Drafting day 11. Page 42.

Day 52 since starting this project. Page 42.

Days outlining:15
Days drafting:11
Total days writing: 26
Days not writing: 26

Okay, I was going to have the day off, but couldn't help doing a bit more.

And it really felt like the Curse of Four Pages kicked in. Or maybe I should say the Curse of More than Four Pages. Whenever I write more than four pages in a day I seem to pay for it the next day. Was hoping I'd gotten over that, but maybe not. Was feeling really uninspired and semi-braindead. Managed to crank out today's four pages with sheer sweat and rugged determination (think Hugh Jackman in Australia... Gaah. Maybe not.) Clint Eastwood? Not that he seems to sweat. Now there's a role model to aspire to.

Could I be screenwriting's Clint Eastwood? All effortless cool and inscrutable gaze? Well, actually, almost certainly not. But I liked asking the question. As though the answer could be yes.

Drafting day ten, page 38

Day 51 since starting this project. Page 38.

Days outlining:15
Days drafting:10
Total days writing: 25
Days not writing: 26

Okay, that sounds like three pages but it's more like four (from top of 35 to bottom of 38). I was going to try to make it five pages today as well, but after I'd got to the bottom of 38 I'd really run out of puff. So I decided to stop and move on when I'm fresh (Monday arvo probably, I'm having tomorrow off).

Went pretty smoothly today. Added in a scene at the end that wasn't in my outline - but I realised I needed it for logic. And it ties up a loose end as well. Part of what I'm realising drafting (as opposed to outlining) can do - you're seeing the scenes in clearer focus.

I'm starting to think of drafting, the first draft anyway, as like an oil painter's pencil sketch - you're trying out your ideas roughly and quickly rather than jumping into the oils and the detail. Working out what the structure of the finished canvas is going to be. I don't paint but I'm finding this metaphor useful. (Good for giving myself a break about the first draft not being perfect, which I am - surprisingly - becoming more comfortable with.)

I'm quite pleased with my page average so far, which is 3.8 pages a day during drafting.

Drafting day nine, page 35

Day 50 since starting this project. Page 35.

Days outlining:15
Days drafting:9
Total days writing: 24
Days not writing: 26

Five pages today! In just over an hour and a half. I'm on fire, baby!

Thought I'd better stop after five... to make sure I don't suffer burnout tomorrow. Felt like I could keep going though.

Reason this is a big deal (potentially) is I've never managed to do more than four a day without the productivity suffering the next day. But this first draft is better outlined than I've managed before... which could lead to upping my regular page count, maybe... we'll see. Fingers crossed!

Drafting day eight. Page 30.

Day 49 since starting this project. Page 30.

Days outlining:15
Days drafting:8
Total days writing: 23
Days not writing: 26

So. Went quite well today. Feeling like my outlining is paying off. Now I'm working on making each scene moderately interesting rather than worrying about where it's all going. Though I'm not trying to polish the scenes up - at this stage I'm more just looking at what purpose each scene serves in the story as a whole. Some of the scenes I've just written, for example, serve to show where my protag's at psychologically before he embarks on his journey. And I hadn't realized that was the function of those scenes (characterwise) until I wrote them.

And I'm starting to think that maybe my first turning point isn't where I thought it was. Not that that matters.

Am out of town for the next week, so that'll screw with my day tally. Will try to get a few days' writing in though, nevertheless.

Drafting day seven. Page 26.

So. Pretty good page count today.

I found that with the outline as it is I can move forward fairly quickly. The complications though were that - well, in one scene, I took out one of the twists I was going to put in there, as that was going to overcomplexify the scene. But the twist that I left in still is maybe sending the wrong message for the following scene... I put it in anyway, as I figured it'd be better to take out (or possibly move around) later than cut it and maybe forget to use it.

I am writing overlong (as usual, it seems). At this rate this script is going to be really long! Never mind, I can lay waste to it in the second draft. Just as long as it's all in there.

I'm going to start keeping a tally total of:
Days outlining
Days drafting
And days not writing.

For each project.

This is to keep me scrupulously honest (especially as far as days not writing are concerned). I think a day off every six days is about right for me, in general - but I've had rather too many days off lately (even if some of them were unavoidable).

So, for this project so far, the Thriller (no, I don't like sharing, even titles!)

Day 48 since starting this project. Page 26.

Days outlining:15
Days drafting: 7
Total days writing: 22
Days not writing:26

Ouch! Thought I was doing better than that... Okay, I had flu, and was out of town a bit, but really... Well. That's what reality checks are for. And scrupulous honesty. And why this blog is anonymous.

Day 14 and 15 on the outline. First half outlined.

I've now finished outlining the movie up to the midpoint. (Had internet access problems yesterday, hence no post.) I had an unexpectedly very productive burst yesterday, late afternoon (a very unusual time of day for me to be productive) - maybe two hours of plotting, which brought me within a few scenes of the midpoint. I was hugely relieved as I'd been feeling stuck stuck stuck. I was advised by a wise friend to just think what my protag would logically do next. This helped. But still, I'm not sure what broke the drought exactly. Wish I knew... actually I think my subconscious decided I'd been stuck for long enough and it was time to move on with it.

Most of the work was done yesterday; today I just had a few scenes left to resolve. And did so. So should be back on the draft tomorrow, phew!

I think one of the recent things I've learnt is to think more in terms of acts. It seems to work for me to treat each act as almost a separate script. Beating out an act at a time, rather than trying to beat out the whole script at once, seems to work best. I think what I learnt from the last script was not to be too surprised if I need to majorly regroup and rethink at the act breaks.

Plotting today.

Looking at an overview of the second act today. My brain hurts! Have a bunch of ideas but need to link them together in a coherent and logical way. Also not sure what my protagonist's next action needs to be. On the bright side, had some ideas (unexpectedly) for the third act.

Still having to watch being overclever. Hey, I want to be clever, just not overclever! I have a tendency to throw twists in before I've got the story straight in the first place.