The Time Has Come

I've been putting off writing my screenplay for the last week, and who can blame me, with Vegas and whatnot. But my goal for this weekend is to write, and write a lot. I want to finish it this weekend, and I know that is possible--but I'd also like to give myself some time to breathe. So, a finished screenplay is not my goal, but around at least 10k words is my goal. So I'll be close to 15k words by Monday morning. There you go, 15k total words by Monday.

After putting the story on the shelf for a week, I have a lot better idea of HOW I'm going to get to the place I want to be, and what I'm going to do when I get there. Originally, there wasn't much conflict in the story, and that is all well and good for a boring screenplay, but I'm not really shooting for "boring." I've come up with a few scenarios that spice up the story a bit, without changing the key ingredients.

It was great to bounce ideas off of Jessica and Lindsay this weekend over in Vegas, and it turned out Lindsay is working on a screenplay herself, and she's almost completely finished with it, except for the beginning. I found it interesting that she started at the end and worked her way forward, but it makes sense now that I've written the beginning and realize that the climax seems like a distant mountain peak. I think the part Lindsay is struggling with is trying to recreate that first initial spark of the story, or in the case of climbing a mountain--that first exciting moment you realize you're actually going to climb the damn thing!

Jessica had actually already written a story, and was in the publishing stages if I'm not mistaken. She seemed to have a lot of great help in the LA area, and passed along a few writing tips to me. The one that stuck with me the most had to do with character speech. Writing a screenplay involves TONS of dialog, and it can become a bother writing so much dialog for a story. She said that one of the big critiques she encountered in her first run was that all the characters in her story sounded a little bit too much like her, and not enough like themselves, or who she WANTED them to sound like. I'm not really sure if I'll have time to go back and change all the dialog I've written, but I will make a point of giving each character their own, unique voice.

In all reality, it would be so easy for me to just let my partially written screenplay gather dust. I've done it before, and I'll do it again--but right now I think it is time to get my shit together and write this damn thing. I don't have any big plans this weekend, and I'd like to see if I have it in me to finish this screenplay. Maybe I'll go on a little hike and write in the shade of a tree, or maybe I'll find a little coffee shop or library somewhere around the lake and write a couple thousand words.

I get off work early tomorrow, have plans to go pick up my motorcycle, and then I can pretty much do what I want for the rest of the day. Heading to South Tahoe Middle School and getting some observation in would be a smart way to spend a few hours, but if I don't do that, I really think hopping on my bike and finding a good spot along the lake to write should be my one and only backup plan. If I'm not getting in observation hours, I need to be doing something productive.

I've started thinking about my job search and living situation in Seattle, but those can wait until after this weekend. I've gotten back into Starcraft and poker, but I would like to put those off until next week as well. I'm hoping to immerse myself in the story this weekend, and see where it goes.