Zero Draft Thirty 2016 Spring Challenge: Day 9
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 9.
March 1: Type FADE IN / The Beginning.
March 30 31: Type FADE OUT / The End.
30 31 days. 1 script. Movie script. TV script. First draft. Rewrite. Whatever.
I’m doing it. You’re invited.
For background on how the Zero Draft Challenge came into being and what it is, go here, here, and here.
To download your very own Zero Draft Thirty calendar — created by Bretton Zinger — and track your daily progress, you can download a copy here.
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Today’s Writing Quote
“Every 5 to 10 pages,
I want a big fist to come out of the screenplay
and punch the reader in the gut.”
— Allan Durand
Today’s Inspirational Video
To me, there is no more inspirational creative figure than Bob Dylan. The very first song I learned to play on the guitar when I was 14 was “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”. It was music which led me away from a life in academics and into this life I know now: Writer and Teacher. And throughout my journey, Dylan has been a consistent part of my musical soundtrack. In this video, listen to how strong his voice is, how clear and powerful his performance. The song itself is a testament to metamorphosis which lies at the heart of the Hero’s Journey and virtually every story. Be inspired by Bob Dylan!
Check back later for the winner of today’s Trumbo Award!
Onward!
UPDATE: From John Arends: “Scott — I’d like to nominate Scott M. Smith, who writes a blog called “Screeninwriting from Iowa” for a Trumbo award via his tribute post to Pat Conroy today.”
I’ve known Scott for many years. Here is his post about Pat Conroy entitled “Writers Waiting for Tortoises”:
Author Pat Conroy’s funeral was today after announcing just a month ago that he had pancreatic cancer. Here’s a quote I pulled for a post back in 2012 that’s one of my favorite illustrations of what writers do.
“On my first night in Vienna, Jonathan [Carroll, author of Bones of the Moon] walked me down to the Danube, where we sat on a flight of steps leading down to the river. The dog walkers were out in force. Greetings were exchanged with small movements of the eyes, and the dogs sniffed one another fondly. Handsome and imperial, Jonathan looked every inch the American expatriate. He exuded a serenity and a seriousness that I lack. But he kept his eye on a woman at the next bridge. She was moving so slowly I though she might be leading a dogsled pulled by escargots. After an hour, the woman walked in front of us, and she bowed her head in acknowledgment of Jonathan. With great dignity, he returned the gesture. To my surprise, she was walking two enormous tortoises, displaced natives from an Ethiopian desert. The woman walked them every night, and Jonathan was always there to admire their passage.
“‘That’s what writers do, Conroy,’ he said. ‘We wait for the tortoises to come. We wait for that lady who walks them. That’s how art works. It’s never a jackrabbit, or a racehorse. It’s the tortoises that hold all the secrets. We’ve got to be patient enough to wait for them.’”
Pat Conroy
My Reading Life
I remember seeing the movie The Great Santini when it first came out. Having a father who was an Air Force Colonel, the story resonated with me. Subsequently I read several of Conroy’s books and his introduction to the book “Military Brats” I found especially moving like this observation: “When mom and dad went to war the only prisoners they took were the children.”
For Scott’s post about Pat Conroy, he is the recipient of today’s Trumbo Award:
Here is a Pat Conroy quote to get you motivated to write: “A story untold could be the one that kills you.”