Okay, I know you are all holding your breath waiting to hear if I pulled it off. And the answer is - yes, I won my match and have made it into the finals of the President's Cup.
Oh, you were wondering if I hit my deadline of writing to my mid-point? Truthfully, I'm close, but not quite there.
And here's why - a dreaded little word. Research.
I broke one of my cardinal rules for my vomit draft*. Never research. Just write. In my current project much of the action takes place in an environment I don't know Jack about. I have friends who do and I've questioned them a little to get started on terminology, asked for pertinent websites, etc. Most importantly, I've begged them to read the rough draft with a red pen. (I don't actually recommend calling it the "vomit draft" when trolling for readers.)
So, why the no research rule? Because it's way way way too juicy and tempting to spend hours, days, weeks doing research when there are pages to write. The vomit draft is for discovering story and character and character and story. You're finding the drama, the conflict. It makes no difference if it's a B-20 bomber or an AK47 or Bengal Tiger. It's a war plane, a gun and a cat with big teeth. If the drama isn't on the page - it won't matter how accurate you were about how horses are born or anything else. Movies are headlines and conflict is not in the details. Not yet. We'll get there. Be patient.
Okay - so why am I only on page 50 and not 55? (And don't say it's because I was playing golf.) It's because I let myself get worried about the particulars of a scene sequence and the next thing I knew half my writing day had been spent emailing experts and reading Wikipedia. Oy...
And you know what? I'm still not sure about the details. What I am sure about is that my main character is about to step way outside her comfort zone. Now will she realize it isn't as scary as she thought it would be or will she fall on her face? I'm still figuring that out. I'm leaning towards the latter as (big clue) the movie is only HALF way done. If she realizes what she's supposed to learn already then we might as well throw on the lights, scrape the popcorn off our boots and head home.
One more point about research - it's a great thing to do before jumping into the rewrite of your first draft. It allows me to think about my story with a different brain lobe. Okay, I'm no brain expert - but it feels more analytical than emotional. But more about rewriting and your legitimate first draft when we get there.
*Vomit Draft (Explained On Day One). The first rough draft of a script that you write fast, without thinking, throwing everything in that gets you to the next scene, even if it makes you want to puke.
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