This isn't the name of a script or movie, but wouldn't it be cool if it was?  I sense a OWC coming up!

Janet introduced me to this phrase today.  It refers to the first draft of a script where you just put it all out there.  Don't worry about page count  or whether you think it's important or anything like that.  Just write and keep writing until you finish your story.  

One of my features was 180 pages long in it's first draft.  After four or five revisions, I got it down to something acceptable.


Phil

@dogglebe

Yes, it's like you said, your first draft, more like a rough draft. no re-writes, no nothing.

I'm a little surprised by this--?

Ghost

With the exception of minor changes in previous pages, I don't go back and look at things until I'm done with the first draft.  Sure, second draft is a PITA but it beats constantly going back and making changes.

Wait until you're done.


Phil

Janet and I were jawing about those recently too.
It's something I heard from another writer I'm collaborating with.

I like the term. Good shorthand in conversation.
It aptly describes that first thing that shoots out of your brain onto the page.

E.D.

I teach this in my beginners classes. It's a great term, the perfect term. Just get the words on the page, dump them and don't look back. Fix it all in the rewrite. But it only works if you have a solid treatment to work from, otherwise you end up spinning your wheels trying to make decisions you should have made before you started writing the script.

This is why I like writing by hand ( though my current script I'm doing directly onto an IPad app called Scripts Pro) - I write a few pages by hand then copy onto the computer, say, a week later.

Then, as I'm copying, I can revise as I go, think of new stuff,etc. It seems like double handling but means I don't have to do hardly any rewriting or numerous drafts.

This mightn't work for everyone but it works for me. And it can keep the story fresh and you don't get sick of returning to it

Thought this was about late Friday night writing - we've all been there.

@stevie - you should try Final draft for IPad -  it's great.

Quoted from Reef Dreamer Thought this was about late Friday night writing - we've all been there. @stevie - you should try Final draft for IPad -  it's great.

Isn't it like, 40 bucks?  I guess it would be good tough. But my one is doing the job. It was crap a few months back but they did an update. It exports to Dropbox then I can import the file onto my Sophocles software on the computer and I'm away.

Quoted from dogglebe This isn't the name of a script or movie, but wouldn't it be cool if it was?  I sense a OWC coming up!

So the next OWC is going to be about vomit?

Quoted from stevie Isn't it like, 40 bucks?  I guess it would be good tough. But my one is doing the job. It was crap a few months back but they did an update. It exports to Dropbox then I can import the file onto my Sophocles software on the computer and I'm away.

Well it cost me circa £25, but it's a cheap way of getting FD, IMO - I had script pro,and screenplay  and ithey drove me mad, probably better now. Just say FD iPad  is good. Also exports in PDF now which it didn't at the beginning.

Quoted from mcornetto So the next OWC is going to be about vomit?

Be spewin' if it isn't...

Quoted from Reef Dreamer Well it cost me circa �25, but it's a cheap way of getting FD, IMO - I had script pro,and screenplay  and ithey drove me mad, probably better now. Just say FD iPad  is good. Also exports in PDF now which it didn't at the beginning.

I'll check it out. Scripts Pro exports PDF too. No prob with it. Ok, the FD app will have more bells and whistle options but SP is doing it nicely for me.
Ok, the FD app is $52 here which is sorta out of my budget, lol

Oh, and I haven't said this for a couple of days so...

NINERS ALL DA WAY, BABY!!!

I do this, but then go back and rewrite each act before going onto the second one. Means that when I finally do finish the 'first draft', it's not a million miles away from where it needs to be in terms of structure or length, thus making the next rewrites not too arduous as a task.

Toby.

"Vomit Draft": to open the car window for a rush of fresh air so your 6 year old daughter in the back seat doesn't vomit.

I'm so glad I'm not a parent...    (Though, do German Shepherd that get car sick count?)  

I just finished the first draft of a supernatural thriller.  The first draft of the first draft was 125 pages long (my shortest first draft with feature scripts).  After going back and tightening things (no real changes), the first draft is now 112 pages.  I'm hoping to cut another five or ten pages from it with more serious revisions.


Phil

I've kinda changed my approach on the page length as of my last couple of scripts and there are advantages and disadvantage to my new approach.

I used to throw it out there, page count be dammed and then start cutting fat.

I now (as I write) go back every 20 pages, and trim what I can as I go. It's a much slower process but it forces me to revisit each scene over again and ask - does it really push the script forward?

If not, it gets chopped.

When I'm done, I still have a fat script but I don't have to go back with a meat cleaver to trim it.

Shawn.....><

Quoted from Grandma Bear It takes a lot of courage and trust to send your VD to anyone of your friends.

Ummm.... er...

damn.

Quoted from Grandma Bear My vomit drafts are exactly that. Just like the real thing. It stinks and it's often gross. It takes a lot of courage and trust to send your VD to anyone of your friends. Just like you don't call attention to your vomit either...if you've thrown up that is.

Yeah, you're always apologizing for the thing twenty times before you even send it.
Like Phil, I trim the heck out of the protein spill before anyone sees it.

Clone Wife, for instance, vomited out at 122 pages.
I sliced out a dozen pages before anyone saw it.
Not story or scenes. just being more precise with my storytelling.
Subsequent drafts ranged from 95 to 111 pages.

E.D.

With me, a scene tends to go through two-three iterations before it even reaches the status of "First Draft".

It usually goes something like this:

Sketching out a hand-written "vomit draft" while on the subway.  (It's a great way to pass the time, and ensures me a minimum two hours per day of writing.)  Then refining and retyping it into Final Draft when I get home.  

Alternatively - when I have access to it - I may actually write the scene in MS Word first.  Then it gets cut and pasted into Final Draft, and re-typed line by line.

Then - once I've done a few scenes - I tend to go back and chisel a bit before moving on...

Mind you, that's all done with an outline already in place.

Leads to a really quick and semi-clean first draft, written with "vomit draft" speed. Though very, very, very far from the finished product!

Quoted from Grandma Bear I'll send my VD to Screenplay Readers then.

ewwww


Phil

Quoted from Grandma Bear My vomit drafts are exactly that. Just like the real thing. It stinks and it's often gross. It takes a lot of courage and trust to send your VD to anyone of your friends. Just like you don't call attention to your vomit either...if you've thrown up that is.

I feel kinda self conscious having you read my VD right about now.  

Shawn.....><

We post our vomit drafts here on 7WC. Then we collectively vomit more vomit on them creating a big valuable stink!
As an author I always appreciate some vomit on my vomit.

Doesn't anyone here use the corkboard and index cards? I just hung one up. It has three pieces of masking tape on it equally spaced. Act One, Two, and Three.

I've never tried this before. My first feature was a logic disaster. So far I've got three darts stuck in it, but I'm becoming better at dart tossing.

James

Quoted from jwent6688 Doesn't anyone here use the corkboard and index cards? James

        

White board and EXPO pens for me...

Problem is...

I worked on COSMIC JUSTICE so long, the ink won't come off.

Shawn.....><

I have been using an app on my Ipad called Index Cards, which allows you to type out scenes and notes on virtual index cards and then easily move those cards around.  The best part was that it only cost like 99 cents and I can store as many projects on it as I want (if I were prolific, which I'm not).

I wish I could write a vomit draft.  I seem to suffer from a disorder that compels me to edit a scene to death before I move to another scene.  Consequently, I am the world's slowest writer.  But when I finally finish this feature...look out!

Quoted from khamanna ...I always appreciate some vomit on my vomit.

I couldn't help but to picture, Chunk, telling "everything" to the Fratellis.

I can't do a vomit draft.  I need the structure of an outline to make sure I even have a story worth telling.

I may have a few cool scenes in my head, but I don't want to waste time trying to vomit out a feature based on those scenes, only to find out that I have no story.

Jordan

I have the story in my head before I start writing.  I usually don't follow it that closely, but it's there.


Phil

Mmmmm...

A story, eh?

In 2013, the acid reflux war raged on…

In an attempt to gain control, Captain Larynx enacted the vomit draft

Unwitting young bits of food were thrown up to the front lines

Where they ultimately were met with projectiles…

Sounds like a good little tale.

Shawn…..><

I do have to ask those who specialize in the "vomit draft":  is this writing like stream of consciousness writing where you're just putting down whatever comes into your head while writing, or do you already have a several ideas and a pretty good road map for your story and you're just writing it all on the computer without even bothering to review it?

Also curious under either system how many pages on average you're cranking out a day if you're working on a feature.

I know where my story is going when I start writing.  Of course, things change.  In one of my features, Santa, Inc., one of the elves, Kenmore, was meant to be a minor character; he ended up being one of the major characters.


Phil

Quoted from Nomad I can't do a vomit draft.  I need the structure of an outline to make sure I even have a story worth telling.

I outline too, but the glitches in it start showing when I move to the actual script and write it out. Then I usually move things around and make lots of changes. So, my drafts totally qualify for "vomit draft"!

Quoted from Gary in Houston I wish I could write a vomit draft.  I seem to suffer from a disorder that compels me to edit a scene to death before I move to another scene.  Consequently, I am the world's slowest writer.  But when I finally finish this feature...look out!

I share this same affliction, Gary. It's something I'm trying to change.

The worst part is that the scenes I've done to death are still rubbish.

My vomit drafts are usually pages and pages of dialogue/rants/monologues of potential characters. This helps me get into a character's head as they comment about the day, current events, the Super Bowl, etc. Also, this is a way of meeting my writing goal for the day. This is very liberating.

When I've found "it" (voice, cool characters I wanna hang with for the next 3-6 months), it's on to outlining and then the real vomit draft with plot and dialogue...

My vomit draft is a little different. Usually, before writing a feature, I make sure I know everything about my story. When I do, I start outlining it scene by scene and in the end, can easily edit out information that I don't need. Sometimes my outlines even take longer than the script itself!

So when I finish my vomit draft, I usually have a couple of good scenes but dozens of bad ones. I almost always go back and check my scene before writing another - just to see if it makes sense or not.