Re: Darabont on Screenwriting
To outline or to not outline. As has been repeatedly repeated above, do what works. It also depends on your personal definition of "outline".
With my first script, I had a one pager that had scribbling all over it that I used to keep straight two storylines that alternated non-linearly. And I came up with that halfway through the first draft because it was too complicated to keep in my head. It got the job done.
With my second script, I wrote the first act without an outline, but then I hit act 2, and I had to pull out those dang index cards. I had a stack like 2 inches high, kept in the order I wanted. It would have svcked if I had dropped those.
One thing is always the same for me it seems. I always know the beginning and the end before I start writing. I have a generally vague understanding of what happens in the middle. The outline helps me figure that part out. Otherwise I would be forever stuck in that netherworld between act 1 and 2.
But that's just me. Do one thing. If that doesn't work, try something else. And one person's idea of an outline may not come close to resembling someone else's. The outline is just a writer's tool he or she keeps in the tool box to pull out if the job requires it. The point is: just get it done.
To outline or to not outline. As has been repeatedly repeated above, do what works. It also depends on your personal definition of "outline".
With my first script, I had a one pager that had scribbling all over it that I used to keep straight two storylines that alternated non-linearly. And I came up with that halfway through the first draft because it was too complicated to keep in my head. It got the job done.
With my second script, I wrote the first act without an outline, but then I hit act 2, and I had to pull out those dang index cards. I had a stack like 2 inches high, kept in the order I wanted. It would have svcked if I had dropped those.
One thing is always the same for me it seems. I always know the beginning and the end before I start writing. I have a generally vague understanding of what happens in the middle. The outline helps me figure that part out. Otherwise I would be forever stuck in that netherworld between act 1 and 2.
But that's just me. Do one thing. If that doesn't work, try something else. And one person's idea of an outline may not come close to resembling someone else's. The outline is just a writer's tool he or she keeps in the tool box to pull out if the job requires it. The point is: just get it done.
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