2 and a half pages last night. Got tired because it was midnight and I had had a pretty busy weekend, so I decided to go to sleep. I could have gone on, but the scene I was writing was going to take at least another hour and I didn't feel like staying up that late. Gotta have the sleep you know.
But I think I have the first half of the story pretty well figured out now. So that's pretty cool.
Anyhow, this is kind of an uninteresting post, not much new here... Not sure what I'm going to do about that yet. Hmm.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Script Blitz: April 11
I am very tired. Today I spent 8 hours on the road and shot a scene for a short film while I was out there. So I basically got up at 6 in the morning and got back at 8pm, already exhausted. But I sat down to my computer with the goal of writing something, dreading it because I knew the scene that I was planning to write was going to be crap. A piece of information needed to be told to another character, and she needed to be horrified by it. Yippee.
Nothing was coming. So I got up and took a shower (I was still feeling dirty and sweaty from the shoot) and after that I felt a lot cleaner. I went out on our balcony and let the cold night air refresh me, and as I was thinking, an idea came to me about the scene, which suddenly took this boring piece of information that needed to trade hands suddenly much more compelling. I sat down and wrote the scene, and 5 pages later, I was pretty happy with it. Sometimes it's surprising what a different context can do for a plot point!
...Which brings me to another cool revelation, and that is that it brings my page count to 45 pages, meaning I am halfway through. Wahoo! ...And it's only the 11th of April! I'm feeling pretty good about this month of writing so far.
Anyways, that was my exciting anecdote for the day, and now it's off to bed, to rest my limbs and my brain!
And tomorrow's Easter. Success.
Nothing was coming. So I got up and took a shower (I was still feeling dirty and sweaty from the shoot) and after that I felt a lot cleaner. I went out on our balcony and let the cold night air refresh me, and as I was thinking, an idea came to me about the scene, which suddenly took this boring piece of information that needed to trade hands suddenly much more compelling. I sat down and wrote the scene, and 5 pages later, I was pretty happy with it. Sometimes it's surprising what a different context can do for a plot point!
...Which brings me to another cool revelation, and that is that it brings my page count to 45 pages, meaning I am halfway through. Wahoo! ...And it's only the 11th of April! I'm feeling pretty good about this month of writing so far.
Anyways, that was my exciting anecdote for the day, and now it's off to bed, to rest my limbs and my brain!
And tomorrow's Easter. Success.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Script Blitz: April 10
Got home from work, watched the first full episode of Doctor Who: Series 2 with David Tennant (well, it was the Christmas special but still awesome), wrote 5 more pages tonight, and now I'm off to introduce some friends to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I realized recently that even though only six months ago, I barely watched any television, I am now in the middle of 4 extremely excellent shows. I have a lot of watching to do!
But, anyways, not much else to report, the writing is going pretty steadily... the page count is just about up to 40 now, which is cool progress... but yeah. I think that's just about all for now. Tomorrow is a film shoot, so I may be completely too exhausted to write... we'll see.
Later, y'all
But, anyways, not much else to report, the writing is going pretty steadily... the page count is just about up to 40 now, which is cool progress... but yeah. I think that's just about all for now. Tomorrow is a film shoot, so I may be completely too exhausted to write... we'll see.
Later, y'all
Script Blitz: April 9
Completed 3 pages last night. Struggled with this one a bit, kept trying to remind myself not to worry about whether or not it was good. Then I realized it wasn't as much being about how good it was, the problem was that I wasn't sure if what I was writing was supposed to happen or if something else was supposed to happen. I've reached a stage where a lot more is resting on my incomplete outline, and all the plot elements are going to have to come together, and soon.
Then I realized that for now, all the plot stuff didn't matter anyways, and I should just write for the discipline of it. I ended up changing the scene halfway through, but it all worked out and I am happy with the scene. So it's all good.
But I'm still getting used to the fact that it is going to be a long haul. After a week, things have sort of started to drift into habit, but it's become a fine balancing act. I come home from work every day at 5:30, and eat dinner. I can either start writing then, and try to work on concept stuff as well as my three pages, but if I do that, I will have spent all evening writing, and then it's sleep and back to work. And if I do that too many times in a row, I get extremely worn out. So last night I watched a movie with Anthony while he edited a short film I shot for him a couple months ago. It was a nice relaxation time, and a movie that I have seen before and enjoy. Then I came home and wrote for a couple hours.
Anyways, I'm buckling in for the last two thirds of the journey, and hopefully it won't get too much harder before it gets easier. :)
Until next time, Ciao, i miei amici!
Then I realized that for now, all the plot stuff didn't matter anyways, and I should just write for the discipline of it. I ended up changing the scene halfway through, but it all worked out and I am happy with the scene. So it's all good.
But I'm still getting used to the fact that it is going to be a long haul. After a week, things have sort of started to drift into habit, but it's become a fine balancing act. I come home from work every day at 5:30, and eat dinner. I can either start writing then, and try to work on concept stuff as well as my three pages, but if I do that, I will have spent all evening writing, and then it's sleep and back to work. And if I do that too many times in a row, I get extremely worn out. So last night I watched a movie with Anthony while he edited a short film I shot for him a couple months ago. It was a nice relaxation time, and a movie that I have seen before and enjoy. Then I came home and wrote for a couple hours.
Anyways, I'm buckling in for the last two thirds of the journey, and hopefully it won't get too much harder before it gets easier. :)
Until next time, Ciao, i miei amici!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Script Blitz: April 8
Breaking News! As of tonight I have crossed the 30 page mark! (And there was much rejoicing. Yay...).
I wrote 5 pages tonight, which brings my tally up to 30 exactly, according to my blog, but I'm pretty sure it will add up to a bit more than that when it's properly formatted. Anyways, it's a cool landmark, being a third of the way through, and I feel it's a pretty big accomplishment. So, it's cause for celebration! I'm eating a celebratory bowl of Cheerios right now! (And then it's off to bed pretty soon).
Anyways, I feel good about the 5 I wrote tonight, they come right after the "stunning" intro scenes, and basically set up the locale of where all this takes place, and introduces more characters. The other cool thing is that as I write more, I am simultaneously getting a better idea of how the whole story will play out. It's taking more and more of a definite form every day, and it's pretty exciting.
Okay, well it's time for bed for me, but not until after I dance my 30 pages victory jig. Okay, now for some sleep.
Ciao!
I wrote 5 pages tonight, which brings my tally up to 30 exactly, according to my blog, but I'm pretty sure it will add up to a bit more than that when it's properly formatted. Anyways, it's a cool landmark, being a third of the way through, and I feel it's a pretty big accomplishment. So, it's cause for celebration! I'm eating a celebratory bowl of Cheerios right now! (And then it's off to bed pretty soon).
Anyways, I feel good about the 5 I wrote tonight, they come right after the "stunning" intro scenes, and basically set up the locale of where all this takes place, and introduces more characters. The other cool thing is that as I write more, I am simultaneously getting a better idea of how the whole story will play out. It's taking more and more of a definite form every day, and it's pretty exciting.
Okay, well it's time for bed for me, but not until after I dance my 30 pages victory jig. Okay, now for some sleep.
Ciao!
Script Blitz: April 7
Deep down, I hope some of you readers out there are benefiting from my blogs about writing. But I think there is an equally important implication it has had on me. When I started this whole idea of a Script Blitz, I doubted I could keep it up for very long without someone constantly nagging at me like a dripping faucet. But I've somehow managed to keep writing every day so far, and I think the knowledge that I am going to force myself to blog about it the next morning has helped motivate me. Oh the hidden benefits of blogging! :)
So anyways, I had to drag myself through the 3 pages last night, and it didn't come as easily as it did the night before, but at least I did what I committed to. So it's a success in that aspect. I also spent a lot of time developing the outline and characters more. In fact, I think I may need to write in a couple more characters for the story to work. I think one of my characters is kind of a contradiction right now, and if I split him into two characters, it will be a lot more consistent. There has been a lot of this sort of 'shopkeeping' that takes a lot of time, but every time I dig in and analyze my story, I always come out with good things that make the story less bad and more good (sorry to all you grammatic fanatics out there).
A cool realization happened last night. I already knew that the story is taking a lot from classic westerns, and I discovered that one of these characters had the ability to represent the "wild" of the west, just like in the old westerns. The man that is more comfortable in the wilderness than in the city. I love characters like that, because I grew up in a sort of wilderness area, and I feel a strong connection to nature, so I love the idea of writing a character like that.
Well, that's it for now. Until next time, Ciao!
So anyways, I had to drag myself through the 3 pages last night, and it didn't come as easily as it did the night before, but at least I did what I committed to. So it's a success in that aspect. I also spent a lot of time developing the outline and characters more. In fact, I think I may need to write in a couple more characters for the story to work. I think one of my characters is kind of a contradiction right now, and if I split him into two characters, it will be a lot more consistent. There has been a lot of this sort of 'shopkeeping' that takes a lot of time, but every time I dig in and analyze my story, I always come out with good things that make the story less bad and more good (sorry to all you grammatic fanatics out there).
A cool realization happened last night. I already knew that the story is taking a lot from classic westerns, and I discovered that one of these characters had the ability to represent the "wild" of the west, just like in the old westerns. The man that is more comfortable in the wilderness than in the city. I love characters like that, because I grew up in a sort of wilderness area, and I feel a strong connection to nature, so I love the idea of writing a character like that.
Well, that's it for now. Until next time, Ciao!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Script Blitz: April 6
Okay, so I was pretty discouraged yesterday, but thanks to some good, healthy advice and encouragement from my friends, I was reminded of the importance of the meaning of this mission I'm on currently: To get myself to write. That is all.
I need to remind myself that while I should care about the quality of my work, and care a lot about the story I am telling, in order to improve I need to set those priorities and just write. Most importantly, not to be afraid to write bad material, but just to start typing words and let it flow from the gut. Hey, it's a first draft, they're supposed to be terrible, right? One thing I have learned about writing is that the first draft is usually the hardest part of the writing process, so it makes sense to get it out on to the page, even if it is the crappiest thing I've ever written. I'll rewrite it. And when I do, I'll come up with more ideas. That's how it works. And if you write from your gut, you open the door to the possibility of writing something really good that even you didn't expect to come out.
An Italian filmmaker named Bernardo Bertolucci said something of that sort that applies to ALL filmmaking, that you always have to find ways of leaving the door open, inviting the possibility of something genius to come walking in at a completely unexpected moment.
So that's the mindset I went in with last night, just to dive in, find a part of the story I was particularly interested in, and just start writing. For two and a half hours I wrote, and I ended up with 8 pages! Pretty much the entire ending of the movie, actually. And I even liked a good deal of it when I was done! So the experiment was a success.
I've learned that I need to continue to push myself to just write, without concerning myself with whether or not it will be good, and see what happens from there. At the very least, I'll end up with a crappy script, and I'll get to rewrite it. But who knows, maybe it will turn out okay, and maybe I might even discover some things I wasn't expecting to. At the very least, it will be an adventure.
So here's to adventures. A wise man once said, “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
I need to remind myself that while I should care about the quality of my work, and care a lot about the story I am telling, in order to improve I need to set those priorities and just write. Most importantly, not to be afraid to write bad material, but just to start typing words and let it flow from the gut. Hey, it's a first draft, they're supposed to be terrible, right? One thing I have learned about writing is that the first draft is usually the hardest part of the writing process, so it makes sense to get it out on to the page, even if it is the crappiest thing I've ever written. I'll rewrite it. And when I do, I'll come up with more ideas. That's how it works. And if you write from your gut, you open the door to the possibility of writing something really good that even you didn't expect to come out.
An Italian filmmaker named Bernardo Bertolucci said something of that sort that applies to ALL filmmaking, that you always have to find ways of leaving the door open, inviting the possibility of something genius to come walking in at a completely unexpected moment.
So that's the mindset I went in with last night, just to dive in, find a part of the story I was particularly interested in, and just start writing. For two and a half hours I wrote, and I ended up with 8 pages! Pretty much the entire ending of the movie, actually. And I even liked a good deal of it when I was done! So the experiment was a success.
I've learned that I need to continue to push myself to just write, without concerning myself with whether or not it will be good, and see what happens from there. At the very least, I'll end up with a crappy script, and I'll get to rewrite it. But who knows, maybe it will turn out okay, and maybe I might even discover some things I wasn't expecting to. At the very least, it will be an adventure.
So here's to adventures. A wise man once said, “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
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