Writing exercise May 31 deadline

Daydreamer

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What do you guys think of this:

We set a scene description (eg: boy breaks up with girl in a supermarket) and everyone who wants to participate writes, say, two pages. After a week or so we post it in the SYW forum. It's not a complete story, just one scene. The idea is to see how it could have been done differently. Rewriting a scene of an actual movie is rather hard because you always have finished product before your inner eye (I'm not that great at describing this, but perhaps you get what I mean). Now if you just have the rough description of the scene (as we usually do when we outline), you don't see every possibility how you can do it and where you can take it. This exercise might open our eyes to that a bit and maybe serves as an inspiration when we look for a different approach to writing a scene.
I know, I'm complicated, but I hope you understood what I tried to say.
So, what do you think? Interested? If so, I'm open to suggestions considering possible scene outlines.

day
 

jvc

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I've just began writing a script for a BBC series, so am trying to get more practice on script writing, so would be up for this for this, it's an interesting idea.
 

Hollow

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I need more practice writing short scripts and scenes.This would be a great exercise. I'm all in!
 

dpaterso

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Yeah, sounds like fun, I'm all for it, practice makes purfick.

But, a week to write 2 pages? Feels more like a 24- or 48-hour exercise max.

It's the 29th... how about aiming for midnight on the 31st, or other impending visible deadline? :poke:

And why not use the given supermarket scenario just to kick things off?

The above are only suggestions, proceed as you wish. :)

-Derek
 

Daydreamer

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Ok. Let's do it. I've already thought of other scenarios that might be more challenging, but this one will do for a start.
Rules:
Length should be appropriate to a movie scene (anything from half a page to 3 pages is ok).
Post your finished scene in the SYW forum (if you open a new thread there, put the word SUPERMARKET in the title).
Don't post your scene later than May 31.
Don't peek at posted scenes until you've finished writing yours.

Do whatever you want with the scene (as long as it's a boy breaking up with a girl in a supermarket). It just has to be interesting enough to make the reader want to keep reading.
So good luck to everyone, and remember, it's not about winning or being a better writer than others. Just look at it as an experience to learn how to look at a scene from a different angle.

Happy typing!
day
 

Hollow

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I thought the supermarket thing was just an example. But I'm for it. Guess I better get started huh?
 

NikeeGoddess

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i've been so busy over this holiday weekend that i almost missed this. i guess since i have one more day then i'm game.

sounds like an "on the lot" kind of fun
 

Plot Device

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Most excellent!

Rather than have half-a-dozen or more separate threads floating around in SYW, I posted a SUPERMARKET writing exercise thread in Scriptwriting forum which we can all post in. Hope this is OK.

-Derek

I have a VERY STRONG SUGGESTION here.


1) Go back and rename the thread to say "SUPERMARKET exercise -- SCRIPTS ONLY! (no critiques, no discussions)"

2) Create a SECOND thread called "SUPERMARKET exercise -- CRITIQUES ONLY! (no discussions)" And the only people who can post in there are posters who actually posted a scene in the "Scripts Only" thread--no outsiders.

3) Create a THIRD thread called "SUPERMARKET exercise -- DISCUSSION ONLY"

4) Critiques/Discussions cannot be posted until AFTER May 31.

5) All critiques must be limited to just one post (in other words, if only six people enter the contest/post scenes in the SO thread, then only seven posts total should wind up in the CO thread (the OP and the subsequent six). And if I am one of those critiquers, I must include ALL SIX of my critiques in just ONE POST.

And DP--delete or move ANY renegade posts from the threads.
 

dpaterso

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Damn PD, that's complicated! For me and for participants. This is just a fun writing exercise, not a gateway to Hollywood fame grand prize contest. :)

But I take your point about not posting comments till after the deadline, I've added an instruction line to the entries thread, and if anyone gets too enthusiastic and jumps the gun I'll maybe temporarily delete their comments, then undelete 'em after the deadline.

Once we're done I can do a tidy-up edit if required to make things as readable as possible, e.g. add reader comments after each entry.

-Derek