So, you’re thinking about writing a script in a month as part of the month long Script Frenzy (Screnzy) challenge? This sister event from the people behind NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) gives you the chance to challenge yourself to write a 100 page script in 30 days this April. I’m here to try to give you some tips to help you complete this huge goal.
Forget about writing what you know. Write what you like.
The NaNoWriMo handbook, No Plot No Problem suggests writing up a list of your favorite things from the very specific (sassy old people who may be wiser than you might think) to the more general (love triangles, kittens) from books, movies, TV whatever. The stuff on this list is what you will be good at writing. If you get stuck, pick something from that list and throw it into your script. Your love for the topic will be like a cheat sheet for writing about it.
By the same token, don’t put things you hate into your script. I cannot stand movies where the guy falls in love with another girl right before he is about to get married to the first girl and then decides to just marry the original girl because she is the safe choice. I HATE that. Hence, I would be terrible at writing it because, since I don’t like it, I don’t understand it and thus would not be good at writing it.
Writing what you know can also be handy. It is much easier to write about a cubicle monkey if you are one but it can also be creatively stifling if you feel like your character cannot do anything you yourself have experienced. Use your personal experience to get in a good paragraph of description of the main character’s office but don’t let it hold you down if you feel like the office needs to be a front for an alien organization with plans for world domination.
Hillary DePiano is a playwright, fiction and non-fiction writer who loves writing of all kinds except for writing bios like this.
