A good friend of mine, Shak, from Inspire the Grind, shot me an e-mail at the beginning of the month, freaking out over a discovery that she had made.

Apparently, Quentin Tarantino wrote Reservoir Dogs in 3.5 weeks.  Which is pretty amazing and actually explains a lot about that particular story.

Another friend wrote it off as not being that big of a deal, that Tarantino had probably been working on the story for a while but hadn’t officially sat down to write it out.  Which may or may not be true.  For me, that doesn’t change the enormity of the act of completely a feature length screenplay in 3.5 weeks. 

On the one hand, if you’ve been thinking about a story for a long time and just finally get the chance to get it down on paper, then it might not take you very long.  On the other hand, getting an idea and trying to work it out on paper as you go tends to take a lot longer.

Anyway, Shak’s idea is that we should try the same thing this month, along with a third friend, Bright.  Complete a manuscript, either a screenplay or a novella, in the same amount of time.  We’ll get together and share manuscripts and have dinner at the end of the time period.  Celebrate the work that we’ve done.

I think it’s a really fun idea and I’m totally on board.  Especially if there is wine involved.  (YAY WINE!)

Here’s my issue:  what am I going to write?

I would love to finish one of my screenplays.  I only have 10 pages of the 1814/battle of New Orleans screenplay that I was really getting in to in 2006.  I have The Highwayman, which is in dire need of a re-write so I can start shopping it around.  I have a dark (and when I say dark, I mean DARK) fantasy script that would be fun to complete, as well as a screenplay version of my Oren/Calla story that I’ve been working on for 15 years.  Plus, you know, the modern version of Robin Hood. 

Tl:dr – Lots of scripts available in my queue to work on. 

But I’ve been focusing on novels/prose in an attempt to get a romance novel published.  I’ve spent a lot of time working on that end of the writing spectrum.  I started my gay farmer story (and I’ve changed Alex to Xander, which feels better on the page for me) and think that this is one that could get some attention with an e-pub sooner rather than later.

I need to work on my novel edits to try to make The Drake something that might get sold/published.  I have Moving Bodies and First Lady and the Dead Presidents.  And, you know, the werewolf story. 

A lot of novels/novellas in the queue.  (The queue is very, very long.)

Do I shift focus from novel writing back to screenwriting, especially since this is a Tarantino challenge OR do I keep rolling with a novel type deal?

A script has less pages and less words than a novel but they can be much harder to write **because** you are limited in your page and word count.  Novels can go on for hundreds of pages (see: Stephen King) with florid prose and amazing description.  Scripts don’t let you get into the internal lives of your characters- the only things you can put on that page are things that can be shown on screen.  That makes it hella tough to do.  My point here is that just because it’s shorter, doesn’t make it easier to do.

This biggest issue here is that I need to finish SOMETHING this month.  I have a hard time getting things done.  I start something and then get distracted and end up with a pile of half completed projects that aren’t going anywhere.  It’s frustrating for me as the writer but also for Bear, who just wants me to get something done so I can start submitting and hopefully get published (and paid for my work).

So, whatever I decide to go with, I HAVE to finish by June 30^th.

Here’s the question that I keep bringing up- do I go with something that I would enjoy writing more, even if my chances of selling it are next to none OR do I try to finish something that I might be able to shop around after a polish/edit in July?

Will post my decision in a few days, after I take a long, hard look at what’s in front of me.  What I do know for sure right now is that I need to get on it or I won’t be able to finish by the deadline.