“I did it!”
FADE OUT. At least that’s what some in the GITS community have typed at some point in the last 24 weeks as they went on the sojourn that has come to be called Go On Your Own Quest. By way of historical context, here is a post from last year summarizing the roots of this writing initiative:
It all started with this post on May 16th, 2012, then the formal announcement here.
I am pleased to announce “Go Into The Story: The Quest,” my attempt at creating a new pathway into Hollywood for aspiring screenwriters: A 24-week online screenwriting workshop which I will offer for free to as many as 4 writers.
Interest was incredibly high with 1,500 writers submitting nearly 4,000 loglines.
I went through every single logline, interviewed over 20 writers, eventually selecting 8, six with whom I worked in a public Quest group [you have read their dispatches], two privately because both of them worked in Hollywood.
Then there was this post on June 11, raising the possibility of creating an opportunity for people to use the Quest structure to write their own screenplay. And that led to this: Go On Your Own Quest.
We started the 24-week GOYOQ process here on July 16. A post per day, Monday through Friday, tied to the 8 weeks of Core theory, 6 weeks of Prep, then 10 weeks of Pages. Plus we created the GOYOQ Forums here where well over 100 writers registered to share their experiences as they worked on their own screenplays [the site just recently logged its 2000th comment].
And now today marks the end of the 24 week period [technically it goes through December 30, but this is the last post I’ll be making for GOYOQ].
You can read all 120 posts I did for Go On Your Own Quest — from Week 1 dealing with Plot to Week 24 covering the last stage of writing the first draft and preparing for rewrites — here.
It’s been an amazing journey. I will have news re the writers involved in Go Into The Story: The Quest sometime in January after I have a chance to review their first drafts, but on the GOYOQ front, I’ve already received a number of emails and Tweets from people who successfully pounded out a first draft of an original screenplay.
You know what? That makes me feel good. I’m happy to have provided the opportunity for people to make that leap of faith. I’m happy so many of you took it.
And so to those of you who managed to hit FADE IT, here is the final post in the GOYOQ series: “I did it!”
You can not hope to sell a script unless you write it. By overcoming all the odds you have faced, you have crossed a major threshold.
You wrote a full-length original screenplay.
You should feel proud. You should feel good. You should feel pumped.
Congratulations!
Here we are a year later and we have yet another GOYOQ development to celebrate: The Black Board, the Official Writing Community of the Black List and Go Into The Story, hosted by Shaula Evans and a group of terrific moderators, each a writer in his/her own right. The Black Board has forums on just about any topic related to screenwriting and TV writing including Go On Your Own Quest. Here are some insightful comments from Black Board member Mark Walker about his Go On Your Own Quest:
It wasn’t about a 24 week programme that would take you through the “writing by numbers” steps of writing a screenplay, but a comprehensive resource of information and discussions that support you in the production of your screenplay on your terms. It isn’t about “this is how you write a screenplay” but “these are some of the things that are worth thinking about when you do.”
And it is a great way to feel supported in your writing. Knowing there are other writers doing the same thing, following the same advice and discussions and facing the same struggles….all backed up by GITS and The Black Board.
The beauty of all this? It’s all there, archived on both of thoses sources….so we can drop in and out as we embark on new projects in 2014. Struggling with Prep? Well, go and have a look…..concerns over your dialogue….you know where to go.
All very true and I couldn’t be happier to be a part of the Go On Your Own Quest initiative. Bottom line: In order to advance your aspirations as a screenwriter, you have to write scripts. GOYOQ is an attempt to help writers do that. Daily and weekly support. All for free.
For a related discussion on The Black Board, check out this discussion:
If you have something you’d like to share about your GOYOQ writing process, I’m sure we’d all love to read about it in comments.
The Quest” has entered Week 24 — the last week! And so did Go On Your Own Quest, an opportunity for anyone to follow 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!
Today and every Monday through Friday for the last 10 weeks, I have used this slot to post something inspirational as GOYOQ participants pound out their first drafts.
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.
For more information on Go On Your Own Quest, go here.
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.