In a Frenzy About Scriptfrenzy Posted on March 29, 2010 by LJ Aaaah! It's back again and so soon after last year! I'm talking about Scriptfrenzy – that twisted sister event to National November Writing Month. Every year, people from all over the world sign up on the Scriptfrenzy website and vow to write a 100 page script during the month of April. It could be a script of an episode of your favorite television show, a movie script or a play. I typically write movie scripts. I say that as if I were a longtime Scriptfrenzy veteran. The truth is that I am a one-time Scriptfrenzy veteran. I wrote a movie script during Scriptfrenzy in 2008 using a storyline I had developed for a suspense novel I planned to write that is set mostly in Liberia. I knew that writing a script would force me to plot out the entire story from beginning to end. I drafted most of the script during Scriptfrenzy (it was 130 pages so I still “won” even though it wasn't finished). Even though that was the first script I had ever drafted in my life, it was pretty decent. I had a friend read it and she really enjoyed it. She also wanted to strangle me for not finishing the script and leaving her hanging at a very suspenseful point in the story. I wrote the suspense novel using the script storyline during National November Writing Month in 2009. The script served as a great outline for the story. For those of you who want to try Scriptfrenzy this year, the website – http://www.scriptfrenzy.org – has a lot of great information on everything from how to write a script to where to find free scriptwriting software that will format your script for you. It also has forums and chat rooms where you can interact with and get support from other Scriptfrenzy participants and learn where the write-ins will be held throughout the month. One book that proved to be an invaluable resource to me was “Save the Cat – the Last Guide to Scriptwriting you will Ever Need” by Blake Snyder. The book lives up to its name. Best of luck in creating your new script. I'm off to plot my storyline now. Peace Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Share this:ShareFacebookPocketLinkedInTumblrRedditPinterest
When I First Discovered I Was a Writer Posted on March 14, 2010 by LJ Someone recently asked me when did I first discover that I was a writer. I really had to think about that question. I have always been a voracious reader. I remember that, as a young child, my mother would search for me high and low and inevitably find me hiding out in a corner somewhere reading a book. I had to hide. I am the oldest of five children and finding a moment of peace and a quiet space to read required some ingenuity. I eventually learned to tune the world out while I read. That ability to focus in and tune out distractions served me well in college and law school and continues to serve me well in both the practice of law and my writing career. I started writing at an early age too. At the age of 13, I began writing a science fiction novel that was inspired by Star Wars. In high school, I wrote poetry and song lyrics. One of my poems was published in my high school yearbook. Despite the fact that I began writing at an early age, I really discovered that I was a writer in 2007 when, after years of stifling my creativity and being miserable, I wrote an erotic poem. Even though I had never written an erotic poem before, it was the best poem I had ever written. A few of the lines just came to me while I was in the shower. I dried off, threw on a robe, sat at my computer, typed the lines that were in my head and created the rest of the poem around it. When I had finished, I just sat there staring at the computer in astonishment. I realized then that I had to write or I would never be happy or complete. That's when I knew I was a writer. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Share this:ShareFacebookPocketLinkedInTumblrRedditPinterest