Zero Draft Thirty: The Despair of the Blank Page
T minus 5 days. On November 1, the Zero Draft Thirty challenge kicks off!
Zero Draft is what some writers call the vomit draft… or muscle draft… the just-get-the-damn-thing-done draft.
And thirty is… well… the number 30 which is… oh, yeah… the number of days in November!
Write an entire first draft of a script in November — FADE IN to FADE OUT in 30 days.
Feature length movie screenplay. Original TV pilot. Rewrite a current project. Break a story in prep. Generate a month’s worth of story concepts.
Whatever you feel will ratchet your creative ambitions into overdrive, do THAT!
Go here, here, here, and here to learn about the #ZD30SCRIPT challenge.
Check out the comments and see how over 300 writers have signed up. And you are invited to join the creative fracas.
By the way, Indiewire has picked up on the challenge. And it’s been translated into Spanish. So this thing has legs!
Last week, I focused on story prep, a series of posts to help you break your story before typing FADE IN. This week: The psychology of writing, an exploration of a writer’s inner life and dynamics which inhibit our creative output.
Today: The Despair of the Blank Page.
It beckons you with a daunting whisper. It mocks you with its dull emptiness. It freezes your soul with its ice cold whiteness.
It is — the blank page!
How can a mere 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of white paper provoke such anxiety, such horror, such despair?
The despair of the blank page — the writer’s bane!
Laying eyes upon the blank page provokes a catch in your breath, a twitch in you muscles, that special tightening in your sphincter.
Fear. But fear of what?
Fear of the not knowing. Not knowing what words will appear… or won’t appear. Not knowing if the words will make sense. Not knowing if the sentences will be good. Not knowing if the story will work.
I could lay a little “power of positive thinking” on you. You know…
Imagine the possibilities!
My experience with those positive thinking platitudes is that when your blank page remains blank, the writer’s life becomes about the power of positive drinking. And look where that got Hemingway!
Thus, instead of behavioral modification, let me suggest a more philosophical, even, dare I say, spiritual approach.
I ask you to consider the possibility that your story already exists.
It is already there… all 120 pages. From FADE IN to FADE OUT. Written. Rewritten. Edited. Spell-checked. Properly formatted. And ready to go.
The story concept exists already.
The characters exist already.
The plot exists already.
The dialogue exists already.
The themes exist already.
It is there, waiting for you to find, uncover and reveal it.
Okay, Myers, if it’s waiting for me, then where is it hiding out ‘coz I sure as hell can’t find it!!!
Your story’s right there… on your blank page.
“The despair of the blank page: it is so full.”
That’s right, your challenge isn’t the emptiness of your blank page, it’s that there is so much there already. All you need to do is see it…
And you’ll see it when you believe it.
You can choose to stare at that blank page. Sometimes that is quite valuable — clear the mind, focus your thoughts, go into a state of deep concentration. But in general, the best way to find your story on the blank page… is to start writing.
Believe it… then you’ll see it.
Start writing. And watch the magic of your story reveal itself to you… as your blank pages becomes full.
The Zero Draft Challenge is all about this: Believing is Seeing. And Hearing. When you work on a Zero Draft, you extend your hand to your characters and say…
Help me write your story, you glorious bastards!
Even if you feel like you are alone, you aren’t. The story’s characters want you to tell their story. That blank page? It’s already full. Just believe it. And you’ll see it.
The Zero Draft Thirty challenge.
November 1: Type FADE IN / In the Beginning.
November 30: Type FADE OUT / The End.
30 days. A first draft of an original story.
Who’s with me?
It’s cool! It’s crazy! It’s free!
NOTE: For those of you using Twitter, use the hashtag #ZD30SCRIPT.
Background on the Zero Draft Thirty challenge:
Who’s with me to pound out a script in November
Zero Draft Thirty: Write a Script in a Month Challenge
Zero Draft Thirty: Story Prep — Overview
Zero Draft Thirty: Story Prep — Index Cards
Zero Draft Thirty: Story Prep — Character Development
Zero Draft Thirty: Story Prep — Script Diary
Zero Draft Thirty: What are you afraid of
Onward!
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