The Office of Letters and Light Blog

On procrastination.

Just to be clear, I love writing. I love the surge of thoughts and joy that come from an hour or two of steady outlining or typing that (hopefully…) ends in creative success. What I don’t love? Starting to write. It’s funny how these things work out.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been pondering my script, anxious to see where the plot twists and character decisions will take me. But does that mean I’ve started? Of course not. Instead of writing, I’ve been doing a variety of other things that are generally pointless. These things include, but are not limited to: exploring the Internet on StumbleUpon, watching old episodes of Modern Family, organizing my closet, painting my nails, and playing with orphaned Alaskan Huskies that I’m not allowed to adopt.

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Characters vs. Plot

Next week is my spring break from school (hooray!) and I’ve resolved to use that week to solidify an outline for my screenplay. Although according to Script Frenzy rules I can’t begin writing until April 1st, I probably should have begun my outline long ago. But even though I haven’t settled on a story, I have a good idea of the types of characters that will populate my story, and that’s a step in the right direction.

In the past few years I have become increasingly aware of the lack of well-developed female protagonists in movies, and as a young woman, I find this extremely frustrating. The assumption seems to be that while all audiences can relate to male heroes, only women can relate to female characters. But I can’t help but wonder if it’s because men actually feel alienated from women or if it’s because female characters often lack the dimension and complexity given to male characters.

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Waiting

Graduate school admissions come out this month. So far I’ve heard back from two out of four. Unfortunately, no acceptances yet. Instead I’ve received one expected rejection, and one placement on a wait list. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled to even be considered for the wait list, but the word wait seems to be looming over me. It’s basically the theme of my life during this month of March. Wait. Wait. Wait. I’m ready for April to be here already!

Fortunately, all the waiting has done wonders for my productivity level. I’ve spotlessly cleaned every nook of my apartment, baked dozens of cupcakes, watched countless episodes of 48 Hours Mystery, and finally solidified what I want to write about for Script Frenzy.*

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Exploring the Script Frenzy Cameo Archive

I just finished pulling out some highlights from the Script Frenzy cameo archive and I must say, it got me pretty excited to start working on my script. When Tim, the OLL office captain, asked me to go through the cameo archive and make a list of tweetable one-liners, I thought reading all that advice at once was going to give me an anxiety attack, but it was surprisingly comforting.

I noticed that almost all the contributing scriptwriters had some form of the same advice: “Just sit down and write. You’ll probably hate your first draft but that’s what first drafts are for.” Knowing that I’m not the only one that’s continually dissatisfied with my first drafts is a huge relief. And it’s especially nice to hear when it’s coming from accomplished screenwriters, playwrights, and graphic novelists. Frustrations with first drafts seem to be a common complaint across experience levels, and keeping that in mind makes the idea of embarking on a first draft a little less fearsome.

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Adaptation

It’s nearly mid-March which can only mean two things: One, it’s almost time for Script Frenzy, and two, it’s almost time for The Hunger Games premiere. I’ve been a proud, self-proclaimed Hunger Games nerd since I read the series a few months ago. If you haven’t yet read it, I recommend it! It’s a quick read and well worth it. To add to my delight, they are adapting the book into a full-blown movie, which seems to be a reoccurring pattern nowadays.

In fact, it seems that these days publishers are strategically seeking out novels that can be made into movies. Precious, The Kite Runner, The Lovely Bones, The Virgin Suicides—there must be hundreds, if not thousands of top box-office movies that started as books. So this leaves me wondering whether or not I should adapt a good book into my Script Frenzy script.

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Finding “My Person”

Last week in the office, I did something a little silly. I openly acknowledged my love for Grey’s Anatomy to everyone. Now, I know what you may think. “Grey’s Anatomy?! Didn’t it jump the shark when Izzie started having hallucinations about her dead boyfriend/when Meredith and Derek actually got and stayed together/when they made a musical episode?”

And yes, it would seem that Grey’s has joined the ranks of super-popular doctor dramas that start out amazing (if still a bit far-fetched) but ultimately get worse and worse with each season. And yes, I maybe wanted to stop watching all together when everyone began to belt out their frustrations a la High School Musical. But when I didn’t, something pretty cool happened. The show became awesome again.

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Scriptwriting: Head vs. Heart

As April approaches, I find myself thinking more and more about my Script Frenzy script. But unfortunately, I don’t yet have anything to show for it. I’m still struggling with choosing a topic. I have a number of stories that have been bouncing around my head for years but I feel that as a new scriptwriter I should try to avoid getting carried away or overwhelmed by sticking to a subject that I know. This is currently my biggest quandary: should I let my imagination run wild or write only what I know? Should I set out to write the next adventure/thriller or the next indie coming of age story?

On one hand “writing what you know” seems rather limiting and in a sense it is; it requires that you rein in your imagination and limit it to familiar terrain. But on the other hand, “writing what you know” calls for extreme creativity because it forces you to explore your own world with fresh eyes and a more scrutinizing perspective.

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Letters and Light Around the World: Tracy Dawson

It’s always fun to hear about kids and teens doing NaNoWriMo halfway around the world. Recently, we were sent an article about Tracy Dawson’s work in the small town of Parkes, Australia (population: 9,826), and we had to learn more. Here, she tells us how she got a program going in a tiny community with no previous writing support.

How did you hear about the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program, and what made you want to get involved?

Our school had several visits from Dr. Matthew Finch during 2011. He told me about NaNoWriMo and I was very interested and knew several students who were budding writers.

Coming from a rural town without a tradition of a writing community, how did you spark interest among your students?

I mainly publicised NaNoWriMo in school—using our newsletter, signage within the library, communication with English teachers, etc. I also posted on my library blog, Nailing Jelly to a Tree.

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Would a Silent Movie Count?

As most of the staff here at OLL and Script Frenzy now know, I have no experience in scriptwriting. Like, really. None. But rather than feel intimidated, I’m trying to leap at the opportunity that will soon be presented to me this April. I even already have an idea. So what’s the problem, you may ask? Rather than forming my initial thoughts about my script as such, I can’t help but imagine it as a novel: heavy on description, omniscient narrator, light on character dialogue.

Which brings up the question: would a silent movie count? This prospect is becoming more and more appealing for me as I develop my idea. I’m hoping to write a murder mystery that takes place in the restaurant where I work. Imagine a busy Saturday night at a fancy steakhouse, and suddenly the waitstaff just start dropping like flies. But the surviving employees have to keep it secret from unsuspecting diners. Now imagine that as a silent film with creepy orchestra music. Scary, no? Or possibly some sort of dark comedy. We’ll see how it goes.

And now, with just that initial question, my brain is flooded with other script questions. How will my script actually play out? What would it look like with real people playing the parts? What would the set look like? I guess this means my murder mystery novel will be on the back-burner til November.

How do you all of you start your scriptwriting process? Does it start with a novelistic storyline, or do you usually hear your actors playing their parts early in the process? And are any of my fellow script writing novices facing similar challenges?

– Shelby

Photo from the Orange County Archives

Aliza, I Am.

I guess I should start off by saying that today is my first day working here as an intern with Script Frenzy. My first task? To write a little bit about myself. Sounds easy enough, right?

I’ve never been the best at writing on spot—even Facebook status updates take about 15 minutes of thinking through, editing, and re-editing. However, I’m trying to grow away from that, so this helps.

I’m currently an English major and creative writing minor over at UC Berkeley. This time next month I hope to know whether or not I’ll be accepted into the writing MFA programs that I applied to. Fingers are crossed. (I made sure to cross them as I typed that so as not to come across as a liar.)

What else? I’m a habitual abuser of hyphens, commas, and alliteration. Without spell-check I would be completely lost, and I love dresses, kittens, and reading.

What drew me to Script Frenzy was the program’s amazing intent. It’s like a world-accessible workshop course equipped with deadlines, goals, and fun! So far I’ve met some gorgeous, kind people who seem truly enthusiastic about their jobs.

I’m excited to learn more and become part of the Script Frenzy team!

– Aliza

First Day at the Office of Letters and Light

It is the very first day of my internship with Script Frenzy and what do you know, they’re already making me write. I’m a little nervous but mostly excited to be here.  As an English student at UC Berkeley, I’m used to doing a lot of writing, but this is actually my very first blog post ever—which I realize is pretty strange for someone in their 20s. Anyways, I hope I’m doing this right.

I was fortunate enough to grow up in Santa Cruz, California, one of the greatest places on the West Coast, or let’s face it, the world. I’ve always felt very at home in Northern California and I’ve been bouncing around the Bay Area since high school.  But I’m graduating from Cal this Spring and I plan on relocating to East Coast so I’m trying to mentally prepare myself for “seasons,” meaning snow in the winter and humidity in the summer. What are you supposed to wear in July when it’s 80 degrees out and raining?

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Hello, this is me.

On my first day of this internship, I’m having flashbacks to my 11th grade English class.  The one where I had to write a personal essay. The kind about myself. Eek. However, looking at those flashbacks now with a good extra six years of life experience I feel vaguely more prepared. Or I’ll fake it til I make it…

I’m Shelby, a recent Mills College graduate, trying to make my way in life with a Bachelor’s in English. When I was 12, I read Mrs. Dalloway for the first time, not understanding a word of it (no chapters! no plot! insanity!), but that was the moment when I decided I wanted to work in literature, whatever that means. Be it reading, writing, or helping others do a bit of both, it’s a pretty great life to lead. My 12-year-old self would also be really impressed with my senior thesis on Virginia Woolf, and I like to think that her opinion is all that matters.

I am a Bay Area native—although some silly people will debate the Bay Area-ness of the suburbs on the other side of the tunnel—with a love for crafts, finding the perfect parking spot, long sentences, and breaking the writing “rules” I learned in junior high.

This is a very exciting, though nerve-wracking, day for me. I’m looking forward to working with all of these eclectic, passionately literary people. And I’m looking forward to getting back into writing; apparently a two-month long hiatus between graduating in December and now is too long. So, yay! And hello!

– Shelby