Lessons I Learned From Script Frenzy

The outside world is so much more alluring. 

1. Writing a script is NOTHING like writing a novel.
Sure, it seems like it would be easier because it is mostly dialogue and action; or the fact that each page only is about a minute of film. It isn't. I struggled from day one, realizing that not much was happening in my script, other than some talking and a lot of walking from room to room. Sounds exciting, right? The ridiculous part is that when I was writing a novel in November, I would write pages and pages of just dialogue and actions. Why couldn't I do that now?!

2. I need to read more scripts.
Before April, I read a handful of screenplays, mostly of movies I love; Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, Garden State, Little Miss Sunshine, and others. During April, I would go back to reference them, to see how mine compared. It was terrible. Why was it so difficult? Then I realized that I had been reading novels my whole life (well since teenage years anyway) and screenplays are new to me. I need to read hundreds to really understand them. So next year, I will be better versed in the art of screenplays.

3. Travel during month-long writing challenges is a BAD idea.
This is the second writing challenge I have participated in. Both times I went out of town for the last week of the challenge. Both times I sorta just...stopped writing a few days before it was over. I know. I talked it up so much about how I was going to be focused and super serious. I should have known that going to Texas for the last five days of April would mean that my script would not reach it's one hundredth page, but I kept telling myself that I could do it, or would do it rather.

4. I love writing gory zombie stories.
My story for Script Frenzy was about a girl who causes the zombie apocalypse with poisoned cupcakes. I think part of the reason I struggled with it for so long was because I didn't get to the zombies until the end. Once I started writing about vegans turning into insatiable flesh eating monsters that devoured beloved household pets, the words poured out of me. If only I hadn't been too busy almost getting eaten by a zebra (seriously) or wandering around Austin waiting for the largest urban bat colony in North America to wake up.

No one should be this close to a zebra. 

I made it to page 75, which isn't too bad for my first try. Next year I will know what to be prepared for. Even though I didn't finish my screenplay, I had an amazing time in Texas (it surprised me too) and look at the cool stuff I got!

 

Please don't burst my bubble and tell me I can get this stuff anywhere.