It's April again, which means that once again it's time for Script Frenzy!
Script Frenzy is NaNoWriMo's sister event in the spring. Every April, 10s of thousands of people give themselves the challenge of writing a 100 page script in 30 days. They write movie scripts (like I'm doing), scripts for television shows, or graphic novels or even stage or radio plays. If you're really interested, you can can get some more information about the event here: What Is ScriptFrenzy?
I'm participating in the event for the second year in a row, and I'm in it to win it!
Last year I wrote 102 pages of a horror movie script loosely based on the legend of The Slender Man. My story was about a small town detective who gets in over his head when he starts to investigate the disappearance of a local kid. In the end he has to convince the town that something serious is going on in time for them to save an entire bus load of kids from a horrible fate. I had a ton of fun writing my script, and I was even able to use it in a screen-writing class I took at my university last fall. (I took the opportunity to edit and write my second draft).
This year I'm writing something a little bit different. My story this year (called Finding Peace) is about a young man who goes across the country to meet his sperm-donor father for the first time after his mother dies. He and his best friend take this journey and have some interesting adventures and encounters along the way. My main character Mark ends up learning more about himself than his father, and makes some life-changing decisions. The ideas aren't 100% solidified yet, this is only a first draft after all, and I'm only about half way through.
Why am I telling you all of this? Because I want to show what the power of Script Frenzy is. Without this event I never would have known that I could write a script at all, let alone a 100 page one! These are wonderful ideas that I never even knew I possessed until I sat down and started to write. And really, it's all thanks to Script Frenzy.
And I'm not the only one either. 16,014 writers are signed up for the event this year alone, and 3,788 of them are kids! Isn't that just the coolest thing you've heard all day? Almost 4,000 kids are putting aside their video games and TV shows to sit down and write something. For fun. Not because they have to, but because they want to.
Isn't this something that you want to be a part of? It might be a little bit late in the month to sign up for the event (but come write a novel with Camp NaNoWriMo this summer), but you can still be involved. For the first time ever, I've set up a page to be sponsored through http://www.stayclassy.org/. What it is, is a way for people to 'sponsor' me and my script. You can donate through that page and the money all goes straight to The Office of Letters and Light (ScriptFrenzy and NaNoWriMo's parent organization).
So far I've managed to raise a whopping $10 for the OLL, as you can see by the ticker on the side of the page. My goal is to raise $100, though as the close of the event draws near, it doesn't look like that's going to happen. That's fine with me though, I'm just happy for the opportunity to raise any amount of money for an organization that I really love and respect. OLL brings writing to the world, and most importantly, they help kids see that writing isn't something that has to be a chore, or strictly homework. But that writing can be fun and fulfilling.
So, if you'd like to help out this truly wonderful cause, just go ahead and click here. You can donate any amount that you choose, so even if you only have a dollar or two to spare, you can still help out.
Thank you, and happy writing!
