Zero Draft Thirty 2017 September Challenge: FADE OUT!

FADE IN. FADE OUT. 30 Days. That describes what just transpired in September. Dozens of writers from around the world dove into their writing projects and pounded out a draft. Check out just a handful of tweets:

Similar results over in the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook group:

‘FADE OUT’ There were times I didn’t think I’d get there but I’m pleased to say I’ve finished 👏 A big thank you to the ZD30 community! Well done everyone……now let the editing commence — Tina Long

Big scamper today, and now the 96 page zero draft of my second full-length screenplay is done! To be honest, I made a start on it during March’s ZD30 — but without the push this group gives I doubt I’d be anywhere near as far down the line as I am now — it’s a fantastic driver.

Keep going folks! — Aaron Witcher

Done. My beautiful breathingwalkingtalking zero draft of my pilot, show bible and season 1 outline. 
On September 2 it was just two names and a concept in my head, and now it’s the whole new world and real pages. 
One hell of a ride. Wouldn’t trade it for anything.
My body and brain are jaded but my spirit is bouncing off the walls in delight.
Thanks to everyone for this space and time, this month. Wonderful, nourishing, deeply gratifying experience.
And we keep moving, right? Always onward. — Margarita Andreeva

Yes, yes, yes! Finished the rewrite for the TV pilot I have been working on and grateful to learn from all your insights on the arduous task of writing. — Denise Meyers

Kristina Paider is feeling like I just wrote FADE OUT & finished my pilot!!!!!
September 30 at 6:14pm
Thank you, ZD30 community. Couldn’t have done it without you!!!!

The most loved and hated phrase in the writer’s vocabulary: THE END. Spec script №2, zero draft, is done, y’all. — Jay Fingers

Fell behind with writing due to commitments and this weekend turned on the gas and tonight, for the first time ever, wrote fade out. An unbelivable thrill!! — Margie McRae

Finished the vomit draft of my sci fi TV pilot at 68 pages. Now it’s time to revise and refine. Thanks, Zero Draft Thirty! — Scott Carter

This is Scamper the hamster celebrating me typing FADE OUT on my 1-hour pilot. Only 1 day late (and it’s 57 pages,) but made it to the end!! So happy! — Anita Brandt Burgoyne

Finished my sci-fi / horror feature just in time! 97 pages! — Nicole Jones-Dion

Oh, we had lots of hamsters and scampers during the September Challenge. Here are just a few!

If you have NO CLUE as to what’s going on with the hamsters, scampers, and Scamper-A-Thons, join the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook group and find out!

Finally I’d like to end with this Facebook post by CK Love:

I have to say that I feel so fortunate to be a part of this group and the #ZD30Script challenges. I remember the first one I did — a couple of years ago — I finished the first draft of a screenplay I still really love and still need to do some revisions on. This month, I took the allotted time to rework a finished script that is a better now for me taking that time. These challenges “give me the permission” to start scripts I have in the back of my mind that would otherwise be left to another day, another time. If not for the ZD30Script challenges I might not take the time to write these.

I don’t care that I haven’t written FADE OUT yet on my story, I know I will, I have the momentum now to continue it, it would be strange not to.

In the Zero Draft Thirty family, I feel such great friendship and support from all of you throughout the entire process that it is worth it to do the challenges for just that. I love it when people finish, have a break through, and anything else that speaks of the inspiration to write and express ourselves and that deeper part of our humanity. Thank you everyone who took part for sharing in your dreams, hopes and aspirations. You mean the world to me. I am grateful for this group — Outlaws rock and ride!!! ONWARD!!! And yes — I will have that drink now!!

For me, this is what it’s all about. Yes, the goal is to get to FADE OUT / THE END. But there’s something more important than that at work here. So many people’s creativity gets crushed under the oppressive weight of procrastination and perfectionism. With the Zero Draft approach, we give ourselves permission to suck. To write crap. To put down words which we know need to be rewritten.

And there’s this; We give ourselves permission to have fun. To embrace the fact that our pages may very well suck. That no matter what we write in a zero draft, it will NOT be perfect, so let’s revel in that and well…

We can ALWAYS scamper on. Pick an hour. Do a writing scamper.

The zero draft approach allows us to tap into our creative wellsprings and turn on that God damn spigot. WHOOSH! And the Zero Draft Thirty Challenge is a bi-annual way (September and March) to motivate our asses to do that on an intense daily basis, along with hundreds of other writers.

In the spirit of NaNoWriMo. And if they hadn’t dropped their Script Frenzy initiative, we wouldn’t be here. But they did and so there’s this:

So congratulations to EVERYONE who participated in the September Challenge. If you reached FADE OUT, good for you. If you wrote one page, good for you. In both cases, you gave expression to your creativity and are further along in your life’s journey than you were a month ago.

If you haven’t joined the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook group yet, check it out. It’s a remarkable offshoot of what we do here at Go Into The Story, a positive-minded group of writers who work hard, support each other, and like to have a good time doing it. We have a 24 Hour Writing Scamper-A-Thon scheduled to begin at Midnight this Friday and all day Saturday. Join us!