Week Three. Sunday Check-In.

I have a lot of writing to do this week.

GIMME AN R

GIMME AN H

GIMME A BREAK FROM MY LOVING FAMILY

GIMME TIME OFF WORK OR AT WORK WHEN NO ONE'S LOOKING

GIMME COFFEE, LOTS OF COFFEE

GIMME PRIVACY AND QUIET AND LATE NIGHTS UNDER MOONLIGHT

GIMME INSPIRATION

GIMME ...JUST... A....FEW....MORE...WORDS!!!!!!

go RHINOS!

Absolutely. In !

I am so sorry about your loss...

Thanks for following your muse !!!

I think that's great advice Iggy !

Yes, I agree. I don't want to disallow them ! Maybe I'll make it 50 pages for solo shows. Then people can do whatever they want of course...

Go Rhino, GO !!!!

 It would be a shame to disallow solo shows from Naplwrimo.  I think I'd go along with the 55pg suggestion.  It's a difficult situation.  Plays are such strange animals, never quite adhering to any rules or boxes or categories...  Hard, man.  Hard.

I'm just gonna keep on writing 'til the end!

I'd say you're in!

I am still alive, still here, and nearly there! Tomorrow I shall be victorious, I feel it in my bones. I shall also be bloody tired, as it's nearly one am. C'est la vie.

you're following the muse, aren't you?

that seems within the spirit, if not the letter of the law.

honor your kin.

make some art in their name.

cleyva observes that 75pp of monologue actually results in 180-240 mins. of material once performed - well in excess of the 60-90 second mark that the scriptwriting format is supposed to achieve.

a simple hack is to doublespace all monologues that are half-a-page or longer, rather than reducing the page minimum.

Your actor(s) will be thankful of the visual 'breathing room' when reading dense material -

And the writer will have a close benchmark to the arbitrary 75 page minimum shared by other writers.

The only drawback i can see is wasted paper. Try double-sided printing to compensate?

If a page of the average play is about a minute to a minute and a half, and if a solo play - even with stage directions - probably tops out at about 60 minutes - at least the one's I've seen - why not say that a solo play is a winner if it gets to 55 pages or so?

Just throwing out the idea.

Limited Access to Internet + Stage Managing a production of "Othello"= a second belated Sunday Check-in. I can now officially declare myself a Rhino Rebel because the play I had originally started writing on Nov.1st I have put by the wayside and returned to an older piece, inspired by and telling a family history, mine in fact. It's play of mine that I have re-fallen in love with, and one that I have great drive now than ever to finish. Because it is the story of my great grandfather's life, because his daughter, my grandmother passed away this past Saturday evening. Because I already miss her desperately, she and I were very close. I feel the intense need and drive now to finish it and Naplwrimo is just the place for it.

Am I still in? Page count of new play: 36.

It would be difficult to put an arbitrary cap on a solo show because if it's like Dorothy's with lots of movement instructions which I venture to say would be performed much more quickly than their space on the page would indicate, I'd say hers might go on for more pages than a solo show of equal length that's mostly dialogue with far less stage direction.

Having said that, I suggest 40.

I've been thinking about this a lot. Because I am realizing the same thing about my solo show. I think the key is going to change the page number requirement for solo shows probably... or dissalow solo shows from Naplwrimo. But I don't really want to.

What do you think is a reasonable and challenging page number for a solo show ?

If you're done, then you're done and you win I say !!!

My dear admin rhino,

What if a script is mostly monologue, which changes the format/time as you must know.  At the rate I'm going, if I were to make it 75 pages it would be a 3 or 4 hour play!  What think you on this? 

but no excuses.

Page 8, things going slow, work taking most time. Writing as we speak, shooting for page 20 and a blog update when that number hits.

I wrote ten pages on Sunday and the one hour I had this morning (Monday).

I had to make some rules for myself. Little games to keep the play moving on and to get around my attitude about the structure and desire to make it a durational piece- 6 hours long.

1. write the play in one minute.

2. write the play in ten minutes.

3. Push this ninety-minute structure to the point of failure.

4. Expose the artificiality of trying to tell a life story in 90 minutes.

5. Start over and over and over and over and over and over and so on.

It seems to be working.

Good news that your computer is still under warrenty...that is a surprise. Things usually wait to break until the day after the warrenty expires.

Made no progress whatsoever last week. Still on page 26. I wasn't able to get any writing done at work (and I counted on getting a lot done there) and none at home, because my daughter was recovering from her surgery by sleeping on the couch and so, staying up really late or getting up really early would have been very bad parenting.

My son, his wife & their babies...2 kids under 2...arrived late Saturday night, from very far away (2 day drive) and they will leave Friday, so any time I have at home I have to spend with them...and they don't "get" the whole point of writing a play, when the kids want TO play.

Since they leave on Friday, I'm planning to blow off my "decorate for Christmas" routine and get some serious writing done.

or...I'll have to lose the November challenge. Either way, I have NO plans to abandon my play. I'll finish it in time...or late, but I WILL finish it. This month was just way too busy. Other months aren't so packed with "have to do" events.

Rock ! Wish we could have seen more of you , but glad you're still with us ~!

Now , now... it is not in the rules that it has to be good.

You're right on track, sir, right on track.

oh man... you've had a month !

Take good care of yourself and I hope you feel better soon !

I love that you still haven't given up... strong spirit you have !

Seriously had bronchitis, as near as I could tell from WebMD. No cough, no sinus or nasal pressure, no throat problem, it was all in my chest and very heavy. Took all my breath to get out word-like audible sounds. My supervisor at the call center says I don't sound that bad, but five minutes on the phone is not equal to five hours on the phone. I just don't think I can get that much breath out. Plus, a guy is coming Tuesday to fix my lap top (which mysteriously is under warranty still after 4 years) so that will get me back in the game.

Can I still win? Not sure and as much as I'm happy to be as far with Brigid as I am with the first play of the trilogy, The Feast of Jovi Bono, my heart was with Jovi on November 1 and remains with her now. But it's been fun. I'm going to try to be around, now that I can sit up for longer periods, to encourage other racers.

Inching along. I'm gonna win though. I have it in my sights. This is the week. Because it's the only week.  

Checking in just under the wire here, as it's 11:45 pm here in Boston. I'm on page 71, so I should get to 75 by tomorrow or Tuesday, depending on how much time I have tomorrow. I'm hoping to use the rest of the month to tweak a few things that I know are really particularly bad before uploading anything, but I'm not sure if I'll have time to do that or not between Thanksgiving and the reading I have to get done to prepare for my class presentation/paper. I might just have to upload it in whatever mess of a condition it's in once I finish.

Struggling. I think I'll have a 70 page script, but I think this will be one to "Frankenstein" from later on. It has some interesting parts, but there's no "whole."

I have my playwriting students writing a festival of bad plays. This may have to go in there ;)

Keep on keepin' on!

Best from the bayou,

JpB

I am totally not there. I have to confess. I have about 20 pages. Time that I have stolen here and there from grad school. I am not giving up of course, no , never !!!

I am planning on writing a lot over thanksgiving break...  :)

53 pages so far for me this month.

and that's all i have to say. i'm not going to whine about how terrible it is. ;-)

Hi everyone,

I am at page 45, half -way through writing "American Home." I actually had a reading on Friday night to hear it out loud and how it's going and.... it's going well. I'm very excited about this. I have a lot to write, but I am determined to make the deadline. Onward!

Stephanie Alison Walker

I'm at 61 pages and it seems like the whole play is sort of there.  Kind of.  Maybe.  If you squint at it real hard and turn your head sideways, there's a play in there somewhere.  I am going to make it to 75 pages.  There are huge gaping holes throughout the thing so that's what I'm going to be spending the last week doing - putting some flesh on the skeleton. 

We're nearly there Rhinos.  Put on your sprinting shoes and head towards the finish line. 

 I am at 43 pages.... If I make myself do five pages a day, I will finish! 

I am determined to finish this play!!! Even if it feels like gibberish, I WILL reach page 75. 

and it's like "the Killing of Sister George", because my poor brain dead friend will not be saved and must have her plug pulled, argh.

Who knew it would be so difficult to yank the cord on a fictional character who we never see anyway?

Here is an idea... A few of you are from NY. Get a group together and write all night between now and the 30th !