Dispatch From The Quest: Miranda Sajdak
Over the course of the 24 weeks I am working with the writers in The Quest, each will write a weekly dispatch to share with the GITS community. There are several reasons for doing this, the main one educational: Hopefully you will learn something of value for your own understanding of the craft from the experiences of the Questers. I should also add they are a great group of people, so I expect you will enjoy getting to know them.
Today: Miranda reminds us about one of my favorite writing mantras:
This week was another intense week! As I was away in Nashville last week, I missed a good portion of the brainstorm work that went on, and had to do some catch-up on my return (I’m still getting through listening to that call — jeez, the Questers are serious talkers during Prep!!). I love it, though, and it’s been a lot of fun to hear everyone’s thoughts as we embark on actual brainstorms and begin to delve into outlines.
One of the best things for me about the Quest experience has been the fact that we’re each writing very different types of stories. The fact that we straddle so many genres and styles is a great eye-opener, and is giving me some solid insight into our own script. Additionally, it’s been especially helpful to hear from people who wouldn’t necessarily be our first-in-line audience. As I’m finding myself, I’m learning a lot from those who are writing genres/stories that aren’t necessarily in my own area of interest. Some of the suggestions and brainstorms in those areas have been the most helpful to us as we embark on our own outlines/brainstorms.
I’m starting to really feel like we’re honing in on what our story will actually be. The shape it takes is bound to change, even as we get into the end of Prep, but it’s starting to feel much more solidified than it was even a couple weeks ago. We’ve crossed a lot of things off our list, and added some more that feel really on-target. It’s been a good few weeks, and we’re feeling more and more like Prep is getting us where we need to go. Though we thought we were ready for pages even a few weeks ago, it seems that these exercises are truly getting us to where we need to be. As Scott always says, “trust the process.”
There are a lot of writing mantras near and dear to my heart:
Minimum words, maximum impact.
Watch Movies. Read Scripts. Write Pages.
Go into the story and find the animals.
They’re all good. But when in doubt, you can’t go wrong with this one:
Tomorrow: Another Dispatch From The Quest.
About Miranda: New Englander turned Angeleno by way of New York. Enjoys: high-powered action films, dark dramas, and ’90s legal thrillers. Does not enjoy: the dentist. Mushrooms. @ScriptChix.
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