Go On Your Own Quest — Week 13: Prep

Scott Myers

09 Oct 2013 • 2 min read

The 2013 version of The Quest has entered Week 13. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by because you can Go On Your Own Quest by following the structure of The Quest to dig into screenwriting theory [Core — 8 weeks], figure out your story [Prep — 6 weeks], and write a first draft [Pages — 10 weeks]. It’s a 24-week immersion in the screenwriting process and you can do it here — for free!

Plus you can join The Black Board, the Official Online Writing Community of the Black List and Go Into The Story, another free resource to help keep you inspired and on target at you Go On Your Own Quest from FADE IN to FADE OUT on the first draft of your original screenplay.

I encourage you to Go On Your Own Quest. First off, you can’t sell a script unless you write it. Second, you can’t get better as a writer unless you write. Third, if you don’t write that script now, when are you going to write it?

So consider this your very own Call To Adventure. Will you heed the call?

We are now in the fifth week of the Prep phase. We began Monday with this question: How many major plot points can you identify in your story? For the discussion, go here. Yesterday’s question: Do you use the sequence approach? If so, why? Discussion here. Today’s question:

* Does your Act One set up most of your story’s primary characters?

While this is not a rule per se, a script reader will more than likely have an expectation that almost all of your story’s primary characters should be introduced in the first 20–30 pages, however long it takes you to set up the story before you transition into Act Two. There are exceptions, of course, but you should be aware of that bit of conventional wisdom.

On October 21, you can type FADE IN, then over a ten week period write your first draft.

Why not use the structure of this 24-week workshop to Go On Your Own Quest? That was an idea that gathered energy among many members of the GITS community which I described here.

Meanwhile I encourage you to head to comments to discuss today’s question. And for a related discussion on The Black Board, check out these topics:

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