Done the first draft – 20 pages of marvellous script.
And now time to… leave it.
I\’d actually completed the draft a couple of days ago, and couldn\’t resist tinkering with little bits of dialogue, that kind of thing. But I know if I keep doing it, I\’ll start doing more harm than good – so, I\’ll give it a while to rest, and look at it with slightly more objective eyes in a few days – Andy.

It\’s a tough discipline, completing an treatment – you just want to get on with telling the brilliant story that\’s rolling through your head…
But rolling up my sleeves and thoroughly planning the story means I don\’t get half way through and find out I\’ve wandered off the point and started to write another story (I\’ve got a notebook full of them- at some point they\’ll come in handy).
It also means my brain can put all it\’s effort into telling the story, rather remembering how the plot unfolds after the butler walks in with the… well, that would be telling.
Roll on completing first draft – Andy.

Thanks to everyone who came to the June meeting – next month, we\’re critting something I\’ve written; or to tell the truth, am about to write…
It\’s been an idea I\’ve been thinking about for a few months now, but the novel I\’m trying to rewrite, or doing the washing up, has taken up my time at the point at which I should have been bringing it to life on the page.
So today, it may not have a structure, an ending, or even a title – but it now has a deadline – and an audience ready to read it.
I\’ll keep you posted as I go along – the dishes will have to wait for a bit – Andy.

Just a reminder that we\’ll be meeting from 7pm on Tuesday 1st June – looking forward to a great crit on Brian\’s stage play.

Just found out from Richard that our Guildhall plaque is up! We\’ve sponsored seat E10, so if someone is inspired by what they see on stage, they can get scribing and join us – looking forward to settling back into the DSW seat for a Guildhall production soon!

Derbyshire Scriptwriters is open to anyone with an active interest in scriptwriting for screen, stage or radio – most meetings involve a critique of a member\’s work, which may be brand new, or something that has been reviewed by ourselves in the past.

We meet on the first Tuesday of the month from 7pm to 9pm in Derby Library\’s Reading Rooms on the Strand (which is around the back of the library building):

[googlemaps https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=the+strand+derby&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&ei=-XvyS4_YJdT9_Aapy9mTDQ&ved=0CA4Q_AU&hq=&hnear=Strand,+Derby+DE1+1,+United+Kingdom&ll=52.92329,-1.479506&spn=0.002264,0.00456&z=17&output=embed&w=425&h=350]

There\’ll be a post on the blog to let you know what\’s coming up in the next meeting (Tuesday 1st June 2010), and members are always welcome. If you\’d like to come along and say hello, get in touch by email: joinus@derbyshirescriptwriters.com

First post. Hmm.

For me, there\’s a strange commitment to the first words on the page; and the notion of changing them, or deleting them, or ignoring them completely in the future feels a bit like an act of betrayal to the story idea you first had.

Of course by the time you reach the end, it\’s likely they\’re not the right first words any more. You\’ve spent more time with the characters in the story; they\’re doing things you didn\’t expect they\’d do at the start. In fact, the story might need to start from somewhere else entirely.

It\’s a point that regularly comes up when members\’ scripts are reviewed in Derbyshire Scriptwriters\’ monthly crit sessions; and it\’s fantastic to see how the group\’s thoughts can help give you a fresh point of view on what really counts – getting your script to tell the heart of your story.

So, here comes our next first post; if you feel something\’s missing, just wait \’til you see the rewrite…