2024 Zero Draft Thirty September Challenge: Day 4

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

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 4.

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!

Download your very own Zero Draft Thirty calendar — designed and created by Steven Dudley — and track your daily progress!

On Twitter, use this hashtag: #ZD30SCRIPT.

Join the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook Group, 5,100+ members strong.

Today’s Writing Quote

“Convince yourself that you are working in clay, not marble, on paper, not eternal bronze.”

— Jacques Barzun

Today’s Inspirational Video

The incomparable guitarist Django Reinhardt was the first jazz talent to emerge from Europe. What’s even more remarkable is that after suffering first and second degree burns across much of his body, leaving two fingers on his left hand paralyzed, Reinhardt overcame his injuries to develop his unique musical style. Watch the video above. Track how his left hand flies up the fingerboard and how fast his right hand moves. Astonishing skill.

What can we, as writers, created with OUR fingers? For inspiration, check out this anthology of music recorded by Reinhardt.

Today’s Anita Loos Award recipient: Kristina Paider.

Over at the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook group page, Kristina posted this:

I’m a sucker for writing metaphors. In part because I’m a professor of screenwriting, so I’m constantly looking for ways to communicate ideas and concepts to my students. And Kristina, I hope you don’t mind if I use this metaphor in the classroom (I’ll be sure to acknowledge you).

The idea of layers not only works for rewriting, but also for character development. If you think of a character having layers of psychological dynamics. For example, a character is an angry individual. What causes the anger? Dig down to another layer and we discover their father died when they were young, and they have been angry at the world ever since. But if you down another layer, we discover the wound to their psyche. Then another layer down, there is sadness.

This is the work we do when we immerse ourselves in the lives of our characters … digging through layers to get at what lies at the core of their being … that layer that lies at the foundation of their psychological nature.

So …

By providing us with a terrific writing metaphor … and a delicious photo of lasagna …

The recipient of today’s Anita Loos Award is Kristina Paider!

Congratulations, Kristina! I trust you’ll print the award and post in a primes spot at your writer’s desk.

To learn more about Anita Loos and her illustrious career as a screenwriter, playwright, director, and journalist, go here.

For your chance to win the Anita Loos Award, one given away each day during the Challenge, post something inspiring, here on the blog, via Twitter, or the Facebook group.

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

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

Now Zeronauts …

EMBRACE YOUR LASAGNA!

DIG INTO YOUR STORY’S LAYERS!

WRITE ON!

The Challenge is free and if you feel like it, check out the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook group page. It’s a private group, but it’s easy to join, just answer a few questions.