Reflections on 31 Plays in 31 Days 2017
Sep. 1st, 2017 07:35 pmI completed the 31 Plays in 31 Days challenge for the sixth year in a row this past month!
I did it a little differently than I ever have before, but honestly I’ve been creeping toward this for several years now. Basically, I completed the challenge in July rather than in August, in order to get a play written earlier. These sprints to generate content are always most effective and efficient for me when I have outlines of what scenes I’d like to write. Because I knew I wanted to complete Mrs. Hawking part 4 this summer, but far enough in advance to have it edited to begin rehearsing in the fall, I didn’t want to be drafting it in August. So I did my outlining in June, drafted it in July, and editing was saved for August.
Part 4: Gilded Cages was in fact drafted, though I haven’t completely finished the editing for it. Most of what I posted for the challenge this month was from that first draft. But I ran into the problem, as I often do, that I wrote stuff that spoiled the ending of the piece and I didn’t want to just throw it out there. But that meant, in order to have something to post for all thirty-one days, I had to write new stuff. I suppose I could have just counted my credit privately, but I very much LIKE having something to show every day. And that made for a lot of extra writing work when I was busy, with editing, and with writing for my day job on Susurrus: Season of Tides, which honestly I could have done without.
I think the truth is, as![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
inwaterwrit pointed out when I discussed it with her, that I’ve more or less outgrown this particular structure. The need to just generate scenes, content— regardless of what it is —is just not that important at this point in my writing. It’s more much important to use structures that facilitate the creation of larger works. I can sort of use 31P31D for that, as I did this month, but it comes along with certain problems— most obviously, the need to write extra stuff to fit the structure rather than just focusing on what I actually NEED to write.
I suppose I could just quit doing it… but I like having done it. I like the feeling of accomplishment, I like making lists of and analyzing everything I wrote, and I like having things to post on my blog. So I guess writing more— and having those scenes as groundwork for the future —is a small price to pay. And I had like six scenes drafted that were at least somewhat to very useable all ready for Gilded Cages because of previous 31P31D. Maybe I’ll stop doing it someday, but this was not that day.
To be continued in my analysis of what I wrote this time.
I did it a little differently than I ever have before, but honestly I’ve been creeping toward this for several years now. Basically, I completed the challenge in July rather than in August, in order to get a play written earlier. These sprints to generate content are always most effective and efficient for me when I have outlines of what scenes I’d like to write. Because I knew I wanted to complete Mrs. Hawking part 4 this summer, but far enough in advance to have it edited to begin rehearsing in the fall, I didn’t want to be drafting it in August. So I did my outlining in June, drafted it in July, and editing was saved for August.
Part 4: Gilded Cages was in fact drafted, though I haven’t completely finished the editing for it. Most of what I posted for the challenge this month was from that first draft. But I ran into the problem, as I often do, that I wrote stuff that spoiled the ending of the piece and I didn’t want to just throw it out there. But that meant, in order to have something to post for all thirty-one days, I had to write new stuff. I suppose I could have just counted my credit privately, but I very much LIKE having something to show every day. And that made for a lot of extra writing work when I was busy, with editing, and with writing for my day job on Susurrus: Season of Tides, which honestly I could have done without.
I think the truth is, as
inwaterwrit pointed out when I discussed it with her, that I’ve more or less outgrown this particular structure. The need to just generate scenes, content— regardless of what it is —is just not that important at this point in my writing. It’s more much important to use structures that facilitate the creation of larger works. I can sort of use 31P31D for that, as I did this month, but it comes along with certain problems— most obviously, the need to write extra stuff to fit the structure rather than just focusing on what I actually NEED to write. I suppose I could just quit doing it… but I like having done it. I like the feeling of accomplishment, I like making lists of and analyzing everything I wrote, and I like having things to post on my blog. So I guess writing more— and having those scenes as groundwork for the future —is a small price to pay. And I had like six scenes drafted that were at least somewhat to very useable all ready for Gilded Cages because of previous 31P31D. Maybe I’ll stop doing it someday, but this was not that day.
To be continued in my analysis of what I wrote this time.
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