Theme: Cursed Noun!*

It's Halloween and a cursed noun* has been activated. Your scrappy protag(s) have until midnight to save everyone. Will they succeed?

Genre: Halloween Horror (Thriller, Suspense, Comedy, etc) Rating: Adult, YA, Family
*A noun is a person, place or thing.

Scripts due to simplyScripts.com/owc on Friday October 21st at midnight edt

The Deets:
Write a properly formatted 10 page or less script on the theme provide.
It's an anonymous challenge. Do not put your name on the script. Provide a pseudonym on the title page as well as "copyright (c) 2022".
Each writer will be assigned between 5 to 10 scripts they must read (at a minimum) and vote on for "Writers' Choice". Writers are encouraged to read more and vote on more. Giving feedback to other writers on the discussion board is highly encouraged!
Schedule:

10/21/22 - midnight edt - scripts due

10/22/22 - midnight scripts posted for reading and reviewing

10/29/22 - Writers' Choices ballots due.

10/29/22 - guess who wrote what.

10/30/22 - midnight Who Wrote What and Writers' Choice announced

1st Draft finished!!!  

Thanks Don

PS  By Draft I mean my Guinness

Good one, Don. Thanks!

Awesome! Can someone tell me if my interpretation of the theme/guidelines is correct?

So basically the premise needs to be - "[protagonist/s] in a race against the clock before midnight to stop [scary thing]". Right?

Or do I need to be more literal - does there need to be an actual curse, or a wordplay with noun? Am I overinterpreting it?

Quoted from AlsoBen Awesome! Can someone tell me if my interpretation of the theme/guidelines is correct? So basically the premise needs to be - "[protagonist/s] in a race against the clock before midnight to stop [scary thing]". Right? Or do I need to be more literal - does there need to be an actual curse, or a wordplay with noun? Am I overinterpreting it?

This is a valid interpretation of the theme.

- Don

So a cursed noun could be the word "noun", and any time someone says the world "noun" on this thread, everyone will start to second guess every idea they have about how to interpret the word "noun" and then their heads will explode?

Am I reading this right?

Terrific idea!

Drag me to Hell was a great fun Horror movie.

I love that Don gave the definition of a Noun to a bunch of writers.  

That said, Jordan might be onto something.

Quoted from Nomad So a cursed noun could be the word "noun", and any time someone says the world "noun" on this thread, everyone will start to second guess every idea they have about how to interpret the word "noun" and then their heads will explode? Am I reading this right?

This is a valid interpretation of the cursed noun.

- Steve

Nice!

And am I right in thinking that the protags don't have to be the one(s) who activate the curse, just the ones to thwart it?

I think I got confused because...it could really ONLY be a noun, right?

Quoted from AlsoBen I think I got confused because...it could really ONLY be a noun, right?

I get you.

Quoted from Don Friday October 21th

Have a lisp there, Don?

Should be a lot of variety to this one.

Sean

Quoted from LC I love that Don gave the definition of a Noun to a bunch of writers.

That was most definitely for me.   And I'm very grateful!  

Oh... nice. I think I have an idea.
And I finally got my Final Draft back. Now it's just 10 new pages of some text between me and October 21st

I wanted to ask what's YA - and the first thought was short for yes, you know, like Swedish like to say "ya,ya".
But I googled and it's Young Adult. I'm ready to write now.

So is this like the chaos that ensues when King Arthur keeps saying the word "it" to the Knights who say "Ni?"

Hmmm... we're drawing a blank - will keep at it.

Quoted from ghost and_ghostie gal Hmmm... we're drawing a blank - will keep at it.

Yes, keep at it!
I think I've had one OWC entry that came to me on the day of announcement.
Sweet, but rare.

Quoted from Zombie Sean Have a lisp there, Don? ... Sean

  

Question, question!!

Can it be multiple cursed nouns?

Quoted from khamanna Question, question!! Can it be multiple cursed nouns?

That would be a twist. A curse within a curse would be allowed, also.

Don

Oh, a curse within a curse on multiple cursed nouns. Two or more nouns put a curse on each other and now everything everywhere is cursed. Until 12

Nice challenge. There should be a lot of good reads from this one.
Cindy

Quoted from Nomad So a cursed noun could be the word "noun", and any time someone says the world "noun" on this thread, everyone will start to second guess every idea they have about how to interpret the word "noun" and then their heads will explode? Am I reading this right?

Yes, the word, "noun" can be the curse, but the idea was one would replace "noun" with a "person, place or thing - like Freddy, Cloverfield, or a Monkey's Paw".

Quoted from AnthonyCawood Nice! And am I right in thinking that the protags don't have to be the one(s) who activate the curse, just the ones to thwart it?

The potag(s) do not have to activate the curse.

Quoted from Zombie Sean Have a lisp there, Don? Sean

Yeth

Quoted from khamanna Oh, a curse within a curse on multiple cursed nouns. Two or more nouns put a curse on each other and now everything everywhere is cursed. Until 12

Um...  Yes.

Quoted from Zombie Sean Have a lisp there, Don? Sean

Thank you for pointing out my mistakes.  It helps me learn.

- Don

Quoted from ghost and_ghostie gal Hmmm... we're drawing a blank - will keep at it.

I'm drawing blanks, too. Not really feeling inspired at the moment. And life has thrown a few things  my way: A noisy/ever-present/intrusive family (which alone makes it difficult for me to do anything), a printer whose paper gets caught in the roller, a Christmas list that's due November 1st for some reason, and a broken pair of cheap sunglasses. A writer/aspiring director's nightmare.

I'm watching the towel very closely.

Wow. Different problems for different people, I guess. I've got several ideas, but zero time.  

Quoted from ChrisBodily I'm drawing blanks, too. Not really feeling inspired at the moment. And life has thrown a few things  my way: A noisy/ever-present/intrusive family (which alone makes it difficult for me to do anything), a printer whose paper gets caught in the roller, a Christmas list that's due November 1st for some reason, and a broken pair of cheap sunglasses. A writer/aspiring director's nightmare. I'm watching the towel very closely.

Blank is a noun. Could drawing a blank be the very curse you are seeking?

Quoted from Grandma Bear Wow. Different problems for different people, I guess. I've got several ideas, but zero time.

Wow, back at you, Pia! Send me your brilliant ideas, I'll write one of them and then give you the 'story by' credit at the end of the OWC.

Then it'll get produced as a Short and go on to make a mint when we develop the Feature length version.  

Quoted from Don Thank you for pointing out my mistakes.  It helps me learn. - Don

Aww why'd you fix it? I thought it was cute.

Sean

Dam, I was so confident on Friday, and now it's Monday, and I'm drawing a huge blank.

Quoted from irish eyes Dam, I was so confident on Friday, and now it's Monday, and I'm drawing a huge blank.

Same. Nothing coming at all so far. Still early.

Quoted from SAC Same. Nothing coming at all so far. Still early.

There is a cursed thing. Or person. Or place.  The curse is bad. Real bad. Someone tries to lift the curse. Things get better or worse.

It practically writes itself, Steve.

- Don

Quoted from Don Thank you for pointing out my mistakes.  It helps me learn. - Don

Not as bad as the social media platform I tried coding; a messaging site dedicated to hard-core Christian Bible Thumpers who shamelessly harbour a speech impediment… FaithBook.


Sounds like a fun challenge, but I’ve decided to put myself under pressure this month by hosting a Halloween Party this Saturday and I’m building props n’ shit all the live long day, been at it since mid September…! there’s never enough lights and ghouls, no matter how many I put up, lol.

I’ll definitely read some next week. Curious what y’all come up with.

Anyway, thought I’d throw some crazy into the ring , err… inspiration, for those participating in this OWC. About 15 pages of lunacy that actually does have an ending, albeit dumbass, but an ending none the less.

The Cursed Typewriter

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ydso20ihgnqg2qe/The%20Cursed%20Typewriter.pdf?dl=0

Rick:

Well, I sure am impressed with how you got the blood spatter on the page.

Very creepy.

Quoted from LC Rick: Well, I sure am impressed with how you got the blood spatter on the page. Very creepy.

Thanks, glad you got a kick out of it  

I’ll never tell the secret to the blood-stained page, never!

OK, I’ll tell you, lol. Quite simple actually. The difficult part is finding an image that looks like real blood splatter, as opposed to a cartoon style clip-art. Once that’s done you’re all set.

I used MS Word to create the document, it allows you to insert images as the page background, like a watermark, then just parse (save as) the document to a PDF.

Quoted from Gum The Cursed Typewriter https://www.dropbox.com/s/ydso20ihgnqg2qe/The%20Cursed%20Typewriter.pdf?dl=0

Eh what? Woah.

Ha! I liked it! Loved the idea of a cursed typewriter and The Shining. It also reminded me of a GIF where a writer types furiously until his fingers are just bloody stumps.  

What about...a cursed dictionary. Whenever anybody reads a noun from it, they sacrifice their place in "writer's choice" on the Halloween OWC. In order to break the curse, they have to read at least ten other submissions.

Quoted from Grandma Bear Ha! I liked it! Loved the idea of a cursed typewriter and The Shining. It also reminded me of a GIF where a writer types furiously until his fingers are just bloody stumps.

Thanks! I thought there might be a few ‘King’ or ‘Shining’ fans on here that would get a kick out of this.  

I'm trying, but blank over here.

EDIT & UPDATE - I may have something. lol

Just thought I'd include a reminder (cause I went back to look) that Don has very kindly made the requirements as broad as possible.

Genre: Halloween Horror (Thriller, Suspense, Comedy, etc) Rating: Adult, YA, Family etc..
Comedy and Family included.
And etc
Etcetera pretty much covers anything.  

Submitted. I'm in. Whew. I know it's chock-full of errors, but started late.

Quoted from Robert Timsah Submitted. I'm in. Whew. I know it's chock-full of errors, but started late.

Started late...HA! I've three hours blocked out tomorrow to come up with an idea, write a draft, and revise. I'd say you're GOLDEN!

I'm with you John, tomorrow night, write till my fingers bleed and then keep the bloody stumps crossed!

Quoted from JEStaats Started late...HA! I've three hours blocked out tomorrow to come up with an idea, write a draft, and revise. I'd say you're GOLDEN!

must be a pantser

Quoted from Robert Timsah must be a pantser

If all the writers who work that way submitted in the last hour, would that be called a..."Pantser Blitz?"

Quoted from Robert Timsah Submitted. I'm in. Whew. I know it's chock-full of errors, but started late.

You have time. Fix the errors and resubmit.

I started at 6PM and wrote "something" by midnight. I never want to look at it again.

Quoted from steven8 If all the writers who work that way submitted in the last hour, would that be called a..."Pantser Blitz?"

The Pantser Blitz, I like that. May use that down the road for a short.

Submitted.

I have four pages, but one of my Swedish friends wants to go out for a beer, sooo...

Quoted from Grandma Bear I have four pages, but one of my Swedish friends wants to go out for a beer, sooo...

I think you're more than capable of juggling both, Pia.
Maybe even two.  

...
If anyone has a brilliant idea but is lacking in daylight hours to get it done - tis morning here, and I have six hours up my sleeve to collaborate. PM me if you do.

Quoted from Robert Timsah The Pantser Blitz, I like that. May use that down the road for a short.

Go for it!  

I've entered my OWC.

Back home, but not enough time left to punch out six more pages.

Oh it’s my managers bday and the whole group went to celebrate so I strung along… not that it wasn’t fun but I couldn’t finish the script.
I had 4 pages too! Just like Pia. Too bad half work is not possible

Not a lot of entries, folks.  So, maybe go with that second idea. Knock it out.  See what happens.

- Don

Quoted from Grandma Bear Back home, but not enough time left to punch out six more pages.

There is no minimum page length.

- Don

C'mon! folks. You can do it.

TFW I submit for the first time in 3 years and no one else does

Quoted from Don There is no minimum page length. - Don

True. But ideally, there needs to be a complete story.

Didn't stop them with the new Halloween movie Pia

Quoted from AnthonyCawood Didn't stop them with the new Halloween movie Pia

I'd argue the new Halloween movie had too much story.  

Lol, Zack, I'd argue it had lot of story from more than one movie, and too much of it not from a Halloween one

Quoted from AnthonyCawood Lol, Zack, I'd argue it had lot of story from more than one movie, and too much of it not from a Halloween one

Well, I'D argue that... ugh... Michael... I've got nothing. Still liked it a lot.  

Story always kills a good slasher flick.

Add another few days lol

Quoted from SAC Story always kills a good slasher flick.

I hope not!  

Well, that said it’s a lonely day here at work and patiently awaiting the scripts! Hopes are always up at this time. It’s like the beginning of Spring Training in baseball. Every team is in first place. We’re all equal. And then reality sets in…

Quoted from Zack Well, I'D argue that... ugh... Michael... I've got nothing. Still liked it a lot.

tsk, tsk

15 scripts is a pretty decent return!

Agree Colin, decent and up from the last challenge too...