Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need

This is a how to book on screenwriting.  Filled with really good information on the craft and business of screenwriting.  Nicely presented.

Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies: The Screenwriter’s Guide to Every Story Ever Told

This book takes an insightful look at 50 of the greatest films of the last thirty years.  Blake breaks each film down into 15 beats.

Comments can be left on his official site.

My dream ride would be Batman’s Tumbler. It’s part tank, part monster truck, and also turns into a motorcycle. Machine guns, rocket launchers, and other gadgets make this one sweet ride.

Before Elmo there was Grover. He was cute, lovable, and very funny. This book is great because of the tension it builds until the last page.

Grover tries his damnedest to keep you from turning pages to get to the end of the book. On the last page you realize the monster is actually sweet, lovable, old Grover.

I met my goal 16 of the 30 days
I wrote under 1,000 words 8 times
I wrote over 2,000 words 7 times
I wrote over 3,000 words 1 time
I wrote over 4,000 words 1 time

What did I learn?

1. Be Prepared

I had an idea for a fantasy novel I’ve wanted to write since I was a kid. I had a basic plot and some developed characters already in mind.

About a month prior to NaNo I took some time to flesh out most of my characters and outlined a large portion of the novel. However, an epic fantasy has several characters and I didn’t have time to flesh them all out beforehand. It worked out OK because I didn’t waste time fleshing them out once NaNo started. I had a simple outline that started with a set of index cards listing scenes I wanted to do. They could be easily rearranged and I worked on them when I was away from my computer.

2. NaNo is all about word count

This was the hardest part for me. I like to have my characters well established and a pretty good idea where I was headed. With a rough outline you have a map to where you want to go. Getting there is another story. I had a group of dwarves warriors and didn’t have time to name them or flesh them out so I simply called them DWARF CAPTAIN, WARRIOR DWARF, DWARF KING, and so on. At this point character names don’t matter, words do. If I thought of a good name I could simply do a search and replace to fix the name. By forcing myself to move forward I actually freed myself from the words and was able to move the story more quickly.

3. Would I write this way all the time?

The pace is a bit too frantic for me, but I did learn I could write more quickly without wasting time editing as I write. If a sentence doesn’t work I use to labor over it until I got it right. I learned it is alright to keep things moving an not to sweat the small things. They can be fixed while editing.

4. Am I going to do again next year?

Maybe. I won’t lie to you it was a huge undertaking. Working full time, coaching hockey, and writing at a breakneck pace. I believe everyone should try it at least once if they can.

5. What’s next?

Script Frenzy begins in April. I am more adept at writing screenplays so 100 pages in 30 days seems less daunting even though it probably isn’t.

I have completed the 2008 NaNoWriMo!  Here are some quick stats: my novel weighed in at 50,935 words and I met my daily writing goal 16 out of the 30 days (I was even sick for about a week).

I will participate in Script Frenzy in April.  The goal is 100 screenplay pages in 30 days which will be much easier for me than writing a novel in 30 days.  Later this week I will give you a rundown on the last 30 days.  Now I can get some rest and go see the new Bond movie tomorrow.

The little dip you see over the last few days is because I have been sick.  I will be taking a couple of days off around Thanksgiving so I can make the big push for 50,000.

What’s my novel about?  It’s an epic fantasy loosely based on historical events and mythology.  Think The Lord of the Rings meets Pirates of the Caribbean.  Although at this point I want to get one novel done let alone three.

Some of the NaNo forums recommend writing about something you don’t care about, but I don’t know how to do that.  Having something vested in these characters makes it worthwhile.

The biggest lesson I learned from NaNo so far is to keep writing no matter what.  NaNo is a marathon to get to 50,000 words.  You can’t look back or waste time editing, so I have made several notes reminding myself to fix things when I can go back.

In April I plan on participating in Script Frenzy!  It’s basically the same deal except you write a screenplay in thirty days, (something I am more familiar with).  Somehow I think it will be easier to write a screenplay in a month than a novel.

Unfortunately, this massive undertaking will delay some of the things I want to do with MadWriter.net.

Stay tuned for weekly NaNoWriMo updates and follow my progress on the status bar at the top of the right column.