Almost done Act II

There are only three scenes left in Act II to write, and two of those scenes are basically the same thing, so one big scene and a turning point that leads into Act III is left, which is awesome. Act II has been a big obstacle to get through. There is a lot of character development, plotting and story to tell. I realize that I didn't have as much figured out as I thought I did - and now it's really falling into place, which feels awesome. But there are still hours and hours of work to go to finish the writing.

That's okay - it's going to be totally worth it when its' all done.

There are only 14 scenes (not the recommended 15) in the third act, and I looked at my cue cards, and see that I've already covered one of the scenes that was supposed to serve as the opener for the third act. So, only 13 more scenes to go - and the closing image doesn't even have any words in it - so ... Pow! 12 scenes to go.

I can see the horizon now (before there was a forest that was in the way, so I could see the horizon - and before that there were trees in the way, so I couldn't see the forest).

So things are looking good. I'm really, really excited that this is coming together - and I definitely looking forward to sharing this with everyone.

Thanks for following along!

Getting big

The first draft of Act I has 7,800 words - 14 scenes that introduce some characters, conflict and mystery. I'm definitely going to have to go back (once the whole thing is written) and make sure that there are consistencies between the characters throughout the script and that the clues and setups all work cohesively.

I've also wondered about rewriting the whole script as a "flash back" with the second episode (which would be the sequel to this story) running at the same time. So, you would see dramatic events in the second episode, and then flash back to the characters before the episode happens showing dramatic develop between the characters, showing how they got into their predicament, while also showing the predicament at its height. BUT - that would be a huge amount of planning even on top of what I've already spent more than a year working on - so that's not likely to be the situation.

The second Act, though I'm only 3/4 through writing it - is 10,140 words, quite a bit longer than the first Act, which is good. The second act is supposed to be significantly larger than the first and third, and should carry the bulk of the story, character development and mystery exposition. The third act will put all the stakes on the table, put all the character development into its peak motivations and then play itself out.

In total, the script is now 19,510 words and 63 pages, which is significantly large, if you ask me. I've still got 14 third act scenes and 8 scenes in the second act to wrap up, so this script could wind up being 120 pages pretty easily. That's good - considering a movie is about a minute per page, and that would make it a standard two hours, which is pretty cool, too. So the story beat is playing out just about the way it's supposed to.

I wish I had more to show you that was a bit more interesting to read other than reports that "I'm working on it."

I've been chipping away at the second half and got stumped, unfortunately. I have three scenes that are just giving me a hard time. But, I've got tomorrow off, and I'll hammer through them and hopefully race through it into the third act very shortly. And that's great news.

Half-way mark

If a script were to have about 15 scenes in the first act, about 30 in the second, and another 15 in the third, then I've literally just passed the mid-way mark for writing the first draft - which feels good. I started plugging away at the second half, and it feels like it's all falling into place, which is awesome.

I hope that there's some momentum there to help move me along.

Since I've already got all the scenes plotted out, writing the first draft is really just a matter of dedicating time to actually writing the stuff down. And since it's a script, it's really just a matter of having the characters say the things in the scene.

I already spent a long while writing up the plot-driven and character-driven aspects of each scene, and already considered how each setting will appear, so many of the pieces are in place, and the actual act of just writing the words that people are going to say is what's left.

Once that's done, I'll go back and smooth out some of the dialogue, make sure that what I say at the beginning corresponds cohesively with the end, and then smile because it's done.

Then there's a lot of artwork that's going to get involved. But that's okay, everybody needs a hobby, and this should be a good one.

Act 2, sc. 12

i'm running the risk of very boring posts by announcing that I'm almost up to the mid-point of the script. Once I hit the centre, the whole story starts culminating into the endgame, which is awesome. I've introduced all the characters, the mysteries, the stake-holders and all. It's got the conflict, some neat stuff that makes you wonder what everyone is up to, and hopefully has characters that are interesting enough that people don't mind following them through all the dense mythology and back-story that I plan on unloading.

Lots of characters, some you've already met, some you'd heard of before, and some you may not have heard of, and some (of course) that I've invented entirely myself. That should tease the idea that ... many of these characters exist in history, and it's important to know about them, and see how their real lives can really have an impact on this story.

All of that aside - two characters have finally been given names, which are: Rabbi Balaam Ziera Rabbah and Rabbi Agras bas Ma'Aseh (otherwise known as Good Cop and Bad Cop). This isn't much of a tease, but it's all I've got right now.

I don't really want to spoil any of the plot or story until I'm ready to publish, but believe me, I think it's exciting, thought-provoking and intelligent. And it should culminate in zombie dinosaurs, so everyone should be happy.

Act II, sc. 9

I've managed to get through all of Act I (which is old news) and now the first 9 scenes of Act II for the script - which is really good. The last scene in particular was very mythology-heavy, which can be a bit cumbersome to write about. It's more work than other scenes because it's not just stuff happening, but it's important dialogue and clues and things that are relevant way down the line - versus just a scene where the characters have to physically move from one geographic space to another.

An example would be - getting two protagonists from Pennsylvania to France vs. explaining the motives between the good guys and bad guys. This last scene in particular was to build mystery around a particular item, and make it so that the item would be desirable to more than one party.

In this way, we'll have one item of value, and more than one party interested in having it. This creates conflict, which is good. And of course, the scene ends with somebody getting shot. But let's not give anything away.

I'll be happy to reach scene 14, the official mid-way point of the script.