a minor victory, a minor defeat

The Last Domino preview posterThe good news: The script is done. The accursed, untenable, unsalable, hackneyed, nagging time travel screenplay has finally been completed. The entire plot outline was covered, the crises averted, the ending tied up in a neat bow. I’m done with the first draft. Done!

The bad news: It’s less than 16,000 words, around 85 pages. That’s probably too short to be a truly complete draft (there are lots of places where more dialogue or description is probably necessary), and it’s over 4,000 words shy of winning the Script Frenzy challenge. It’s the very last night of the month, and there’s no way I could add that much to the script in time to meet the deadline tonight.

Here’s the kicker: I don’t really want to, either. Sure, I could write a couple dozen pages’ worth of space monkeys attacking, but it just doesn’t feel worthwhile. Not the script itself; I’m immensely proud of completing it, and I think it could be pounded into something mildly entertaining with a few more drafts. I’m glad I spent some time this month working on it, but I’m also glad I didn’t spend any more time on it than I did. It’s been a busy month in all respects, and when it came right down to it I picked family, friends, other projects, and sleep (oh, that) over meeting a screenplay challenge.

From here… I’m not sure. I’m thinking of asking K to check it for embarrassing bits. If she doesn’t howl with laughter, I’ll post it in the writing section for your amusement.

Final word count: 15,741.

2 thoughts on “a minor victory, a minor defeat

  1. I’d like to take a look. John Cusack, eh? Who would you get to play the love interest?

  2. It’s quite good, actually. I’ve read the whole thing and I think it would be fine to publish in the writings section. I like the “Smith goes on vacation” and “Smith and H. re-meet” sections; the dialogue is quite good in my opinion. Yay for finishing!

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