The first page...
Here we go... for better or worst, its begun.
I really hope I’m not going to regret this. Although, it would be very typical “me” to look back on this substack in a year and laugh at how my creative inspiration stalled out after twenty pages, and since no one was reading anyway, I just abandoned the project and never looked back.
But that’s what I’m trying to avoid. I’ve done that too many times. Not this time.
Without judgment, without self-doubt, I’m going to publish a page a day, every day. And hopefully, you’ll join me on this adventure, because in a way, it is a very exciting adventure. I’ll tell you more about what I have in mind if I actually make it that far. But for right now, I have fifteen minutes before I need to leave for work, so I just need to type this first one up and get it out there. (Maybe tonight, when I have a bit more luxury of time, I’ll explain the deeper impetus behind this and make you all fall madly in love with my grand ideas, plans, hopes, dreams, fears, doubts, and everything else that inspired this).
A few disclaimers:
I’m writing a screenplay. This might be unique to read on Substack - I’m going to have to experiment with form and format a bit. So please, be honest with me and tell me what looks the best - if it reads weird, or you have a better suggestion, reach out and let me know. I already have a few different ideas of how to present it to you, but I won’t get caught up in that now. The goal is to write and publish a page a day. We’ll optimize later.
This is going to be raw. My idea here is not to go for “pantsing” where I fly by the seat of my pants and write whatever comes to mind. I do have a loose outline, but things are likely to change; and since I’m building in public, I’m open to your feedback on what I should change - however, if I can’t change it in the moment, or I have an alternate idea set for later that conflicts with your feedback, I may ignore it for now. After all, you’re not supposed to take every piece of criticism as gospel or you’d never get anything finished.
I wrote this page last night. It was technically after 12am, but I’m counting this for February 1st, which means I’m going to write two pages today (GASP!) This will hopefully be the only time that happens, because part of this experiment for me is to see if I write a page a day, can you read a page a day. In the spirit of the exercise, try to read the page I write on the day I write it so we can keep this as real-time as possible.
An addendum to #1 - Forgive this first one. I’m copy-pasting today’s page from last night’s brain dump as I’m running out the door to work, so the formatting is rough. If you’ve never read a screenplay before, ignore this first page because it’s not accurate. I’ll explain the format works later though.
Addendum to #1, part two - Screenplay pages are shorter than novel pages, so if the pages feel short, don’t worry, I’m not trying to cheat the system; it’s a feature, not a bug!
All right, all the disclaimers are out of the way. In the second page, I’ll explain the concept behind this project (without giving too much away) but for now, you’re going in blind. I hope, with time, I’ll earn your trust. Here goes nothing:
Page 1.
OVER BLACK -
Prayers, low as whispers, grow in strength:
Please god. Let them be okay.
Don’t take our baby from us.
Let her live, lord.
If anyone’s up there - please. Let them LIVE.
INT. VW Jetta - NIGHT
A GASP AWAKE. EYES. IRIS.
Iris:
Jesus!
Blood stains the crushed ice cube windshield dangling above her.
She feels her stomach - the steering wheel’s an inch from her chest - the axel pierced through her seat, just above her shoulder
Iris:
Fuck. No. This isn’t real. This can’t be real.
She winces and blinks. Braces. She can’t look. But she must.
Iris:
No!
There, in the passenger seat next to her, is LACY - very much dead.
She struggles to turn. Pinned down, she can’t move.
She grips what’s left of the rear-view, attempts to twist its mangled form-
Iris:
Jen! Keesha? Emily? Please, anyone- just please don’t be-
DEAD. THEY’RE ALL DEAD.
Good luck with the grand experiment! I started writing in a similar way to this back in 2015 and it was the best decision I ever made creatively.