Script Frenzy: How We Do

Okay, it's June 1st, the Frenzy has begun and I'm taking a short break from writing to...write...a...blog entry. Yeah, I have issues. Anyway, I just thought I'd detail my plans for handling this month's challenge.

First, the SCRIPT:

As you can see here, I'm going with idea #1, a script I'm calling “First Kiss” in lieu of, you know, a title that's actually good. It's the heartwarming story of a young boy coming of age in suburban Detroit in the early 90s (I hope.). And it sounds more autobiographical than it is.

The EQUIPMENT:

Instead of installing a dedicated script writing program like ? or ?, I've decided to stick with my normal OpenOffice Writer. I've been using it almost exclusively since I installed it late last year and I'm pretyt comfortable with it. It's not quite as feature intensive as the latest release of, say, Microsoft Word, but it does what I need and it's butter smooth to use. Plus there's that whole open source software for geek credits thing. I've done a few test runs at script writing and I find it's not that hard to format things well in Writer, so I'm fine with it. A dedicated program might make things easier but it means one more niche program cluttering up my harddrive. I try to go by the small kitchen rule for that sort of thing – avoid unitaskers which can only do one thing well in favor of multitaskers which do several things well enough.

The PACE:

It's 20,000 words in 30 days. That's 666 words a day. I think I've written more than that today just answering e-mails already. So, it's not exactly hard.

However, I'm weird in that I'm not going to obsessively check my word count. Really. I know, it freaks people out when I say it, but during NaNo, I hardly bothered to check my word count at the end of the day – I'd be lying if I said I never did it at all. But I've written enough by now to have a good sense for how much I've written, adjusted for font size and page spacing, that I don't really need to. I'll write and write and I'll get there eventually, I'm not exactly worried about reaching 600+ words a day.

The SCHEDULE:

Although I don't have much going on right now, I'm going to try and stick to a schedule for when (And, to a lesser extent, where) to write. It worked fairly well during last November, my first NaNo, so I'm not going to mess with what works. That means I'm going to set aside a few hours each day in which to write. Maybe I'll write more, maybe I'll write less but since I could routinely crack the 10k plateau during NaNo, I don't think it'll be too much of a hindrance to my progress. I find it's better for my output, both in terms of quantity and quality, to just set a limit and more or less stick to it. I'm not saying I set an egg timer and when it rings it's hands off the keyboard. I'll finish a thought or jot down notes about where I was heading or whatever. But when I hit my limit, it's time to call it a wrap before I get too tired. That's when I start writing drivel and wake up the next day bereft of ideas. So, no matter how hot the fires of creation have been stoked, I leave off. Script Frenzy's a marathon, not a sprint, after all. And I'm not so much worried about making it to the end as much as I am making something halfway decent. Slow and steady is the plan here.

Also, whenever I find myself stuck or at a loss, I tend to throw myself into something else in the hopes of kick starting my idea machine. It might or might result in a lot of posts around here. It's very likely if last November is any judge, but that was also right when the blog was first starting so I'm not sure it can be taken as anything other than an outlier. But, write a blog post, post on a forum, do a writing exercise, draw some sketches, sing a song, whatever, as long as it's something creative.

The WORD WAR:

Soluna (She cracked, like, 100k during November. I hunt big game.) shut down her blog and seems to have disappeared into the ether. I keep meaning to post something in the hopes that, like invoking the e-king, it will cause some kind of spectacular resurrection but, you know, I'm not sure if it wouldn't be bad luck – I was about to post a post/response to something she wrote and that's when I noticed she was gone. But I haven't heard from her or any of my NaNo friends. Then again, I haven't really looked. All of my real life friends look at me with sad, pitying eyes whenever I bring up this Frenzy thing, plus, they all know how much verbiage I can throw down by now. So, at the moment, I have no ass to kick up and down the margins. Ah well, I'll find someone soon enough.