Good Day! Interestingly, this was a discussion we just had amongst the writers who did Kevin Morales' 10-Day First Draft Challenge! This was my answer to, first, why I was having difficulty with the challenge - Not the pounding it out, but the doing it from beginning to end! I do it the other way around. - and, second, how that seems to work in terms of thinking/outlining/writing, which is pretty much Core/Prep/Pages - I think? Again, sorry it's long, is sort of cut/paste verbatim from that discussion, but I cut out the parts that relate to the scripts we were writing as it would be meaningless to y'all. --------Quoted Material---------- Yup, absolutely on the working backwards. I’m pretty sure I am never doing it this way again! :) On outlines… I do, and I don’t. First of all, I don’t do *anything* usually until I know these six things in my head… I usually use Thelma and Louise as my example of what I need to find, so, bear with me on this when they pop up in a minute. :) How it ends. Everything else leads to that so, if I don’t have it firmly in place, I’m clueless. What propels my protagonist to do whatever s/he does to get to the end – otherwise known, I guess, as the turn into Act III. If it’s a happy ending, what is the opposite of that? Or what *appears* to be the opposite of that. If there’s no traditional win (now think Thelma and Louise), what is the opposite of that, or what appears to be the opposite. That almost always becomes my “midpoint.” In Thelma and Louise, for example, there’s this point where the girls seem to have either worked out something with the guy at home, or found someone on the road that seems to make them happy. It looks like they’ll get the money, escape, and be happy (one with her existing guy and one with a new guy) – and that’s what you think the rest of the movie it gonna be. If I don’t know the end, this point is harder for me to find/create in my stories. What got s/he to *that* point? What gets characters to the midpoint, whatever they’ve decided to do – right or wrong. After the girls kill the guy, they run around for a bit, but, at some point, they agree to run off *together.* The girl who didn’t kill the guy chooses to run too – although, really, she doesn’t have to. She could just get out of the car. So, that decision to run *together*, is the kick that sets up all of Act II. The shooting in Thelma and Louise is, of course, the “inciting incident,” the thing that falls into their world and blows it to pieces. And, usually the character bit for me, what characters could find themselves in this mess if this happened to them? I’ve got a pretty good sense of them anyway when I start – even if it’s at the other end first – so, basically, I just imagine where they were immediately before this mess blew up, and that’s where I start – or end, depending on how you figure such things. :) When I’ve got that much straight in my head, I use that as the start of my outline – then outline away. This time, however, I came to this project just a day or so before the start, so, no prep at all really, just those six things. There’s some back and forth, of course, but, when those six things have settled in my brain, I’ve got the gist of the story. I get them on paper, pretty much in that order. Then, the stuff that is needed to get between them gets written, again, generally, the later scenes suggest themselves to me first, but, it’s a bit back and forth though. So much is setup/payoff that they tend to get written in pairs. My problem with this one, right from the get go, was that I hadn’t found/pinned those between-the-six scenes into a full outline. So, I spent a lot of time fumbling toward them. Is character or plot first? It's sort of a winnowing process... If this happens, who might do it? Who absolutely couldn't? Who would be the most discomboobalated by it? Who's in that person's life? Eventually, characters establish themselves, and they make some changes and we write a story together, some of mine, some of their's. :) But, now that I know, from the 10-Day Challenge, that this "Beginning to End Business" is the polar opposite of the way I should work, I’ll just never, never do it again. --------------End Quote------------------

Quick Query for those on the GOYOQ. Will there be specific missions or details or will it just be a case of we have to sign/pay up and see? I'm basically trying to figure out the structure of how this will work. Thanks

Hi Nick, go to The Black Board for more info on the GOYOQ, you don't have to pay anything if you don't want to. But the course has more materials on the topics for each week. Here's the link to the boards: http://theblackboard.blcklst.com/forums/forum/goyoq-go-on-your-own-quest-2013/

Nick, I have a post going later today that explains GOYOQ more fully.

This is a great question. I kick out a first draft of my spec script in a 2-3 week period without an outline. I know my logline, my main character's names, and my 9 beats - then I'm off to the races. I do better when I have something to work from - i.e. a vomit draft rather than a blank page that I must outline, etc. before I can feel I can write. Also, without the outline, the characters take me places I haven't even thought about - and they show me. After that vomit first draft is complete, I outline it. Then, I really dig in for the plot holes, additional plot points, etc. To me, rewriting is really where it's at, but I love getting the darn thing written and seeing where the organic story flows. From there, I go into the details. Probably won't work for many, but I have found interesting plot twists and sub-plots by simply writing before plotting.

I guess my honest answer should be that I'll let you know in eight weeks once I've worked it out! Because, up until now, my plotting has involved writing down ideas of storyline, scene, character, interactions etc on anything I can lay my hands on. Then transferring those thoughts onto notecards when I get the chance and reading/shuffling and putting them in some sort of plot (chronological) order.

One morning awhile back, I woke up with a complete download for a movie. I just saw it in my head. I wasn't writing a screenplay at the time, I was just doing basic R&D, reading Stephen King's "On Writing" among other things. It seemed so familiar, I figured it was probably derivative, so I did my due diligence in that area first. Nope - nothing. Okay, so time to write it up as an outline/ synopsis, and a set of virtual cards. That also lead to a few drafts of the logline. At that point, I wanted to run it past a director friend of mine, a very smart and well-spoken woman whose feedback I value. I just gave her the log line, which I figured she'd suggest needed major tweaking (or worse.) But she said "I want to direct it," which floored me. "Just finish it," she said. Ok, flattering, but - she only heard the logline. I looked at the outline and saw swiss cheese. So I continued reading psych & writing books & watching various "homework" films while going back and forth to this piece, and one by one the characters, their desires and motives got clearer - especially who was oppositional to whom, and why. Each new epiphany about who each character was rippled through the story - clearing up some problems, and spotlighting others. I re-wrote the outline whenever this happened. I stopped updating the cards and just used the outline as my map. I also ran the outline and pages past another writer friend of mine who had some structural criticisms that helped me fix or spackle in some big holes. Right around this point, it feels like the characters are living in my head, and I have to get them out, like I owe it to them, they're stuck in there, in a parallel universe. So that just leaves banging out the rest of the pages to set them loose - but even when it's down to that, characters change and do things I didn't plan for. This can be great; but other times it's a pain in the arse and I have to go back and work out if I can go with that or not - how the ripples of the change fit the story. Previous screenplays have gone through a similar process. So the short version is: idea => characters => outline => outside review => think => change => repeat => story => blow it up.

Love this :) And does your friend still want to direct it?

Once I have a decent kernel of a story idea -- i.e. 2,3,4,5 sentences of what IT is about, I crack open a fresh composition book and just start scribbling everything I know. WHO is my key character, what sort of problem/issue, desire/want/need does she have, and what's in the way of her getting what she's after, how does the story end, etc. That first few days of scribbling will net me anywhere from a few to up to 20 pages of stuff -- about that character, who else populates that world, where do we find her/them at the start, what sorts of troubles lurk in the way of solution or victory .. and why. I don't generally halt that early scribbling until I feel fairly confident I see a full story .. and can, in essence, talk through three acts. I may or may not take time to boil it down into a concise logline, if indeed that logline wasn't the kernel of an idea in the first place! Subsequent days of scribbling will be about answering lots of questions -- what ifs and why and who did what to whom -- and magically (ha!) the world fills in and begins to feel real, names are attached to characters, a "where" is determined, etc. Also in early stages of breaking story, I'll surround myself with and dive back into a few tried/true sources -- The Hero's Journey, Save the Cat, basic 3 act structure stuff -- getting reacquainted with story beats and letting them stir up more information about MY blossoming story. Yes, I'll bust out index cards and play Chairman of the Board -- I go as long as I possibly can with "paper and pen", and that exercise helps. My new fave method is then to take a large poster board and create a visual for the entire story. So ... I'll draw a big circle, quadrant off 1/4, 1/2, 1/4 for three acts, plus note basic beats around the circle -- i.e. one Sharpie color for Hero's Journey, another color for Save the Cat. Then I scribble in pen MY story .. from start to finish. Makes for a mighty messy poster board by the end and God forbid someone else tries to distinguish my handwriting!! I maintain the comp book and refer to it for detailed sketches, dialogue, partial scenes, etc., but all the key scenes/thoughts are on this visual. This will stay on/near my desk during the duration of the project. I can SEE if (and where) I have too much or too little, I have a "list" of sorts I can check off as I write, and if/when confidence wanes, I can quickly peek at this poster and KNOW I've got a full story working ... if I just work it.