NaNoWriMo Day 6

20% of the way through the month!

Right, so, I’m about 48% of the way to 50k, which is good. I have 26217 words remaining to write to win NaNo. According to my computer models, this is about 16 hours of work and, at current pace, I’ll be done on November 14th.

My excel sheets super math estimation of my final length is 98555. So, I’m only about 24% through the novel itself. This is about 44 hours of work and, at current pace, I’ll be done on November 29th.

I have so far added one chapter, which gives 20 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue, which I’ve combined into one chapter in the calculations game, since they’re shortish.

I have completed 5.5/21 chapters.

Maybe the most interesting thing I can say is that my completed feature screenplay is less than 19,000 words long. This thing is going to be the length of 5 screenplays put together. I sometimes suspect my definition of interesting is a bit off…

NaNoWriMo Day 6
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Cinematic Appraisals: Scam or Science?

Their Site's Main Image

I’m a writer, which means that I have to spend a lot of time looking out for scams trying to take advantage of me.  There are fake agentsfake contests, and fake publishers who are all trying to get my money by promising me riches and fortune and, most importantly, an audience.  If anything can teach you skepticism, it’s trying to navigate the minefield of nearly, but not quite, professional writing.

I think you should go look at this.  It’s a “Mind Science” based analysis service for screenplays.  That seems highly unlikely to me, but here is an excerpt from the site:

Once your screenplay has been received, trained evaluators conduct an analysis using our proprietary Mind Science Method to ascertain individual scores for each line, each page, and for the screenplay as a whole. This scoring system evaluates the different criteria, story structure, dialog and action of each individual line.

Once the analysis is complete, a score is assigned that can be compared equally against the score of any other screenplay, if you have chosen to submit a second screenplay of a previously produced project.

After the initial page-by-page study is complete and individual score determined, the screenplay is then studied and examined by separate evaluators for its story structure and connection strength, yielding the second analysis based on content.

You will receive both the score and complete analysis in your final report, including a hardcopy of the screenplay with review notations.

The Mind Science score and analysis will allow you to gauge the degree of stimulation/mental connection the screenplay evokes. And, by comparing the score of a new script with the score of a script from a produced film in the same genre, you can compare its potential success apples-to-apples.

Does this sound like Scientology to anyone else?  It sounds like all they’re doing is providing detailed coverage and calling it “Mind Science”.

I mean, maybe what they do is legitimate in the sense that they provide a service, but they charge, get this, FIFTY DOLLARS A PAGE to review your screenplay.  That’s $6000 for a 120 page script.

$6000.

Everyone, for 1 dollar a page, I will read and review your screenplay!  I dunno how appealing that is, but it’s certainly a hell of a lot cheaper!  I’m no one, but at least I’ve optioned a screenplay and that makes me 100% qualified to use my own Proprietary Mind Science to evaluate your screenplay’s ability to engage an audience’s interest.  For $6000 dollars, who knows what I’d do (e-mail your inquiries).

Hell, pay an 8-year-old a dollar and see how long he can sit through it before getting up.  If it’s more than 10 pages, you’ve got a winner!

If you’re going to pay money to get feedback I recommend finding someone who is a screenwriter or actually works in the business — submit to ScriptSavvy or Carson Reeves, I can personally attest to both the quality and honesty of their services.

I realize that the Cinematic Appraisals Service is aimed at producers and people who are in genuine pre-production stages of getting a film made, not just struggling writers, but, until I see some evidence that what their doing actually has any evidence behind it or is more useful than, say, reading the script with a critical eye, I’m going to have to call this one as straight up bilking people out of their money.  Especially since I can’t find any information about them anywhere else on the net.  And taking money from producers, while potentially satisfying, means that there’s less money to make movies.

Writers Beware!

Cinematic Appraisals: Scam or Science?

NaNoWriMo Begins

I don’t know how much blogging I’ll be doing throughout NaNoWriMo.  Maybe less, since I have other writing to do, maybe more since I’ll already be writing.  I still have write ups of my Cleveland trip to do, I’d like to maybe interview Micah Ranum about winning the Nicholl, so I need to come up with questions, and I am about to finish book 60, so I need to do book reviews as well.

In any event, an hour into NaNoWriMo and I have 2075 words.  Which is pretty good.  I have this crazy idea that it would be possible for me to get to 10k by the end of the first.  If I can continue at this pace and write for four hours this evening, it’s possible.  I just suspect these first couple of days are going to be easier to direct energy towards it because it’ll still be exciting and young, so as far ahead as I can get early on is a good thing.

This program I’m using, Scrivener, is really cool, I highly recommend it to anyone out there who is writing.  They allow you to do a free trial, so very little risk involved there.

NaNoWriMo Begins