Scott, Quick question.... is it normal to love a scene you wrote one minute and then hate it the next...then go back and love it again...? Also, isn't one quality scene more helpful than 30 pages of dreck.... I've tried to rush scripts before and it got negative reactions than the carefully written ones which the professional reader seem to like a lot better. They even seem to point out the spots that were carefully written versus the all nighter just vomit it out parts... without me telling them which parts were rushed.

Eric, It is not very surprising that someone would be able to tell between "carefully written" vs "all nighter just vomit" IF you're sending the first draft or even the second. I don't think Scott is saying, "Do a vomit draft then send it right out". His point is that if you can vomit out a draft, then you'll have a draft. Then, you can start the rewriting process. The discussion is about the benefits and drawbacks of vomit vs careful for FIRST DRAFTS ONLY. OF course what you send out should be far removed from your first draft, HOWEVER you do the first draft. In which case, nobody should be able to tell which method you chose way back then.

Yup. Dump all the groceries on the counter first, then pick through them to cook an amazing dinner.

I got 10 more pages today. Starting ACT TWO (p. 17) tomorrow. Total pages so far: 16. My script diary is a box in which I toss in 3x5 index cards with ideas about characters, plot, dialogue, and other things to think about. The plan is to finish the Z-draft then go back through my box and see if anything still pops.

First of all, I'm sorry for my english but I really need to say something. This challenge becomes very special to me. I think it's a great idea and I write my pages every day and... I make it even harder. I'm from Spain and my english is not very good (it's good enough to understand what i read, but not to write a full script by myself in this language) so I'm using ZDT not only like a motivation to write a full script in 30 days. I'm WRITING IT IN ENGLISH. So I hope this help me to improve my english too. Learn a language and write a script, that's MY challenge. And there's even more. The last two weeks of November I will be traveling to the Arctic Circle so... here we go! WRITE A ZERO DRAFT while LEARNING / IMPROVING A LANGUAGE in the ARCTIC CIRCLE. If I can do this... definitely guys, YOU CAN DO IT! Hope you can understand me! Keep writing!!!

Yesterday, was just thought, planning, noting plot points I'd like to hit, and forgetting others. My story has come along, at least to a point where its time to dive deep and let it all spill out on the page. Momentarily I will begin truly getting the story out and moving onward.

In my prepping I haven't been able to figure out the beginning of my script past the second scene. I have plotted several scenes at various places in the story, but couldn't discover out how to start. Well today fellow writers, I got! Still haven't started writing, but I am proud to say today's day of index carding has been great! Still gonna try to pound out a few more before the day is done. T minus 2 days before I force myself to begin writing! "One page is better than no page. One scene better than no scene. One line is better than no line. Just write people, even if its a word!"

Hey Scott, it's Scott here. Can you organize a Facebook group or page for the event?

And by "Page", I meant Facebook page haha.

Eric, I'm not sure ever had the experience of flip-flopping in my opinion of scene that markedly. There have been plenty of times I've written a scene I thought was pretty good, then either in discussions with writing partners or upon later reflection realized it was only marginal or worse. So you LITERALLY were in love with a scene. Read it. Hated it. Read it again. Loved it. And so on? Were you revising at all to spur that 2nd round of love? Re your second question: First off, let's be clear about the function of a Zero Draft. It is for YOU only. No one else reads it. It's strictly to explore your story and find as much of it as you can in a compressed time frame. Whatever works in it, great. Use that as the foundation for your subsequent drafts. What doesn't work, fix during revisions. Ultimately after you've rewritten your script several times, the final product should be consistent and coherent, and most definitely NOT feel like a rush job. However this caveat: I've gone through plenty of scripts which were a polished read, but felt 'rushed' in the sense that the characterizations were so thin and poorly drawn. No matter how you write, fast or slow, it is imperative we -- all of us writers -- dig enough into our characters that their individual flair, feel, personality, psychological makeup, voice, all of that emerges. But again, a Zero Draft is for Your Eyes Only, an initial foray into the story. It is ASSUMED you will do several subsequent drafts to wrangle the narrative and whip the script into shape.

Holly, you echoed precisely my point. In fact, I approached the subject from a slightly different angle in a Business of Screenwriting post: Never send out a script before it's ready. Thanks, Holly. You're not only spot on, you beat me to the punch!

Zero Draft = Grocery Dump Final Draft = Amazing Dinner Another metaphor! By the time the Challenge is over, we'll have a whole boatload of 'em! Thanks, chux8r!

Chad, you're on it. Keep up that momentum in Act Two!

RoiWhite, a HUGE round of applause for you! Triple challenge: Write a script in a month. Write in English. Write it while part-time above the Arctic Circle. Impresionante!

Good, Caleb. To kick-start things, why not pick a favorite scene and write that? That's what I did today. Scene takes place probably around P. 95, but it's one I love and excites me to write the script. Good luck!

Good idea, Scott. I'm not much of a FB person, but I'll definitely get that up and running ASAP. Thanks for the suggestion!

Justin, that quote, I checked on Google and it didn't attribute it to anyone. Is that yours?

Anyone else has that little MTHRFCKR behind that hold your fingers back each time you start taking out the thing out of your system?

Somewhere between FADE IN: and FADE OUT: you'll be tempted to FADE AWAY and do something else. DON'T DO IT. Your ZERO DRAFT doesn't have to be perfect, but it does have to be written. Two days of writing down, twenty-eight days to go!

Hi Scott. Wow, thanks for the Trumbo! I'm honored. And I'm honored to be part of this big effort with you and everyone else as we write our drafts. It's a true motivational boost knowing so many others are writing. Oh, and my last name is Fabian. Glad everyone is continuing the good work. It was a long day at my job but I was able to do some writing tonight. 4 more pages down. Feeling drained but proud. Ready to rest and get back at it tomorrow!

Since I still don't know what my November is going to look like, I can't really make a definitive battle plan. instead, I'm trying to find and list all the issues and things I want to fix for my rewrite, so I at least have a to-do list (and of course, saying the problems out loud helps the mind formulate solutions). I saw an article today about Pixar's work on fixing The Good Dinosaur, which basically boiled down to simplifying the story, figuring out what you love about the story, and not stressing the other distractions. I took that to heart and really got into why i loved what I loved, and what details were giving me problems and why. Hopefully I got the mental ball rolling on something.

I brainstormed a few ideas yesterday an came up with a solid idea. The only thing that I need is to give my main character a motivation before I begin writing. I think the video in today's post gave me an idea... I'm super excited to start on the script!

Writing was a real slog the first few hours. Chose to quit fighting, skip some tough scenes, and work further down the road. 9 pages. In my estimation, a day that feels miserable and still ends with solid progess = effing awesome day. Grateful to everyone's comments and for the opportunity to share the process. Wishing everyone a steady work day tomorrow.

Yea just came to me. I realized that no one can actually just write one word. If you try to sit down to write one, its guaranteed you will stand up with at least two, if not more!

That video was totally awesome btw. Great find Scott!

Hey, in my opinion, skipping over something that's not working right now to focus on what is, doesn't mean you "quit fighting." Good for you for finding other ways to make progress. And hey, we're writers, if we didn't enjoy days that made us miserable we'd be happy, well-adjusted people. Who wants that?

Ended Day 2 with success! Busy day, read Bull Durham screenplay after work to relax/focus, then got four pages written. The question, "you're wearing that?" let me find out how my protagonist and her friend dress/look, then that revealed personalities. All set for tomorrow. I think I can do this, even though I feel a bit like Meat/Nuke in Bull Durham, I'm all over the place. Now I must sleep. Have a good night. Thanks for the motivation!

Day 2: Another 4 pages, 8 total. Feel like I've began the marathon at a good pace. The great thing about committing to one screenplay in one month is that whereas before I would have ideas for scenes or stories and just bank them for nebulous future scripts at some point in the future, now my thoughts during the day have a clear outlet at the end of the day. They get put in the pages. As I mentioned before, I'm starting without a full outline. I outline as I go: "this will come back later" and "he could do this next." I ended today with slug lines for the next two scenes I'm writing, so I'll know where to pick up tomorrow. Thanks for sharing your process and inspiration, everyone!

Boom day 2 in the books! focusing on just getting it out, because you can't rework what's not out on paper yet. #wedowork #4pagesaday

Scott, I created a Facebook group here.

Great comment, Roy!

Sure. But it has been beaten to a pulp so many times now that I can no longer decipher the words coming out of its "mouth". So I just ignore it and write ;)

Today I did everything I could to ignore that nagging voice "You suck! This is garbage! You'll never make it so you might as well give up!" I stood up for myself and screamed back "Would you just let me write mom!" Anyways I mapped out most of the scenes. Only a few more to go. I'll be ready to blast out pages on Wednesday.

I knocked off a good 5 pages today to add to the 2 I wrote yesterday. Sitting at 7 pages and I am really loving this script, the whole idea is just full of potential! Huzzah! I hope everyone is finding stuff they love in their scripts!

Tonight made huge research progress with lots of convergence that bolsters the story. Since I already know my characters from a prequel, my current focus is creating a challenging world in which they play. The supplementary/encouraging material you provide, Scott, is a godsend! Thank you!!

6 pages today! Mostly dialogue (aka page filler) that will probably all be gone/completely rewritten in the end and then again on set.

Daily vomit report no.2 - more story prep, fixing one big plot problem.

Day 2: Bit of a "buggerty, bugger" day with Real Life intruding seriously on my writing plans. Still, managed to get a scene squeezed out in amongst the chaos. Hoping for The Universe to give me a lovely un-chaotic day soon to balance things out (and give me some catch-up time)!

Hi Holly, I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say. I would never advocate sending out a vomit draft to any manager, producer, etc. I only sent a draft to a script analyst to gage how I should go about rewriting it. My point was that the parts I vomited out in a rush I couldn't really use and had nothing to go about to rewrite because I pretty much just had to throw those out. Even with a first draft, in order to rewrite, there still has to be something to actually springboard off of to rewrite.

Yeah, Scott, that's pretty much how I felt about it. A little revising, but its pretty much the same scene. You know how in Survivor, they have these duel challenges where contestants are put under time pressure to finish the challenge before the other two contestants? You'll see one contestant taking time to figure out the challenge, setting it up properly, then go and do it racing against the clock. Then, you'll see the other contestant totally panicking, running around like a chicken with its head cut off, totally wasting time even though they are rushing it. I'm just trying to figure out how to be like Contestant #1. The time pressure is great... I'd still want to make the most of it and have something tangible to rewrite, rather than pages I just have to throw out completely, needing to do a page one rewrite. You're not really writing pages, if you are not getting into the characters properly and setting up the scene properly. We all could do 100 pages in 3 days if we're just typing random words.

Day 3 in Italy. Page 7 of my new TV pilot. It flows. And remember: Prove Them Wrong.

Turns out I've been posting to the wrong page, typical dopey me! Quick page report, day/night 1 got 11 pages done, day/night 2 got 6 done... Once the daily realities of life are out of the way today, I'll be back at it tonight.

Scratch the veneer off the cheerful fun loving bravado and discover that there is a very strong torrent of abuse going on inside wherein a reflection caught in a mirror locked in a dungeon screams out that I'm wasting my time, am crap at what I'm doing and no one will ever take you or your work seriously. Even when they do say positive stuff about your work, they're really just taking the piss and laughing at your expense. Paranoiaville or what? Reading the ZDT blog responses is heart warming and reassuring to know I'm far from alone with those thoughts. The battle continues. By the time I get to write, I've usually allowed myself to stop caring what anyone else thinks, even my subconscious self. A bit like a child, I determine that I'm gonna do what I want to do and fuck everyone else. Consequences be damned, this is what I wanna do... deal with it :-) When that fails, music seems to be my greatest ally in blasting out the negative voices. Hope that helps some of my fellow self doubters and self saboteurs :)

Still in prep mode. Typed seven+ pages of notes in script diary on characters/motivation/needs and structuring my story against a particular period of time. Having my characters race toward the Homecoming game/dance/Class reunion (and hero getting a killer date for it) is as fun as me racing toward November 30th!

Man, inspirational stuff! Good luck!

Instead of summarizing my heroic effort :) today to crank out pages, I will focus on you guys and girls and how happy I am with our little writer's community and ZD30. Scott, thank you for inspiring us through action. You remind us to not only dream of writing but work hard and smart to realize that dream, and ZD30 is one of the ways to at least take the first step. And I feel honored to be part of ZD30, together with my fellow writers from all over our planet who put time and energy into ZD30. Not for the guaranteed succes or grand prizes but for the journey, for the insights and for a sense of happiness. Because we storytellers have a need to tell stories. Good luck to everyone and don't ever give up. Best wishes, Ricardo (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

I'm working mostly on a story that I hope will double both as a novel and a feature. I'm writing it as an in depth outline in prose for now, but it has the vibe of a script. It will be easy for me to parse it down once I feel like I've really figured out the flow and structure. 4700 words in after 2 days so I'm ahead of schedule (in the NanoWrimo aim of 50K) which is good for making sure I have a little leeway heading into the holidays. When I get stuck on the feature, I'm also brainstorming a pilot; this whole year has been about learning to stack projects and maximize productivity. Here's a website for when you feel overwhelmed: http://calmingmanatee.com/14

Yey

Checking in a day late, but day two I hashed out my hero's main internal flaw and how it influences her actions, and how it will play into her ultimately saving the day.

Long-ass day at work yesterday after my trip back home, so I'm sort on progress for Day 2, but onward for Day 3. Great job to everyone else still hangin' in there - some great page counts today! ;-)

I dig this idea! I was thinking we should write linearly ... hmmm ... guess it's not that critical. Sweet!

Love this. Nice one, Roy.

This is really important, I think, @thedchen ... it's a great way to avoid "the curse of the shiny object."

Rock on, Ricardo!

Thanks for the manatee site, Tillery. Great visuals!

If you're posting here and it's Tuesday, you can jump over here for the ZDT: Day 3 post. Onward!