A Swing and a Miss

Heh heh. That title suggests something to me – like a brand new screenplay (which is ridiculous as I still have to finish this one) – and that's not going to happen. I'm at 74 pages and need to write 26 by tomorrow morning at 9 am. Script Frenzy goes until midnight, but I won't be at home and, so, away from the keyboard that has the application I need to finish. I suppose I could always take the file with me, install the application at the keyboard I will be at and then write and delete the application when I'm done. I could do that. Not sure it's a realistic option. I'm painfully resigning myself to not winning this one.

I did better than my last attemp, which was two years ago. Got a lot more pages, got a lot further and learned more about the way I work and that scriptwriting is definitely different from novel writing. It's not just my imagination. So, there we go. Done. Mostly. Pretty much.

I could say I'll keep writing and finish the script after the 30th. I could but I wouldn't believe myself if I did. Still. It could happen.

The Engine Stalls

Yep. Since Thursday (five days, although today is not over yet) I have not written a thing. Oh, well, maybe a word or two. I did open the file and look at it. But I just don't wanna!! Wah! I don't want to get to know the characters. If they were all sitting a room together it would be very quiet as they would not be talking to each other. There would be a lot of tension. I'm at a scene now that is kind of like that except it's not all the characters. And it is tense but mostly for the viewer because the characters don't know about all the undertow and how one of them isn't being exactly up front. A situation like that should make for good theater but I don't want to know about it.

There is still time to get to 100 pages before midnight on Wednesday. Will I? I have no idea.

Firm Ground

I'm still a little stunned from my day's writing. I wrote six pages and they were good pages and it was productive work. I don't feel like I'm floundering around so much anymore. It's a good feeling but not what I'm used to. I expected to be issuing recriminations and shaking my head and wondering what the heck! Well, I did wonder what the heck for about an hour (what have I got myself into? who's idea was this anyway? why am I wasting my time with this?) Then I shook it off and got to work. It's a good day.

Instead of writing, I make a poster

And here it is.
It's not movie posterish enough but I spent an hour and a half working on it while talking to a friend and letting the dishes get cold in a sink-full of water. It's as done as it's going to get and I still have five pages to write today. And beans to plant, and ... well, let's not get into it. Just think of the sink full of dirty dishes in cold water and you'll get the picture.

Here I am updating you instead of actually writing

I missed Thursday because I was babysitting the grandchildren and had other work to do at the end of the day. Which, really, is no excuse. To keep up and write the four pages I needed to write that day would have taken about 40 minutes or maybe 60 at the outside. Yesterday I wrote one page. It takes me about 20 minutes to get into the groove or about a page and a half. Then I'm rolling. I tell myself I'm worried about going on too long – until I'm exhausted. That hasn't happened yet. Well, sort of it did with the first screenplay. I can still finish by writing a reasonable amount of pages a day: 5. Not bad. I am there again, at the stage where I realize I can still win if I stick to a highly manageable goal.

Screenwriting is not the free flow of noveling. There are so many elements to consider in different formats. I guess that's the stumbling block: the structure. Each element is structured differently. Each element needs a different tone. In a screenplay, more than in a novel, you have to be all the characters and the director and ... well, all those parts. When I write a novel all I have to do is dream, basically. Which is like being a lot of characters. So, that, really, is one point of view: the point of view of the actors. 

I sometimes peek over into my alternate life where I developed my singing, dancing and acting talents and lived the good life of a successful thespian who later got into directing and made enough profit to start a charitable foundation. That woman did a lot of voluntary traveling and was a lot braver than I. She was also happier and avoided the potholes I fell into in this life. I tried to write that story but it came out science fiction fantasy and was translated into something else entirely. This is why I write. To live those alternate lives. Really its about the grass being greener elsewhere. You know how much better the neighbors' lawns look from a distance. 

I'd better start writing now or it will be six pages a day.

The smaller half of the job

One of those brain farts happened when I wasn't looking because of course that's when they always happen. Somehow embedded in my head was that today is the halfway mark (correct) and I should be at 40 pages (incorrect). It wasn't until I had huffed and puffed to page 42, posted my count and read a post in the forum that I discovered that half way is 50 pages. Well, of course it is. It's 100 pages in 30 days - not 80. Where did 40 come in? Maybe I was looking at the desired goal of some previous day and the number 40 got lodged in  my head. 

Anyway, I did write (at last). Took me all day to do it. Feel undermotivated and deformed somehow. However, I will move forward especially after reading todays most excellent advice by Daniel Heath. Four pages a day will do it and I did more than that today. I feel like The Little Engine That Could. 

Plot Points Develop Dramatically

The screen play continues apace. And a slow but steady pace it is. Thank goodness Screnzy not a race. I don't need to keep up with anyone as long as I get to 100 pages by the end of the month. I seem to be following my usual pattern of slow start and steady mid-stream which means, if I stick to this pattern, I will get stuck about 3/4 of the way through. If I write five pages a day, I can win (i.e., write 100 pages in 30 days).

More interesting to me is how the plot is evolving as I write. Let's keep in mind that the novel is written (although not fully edited) and the plot is pretty much decided. However, to make the story play, I discovered I need to redramatize it. Basically, I'm pulling all the dramatic scenes from the book, writing them down as isolated incidents and hoping that the scenes will all gel into a movie. I've no idea how writers who regularly do adaptations manage to make the movie so much like the book. Even movies that aren't a lot like the book are still more like the book than my screenplay seems to be at this moment. It's an interesting process.

I'm curious to see how the screen play will turn out. I still have that lingering big problem to resolve: how the woman goes from an inescapable situation to victory in a scene or two. I'm looking forward to working that out, actually. Bits of action are playing themselves in my head as potential solutions. As I mull it over, the the solutions get more interesting and the plot progresses. It's great.

Day Two - Six Pages

I have arrived abruptly and sooner than expected at that brick wall which says, "Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." I am thinking how much of what I do is an interpretation to the world, a way to round up information and organize it into digestible chunks. And I don't want to. I mean, why should I explain the world to you? Don't you get it? Of course you do. You know what the world is. That's what you do. If you didn't you wouldn't be able to lead your life. Then what can I do? Is there really so much unexplained that you would like to know? Who cares?

It's quite a wall. I'm not sure how I will get through or around it. At least I'm working.