Scripts for screenplays are formatted for dialogue. Depending on the author, there are minimal stage directions and details. So how do you make sure that everything else that needs to be conveyed is hidden between the lines? As with all writing, not easily.

I've participated in every Script Frenzy event since its inception. It's an annual month-long challenge to write 100 pages worth of script within 30 days. I have yet to succeed in this challenge, though. Why? Because script writing is damned hard, that's why. There's a set format that's completely different to my standard short story, novel, or even blog formats.

I'm not a big fan of repetition (when it comes to non-novel writing, anyway – novels, all bets are off as to what I'll toss in there), so having to detail each character's name every single time the POV changes – yeah, I don't last very long. And yet I can't help but try every year. There's something about writing a script (or attempting to write one, anyway) that unlocks a different part of my brain. It's a dusty little crawlspace of a room, full of lost plot bits and carnivorous dust bunnies.

It's a part of the brain where I don't have to detail every bit of scenery and description to my plot. I can leave a lot of it open to interpretation, either for the actor reading it or for the watcher experiencing the final product.

Specific details like character appearance, costume, and overall appearance is usually one of those "leave it to the imagination" details left out of the script. And why? Because there are only so many actors and actresses out there that can fill the various character roles you create. Don't make it nigh impossible to find a 5'11" redhead, with a mole on her right cheek and two different colored eyes, that limps.

It may make for an interesting character on paper, but on a stage, a lot of that will not come across to the viewer. If it's for the silver screen, you have a bit more leeway with makeup and camera angles, though. (Just look at Gimli in Lord of the Rings. The actor may be tall, but the character is tiny and adorable...just don't tell Gimli that; he's likely to chop me in half with his axe. And that's not a euphemism for anything. He would chop me off at the legs, then probably have some malt beer over my corpse.)

It's doubly hard for me as I tend to picture my characters in my mind, visualizing their features, clothing, and even facial expressions. That's not easy to transcribe into a script. If I were to be the producer or director, yeah, sure, I could make my imagination known to the actors, but otherwise a lot is going to get lost in translation. And that is sad because my imagination is a very entertaining place. Keeps me from being bored, anyway.

How do you manage to write scripts, whether it's for Script Frenzy, other competitions, or in the hopes of getting it put on stage? Do you find it easier to leave a lot of your personal interpretations of characters description and scenery open to interpretation and left between the lines? If you're like me and have trouble with such things, how do you manage?