how many days your outlining sabbatical from writing will last (two is probably a good number), and then come right back to writing. I mean it! Don't forget that I'll be watching you, waiting for your page-count to begin rising again.

4.) The Beat Sheet, baby! Finally, if you just can't see a way forward at all, maybe it's time to examine your script from the shoulders of giants. Most scripts (especially screenplays) follow a rigorous formula that unfolds on a very reliable timetable. That is not to say you can’t be creative or original, far from it, but if you're at a loss for how to proceed, why not borrow a few of the moves that have worked for others in the past? One of my favorite tools is Blake Snyder’s Beat Sheet. He's broken down thousands of great films and has found that many are based on a similar skeleton. Download yourself a copy (Thank you Mr. Snyder!), fill it out, and I bet you a thousand times over that it helps get you back on track.

Whether you feel your script is sinking or soaring, there are great things in store in the week ahead. Continue onward through the challenging second act. In two weeks, you can look back on this midway moment when you wanted to quit but didn't. Your victory (and script) will be all the sweeter for the struggle.

Now go!

Oh wait! One more thing! Before you go, please back up that script! Send it as an email to yourself, back it up on a jump drive, or print it out and line your coat with it. Do whatever you need to do to save a copy in case your computer tires of the constant use and dies (computers get grumpy at the midpoint too).

Okay. Now go! Do! Write!

Jennifer
Program Director

Anchor's Aweigh!

jenniferarzt — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:10:13 -0700

"Man cannot discover new oceans unless
he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."
~Andre Gide

The Script Frenzy voyage has commenced! We've raised the anchor, sailed from the harbor, and are now somewhere out on that vast, churning sea of script. Some Frenzies have already achieved staggering page counts. Others–myself included–are off to a slower start.

Happily, at this point, there are 22 full days left. Even if you haven’t written a single word, you could start today and manage to win by writing just four and a half pages per day. And that, my fellow writers, is more than doable. It's done. Thousands of participants every year start late, and end triumphantly.

Now it's your turn.

You have a story to write, and you promised yourself you'd get it written this April. Wherever you are with your page count, today's a beautiful day to dive in and get caught up. I know for a lot of you, it's been a tough Week One. Whether you're just starting out or flush with pages, I offer you these tips for the week ahead.

1. Read scripts. Scripts are funny beasts that march to the beat of their own drummer. Reading how others have tackled short descriptions and dialogue effectively will help give you ideas and insight that will come in very handy this week. Head to simplyscripts.com or script-o-rama.com and check out the ways in which your favorite movies, plays, and shows tackled the same challenges you're facing now.

2. Let real life be your writing partner. In bashing out 100 pages, most of us are forced to pull off that difficult balancing act between creative work and real life. We know we should be focused on our characters, hurdles, and plots, but life has a funny way of taking the wind out of the sails of creative projects. Since so much of what makes a good story great are the details, you can use some of your non-writing time this week to add spark to your script. Steal a few details from the real "characters" around you. For example, I was walking to my car from a Script Frenzy write-in recently when I saw a young man graffiti'ing up a protective grate surrounding a newly planted tree. He had his hood up to cover his face and was clad from head to toe in a city-like camouflage uniform of all black. He could have walked out of Ocean’s 11 or Mission Impossible–nothing very original or unique there. But then I saw that he was using a silver, glittery pen. I had a pen like that as a little girl. I kept it with my puffy sticker collection. It struck me as funny–here was a scruffy kid breaking the law using something I associated with six-year-old girls. Nice detail, I thought, and wrote it down. It turns out there are great, character-defining details all around us, funny juxtapositions and idiosyncrasies that can help inform your story even when you're not writing.

3. The first draft is just that–a first draft. It will be flawed and that’s okay. If you run into a hole in your story and don’t know yet how to get out of it, just write yourself a note to revisit the issue in May, and keep going right around it. The hole will still be there, I promise, but you will be better acquainted with your story in May and will know what to do. Note it, and move on.

So, if you've fallen behind at page ten or even page one, recommit yourself and continue on. Completing a script is tough, and winning Script Frenzy this month is going to involve some epic creative battles against the forces of procrastination and the demands of day-to-day life.

It's a journey worth making. On May 1, you'll be so glad for all the sacrifices you made to get to that draft completed. Just think of the weight of it printed out in your hands; your accomplishment will be more than worth its weight in gold.

Here at the start of Week Two, I wish you all good luck!

Fill your sails with page after page of creative winds and have fun in the open water of writing! Anchor's aweigh!

Jennifer
Script Frenzy Program Director

And We're Off!

jenniferarzt — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:53:21 -0700

If you're signed up to get Pep Talks this one will be delivered personally to your inbox with zing later today.

Dear Script Frenzy participant,

Tonight—as the second-hand waves goodbye to March and hello to April—a couple wonderful things are going to happen:

You will become a writer on a very scary deadline.
The Script Frenzy page counter will turn on. Log in and click the My Script Frenzy tab > Edit > Writer Info. Input your page count in the Page Count field. For now, the process works on the honor system. Toward the end of April we’ll have a supercomputer page-o-meter in place for official winner validation. You will also see a place to input a script excerpt.

And so it begins.

This is my second year as a Script Frenzy participant. Last year, I heard about the event a few days before it started and wasn't able to start writing until Day Three. I jumped in late, but managed to complete a feature-length script that I'd wanted to write for years. Setting that goal and achieving it was like finding gold at the end of the rainbow, a perfect summer day, and a lucid dream all rolled into one.

Having survived the Frenzy last year, I am here to assure you: You can do this. And, too many cups of coffee later, you’ll be happy for every sleep deprived moment you dedicated to your story. Tackling an entire script (or, for you TV and short script writers out there, set of scripts) in one month truly is a whirlwind adventure. For one beautiful month, procrastination ebbs, our daily schedules shift, and we tap into reserves of time, energy, and creativity that never seem to make a cameo unless a deadline is looming. Our scripts will be flawed and perfect because they will be done.

But Script Frenzy is powered by something much bigger than a deadline. It's powered by you. And me. And the 6,500 other writers around the world who have signed on for this crazy challenge. When the going gets tough in April, we'll meet up in the Script Frenzy forums and cafes (check your regional lounge for updates!) to help keep our scriptwriting spirits high.

Because when the goal appears just beyond reach, there's nothing like a pat on the back or kick in the pants from a fellow Frenzy participant who knows exactly what you're going through. I'll also be checking in with you every week via email, and the Script Frenzy staff has marshaled a small army of experts to offer tips and survival strategies in the Writer's Resources block of ScriptFrenzy.org.

In April, amidst every cup off coffee, and chocolate truffle treat, remember the important fact that writing is something you can do. There is nothing magical about it. The only trick is setting aside the time to do it, and making a promise to yourself to get it done.
You made that promise when you signed up. Now it's time to get it done.

Here’s to Script Frenzy 2008!

Jennifer Arzt
Program Director, Script Frenzy

Pep Talks

jenniferarzt — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:20:38 -0800

In the future–in the very near future–this will be the cozy home of the Script Frenzy 2008 Pep Talks.

What's a Pep Talk? I'm glad you asked! Pep talks are friendly emails from me to you during the month of April. We’ll be going on the 100 page adventure together and I’ll be checking in with you along the way with words of encouragement, coffee requests if you live in the San Francisco area, and general scriptwriting musings.

To ensure that the emails find their way through the vast cyberspace to your inbox make sure you adjust your account settings on the site by clicking on My Script Frenzy then Subscriptions on the side left . On the subscriptions page click the categories tab, scoll to the bottom of the page, and make sure pep talk is checked. You’ll also want to change your filter settings to accept messages from noreply@scriptfrenzy.org. Or, you can just stop by here and read them on the site.

Expect the first pep talk to roll out on March 31 with one following each week during the Frenzy.

Oh my! The adventure is about to begin!

Jennifer
Program Director