Saturday, February 7, 2009

Writing a TV Script

Miss me?

Cuz I’ve missed writing on my blog.

My French is coming slowly but steadily along, and it did give me a bump of inspiration last week… but I’m still feeling a bit stuck right now. I’m smack dab in the middle of the story and I still don’t feel like I have enough motion driving the story forward, especially for the story that centers on Anne and the riots in Paris during 2005.

So, I’m taking a break, a.k.a. taking a step back from the novel. I was kind of wary about doing this, since I’ve had pretty good momentum until recently, but sometimes I just feel like I need to step back and reassess. And reassessment, for me, involves not looking at my story for a little while—at least a week, but no more than two.

At the same time, I’ve obviously got to keep the creativity and writing flowing, so I’m now working on something totally new and different. I’m writing a spec TV script (a script for a current TV show). For a long time, I’ve been curious about whether I could pull of a TV script, whether I’d enjoy it, etc., and figure it’s about time I try. After all, you can’t know if you’re good at something unless you try.

I have NEVER written a script. This is completely new for me, including how to format a script. But I’m already having fun with it. I’m basing it on the CBS show, “How I Met Your Mother” since I know the characters inside and out, given that I’ve watched every episode of the four seasons multiple times.

Comedy is not usually my thing, but since I know this show so well, ideas are already flowing like crazy. Plus, my boyfriend is a huge fan of the show as well, and we’ve somewhat been working as a writing team, bouncing ideas off one another, shooting for ridiculous plotlines (as are common on the show) while also making sure the plot makes sense for each of the characters.

This is totally unlike any writing I’ve done before, and, so far, I’m loving it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wise idea to set aside the novel for a while. I went through a similar spell when writing WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW. I'd open up a half-finished chapter and say, "Haven't you girls figured this thing out yet?" Total frustration!

Here's what worked for me. I wrote a few short fiction pieces based on the characters. It was a great exercise in character development, and because two of the stories were picked up by anthologies, I can mention that fact in my query letter. Just a thought.

I've never tried a television script. Good luck with it!
Ginger

Farnnay said...

maybe ur script will turn out better than the show!

controlled chaos said...

Wow cool. Hmm I'd never think of doing that. Hey if you become famous one day and become the actual script writer for something, I call tabs on an autograph.

Liz S said...

Thanks for the good wishes everyone! I hope the script turns out awesome... but for now, I'm just shooting on finishing a solid draft of it within a couple weeks, and hoping it's good for a laugh or two. =)

Ginger B: Thanks for the idea about how to 'jump-start' my novel again! I've already got some ideas for some short stories based on my novel, and that's definitely going to be my next project now.

Anonymous said...

Glad you're back! What a cool opportunity, enjoyed reading through your post!