Outline or straight out of the box? |
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SisterRosetta
NYC Midnight Groupie Joined: 24 Jan 2018 Location: Oxford, UK Status: Offline Points: 178 |
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Posted: 14 Apr 2019 at 9:33am |
Just curious as to what people find most helpful?
Do you plan thoroughly before starting to write the script, or just let rip? Or plan the complicated scenes thoroughly, and leave others to write themselves? Would appreciate any advice in this area (what do you find most helpful in prep, before committing to writing dialogue?)
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JeffreyHowe
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 02 May 2017 Location: Missouri Status: Offline Points: 1966 |
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This round of this contest is the one where I will take a little time to think a story through and then try it out. Mostly because it's the only one with enough time to even consider that approach, at least for me.
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Suave
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 25 Jan 2015 Location: Thailand Status: Offline Points: 25027 |
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I start writing a story as soon as I have an inkling, then when it seems cohesive enough I go straight to screenplay.
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LemonTwist
NYC Midnight Groupie Joined: 10 May 2018 Location: Belfast Status: Offline Points: 124 |
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I prefer to plan quite extensively - this way I can identify the excess, unnecessary scenes early and not waste time writing them and cutting them out later
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Random
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 17 Nov 2017 Location: C. of Letters Status: Offline Points: 5401 |
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Yes. I'll do both. Causal logic is important (why the characters do what they do), so that gets mapped out. The motivation for an unusual action must be revealed at some point, before or after. The details of a scene typically write themselves. I'll take notes and come up with possible dialog ahead of time, but as I write it what comes before and after does the rest. Then I go back and kill needless words. Should do that sooner; I'm not good enough yet.
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BarbaraFL
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 08 Jun 2006 Status: Offline Points: 3785 |
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I'm forcing myself to create a beatsheet - and even more so, to use the Save the Cat beatsheet - because screenplays have such an inherent structure and where I've failed in the past is I can write pages and pages of dialogue but there's no real plot.
I found this beat sheet calculator to modify to 12 pages - am finding it really helpful in figuring out my actual story so far (though I kind of screwed up my subject). Here it is in case it's helpful. I use to be staunchly anti-outline and then I didn't write for years and now I am rethinking my approach for screenplays. Not so much for prose, though I'd probably try and come up with bullet points for a novel of some sort.
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SisterRosetta
NYC Midnight Groupie Joined: 24 Jan 2018 Location: Oxford, UK Status: Offline Points: 178 |
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Very interesting, thank you! Will look into this when I'm reshaping things a little, to see if it works better with things moved around.
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Vernacula
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 21 Jan 2016 Location: West Coast Status: Offline Points: 3729 |
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I create loose outlines in my head (but don't always follow them if better directions present). My first drafts look very much like my finals. When I'm struggling to even start, though, I write short little summaries of ideas to see if the story interests me. It's usually in the middle of one of these that the "real" story pops up...and off I go! Sometimes I have a complete story that's passable, but I'm just not interested. If it's a drag to write it's usually my mind telling me: this ain't it, chief.
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