Just write it! 3-page writing challenge (January, 2022)

[bioprofessor Member Find all posts View Profile Close bioprofessor]

Just Write It!

It's a new year!
Time to walk (and write) the talk!
Open genre and theme (no prompts)

Contest Guidelines

✍First 3 pages of your screenplay (open genre, logline and title optional)
✍Send submission (in plain text or pdf format) to "bioprofessor" as DM attachment
✍Submission Deadline: Friday, January 28, 2022
✍Entries posted by Sunday January 29, 2022
✍Voting: Jan 29 - Feb 1 (send your top three entries to "bioprofessor")

[lostfootage Member Find all posts View Profile Close lostfootage]

Just Write It!

It's a new year!
Time to walk (and write) the talk!
Open genre and theme (no prompts)


GUIDELINES

✍ Opening 3 pages of your screenplay
✍ Logline
✍ Send logline & opening 3 pages (as DM attachment) to "bioprofessor"
✍ Submission Deadline: January 28, 2022

Cool. I look forward to this, Bio.

[bioprofessor Member Find all posts View Profile Close bioprofessor]

Cool. I look forward to this, Bio.

Great! Looking forward to reading your work.

[dpaterso Member Find all posts View Profile Close dpaterso]

January 2022?! That's over a year away! Why did you-- ...No wait.

[bioprofessor Member Find all posts View Profile Close bioprofessor]

January 2022?! That's over a year away! Why did you-- ...No wait.

See you on the other side, dpat! 🎉

[Cyfress Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cyfress]

I've been looking for an excuse to write the teaser of my action/superhero script.

[bioprofessor Member Find all posts View Profile Close bioprofessor]

I've been looking for an excuse to write the teaser of my action/superhero script.

Great! January is a great time to start exercising your writing muscles.

[Bono Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bono]

I've been looking for an excuse to write the teaser of my action/superhero script.

The excuse was you wanted to have a finished screenplay! Come on kids. Enter this contest -- sure -- but write 3 pages every single day...

[Cyfress Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cyfress]

I get so excited to write it and then I think about how much work is gonna need to go into it and then I think about the possibility of putting in the work and then absolutely nothing coming out of it and I get less excited. Breaking through that wall of doubt-procrastination-hopelessness is a writers super power. Does anyone have some radioactive green formula for me to drink? I'm in need of some super powers.

[Clint Hill Member Find all posts View Profile Close Clint Hill]

Breaking through that wall of doubt-procrastination-hopelessness is a writer's superpower. Does anyone have some radioactive green formula for me to drink? I'm in need of some superpowers.

It's no "radioactive green formula," but Bourbon whiskey does a fine job of lubricating your writing gears.

[Bono Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bono]

I get so excited to write it and then I think about how much work is gonna need to go into it and then I think about the possibility of putting in the work and then absolutely nothing coming out of it and I get less excited. Breaking through that wall of doubt-procrastination-hopelessness is a writers super power. Does anyone have some radioactive green formula for me to drink? I'm in need of some super powers.

Right here is key. Behind all my posts on this board is NONE OF THIS MATTERS IF YOU DON'T WRITE. Formulas, good or bad -- doesn't matter if you never use them. Flaws in hero -- what hero? You haven't written anything to discuss??

My pro writer friend said to me one day when I was complaining about NOT making it as a writer or something writers do like that -- and I'm like why do you think you made it? And he said -- because I write new material all the time. I never stop writing. This was a period when I went from doing that and one day I looked up -- and I realized OMG I haven't written a feature spec in over 6 years.

So I've been there buddy! I'm not speaking from a high horse. My horse has been punched in the face many many times. But I'm back on it. And let me tell you -- if you give them something to sell -- you can do it. But if you never write material then you can't.

You may fail -- but you can't win if you don't even play the game. Write the screenplay FOR YOURSELF first. Then you can worry about SELLING IT.

[bioprofessor Member Find all posts View Profile Close bioprofessor]

My best writing efforts (technical or creative) have come from when I had at least a rough idea of the beginning, middle and end of a project. It's romantic (fantasy) to think of a writer who wakes with a great concept, and then binge writes a complete manuscript in a couple of days.

From the opposite end of the spectrum, a sure way to sabotage your success at any task is to over plan, analyze, and build up a mountain of obstacles between you and your goal. My daughter tends to do this with any big decision or task, and some not so big, like ordering the "perfect" meal from a menu! Hence, my code phrase to her when she gets analysis paralysis is: "Order the hamburger!" In other words, just do your best at the moment. Don't worry about being imperfect! Just do it! Umm, Just Write it!

[Cyfress Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cyfress]

Writing all the time is something I've heard reiterated by pro writers all the time. Constantly writing. Constantly putting yourself into the story process all the time and writing pages. I'd like to write a new script this year truth be told, I have two ideas. One is further along in the process than the other. Action/Adventure and Black Comedy are the genres. I could commit to 3 pages per day if I really wanted to. That's like an hour per day.

[Clint Hill Member Find all posts View Profile Close Clint Hill]

I'd like to write a new script this year truth be told, I have two ideas. I could commit to 3 pages per day if I really wanted to. That's like an hour per day.

Carve out a time of day when it’s just you and the page, use the timer on the kitchen stove, and write non-stop for an hour.

[bioprofessor Member Find all posts View Profile Close bioprofessor]

Carve out a time of day when it’s just you and the page, use the timer on the kitchen stove, and write non-stop for an hour. Better yet, write for two hours if you can spare the time.

I think it was Bono who alluded to this upstream, write to entertain yourself first. How cool (and lucky) is it to hit that sweet spot when you start living among your characters as you write?