Countdown to FADE IN: Day 5
5 days from now, participants in Go On Your Own Quest are scheduled to move out of Prep and into Pages: In other words, type FADE IN.
Over on the GOYOQ forum [which is free and you are invited to join], some folks have been posting thoughts on what they have learned thus far during the Core and Prep parts of the process. This week as we count down the days to FADE IN, I’d like to share some of those observations with you.
Today: wdjoyner
What has GOYOQ helped me with?
I make lots of mistakes. In fact, “lots” is an understatement. But to me, that’s the way I learn. I also don’t like writing rules. I’d rather discover what works for me. The great thing about GITS and GOYOQ is that mistakes are okay. And, Scott has said repeatedly, there is only one writing rule: write! Scott has created a very welcoming community of writers who are learning about how to tell a story in an engaging way. Scott’s energy and hard work on the site, his generosity of sharing his knowledge of story writing, and his kindness and encouragement to other writers is a real inspiration. Writing tends to be a lonely profession. We each have own a world of our own creation, populated by characters arising from our imagination, that we are writing about. It’s great to have a place to belong, where ideas can be explored and all our lonely hard work is appreciated.
The week-by-week questions Scott asks writers, to make them think out how their story is progressing, is helpful to me. What I love most about these questions is the variety of answers contributed by the community. Reading them is a real learning experience for me.
Thank you Scott and thank you all!
Here’s how the Pages part of the GOYOQ process is structured: 10 weeks, 10 writing deadlines, 10–15 pages per week. You should target Monday as the start of your writing week and Sunday as the day you deliver your pages. Repeat each week for 10 weeks and voila: Your first draft. Done by December 30. Great way to end 2012.
By the way, the 8 writers with whom I am working in The Quest are following the same schedule. So if you believe in strength in numbers, between the positive energy of that group and your fellow GOYOQ participants, especially if you join the Forums, you should feel a swell of momentum to push you through this muscle draft.
5 days to FADE IN. Hollywood needs great stories. Here is your chance to write one.