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Original poster

Got a novel/play/screenplay in your head? Get it on paper! Here is the page count thread for hopeful and actual writers.

407 replies

wilbur · 21/01/2008 10:20

Are you a writer in need of some motivation? Post here each day or whenever you can with your page count. Or post your hopes for how many pages you want to write each day and then come back and see if you managed them. Even if they are rubbish, at least you will have them down on paper and can make them brilliant at a later date.

I will start. I am hoping to write a second full-length screenplay before August 2008. I have two days a week where I have time to write my own stuff and I am aiming to do 5 pages on each of those days.

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sonicdeathmonkey · 12/04/2008 19:13

Not too secret Frizbe - it's like a vague cross between Spooks and the X-files (no alien stuff though) - two (or maybe three, haven't decided) detectives working in a kind of 'cold case' department that have to deal with all sorts of (mysterious but not supernatural) odd cases, and obviously solve them.

Not a very good sum-up but I'm not good at synopses

Painting sounds good, that's really what I'm doing with this screenplay - it's not to replace my novel, just give me something more fun to concentrate on for a bit.

Frizbe · 12/04/2008 20:55

Sounds interesting have you been watching Dexter at all? I like the premise of that, if you could put a twist in along those lines you might have a winner?

sonicdeathmonkey · 12/04/2008 21:02

I haven't actually, I heard about it and meant to but haven't yet. Will try and catch it somehow and have a look. Thought of having a twist in one part where the 'helpful' consultant forensic psychologist actually turns out to be behind the series of murders he's helping with but have had that in my head for ages, long before Dexter came along, which is a little odd

Have you managed any painting?

Frizbe · 12/04/2008 21:59

Its good.
No haven't bothered tonight, kids didn't settle till 8.30 and since then I've been pratting about on here! might go and read my book soon.

sonicdeathmonkey · 12/04/2008 22:01

Same here really DD quietly read until 9-ish but kept telling me when she was going for a drink or a wee which broke any concentration I might have had

Toots · 13/04/2008 20:22

Just sending a good night wave to all you writer people. Was up waaaaay to early today. Will post more soon. Think we need to pull together to get back on our writing hoss's when all this stuff is out the way, innit?

sonicdeathmonkey · 13/04/2008 21:08

Night Toots. I definitely need to get back on my hoss (or be kicked onto it) - but at the moment I'm running on the principle that any writing is better than none so not being too disciplined about what I do as long as I do something. At the moment this 'bit of fun' screenplay seems to be flowing reasonably well - very slowly but flowing nevertheless. Not abandoning my novel by any means but maybe just need some time off it. Have no idea if mine looks like any other screenplay though - anyone know of a decent guide/book about how one should be laid out? The only thing I know so far is that too much detail is apparently a bad thing and frowned upon in literati circles, and mine is chock full of detail but I'm not intending to submit it to anyone, at least not as far as I know yet, so who cares

Original poster
wilbur · 14/04/2008 11:55

Sonic - there are a ton of books about screenplay writing, a lot of them American, some good and some not so much. I have The Art of Screenwriting by William Packard, which is good, but I can't remember if I bought it in the States. Alternatively, look at the BBC Talent website where they have a lot of links to templates and ideas for screenwriting (there are diff page layouts for TV dramas, Sit coms and feature films). Also, there is the Final Draft website, where you can download a trial version of the screenwriting software Final Draft and use that for templating (templating, is that a word?).

My big tip for screenwriting is "Show, don't tell" ie, don't write "He is a nervous and anxious character waiting for his mother to arrive", write "He gets up and looks out the window, his brows furrowed. He goes back and sits in his chair, turning a playing card over and over in his hands. Moments later he gets up and looks out the window again". Not a stunning example, but hopefully you can see what I mean. Here endeth wilbur's screenwriting seminar.

I am about to retire to my shed to actually do some writing (hallelujah) so I will check in again later.

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vonsudenfed · 14/04/2008 13:49

Hello, I'm still here but have been to Devon and had a stinking cold (both, sadly, at the same time) so haven't done anything for a bit. I begin again tomorrow, and am hoping to finish this draft this week. Then rework the first 10,000 words, and send it out to some agents, heaven help us.

Has anyone here been on the writing website Litopia? it was recommended to me, but I wondered if you had any experience...

sonicdeathmonkey · 14/04/2008 18:57

Thanks wilbur, I'll have a look at those sites and thanks for the seminar, I've been doing a bit of both but will try and cut back on the 'telling'. I heard about Final Draft a couple of days ago too, will have to give it a try. Have fun with the writing, I'm going to try some more myself if dd stops telling me the story she just made up/that she's done a wee/that she's just had a drink etc etc etc!

Good luck vonsud - haven't been on Litopia either... wanders off to do some literary surfing

Original poster
wilbur · 14/04/2008 19:54

Ahahaha, breakthrough, I had a good day today! I think, think, I have a reasonable outline for my SP. I still need a couple of ooomph bits for it (technical term that) but generally I have a plot, and characters and motivation for all. Apart from one character who seems to have shrivelled and she may have to go. So, another week and then I reckon I will be ready to start writing proper. Only a month or two late, but hey, sometimes you have to go backwards to move forwards.

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Frizbe · 14/04/2008 22:21

Yay Wilbur

I'm going to look at that site too girls, although not currently fussed about screenplay myself, sticking with my novel for now.

I managed to do a bit of writing this morning too, hurrah

sonicdeathmonkey · 16/04/2008 11:41

Sounds like everyone's doing ok. I looked at Litopia, will join when I've got something worth submitting Looked at the BBC Talent site, thanks wilbur - it was great to see real scripts. Turns out I've been doing vaguely the right thing but putting in tonnes too much detail. Never mind, it's just for fun for now, if I ever finish it I can edit it. My novel's still on hold for the moment but at least I'm still writing and having fun.

PhDlifeNeedsaNewLife · 16/04/2008 21:32

hello you lot

I've been away, and ill, and crocheting a blanket for ds's 1st birthday, and reading a lot cos my mind was blank, and still ill, but back for a bit, feels good. well, slow, but good.

Got a grant application to write by mid May though so might not be around much, hope you've all been doing well

vonsudenfed · 17/04/2008 12:10

Hello everyone,

Wilbur and Frizbe - glad things are moving on for you. And sonic, although what I know about scripts could be written on the back of a postage stamp, so I can't add anything useful.

But I have come here with a team of heralds - cue loud fanfare - to say:

I HAVE FINISHED IT.

The whole novel, end to end, no little parentheses that say [good bit in here]. 83,000 words of rubbish about landscape, nuns and stones that no one apart from me will be interested in.

I am going to have next week off and go to London to get my haircut, and tidy the house, and put things on eBay. Then I shall go back to the beginning, tidy that up and Send It Out. Heaven help the agents.

ps . PhD. Blankets are good, I'm planning to start one too...

wobblyknicks · 17/04/2008 12:22

(SDM here, turns out I can't MN without my original name )

Brilliant vonsud!! Must be a huge relief to have finished, and you never know how many stone/nun/landscape lovers there will be out there

I've got loads of college work to do and trying to get back into making jewellery so the writing is down to a lazy half hour every night - about 50 words a night I reckon Other problem is I'm having so much fun with this script I'm trying hard to convince myself I don't want to make my novel into a screenplay instead Too many ideas, too little discipline!

Original poster
wilbur · 17/04/2008 13:38

Fantastic, Vonsudenfed, that is so exciting. A finished novel, v impressive. Sending good vibes for your polishing thereof and eventual publication.

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Frizbe · 17/04/2008 21:03

yay Vonsud, well done, how fab to be at the end Good luck with the agents.

Bink · 18/04/2008 11:19

Well done the finishers.

I have three things seething.
They are

  • something about a stone terrace which appears in my head when I listen to Schumann. It (the terrace) is a mélange of bits of Henry James (inc. The Innocents as film), Elizabeth Bowen's book about her house in Ireland (which when you get to the end you find out is no longer standing), maybe something from Atonement, and possibly Yeats' little vision of a child with congenital syphilis (in one of his school-inspecting poems I think). Oh, LP Hartley too. I theenk it is trying to tell me something;
  • a thing about the Square where we live, which is intended to morph into a series of properly historically accurate stories about living in London, on a sort of Victorian Happy Families (ie, Baker/Tailor/Printer - how people actually made a living) motif. Those will be for, hmm, around 11 year olds; and
  • a fragment I saw once: about being unaware - less aware "than that which walks in [something] Woods/Knows why it walks, or why it weeps"
vonsudenfed · 18/04/2008 13:16

Of course now I'm wandering about wondering what to do with myself. I feel as though I have had a limb amputated...

I've had a bit of a look round Litopia - although there are bits you have to audition for, the public bits do seem a bit under populated. I will let you know if they let me into the rest..

And Bink - I particularly like the sound of your first one - but that kind of odd accumulation of thoughts is just how I write too. I thought everyone else began with a plot or a character, so it's a relief to know it's not just me. Tell us when it develops. And I am also a huge fan of Elizabeth Bowen.

PhDlifeNeedsaNewLife · 18/04/2008 21:09

hurrah for vonsudenfed.

if you are really looking for something to do, you could always come mind this baby while I write . He cannot be trusted with the blanket, which he seems determined to bite into little bits

had a major breakthrough the other night, rocketing along now. Feel as though I might actually finish the thing one of these days

Original poster
wilbur · 22/04/2008 14:10

Excellent - everyone sounds like the creative juices are flowing, or at least trickling. I am feeling a lot better about things. I have a basic outline and a good sense of my characters, although I think I am missing a plot point or two, but have decided to start writing the script and see where a rough draft ends up - see whether I need the extra story or not. So, as of next week, I will be back to my 5 pages a day. Watch this space.

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sixtus · 22/04/2008 14:16

mY DH HAS bought a new tiny laptop - handbag size - that I am going to appropriate and use with a usb key to get restarted writing. If I go out, I can sit for hours at a cafe and write, if I am at home I fritter the time - tea, msn, folding ironing etc.

I have two article ideas - am going to contact independent and figaro and pitch. If they accept, I will HAVE to write (and obv HAVE to borrow dinkie laptop

sixtus · 22/04/2008 14:17

tis ggg btw. Wilbur, did my dd ever return your suitcase?

Original poster
wilbur · 22/04/2008 14:54

That sounds great, ggg, I saw a thing on the Gadget Show about those new little laptops - they look amazing. I'm a great fritterer of time too so your cafe idea sounds good as does pitching ideas in order to force work. I talked briefly to MI recently about some article ideas, but have I got around to following up? Have I buffalo.

And, um, no your dd didn't get our bag back to us. A gentle prod in the that direction would be much appreciated.

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