Posting an outline for the first time about making a book to my blog was an interesting experience.

The idea of a beat sheet made me want to try writing a scene with a photo on my blog. I started to read a screenplay manual book I have, and then I found out about outlining from a screenwriting website. An outline looks very useful in writing a screenplay.

An outline has more detailed descriptions of each scene than a beat sheet has.
For example, a beat sheet writes:

1. N sees A at a supermarket. N cuts in line before A.

Whereas an outline writes:

INT. MARKET – NOON

N goes to the market. N sees A but ignores her.
N goes to the register.
A cuts in line and N says, “Hey, excuse me!”

A beat sheet is a simple way to arrange the story sequence, but an outline presents images more clearly. Like the writer from the outlining site says, he doesn’t need to refer to the outline when he starts to transform the outline into the actual screenplay, because he has “worked so hard to figure out every moment of the story that it feels real to me.”

Staying home all day to write and eating junk food are not good for my health. I didn’t even wash my face or change my clothes today. Am I obsessed with writing? I have to go to the kids’ school and read a book, and I always hope I could start preparing for things earlier than in the last minute.

Now that I have figured out the process of writing a screenplay, I just need to keep on working.

1. journal writing
2. thesis/topic
3. organize by story structure/beat sheet
4. write scenes under structure/outline
5. transform outline into screenplay form

After I have the images written with an outline, the last step will be to translate the common language into the screenplay language.

Today I didn’t make it to the English class, again. I need alone time! A lot of it. I have a piano lesson tomorrow, but I practiced a little so my panic is reduced. I don’t have time to read Kant yet. I will find time after writing becomes a routine.

Maybe I am trying to make sense of my writing. I have no idea why I am trying to write a screenplay; I just know that I like the screenplay language. It’s okay if I fail, but I will be happy to know at least I’ve tried. I will keep writing a journal, then hopefully, I will know what I want to say after I have studied my experiences. With a message in mind, I will reorganize the pieces of information, and reconstruct the material to deliver it effectively.

While P is in somewhere with no water for a shower, I am doing my best to calculate how many sentences I need to write a screenplay. Brilliant.