Last week, I posted this:

You may be aware of NANOWRIMO. Each November, people commit to write a first draft of a novel. Start November 1st. End November 30th. Fantastic motivator to get people off their asses, onto their keyboards, then work their way from “Once upon a time” to “And they live happily ever after.” Did you know the NANOWRIMO folks used to sponsor a screenwriting challenge? They called it Script Frenzy and it ran from 2007 to 2012. But no more. It’s dead. RIP. So here’s what I’m thinking: Why the hell shouldn’t we resurrect it? Let’s stake out November here at Go Into The Story and kick out the creative jams.

Dozens of writers rose up to accept the challenge. Writer Orange Pop even came up with a great title: Zero Draft Thirty.

Zero Draft is what some writers call the vomit draft… or muscle draft… the just-get-the-damn-thing-done draft. And thirty is… well… the number 30 which is… oh, yeah… the number of days in November!

So Zero Draft Thirty it is!

What I’m thinking is this:

* Each day, I will compose and upload a ZDT post. In it, I will include an inspirational writing quote, something motivational.

* I encourage writers who have taken up the challenge to come by each day, head to comments in the ZDT post, and share some thoughts on your process. You may just write something generally about how you’re feeling… good, bad, happy, sad, uplifted, frustrated. Perhaps you will note what page count you managed for that day or the week.

* Don’t upload actual pages!!! Keep those to yourself. This is not a workshop, rather a 30 day online forum where we can come together and support each other as we pound out pages.

So two things today.

First, if you haven’t yet committed to the Zero Dark Thirty challenge, head to comments and stake your claim.

Second, if you have any great inspirational writing quotes, please email to me or post in comments. I’ve got quite a few, but can always use more.

November 1: Type FADE IN.

November 30: Type FADE OUT.

30 days. A first draft of an original screenplay.

Who’s with me?

BY THE WAY! Some people have asked whether they could use ZDT to rewrite a script in a month. Or work up an outline for a story in a month. I hearty soul asked if he could come up with a story idea each day for a month. Here is my official response:

The focus of the ZDT challenge is pounding out a first draft, however use it to do anything to move your creative aspirations ahead.

Make November a month to remember!

Join the Zero Draft Thirty Write a Script in a Month Challenge!

UPDATE: For those of you using Twitter, let’s use this hashtag #ZD30SCRIPT.



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