The Writing Week part 3

A lot happened this week. For one, I missed a day of writing. To be perfectly fair, that happened the day of our meeting, so while I wasn’t writing for an hour that night, The League and I discussed my script for nearly that long. It wasn’t a waste of time by any means. While I left the meeting feeling more confused about certain things, I was able to digest the feedback and suggestions I got and turn them into something more workable a few days later. So that was good.

Additionally, I finished Act One! (More or less.) By that, I mean that I had outlined everything and wrote up through (roughly) the end of the first act. I got to a point where I was pretty sure Act One had ended, and I have not progressed past that. However, besides the obvious reason that this is a first draft and therefore an unfinished first act, I also have a lot of re-working to do in the pages leading up to the inciting incident. Once I hit that tent pole moment, the film becomes an adventure that can breathe on its own. But, I have a lot of work to do within those first ten or twelve pages.

Part of what happened at the meeting is that I realized just how much more I have to do than normal. Whereas in most scripts, the first ten pages are vital in setting up the characters and establishing a bit of their situation, with this script, I also have to lay the groundwork for an entire world. It’s not unusual to have quirks here or things that must be established within the world, but with this project (again, so as to not give it away, I must be cryptic), there is an immense amount of set up that must be done alongside establishing the characters.

So, this week, I should get back to those early pages and make them work within the new context of the script. I’ve answered a lot, in no small part due to suggestion from the other Leaguers. LoKor articulated it particularly well when he said, and I quote, “you're asking the audience to accept a lot about the world, try to keep as much of the other stuff as simple as possible.” Good point.

Until next week…(or the post I’m about to make).