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gmercer View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote gmercer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 2006 at 7:50am
A new year, a new blur. Now that's poetic, or maybe pathetic - not quite sure yet - lol
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Calliope View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Calliope Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 2006 at 8:21am
I'm a brainstorming fiend... the first day last year, I covered a few pages with tons of ideas, picked the most promising two to flesh out into full outlines, then picked the best outline to turn into a script.

I got first-runner up with it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ABEAR111 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 2006 at 9:22am
Originally posted by Calliope Calliope wrote:

I'm a brainstorming fiend... the first day last year, I covered a few pages with tons of ideas, picked the most promising two to flesh out into full outlines, then picked the best outline to turn into a script.

I got first-runner up with it.
 
I like this method, I'm a brainstormer myself.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chris Messineo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 2006 at 9:34am
I hate trying to come up with new ideas.  I don't like writing much either.  Mostly I like having written.  I love the sense of accomplishment when a creative work is complete.
 
Does that make any sense?

Chris
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Requiem Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 2006 at 12:34pm
I like to spend a few days thinking it over, filtering out the crap ideas before I commit anything to the page. Like wenonah said, that's the best part. You're just thinking it over and over and over until something clicks.

I also researched the genre since I'd never written full on suspense before. I watched a few Hitchcock movies and studied how he did it. I think sticking to the genre conventions is pretty important in this contest.

The final was crazy. No time to think or research, a genre I despise, a sh*tload of coffee. It was all a blur. Looking back at my final script, I love it but it's more horror than fantasy. A thousand typing monkeys and suicidal librarians in an infinite library, most of the dialogue was literally made up gibberish. I guess that tells you a lot about my state of mind when I wrote it :)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote joeld42 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 2006 at 1:49pm

These are great suggestions. I tried generating a few genre/topic combos at random using last year's topics and a twenty sided die, and then writing a few pages. It definitely seems to hinge on having a good idea--the ideas I didn't like were non-starters, and when I got a good idea it was hard to stop. One idea was good enough that I'm going to revisit it after the contest is over (topic was horror/mascot).

I'll definitely put some extra time into brainstorming. And stock up on coffee, just in case everyone else in my heat gets ebola. (Actually, that's pretty much my game plan).

Joel


Edited by joeld42 - 20 Jul 2006 at 1:50pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BarbaraFL Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 2006 at 3:32pm
Originally posted by joeld42 joeld42 wrote:

Anyone who has done this before have any tips and advice for us newbies about what to do and what to avoid? Do you write one short and revise it over the week or write a few and go with the best? How do you deal with a uninspiring genre/topic? What do you wish you had done differently?
 
 
I had a lot of fun coming up with the idea but it drove me up the wall as well...I was in heat one, crime caper...OIL. Oil?! I like to brainstorm with the TV on, had on discovery channel and they were talking about poisonous killer ants. Great! Oil of killer ants, let's make it more potent than viagra...and I was also watching Glengarry Glen Ross...so one of my characters was an older version of the Jack Lemmon character, so that became a caper with his buddy to score the ant oil.
 
I can't write in silence. 
 
The script itself was ok but not great, I was happy to get 3rd runner up though.


Edited by BarbaraFL - 20 Jul 2006 at 5:20pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chris Messineo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 2006 at 5:05pm
I think another important thing to remember is to try and be unique within your genre/subject assignment. There are about 20 other writers given the same starting point and I the last thing you want is to writing the same basic story as 2 or 3 other people in your heat.

Reading the scripts that did well last year, I thought they were all pretty original takes on the genre.

Chris
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote gmercer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jul 2006 at 6:25pm
Like I said in an earlier post I racked my brain for about 3 or 4 days - starting and stopping on ideas that never really came into fruition. So the moral to this story is don't force it.
 
Also, when I work on features I'm an outlining fool - I like to know the entire script on paper before I begin the body of the screenplay, but I found it was easier for this assignment to write in a less rigid form - only knowing my plot points - is that a bad word(s) - then I just connected the dots as I wrote and I found it flowed nicely.
 
Of course I didn't get past round one - so what do I know, but I can say I am very happy with what it turned out to be and if I was a better rewriter I would've written a second draft of the darn thing. I try to rewrite as I write - but that's just me.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chris Messineo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jul 2006 at 11:30am
Originally posted by gmercer gmercer wrote:

Also, when I work on features I'm an outlining fool - I like to know the entire script on paper before I begin the body of the screenplay, but I found it was easier for this assignment to write in a less rigid form - only knowing my plot points - is that a bad word(s) - then I just connected the dots as I wrote and I found it flowed nicely.

Plotting and outlining are great tools to help craft your story. I try to do it as much as possible.

Chris
    
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