Take the time to check them out!

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I learned my screenplay, The Problem with Being Happy, made it through the first round of the PAGE International Screenwriting Competition.

In ‘07, the pilot of a miniseries I wrote, Running from Miss Right, made it through the quarterfinals of this same contest.

I’m hoping to make it this time with HAPPY, but if not, this news is another whisper to my writing spirit that I’m on the right track, and my success is just around the corner.

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There is something to be said for doing some research and planning of a story, whether it’s as a plotter at the onset of the story or as a pantser who jumps right into a story and then has to backtrack to do some developing of characters, situations, events, etc.

This quote from McKee is an excellent one because in today’s media world of gimme, gimme, gimme–gimme more, gimme now, we find a lot of the same ole, same ole:  the same stories just different character names and locales.  We can nearly predict when an event is going to occur, and we can tell exactly what that event is.  Why is that?

Well, for one, we are a part of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” world – if a particular story is hot, then everyone will scramble to write the next best one just like it.  I’m already waiting for the 50-11 Slumdog Millionaires to clog my theatre screen.  In this “if it ain’t broke” world, some writers don’t try to be different; to be different might keep you from riding a trend wave, something I wrote about recently.

Another reason we find ourselves in Clichéville is some new writers (and some not-so-new) don’t take the time to study the craft of writing.  They get an idea for a story and think it’s easy to do and commence to writing; when the writing slows, they find themselves reaching into their mind for any snippet to toss into the story; those snippets often come from other stories.

We all need to realize that every story that can be written has been written.  We need to realize and accept this.  THEN, we need to realize that what makes our story different is our personal spin (due to personality, morals, convictions, likes, dislikes, beliefs, etc.) on that story and how close the story is to us.  We are the creator of the universe we place upon the page.  If we are not intrinsically connected to the world we write about, how do we expect a reader to want to visit the world?

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I finished ScriptFrenzy tonight!  Saying No to the Big O was completed at 101 pages.  I’m geeked.  Feel like I’ve accomplished something – now comes revision!

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If you want to know all about classical form and Archplot and the other terminology McKee uses, then you need to buy STORY today.

Essentially, McKee brings up an important point; writers who are serious about their craft need to study it and not take the act of writing nilly willy.

Many people say writing is subjective; for the most part, this is true.  People can love or hate a piece of art based on their personal preferences.  However, I’m one that also believes writing is objective.  There are rules, structure – from the grammar to the mechanics to the style to the…on and on – that instruct writers on the WHAT and the HOW of writing.

There are many writers out there, by the droves, who want to break the mold, to be different than everyone else.

My question is how can you do that if you don’t fully understand what’s out there and how it’s done.

You can watch a million movies, but that doesn’t mean you can write a great screenplay.

You can read a million books, but that doesn’t mean you can write a great book.

Yes, we can debate the successful ones who have gone on and have never had training or never studied the craft or never took writing too seriously, but they are the exception…not the rule.

If you want to be different, then you need to know what the “same” is and understand it so that you can develop your “different” way.

If you want to, for example, write a stream-of-consciousness novel, then you should know how a traditional novel works, understand the nuances of a stream-of-consciousness work, and figure out how you can fit in to that mold.

In the end, serious writers take writing seriously, and if that’s you, it’s time to get to studying so that each work you write is better than the last.

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OH, and my update on Saying No to the Big O:  From last night to today, I’ve written 15 pages; I’m not up to 75 pages.  For ScriptFrenzy, have to write 100 pages by the end of April 30th.  Twenty-five pages in five days.  Can I do it?

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I began my pursuit of an MFA in creative writing in the fall of 2001.

In the summer of 2003, I received an e-mail from my fiction professor asking me if he ever really knew who Shon Bacon was.

“Why?” I asked.

Well, he was bored and had started the game of putting students’ names into Yahoo and seeing what came up.  When he typed in ‘Shonell Bacon’ and ‘Shon Bacon,’ he realized I was a published author, an editor, an online magazine publisher, an interviewer of successful novelists, etc.

“Why didn’t I know about this?” he asked.  “Why didn’t you tell me you were published?”

I brought him back to my first semester in the program, during a Form and Theory of Fiction class in which during a discussion on genre vs. literature, he likened genre to Hallmark…and of course, literature was more substantial than that.

I was in the process of having my second “genre” novel be released and an erotic short story be published in a highly successful anthology.  Being in a program that was solely dedicated to literary fiction and having my “field” be delegated to an aisle in an Hallmark store kept me from revealing all the wonderful things I had done.

Why am I sharing this?

Well, another thing we talked about in class was plot, and in differentiating genre from literary fiction came the notion that genre is more plot-based; whereas, literary fiction focuses more on character.

At its purest, simplest way, this is true.

In a more complex way, this is totally untrue, and McKee’s quote above illustrates that.

ANY story, genre or literature, worth its merit must have some form of plot in the story.  In a recent romance novel I read and loved – Sweet Deception by Patricia Sargeant – the main characters are placed in a series of events (designed by the writer) and for the story to complete itself successfully, these characters must make decisions to propel themselves into new events that eventually lead them to their story’s conclusion (again, all of this designed by the writer).

I can pull any work of literature off my shelf right now, and it doesn’t matter if it’s written in classical form, or if it bucks form altogether, or if it minimizes the classical form; it still will have a plot.  Even a stream-of-consciousness novel like Ulysses by James Joyce has plot because plot is not a formula in which a story is written; plot is the writer’s creation of events and design to move the events to some conclusion.

Any story can become a complete and utter mess by branching off into any and every possible scenario an event can take, but because of the writer and his or her care for that story, he/she will find the best routes to take to make the story he or she wishes to tell complete.

No matter the genre…

UPDATE ON SCREENPLAY—today, I wrote 15.5 pages of Saying No to the Big O, so I’m now up to 60.5 pages.  Have EIGHT DAYS to write 40 pages.  Can I do it?  Me thinks YES.

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For the first three days of Script Frenzy, I had been really sick.  I think it was the devil trying to mess with my spirit and get me off my game.  He succeeded, for a few days, and then came McKee.

Last night, before falling to sleep, I cracked open STORY and read the introduction.  It almost felt like talking to a lost friend.  It made me miss the days of my MFA program when my classmates and I would sit, drink, and for hours on end wax literarily about writing.

Afterward, we would all be so amped, we would rush home, turn off phones and TVs, and write until a slip of light leaked through blinds, alerting us to morning.

Many of the points McKee makes in his introduction weren’t new to me, but they were food for my literary stomach and filled me completely.

Story is about principles, not rules.

Story is about eternal, universal forms, not formulas.

Story is about archetypes, not stereotypes.

Story is about thoroughness, not shortcuts.

Story is about the realities, not the mysteries of writing.

Story is about mastering the art, not second-guessing the marketplace.

Story is about respect, not disdain, for the audience.

Story is about originality, not duplication.

Want to know what these mean?  Get the book [here].  If you’re a writer, any style of writer, you owe your writing spirit this book.

As I read McKee’s thoughts on these points, my own thoughts were reaffirmed, solidified.  Things I have been thinking for years but allowed the market or others to sway my thoughts had been made firm again.

I went to bed with McKee’s words swirling about my head and my latest screenplay idea beating in my heart.

I was excited for the fourth day of Script Frenzy, for I would start a new screenplay – negative thoughts be damned.

The goal of Script Frenzy is to write a 100-page screenplay in 30 days.  Sounds easy, right?  I mean what’s 3, 4 pages a day.  No one says they have to be good, LOL

It’s not so easy when you have life and sickness and obligations coming from every direction and your writing begins to seem…so…hobbyish as opposed to being an integral part of what makes you, you.

So, today, I vowed to do coffee first and writing second.  NOTHING else would get done if I didn’t get pages written on the script.

I read through my outline I wrote a week ago and I charted what parts I wanted to get done by what dates to insure a script was done by the end of the month.

I sat and thought about my characters and the storyline.

I remembered McKee’s words.

And I wrote.

And I’m pleased.

Today, I wrote 21 pages. I’m 1/5 of the way through the 100 pages though in the end, I’m worried more about having a story written than having exactly 100 pages written.

Writing is on the agenda tomorrow.

McKee is on the agenda as bedtime reading.

Maybe he’ll inspire me again.

We shall see.

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TPwBH is the first feature-length screenplay I have written. (the oh-so-horrible scripts from my teenage years do not count.)  In 2007, I wrote a six-part miniseries adapted from a novel I wrote; the pilot was a quarterfinalist in the PAGE Awards.  In 2008, I began writing short scripts and my very first short – a one-pager – was a finalist in a competition.

2009 is the year of TPwBH and my short screenplays.

There are several more contests for TPwBH and goals to submit it to production companies, agents, etc.

Tomorrow, I start working on a new screenplay, Saying No to the Big O in April’s Script Frenzy.

I realize that no one is going to just give me anything, so I need to get up, put up the money and time and energy and dedication, and REACH MY GOALS.

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As many of you know, last year, I ventured back into screenwriting. It was my initial first love as a writer, but somehow, some way, I wandered the novel path. In the last year, year and a half, I have written a six-episode mini series (the pilot was a quarterfinalist in a screenwriting contest), several short scripts (of which my first one was a finalist in short screenplay contest), and finished my first feature-length work earlier this year (FINALLY will begin putting it into competitions and sending out into the world).

I’ve added a new link to my site – LOGLINES; there, I will feature the loglines of short scripts I write. Check them out. If you’re interested in reading one of the scripts, you can e-mail me @ sdb6812@hotmail.com. When you e-mail, please tell me a bit about yourself, like if you’re a student, an indie producer or filmmaker. Provide me with a link to check you out and why you might be interested in reading the script.

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