You might need more time, but if you do you may want to consider what’s slowing you down. You might not need all this time, but it at least gives you a plan. If you’ve never written a sketch before, I’d suggest blocking off one writing session for the vomit draft (1-3 hours) and one writing session for the rough (1-3 hours). Now I can reliably plan to go from idea to finished rough in 2-4 hours. When I first started I would take a whole day, obsessively working over a single sketch. This whole process will take some time, but you’ll get faster as you go. Naturalism: Do your characters sound human? Are they behaving believably and playing to the top of their intelligence?Ĭonsistent Game: Are you playing the same game throughout? Is your game clear? Will your audience be able to tell what your POV is, and how it relates to them? Juxtapositions: Is the contrast between juxtaposed elements stark enough? Are the contrasting elements near enough to each other? Are you showing both halves of the juxtaposition equally?
Specifics: Specifics are funnier than vagaries. Joke punch up: Are all your jokes constructed in the tightest way possible? Are your set ups clear and your punchlines short? Do these jokes feel fresh and original? When in doubt, leave it in, but come up with an alternate. Overall length: Are you under three pages? You may have time to squeeze more beats in. Word Choice: Do these sound like the words your characters would use? Unintended Repetition: Are you repeating a specific word too much? Weird Beats: Does a beat feel like it takes too long to set up? Or like a de-heightening? You might need to move some beats around or cut some entirely. Long lines: Cut ‘em! Shorter lines are funnier. Obvious Errors: Fix ‘em! This includes spelling errors, grammar errors, formatting, and consistency errors. The Things You Know You Need to Fix: Remember all the things you said you’d fix later? Well, it’s now “later.” Here are some things to check when you’re turning your vomit draft into a rough draft. It doesn’t have to be (and probably won’t be) perfect, so go ahead and take that pressure off yourself. The goal with the rough draft is to have a draft that’s good enough to show someone you trust. There are some holes and some bits that don’t totally fit together, but you’ve got completed pages! You just have to polish them up now. Once you’ve finished your vomit draft, lock the generative brain away, and bring out the critical mind to examine what you’ve done.Īnd, oh my god, what have you done?! You’ve written a real mess… but I bet it looks a lot like a sketch. It’s like putting up the frame of the house before you start plastering the walls. You’re feeling out the rhythm, tone, and structure of the whole piece. Your mantra for the vomit draft (in case it wasn’t glaringly obvious) is “you can fix it later.” But this isn’t procrastinating you’re avoiding getting stuck on problems that may have obvious solutions by the end of the sketch. Worried that what you’re writing might be shitty? Don’t worry: it definitely is. Not sure what moment comes next? Look at your outline. Know you need a joke, but not sure what it is? Write “Add joke here,” and fix it later.
#OUTLINE ROUGH DRAFT HOW TO#
Not sure how to connect one beat to the next? Skip it! Jump abruptly to the next beat. You can add whatever contextual lines you need later. You know that part is funny, so you might as well start with a sure thing. This is often the the first thing you thought of when you came up with the idea.
If you’re not sure how to start, skip all the scene setting and go immediately to the first beat. Write a beat, figure out how the characters would naturally react, then add the next beat. The goal with a vomit draft is to get words out as fast as possible without getting in your own way. And, like vomiting, the result is ugly, but you’ll feel better when it’s done. This draft is a horrible geyser of words that erupts out of you quickly and messily. I like it because it’s accurate and stupid (just the way I like all my comedy). Some people hate this term because it’s gross. Lock up the part of your brain that says “hey, what you just wrote sucks” and unleash the part of your brain that says “and then this happens!” Write the vomit draft. In my post about coming up with ideas I talked about separating the generative mind from the critical mind. Perhaps you’re looking at the big blank page and not feeling in a very playful mood. Easy for me to say, right? I’ve done this a million times.
0 kommentar(er)
