September 2011
20 posts
3 tags
And now a perspective from a NaSkeWriMo Slacker
Hi guys! Guess who’s only written 2 sketches for NaSkeWriMo. IT’S ME! I wrote my first sketch mid-month, and quickly followed it up the next day with my second. And then I stopped! In August, I had big plans to get my shit together and follow the mission of NaSkeWriMo - a sketch a day! Then I went on vacation during the first week of September. And then I came back. And then NOTHING...
naskewriday
willstorie:
today, Naskewrimo becomes Naskewriday. I’m gonna try to go from zero sketches to 30 by 7 pm.
I’ll either post all of them (or maybe just highlights) directly to this site. Here we go!
Go Will Storie, go!
Homestretch!
Hey writers,
As we come into the homestretch of NaSkeWriMo, just thought we’d check in with some cool opportunities.
You can do sketches at UCBNY (Chelsea) THIS FRIDAY. Or any Friday, at Liquid Courage. Come with sketches prepared and you can perform at this open mic. Show starts at midnight, is free, details: http://newyork.ucbtheatre.com/shows/view/518
There’s also going to be a...
A Quick Rule
Write a meta sketch because you have a really good meta idea. Not because you’ve run out of good non-meta ideas.
If it’s 2am and you’ve decided that the conversation you just had in the writers’ room is funny in and of itself, now’s a good time to take a break.
Exposition is ammunition
…is a phrase that applies to all narrative forms. The idea is that we never want to waste our audience’s time with flat exposition. In plays, we don’t want a narrator telling us about events we don’t see; in stories, we don’t want lengthy paragraphs without action; in sketches, we don’t want you to lay out your premise without playing it.
It is, in other words,...
Why are we doing this?
When I started caring about justification, everything I wrote got weighty. If I couldn’t come up with a genius justification, then everything was cancer or dead parents. “Why are you painting your body?” “My mom just died, she would have wanted this.” “Why are you on a date with this walrus?” “I have cancer, I want to try new things.” I...
Managing the crazy
Things tend to get weird in sketch. We all love blackout lines—“It’s not if your dog can salsa dance, it’s if you can train him to salsa dance.” “That’s what we get for vacationing in hell!” “I’m pretty sure all dentists comb their patients’ hair, so don’t be weird.” All good fun, but boring and gimmicky without...
How to Start a Sketch, Part II, Lists
Lists are very similar to free writing, but a little more focused. You give yourself a question or category and then as quickly as possible you write a list of answers. Here is a list of categories you could use to generate lists:
Everyday locations
Things that people do that seem strange to you
Examples of everyday hypocrisy
Characters that you are well suited to play
Characters that you are...
4 tags
Improv Obsession: Not Improv: Reasons to Write... →
improvobsession:
Today I’m sticking with my theme of writing articles when people don’t need them (Like my ways to generate with ideas for sketches on the first day of NaSkeWriMo (you were out of ideas on the first day? Jeesh what’s wrong with you? (Probably nothing, I’m sorry))).
When I first heard September…
“For me, writer’s block isn’t so much, “Oh, nothing’s coming out.” It’s more...”
– Annie Clark, chatting about writer’s block with Amanda Petrusich at Pitchfork. (via shortbreadsh)
Not EXACTLY sketch related, but... →
Will Hines is killing it over at improvnonsense. I think some of the same concepts apply to sketch.
Motivation
It’s day five, and I’m writing this instead of a sketch because I’m behind a day and I have many, many more interesting things to do. I’m willing to bet that you feel this way too, or at least you will at some point in the next 25 days.
So the question is, how do we stay motivated?
We want to write sketches. We bother with this month, this thing we made up, because if...
John August: Writing faster →
Shoutout on Splitsider →
Thanks, Halle!
8 tags
Improv Obsession: Not Improv: 5 Ways to Generate... →
improvobsession:
Last year, I weirdly decided to make my own type of NaSkeWriMo. The goal I had for myself was to write 20 sketches, in a week. The thing I found hard in that week wasn’t actually writing, or coming up with beats of a sketch or finding the time. The thing I found hard was actually coming up…
…with what? You’ll have to click through to find out!
“So apparently it’s National Sketch Writing month, according to a website...”
– P is for Pterodactyl: 30 Sketches in 30 days: #1—“Boring Apocalypse”
Writing in Chicago? Say Hello! →
If you’re participating in NaSkeWriMo this year and live in the Chicago area, click through and say hello! We usually try to have an end-of-month sketch reading/party in New York; if there’s enough interest we might have one in Chicago, too.
Liquid Courage at UCB! →
Hey writers, the ink of your first sketch of the month isn’t even dry* and we’ve already got an awesome opportunity for you!
Onassis, Maude team at the UCB Theatre and winners of FRISC, are hosting LIQUID COURAGE, a sketch open mic midnights on Fridays throughout the month. Everyone is welcome to perform, first come first serve. For those of you in NYC, this is a great opportunity to...
Advice for the day: Dare to be boring
The intimidating thing about a blank page, in my opinion, is that once it’s filled it becomes real. We can’t dream of the amazing sketch we could write once we’ve actually written it. Once it becomes real, we have to come to terms with it’s errors and malformations. It isn’t as hilarious and perfect as we had dreamed.
I got over this fear of imperfection with one...