the Frenzy

Ever November for the past four years I've participated in National Novel Writing Month. It's just sort of a given now. I'm already entertaining ideas for this year's, whether I'll have fun with a ridiculous concept or try to write a serious novel this year. In June, the same people are sponsoring Script Frenzy, the same concept in script format. I already have an idea, some notes, and even a title (though I had to go with my second choice because my first one's already been used several times) - Whatever You Ask. I'm excited because my three main characters are all guys, and we all know the challenges in point of view and characterization that's going to present.

Someone posted a thread on the Script Frenzy forums called "Writers for Real." Now, that already is a ridiculously pretentious title because it's belittling to the rest of the community, I feel, but I went ahead and posted about my writerly plans. It's a little amusing because of the handful of people who've posted, most of us are just still *training* to be writers for real. But one person posted about how if you Google search Script Frenzy you'll find a lot of people knocking and degrading it. We have to deal with that in NaNo, too, but I went ahead and Googled Script Frenzy to see for myself what people were saying.

I only found one really negative collection of comments, but even then I was surprised by the vindictiveness with which these people attacked SF and the writers participating in it. All these accusations that it's a bad environment, that you'll turn out crap just to meet the deadline, that it's too chaotic and unplanned. One person even said that it harms the creative process. You know what the creative process is? It's sticking your butt in a chair and writing.

I would say that what these people don't realize is that the one month restraint is for your first draft only, not your prewriting or rewriting, so you have plenty of time to craft characters and structure and rewrite all your mistakes later. I would say that plenty of the participants in Script Frenzy already know script format or use the resources offered to learn it before it starts. I would say that plenty of successful movies had a first draft written in one month or less. I would say that some people don't need a lot of prewriting time. I would say that writing is a craft you learn by doing, so let people practice they way they want. I would say that for as many different writers there are, there are different ways of approaching "the creative process."

But I think that by the fact that people would attack the plot generator on the home page of Script Frenzy just shows that they have no sense of humor. They're taking themselves way too seriously. These are the kinds of pretentious writers that I complained about before - they drive me crazy! Writing is writing is writing. So leave others in peace when they do it.

"Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you're doomed." - Ray Bradbury