.020 - write then rearrange

20th Post!

Post last minute screenplay writing thought:
It's sooooo much easier to create an interesting AND uncontrived story when you just write it.

Yesterday as you all know I stayed up hours into the night to finish my screenplay. It actually didn't get "completed" until 3:09(class was at 3:15).

But basically the reason it took so long is because I kept trying to think of ways to get to my desired ending. Or at the very least something that felt like an ending. But every time I brainstormed a scenario, it led to mediocre results. So I erased. Wrote. Erased again. And just sat there looking at a blank screen.

The only thing that actually got me typing was when I realized I literally only has 20min left till class started. Which meant 10 min to type, 10 to print. Those were the fastest 5 pgs I'd ever written and the "ending" seemed to follow naturally.

Not only did I get the characters into a situation that resulted in a good ending, but I learned a lot about one my characters that I previously knew nothing about. Before this character just served the purpose of an antagonist with no real motivation for the way he was perceived. Now though, he had a back story. He wasn't really what my main character thought he was. And all this came from me just writing whatever came to my head AND thinking from each character's perspective.

Granted, I'm using quotes for words like completed and ending because my work definitely isn't done. And if you read it now, you'd probably think it was better suited as a short story not a script due to the amount of exposition. But I've found that when I know where I'm going in a story, it's much easier to make things interesting for a reader/viewer in the second go-round. They know nothing about my characters, but since I now have a back story, I know everything.


HAPPY V-DAY by the way! If you don't have a significant other, don't forget to call the mother.