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Feb 19 2008, 6:11 PM EST (current) kate_sheofsky 3 words added
Feb 13 2008, 11:41 AM EST kate_sheofsky 328 words added, 222 words deleted

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Kate's Writing Challenge - Tag Team Web 1.9Kate Sheofsky

I've decided to write a feature-length screenplay and I'm chronicling my adventure on this wiki. Why, you may ask? Two reasons:

1) To share the experience with community members (who I hope will give advice and be inspired to contribute their own projects)

2) To motivate myself. Failure to complete this project could result in public shame and ridicule. That may be just the kick in the pants I need to get this done.

Wish me luck...


Recent posts
» Ready, set, go!

My kingdom for an idea

February 13, 2008

I'd forgotten about this part. In my excitement over new notebooks I completely blocked out how paralyzing it can be to sit down and write that first sentence (and in case you were wondering, writing a blog entry about writing the first sentence is no cake walk either). Here are a couple of the unsolicited tips I received from people familiar with my self-imposed challenge:

Write what you know!
This seems to be everyone's favorite piece of advice to throw out. I decided to keep track of everything I did and thought about over the weekend so I could tap into the things at the forefront of my mind. Based on my log, I should be writing a screenplay about a girl who stares out the window for hours on end hoping the sun will break through, obsessively searches for new beer brewing techniques and recipes on the Internet, is troubled by the concept of "super delegates", and spends an astonishing amount of time cleaning up after her bulimic cat. I hear Charlize Theron is looking for a meaty new role. I better get this baby down on paper fast.

Just start writing and an idea will come
Guess what? A blank page is still a blank page. My very pained attempts to "just write" yielded a grocery list, an estimated nutritional analysis of the chicken soup I'd made the night before and a vague paragraph addressing why I probably should have given up creative writing a long time ago. I can probably squeeze three or four scripts out of that goldmine. I am an idea machine!

The frustrating part of all of this is that I know there have been many times when a character or idea has popped into my head and I've thought to myself, hey, that would make a great movie. I can't recollect a single one of those ideas now. Ah, if only I'd had my pocket-sized notebook and tiny pen back then. I could have spared myself a lot of trouble.