2019 Zero Draft Thirty September Challenge: Day 5

One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 5.

Write an entire draft of a script in September — FADE IN. FADE OUT. Or any sort of creative goal you have in front of you.

Feature length movie screenplay. Original TV pilot. Rewrite a current project. Break a story in prep. Generate a month’s worth of story concepts.

Whatever you feel will ratchet your creative ambitions into overdrive…

DO THAT!

September 1: You type FADE IN / “Once upon a time…”
September 30: You type FADE OUT / “…They all lived happily ever after.”

It’s free! It’s fun! It’s Fade In to Fade Out!

For everything you need to know to join, click here.

On Twitter, use this hashtag: #ZD30SCRIPT.

Zero Draft Thirty Facebook Group: Here. 3,500+ members strong.

Today’s Writing Quote

“It’s not until you really throw your character into the story that you can genuinely understand who they are.”

— Elijah Bynum

Today’s Inspirational Video

An oldie but goodie:

Transcript: “ I feel… I feel happy of myself. Everybody, I know you can believe in yourself. If you believe in yourself, you will know how to ride a bike! If you don’t, you start practicing. You will get the hang of it, I know it! If you keep practicing, you will get the hang of it and then you can get better and better at it and you’ll do it. Thumbs up, everybody. Rock ’n’ roll!”

And now, the Songify version:

Hey, if a kid can learn to ride a bike, then do a video which generates tens of millions of views, for sure we can nail a great script!

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 1
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 2
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 3
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 4

Each day this month, I’ll post a Zero Draft Thirty Challenge post here at Go Into The Story. And as I’ve done with every past Challenge, I will hand out an award for a notable Tweet, Facebook post, or comment here on the blog. This cycle, the winner will receive the inaugural Ben Hecht Award!

Today’s Ben Hecht Award winner: Joni Trumpold Brainerd.

She wrote this in a post in the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook group:

This pops up whenever I open my laptop. Thank you, Steven Pressfield! 
 No matter how challenging this next month might be/get, I’m gonna try and remember it’s about putting myself in position — -the words will come. Characters will invade our midst and we just need to be open to them….

Joni’s laptop image:

Reminds me of the quote associated with Oliver Stone: “Writing equals ass on chair.” Or as I like to say: Derriere on chair.

No matter all the research, character development, and reflecting upon a story, at some point, it really does come down to sitting down and writing.

For that wisdom, the recipient of today’s Ben Hecht Award is Joni Trumpold Brainerd. Congratulations, Joni!

If you aren’t writing, you aren’t writing. It’s as simple as that. So look at your schedule and set a time to sit down today and write.

For more information on Ben Hecht, go here.

For background on how the Zero Draft Challenge came into being and what it is, go here, here, and here.

It’s time to write.

Onward!