Time for NANOWRIMO!

National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO) is upon us!

November is when thousands of writers across the globe commit to writing 50,000 words in 30 days (what I affectionately call a "Vomit Draft"). Whether you want to write a novel, a screenplay, or a songbook, COMMIT and use the power of accountability to just do it already!!

The beauty of NANOWRIMO is it gets you out of your head and onto the page, lets you write stream of conscious instead of editing yourself, builds community with other writers, and gets many projects flowing that authors would otherwise never start.

Here are our Los Angeles Resources.

Here is NANOWRIMO's fabulous list of books on writing, including Stephen King's On Writing." Great advice from the creator of NANOWRIMO, as well as success stories of published authors.

An Idea...

Hi Students!

Many of you are aspiring screenwriters, novelists, and storytellers. The great thing about this idea is that you don't have to have done any of those accomplishments yet to win! This is a Monthly Logline Contest, with only a $5 entry fee.

*Ultimate Logline Contest
Monthly. $5 an entry. Add “Award-Winning Writer” to your resume in the easiest and cheapest way possible. http://ultimatelogline.com

Learning to write a logline is an incredibly important and criminally underrated skill. It is the key to how you get professionals to take their valuable time to read your amateur spec script. 

How do you write a logline the industry wants? 

Here is an analysis of the ten loglines from the 132 spec scripts that sold in 2012. http://www.scriptmag.com/features/scripts-that-sold-in-2012-what-are-the-common-elements

Here is Scriptshadow's advice: 

http://scriptshadow.blogspot.com/2011/06/scriptshadow-special-how-to-craft-damn.html

Remember to keep it simple. James Cameron's pitch for TITANIC was "ROMEO AND JULIET on the TITANIC." Yes, he was James Freakin' Cameron...but don't you already get what the movie was about and see the poster? Bingo.

x-Professor Fies

* I'm not affiliated with the contest, I've never entered it, and I don't know its reputation. But it seems like a fun, easy way for you to enter the confusing world of screenwriting contests.