Thoughts on writing from a great Writer

Russell T Davies, when asked about how he writes the different companions on Doctor Who:


"That's tricky. I don't type 'DONNA' and then think, now, how would she say this...? The fact that I've typed 'DONNA' means that she already has something to say. You can worry too much about speech patterns, about imposing different styles on the words, one for Rose, one for Donna, one for Martha, one for Sarah Jane. They're all women, on the side of good, in a sci-fi world, so their speeches aren't going to be radically different. It's not so much what they say, as why they say it and when.

"But I suppose there's a basic characteristic that I bear in mind. An essence. Rose is open, honest, heartfelt, to the point of being selfish, wonderfully selfish. Martha is clever, calm, but rarely says what she's really thinking. Donna is blunt, precise, unfiltered, but with a big heart beneath all the banter. But we come back to what I was saying ages ago about 'turning' characters. If Rose can be selfish, then her finest moments will come when she's selfless. If Martha keeps quiet, then her moments of revelation - like her goodbye to the Doctor in Last of the Time Lords, or stuck with Milo and Cheen in Gridlock - make her fly. Donna is magnificently self-centered - not selfish, but she pivots everything around herself, as we all do - so when she opens up and hears the Ood song, or begs for Caecilius' family to be saved, then she's wonderful."

- from "The Writer's Tale", http://www.thewriterstale.com/

Ender's Game - a deeper look

“As a species, we have evolved to survive. And the way we do it is by straining and straining and, at last, every few generations, giving birth to genius. The one who invents the wheel. And light. And flight. The one who builds a city, a nation, an empire.... Human beings are free except when humanity needs them. Maybe humanity needs you. To do something.”
- Col. Graff to Ender on his first day of battle school.

I was 12 years old when I first read Ender's Game. When I finished, I felt like I had lived a whole other life, that I had been Ender Wiggin, or at least lived with him. I was only a child, but so was he, and I connected very deeply with what I read. It was breathtaking. Then I read it again. I absolutely loved that book, and I still find it impossible to put down once I start. But even after many times through, I am still realizing the fullness and richness of the tapestry woven by Orson Scott Card.

To set the stage, The book takes place in the near future. Aliens, nick-named "buggers" because of their insectoid appearance, have invaded earth and were barely defeated by Earth's infantile space fleet. Now Earth's governments have begun monitoring children to find the smartest and the best, so that they can train them to become commanders, and be prepared to fight the buggers when the next imminent invasion comes. They do so by placing them in a battle school, an orbital facility where the children are put into teams and play strategy games in zero gravity battle simulations. Ender is the best at these games.
(SPOILERS AHEAD - I am warning you now, if you haven't read the book before, go and do so, and then come back to finish reading this)

"I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one."

First of all, I think it's important to denote Ender as a superhero. His "super power" is his intelligence. He is a genius. The smartest kid in the world. Because of this power, he is chosen to be Earth's savior before he even knows it.

“I have to win this now, and for all time, or I’ll fight it every day and it will get worse and worse.”
- Ender

This is the problem that Ender faces over and over again. He ends up in a place where he can't back out. He has to use his power to win, or he will be destroyed. Sometimes figuratively, but sometimes literally. Probably the most important question for a superhero is: How does he use his super power? And part of what makes Ender a hero and not a villain is that he tries to use his power for virtue, not for selfishness. And some of the time, he doesn't even realize the full extent to which he uses his power over people. Like when his fellow student Bonzo Madrid challenges him and tries to kill him - Ender is only doing what he can to escape the situation alive, and to keep away any repercussions from other enemies at school. When he finds out he killed Bonzo, it destroys him emotionally.

“This was supposed to be a game. Not a choice between my own grisly death and an even worse murder. I’m a murderer, even when I play. Peter would be proud of me.”

One thing that I have only recently realized is that Ender's Game is a myth. It follows the conventions of mythological heroes as examined by Joseph Campbell, whose studies were inspirational to George Lucas in making Star Wars. 1) A miraculous birth - By law, parents are only allowed two children to avert overpopulation, yet Ender is born because of a special government decree. 2) A calling - Ender is called to save the world before he even knows it. 3) Ender is separated from his world, his family, everything he knows, and is taken away to be trained. Then he undergoes a series of trials and quests, which 'purify' him. 4) His training strips everything from him until he is practically dead, and must "descend into the underworld" - going back to earth, where he regains his purpose from his sister Valentine. 5) He rises again, back into space, where he must make his final confrontation with his enemy.

“In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them- ...I destroy them. I make it impossible for them to ever hurt me again. I grind them and grind them until they don’t exist.”

Another interesting perspective is the way the characters shed light onto the human soul. As Plato might see it: Ender is the intellect, Valentine is the heart, and Peter is the appetite or the desire. Ender sees both of his siblings within him, and this both comforts him and terrifies him.

“I know what you’re thinking, you bastard, you’re thinking that I’m wrong, that Ender’s like Peter. Well maybe I’m like Peter, but Ender isn’t, he isn’t at all, I used to tell him that when he cried, I told him that lots of times, you’re not like Peter, you never like to hurt people, you’re kind and good and not like Peter at all!”
- Valentine to Col. Graff

...And what would a hero be without a sidekick? Bean is one of my favorite characters ever, and it's hard to call him a sidekick, because he has a whole spinoff series devoted to him. ...But for this book, that is the role he plays, and to the extent that he helps Ender, and makes up for Ender's weaknesses, his role is extremely pivotal indeed.

"There is no teacher but the enemy. No one but the enemy will tell you what the enemy is going to do. ...I am your enemy from now on. From now on I am your teacher."
- Mazer Rackham

Finally, we have the mentor. ...And he's presented in such a way that I've never seen elsewhere. His stance and attitude are exactly what Ender needs - but not what he wants. Even when he has succeeded at battle school, Ender can never escape his enemies, or his calling. But the tragic part is that he hates what it is they are making him into. And as a reader, you are glad of it, because it means Ender is still human after all.

"Well, I'm your man. I'm the bloody bastard you wanted when you had me spawned. I'm your tool, and what difference does it make if I hate the part of me that you most need? What difference does it make that when the little serpents killed me in the game, I agreed with them, and was glad."
- Ender Wiggin to Mazer and Graff

There is so much more to unpack, but in the interest of keeping this blog post from becoming a novel in itself, I am going to end here. Needless to say, if a huge cigar-chomping studio exec ever offered me a bajillion dollars to adapt any book I wanted into a movie, Ender's Game would be it. No hesitation.


"The screen went blank, and words appeared. PLAY AGAIN?"

High Hopes

Just finished writing through another draft of my screenplay (this is the one about vampires and cowboys and the end of the world). This re-write was a pretty hefty overhaul, about 50% of the previous draft had to be re-written.

...And when it comes down to it, the hardest part of writing is not the dialog or the beats - it's the bones, the fundamental puzzle pieces of what actually happens and how it all interlocks with the other pieces of the story, that's the bonkers part of writing. Once those pieces start clicking into place, it feels glorious, and the writing becomes so much easier. Or maybe that's just me.

This may tie into the way I work. I find that I write best when I have the character's voice in my head. I usually have to write a little bit before I really know a character, but once I know them, and once I know all their little quirks and mannerisms, their psychology, it all becomes fun. Like playing action figures or legos as a kid, I just like throwing my creations into different situations and seeing what happens.

Anyhow, it felt good to get all the way through again. It's feeling right, for the most part. Now all that's left is just some quick revisions to a few scenes and overall polishes, and the script will be ready to be read!


The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded
The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river

Script Update....

Wow, so it's been about three weeks since I last posted. I didn't mean to take this long of a break, but my week long trip to Virginia sort of threw everything out of balance. So now, I feel like I need to write an update on where things are, so I can feel a little more closure to this script thing.

So as I mentioned in my last post, the first draft was finished on April 26, and even though I wasn't proud of it at that point, I considered it a success that it was done. 90 whole pages. That's more than I have ever written in a single document in my life, I think... So I was pretty happy with that.

So then left for a week, and while I was traveling, I sort of used that as a chance to push the story out of my head and think about stories on a more abstract level, and process again what I wanted to do with this script, and what my goals were. This turned out to be very helpful when I got back home and started writing again, on the second draft. There were a number of additions and deletions of scenes, and basically I was doing major structural changes to the story.

Last night, I finished the second draft. I have finally gotten the overall story to a place where I am pretty happy with it, and that makes me very pleased. The next step will be to go over the entire thing and do the detail work, refine the descriptions, polish the dialog where needed, and basically check for minor problems. Once that stage is done, I will be ready to start having other people read it and give me some good ol' healthy feedback. Which is always difficult to swallow, but generally good for learning how to be a better writer.

Anyways, That's all from my end. Things are pretty positive over here, and I'm excited to have done all this work and to be so near the end. ...Or is it just the beginning???

Script Blitz: April 23 (and Preservation Hall)

3 more pages today. Felt very tired, but somehow it was perfect because the scene was about the characters being tired. Funny how that makes it somehow fun to write...

Bought a new CD last night. It was a greatest hits of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. They play New Orleans jazz like no one else! I am loving every second of it. Here is an example of the awesomeness that abounds. There's just something deep down about this kind of music, that just makes you want to tap your foot and bob your head to it. It's very loose and free and I really don't have adequate words to describe it, so it's best you just follow the above link.

Anyways, I just thought I should mention that because I have been fascinated with New Orleans jazz ever since I heard of it some years ago. I hope you like it too!

Ciao!

Script Blitz: April 22 (and Doctor Who)

I got home tonight and sat down and wrote 4 and a half pages. And then I experienced some of the best television I have ever seen.

Let me explain. No. There is too much. Let me sum up. I have recently started watching a British show called Doctor Who. And I just finished watching Series 2, which completely blew me away with how awesome it was. I know a few of you readers will be like, "Oh, I know all about Doctor Who!" but some of you are completely in the dark about what it is exactly. So here goes.

Doctor Who is a cult sci-fi show in Britain that boasts to be the longest running (started in 1963) sci-fi show ever created, and is something of a phenomenon over there. It had been on hiatus for a little over a decade, until in 2005 they revamped it, made it more fast-paced and energetic, and overall a much better show.

The premise is that 'The Doctor' is an alien Time Lord that watches over the space-time continuum and rushes in to save the day where ever there may be trouble.
Rose is a regular everyday human girl that gets swept up in the adventure.

The Doctor travels around in the TARDIS, which looks like a police box from the 60s...
But whenever the Doctor gives up his life to save the universe, he comes back in a different form. he looks completely different, but he's the same crazy Doctor!
Every season, they build up to some sort of crazy climax, and it is always awesome.
Yeah. So that's it. I love this show. I love it to death. It's adventurous, funny, scary, and emotional, all in epic ways. It's now vying for top spot in my favorite shows of all time list. And I can't wait to watch more...

Script Blitz: April 21

3 more pages. Another day, and three more pages. I can see the end in sight now.

Struggled today with how to write the scene I was on, because I had outlined it to be a rather dark scene, but I didn't want to take the characters to quite that dark a place (yet), so I was trying to figure out a good way of accomplishing what I wanted to in a different way. So I brought a different character in, and made the whole thing a conflict with a rather amusing interplay between them, and it accomplished exactly what I needed it to.

I am still trying to figure out the ending of this story. I mean I know how it ends, but I don't know yet quite how I'm going to get there. Basically there needs to be an ambush. And before I write more tomorrow, I need to research some ambushes so that I can think through how to construct this one. Can anyone think of good ambushes to reference from favorite movies (or books)? I welcome all suggestions.

Ciao,

Script Blitz: April 20

Still in the middle of a pre-summer heat wave, it got up to 100 degrees yesterday.... it's supposed to cool down tomorrow, so here's hoping, anyways....

Wrote 4 pages today, and supposedly that means I only have 16 pages left to write. But looking at my outline, I think it's going to take more than that to finish up this story. But that's okay, 90 pages was just an arbitrary goal. I'm going to have to do a lot of serious editing anyways, so all that really matters is completing the story in a way that works as best as I can make it. Then I'll sort the rest out later.

I'm mainly just hoping that I'll be able to finish the story before I go on my trip. Seems likely that I will.

Anyhow, that's it for today. Ciao!

Script Blitz: April 19 (and Summer heat)

6 pages today. Felt good to get a big chunk done again, and I totaled up the page count again, and I'm at just over 70 pages. Woohoo! That means there are only 20 or so more pages to write, and the first draft will be done. And since it's the 20th, that technically means I only have to write 2 pages a day to finish my original goal of completing 90 pages in a month. But this does not mean I am going to slack off. I'm going to keep pushing through and finish as quickly as possible, so that I can start editing.

My boss is sending me to Virginia to shoot some footage of Colonial Williamsburg on the 30th, which in itself is cool, but it will also mean I will be able to take a break from writing and when I come back a week later, I will hopefully be able to come back to do some much needed heavy-duty re-writes with some good perspective. Sometimes giving yourself a week away from your work is the only way to see it objectively. I have no misconceptions about this draft being amazing, so it shouldn't be difficult.

Anyhow, other than all that, today was a scorcher. First day in the year to get above 90 degrees (Fahrenheit) and boy was it hot. My roommates and I jumped in the pool to cool off, and since it is still April, we found the pool to be (rather ironically) extremely cold. But it felt great after all the swealtering heat.

So the weekend was a success. I have 70 odd pages written, and 10 days to go before flying to the east coast. I think I'm just about ready for another adventure!

Ciao!

Script Blitz: April 18 (and Nute Gunray)

Today Josh and I drove up to Burbank to meet with Brian. Had a story meeting which went quite productively, and then came back down to celebrate Anthony's birthday. Happy Birthday, Anthony! I got him a Nute Gunray action figure from Star Wars episode 1 that is sure to become his favorite. After I gave it to him, we both started quoting the slimy, noseless Neimoidian by saying things like "At last... we are getting RE-sults." and "Well, no, but, uh... seal off the bridge!" What a great character for an action figure...

Then I solidified yesterday as a good day when I showed Dark City to Linus Renee and Amanda. I really love that movie. I also happen to have a soapbox about that director's (Alex Proyas) latest film, Knowing, which came out in theaters some time ago. Most people didn't go see it because of some reason or another, but as it turns out, it was a really awesome film. I recommend it to everyone.

But after all that was over, I nestled down at my computer and wrote 2.5 more pages in my script. Still not quite up to snuff on the whole 3 page a day goal, but I'll try to write more tomorrow.

Script Blitz: April 16 (and Doctor Who)

I was inspired last night by an episode of Doctor Who, Series 2 called "The Girl in the Fireplace". It was about Rose and the Doctor visiting Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour in 18th century France. It was amazing how well they pulled off the period setting, involved mechanical robot monsters, time travel, and of course the loony Doctor running about, and yet managed to tell such a heart-wrenchingly emotional story. Hats off to Steven Moffat for writing this episode, it truly is a great one.

After recovering from the awesomeness that had just blown me halfway across the room, I wrote 6 and a half pages of my script. Felt good, but was very tired by the end. The good news was that I have now finally completed a rough draft of the entire first half of the script! I have scenes written for the second half, but at last the first half is finished.

I was also able to work through the second half of the story, and fill out the outline to get a better picture of who the second half needs to play. It was a comforting feeling to be able to look at the big picture with a completed outline. Now I just gotta push through to the end, and see where this all goes! Wish me Luck!