Sunday, June 24, 2012

Do You Want To Write A Screenplay?

The verdict is in. My script is crap. In fact, it's what crap wants to be when it grows up!

Just kidding, it's not that bad. However, I do have a lot of things going on that just don't seem to mesh well together. My boyfriend gave me some sound advice on Undead Again. I have ways of making it better that won't cause me to tear my hair out. I've never done this before, so it's a little weird for me.

If anybody wants to join me on this little screenwriting adventure of mine, feel free! Here's some stuff I learned as I went along.

1.) Keep Writing.

Sometimes the story gets weird. Sometimes you veer off on some road that you didn't mean to. Sometimes you add in characters or change people's names halfway through. Don't worry. No matter how gruesome it gets coming out, you can always go back and shape it later. I learned this lesson the hard way when I would always try to go back and polish the first half of an unwritten story. I ended up never finishing. Every good story used to be crap. The difference is the writer took the time to finish and then edit.

2.) Try to write everyday.

This one sucks because everyone is busy. We have lives and jobs and some people have kids and life gets hectic. Sometimes I would go home tired after work and only get a page out. I can usually pound out about 12 or 13 pages of anything a night if I'm not tired. But don't beat yourself up over it. One sentence is better than no sentence at all.

3.) Ask someone known for brutal honesty to read it and give you feedback.

I don't feel like I need to pay hundreds of dollars to some writer at a workshop to tell me my writing is trash. I'm pretty sure you've seen movies that could have been improved "If only they had done [INSERT MODIFICATION HERE]." My point is, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know what a good story is. Pick someone honest to read your script. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

4.) Print out a copy of your script and make your notes directly on it.

Reading it from your computer screen does nothing for you. You need the actual pages in your hand so you can feel their weight. No matter what shape your script is in, you've created something and you should be proud. Accomplishing something so big makes you feel confident, at least I do. Write in the margins, highlight, cross-out, add and subtract whatever you need to make your story shine.

5.) Most importantly...

If you don't remember anything else I've written here, please remember this:

This is YOUR story and no one can tell it except YOU and no one can tell it the way YOU can. Don't get all caught up in comparing yourself to other people. You exist for a reason!

 

 

3 comments:

  1. I really need to take your advice and finish a story than print it out. That would really help!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes it would. <3 And your story is going to be great.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The hero should clearly win and or fulfill their goals and needs. climax buildup

    ReplyDelete

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