Now that I'm done with the zombies I need a follow-up script, so I'm going to try to use my time off to whip through a first draft of Fear of Clowns, a modern, real-world female superhero story in the vein of Unbreakable. That title will probably change to give a more accurate connotation, but for now I like it.
I'm approaching this script very differently from how I approached every one before it. Normally I carefully plan out all the major beats and write out a thick stack of index cards before I even start to write. This time I'm going to try jumping in without so much preparation. I still index carded, but I only wrote five of them. And what I have right now is not long enough for a feature. I know the beginning, I know the end, and I know a few beats in between but I'm missing large chunks of story I have to fill out as I go.
So we'll see what happens when I have a really developed backstory but not a clear sense of my events. So far it's been easier than I thought. I wrote 15 pages yesterday without batting an eye.
We'll see how long I can keep that up, and if my brain will keep ahead of my fingers on the keyboard.
I've never tried the index card approach when writing. At most I've made some bullets that give a rough, rough, rough outline. Do you use index cards strictly for scripts, or for other kinds of fiction writing?
ReplyDeleteTylerDurden
You know I haven't written anything that wasn't a script since I started using index cards. I never really thought about using them for prose, but it's not a bad idea.
ReplyDeleteI usually only use them in the beginning to have a written record of my basic plan, then I tack them to the bulletin board and never look at them again.
I was wondering mostly because I wasn't sure how much the average writer knows about their story before they actually start typing it up. I guess fleshing out the story with index cards can do a lot to cement some of the story, though, so I'll have to give it a try. Danke sehn.
ReplyDeleteTD
You adjusted the green-ness of the bamboo a bit -- much better.
ReplyDeleteActually no, that's the same green it's always been.
ReplyDeleteI don't use SCENE cards but I occasionally use SEQUENCE cards. Same thing, but instead of notes on a particular scene, i jot down notes on each seq, and then tape the cards to a small board.
ReplyDeleteB/c they're seq cards, there's not that many of them... 8-12 cards.
You might want to try this.