I've been reading screenplays during lunch every day, on daily script. It's a fascinating exercise, because screenplays and stage plays are paced so very differently, with much shorter scenes and all the point-of-view and shot information included in the screenplay. I'm finding I really have to have a picture in my head of what the finished product would look like, not just what the dialog would sound like. It's a good challenge.
But reading really excellent screenplays every day can give a beginner a bit of a complex, a bit of a feeling that what I'm writing is real crap.
But I'm slogging on, there's no other way to improve.
Today's count: 4 pages out of 3.33 needed
Total of: 11 out of 100 written
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
No Foolin'
I wrote 7 pages today. Pretty good! Of course I'm suspicious as to why it's all going so smoothly (am I writing crap? I am! I know I am!), and I'm worried that I'm spending too much time on exposition, but that's what a second draft is for, right? Fixing things? For now, I'm just trying to get it all on paper.
Script Frenzy is a little different than NaNoWriMo in that the goal is a daily page count, not word count. With NaNo, I needed 1667 words per day to make my goal of 50,000 in the month. For Script Frenzy, I need 3.34 pages per day to reach my goal of 100 for the month.
So far, so good! This actually seems more natural to me than novel writing, for some reason. Maybe it was all those years of script reading. Or of movie watching. At any rate, I'm having fun.
Total Pages for today: 7 out of 3.33
Total Pages written: 7 out of 100
I have to say, it did help that Edythe is feeling better and did not spend 4 hours screaming like she did last night. A healthy, sleeping baby definitely helps with the productivity. Supportive husbands who do many chores while I write are extremely helpful as well.
Script Frenzy is a little different than NaNoWriMo in that the goal is a daily page count, not word count. With NaNo, I needed 1667 words per day to make my goal of 50,000 in the month. For Script Frenzy, I need 3.34 pages per day to reach my goal of 100 for the month.
So far, so good! This actually seems more natural to me than novel writing, for some reason. Maybe it was all those years of script reading. Or of movie watching. At any rate, I'm having fun.
Total Pages for today: 7 out of 3.33
Total Pages written: 7 out of 100
I have to say, it did help that Edythe is feeling better and did not spend 4 hours screaming like she did last night. A healthy, sleeping baby definitely helps with the productivity. Supportive husbands who do many chores while I write are extremely helpful as well.
Monday, March 31, 2008
All Ready?
Script Frenzy launches in a little less than 8 hours. Let's see how I'm situated to begin the process, shall we?
Basic plot synopsis. Check.
Outline. Not done.
All characters named. Uh, maybe I'll do that tonight?
Locations finalized. Sort of.
Sick daughter well again. I hope so. I called Christopher this afternoon, and he said Edythe's doing better than yesterday, and she doesn't seem to have the fever that's been plaguing her for the past week. So that's good.
Home remodeling projects from the great flood of December finished. Almost. There are still some pieces of wall missing in the bathroom. I need to paint the other half of the shower room tonight. Aaaaaand there's that whole plastering thing going on in the WC, with the dust and the yeah, it's going great.
Caught up on other home projects so I can focus on this. No.
Etsy shop up and running. No. Will have to wait until Script Frenzy is over, I fear. Plus, that will give me more time to obsess over my items being Not Good Enough.
Read other screenplays for sense of style and structure. I read one during lunch today, that counts, right?
Script-formatting software downloaded onto computer. No. And Christopher's in class tonight, so I guess that will have to wait until tomorrow night.
A sense of confidence that this project will be less crappy than the last one. Definitely not.
A sense that I'm going to charge ahead anyway. YES!
Basic plot synopsis. Check.
Outline. Not done.
All characters named. Uh, maybe I'll do that tonight?
Locations finalized. Sort of.
Sick daughter well again. I hope so. I called Christopher this afternoon, and he said Edythe's doing better than yesterday, and she doesn't seem to have the fever that's been plaguing her for the past week. So that's good.
Home remodeling projects from the great flood of December finished. Almost. There are still some pieces of wall missing in the bathroom. I need to paint the other half of the shower room tonight. Aaaaaand there's that whole plastering thing going on in the WC, with the dust and the yeah, it's going great.
Caught up on other home projects so I can focus on this. No.
Etsy shop up and running. No. Will have to wait until Script Frenzy is over, I fear. Plus, that will give me more time to obsess over my items being Not Good Enough.
Read other screenplays for sense of style and structure. I read one during lunch today, that counts, right?
Script-formatting software downloaded onto computer. No. And Christopher's in class tonight, so I guess that will have to wait until tomorrow night.
A sense of confidence that this project will be less crappy than the last one. Definitely not.
A sense that I'm going to charge ahead anyway. YES!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Work It Out
Having a sick baby is no fun. I feel like she's been sick every other week this year. But it is spring now, and surely the warm breezes will abolish those germs, right?
Tonight she had a fever of 101, for the second day in a row. I'd had her cooped up in the house all day, so I took her for a walk tonight to show her the trees blooming in the neighborhood. And while we walked, I worked out my plot for Script Frenzy. This is a pretty good tool, actually. I kept talking to her, trying to tell her the story in a way that made sense and was compelling, and that act of relating it through the spoken rather than written word seemed to make a big difference to me. Fortunately, she doesn't have the vocabulary for criticism or embarrassment yet.
After she went to bed I jotted it all down, so I don't forget what brilliant thoughts/incoherent ramblings I just had. There are still some plot points I'm trying to work out, and I may change my mind about all this tomorrow, but tonight I'm pretty excited about it.
Tonight she had a fever of 101, for the second day in a row. I'd had her cooped up in the house all day, so I took her for a walk tonight to show her the trees blooming in the neighborhood. And while we walked, I worked out my plot for Script Frenzy. This is a pretty good tool, actually. I kept talking to her, trying to tell her the story in a way that made sense and was compelling, and that act of relating it through the spoken rather than written word seemed to make a big difference to me. Fortunately, she doesn't have the vocabulary for criticism or embarrassment yet.
After she went to bed I jotted it all down, so I don't forget what brilliant thoughts/incoherent ramblings I just had. There are still some plot points I'm trying to work out, and I may change my mind about all this tomorrow, but tonight I'm pretty excited about it.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Kvetching
Writing blog entries is like screaming into the darkness. Does anyone hear me? No one? Someone creepy? Some snarky troll? I don’t tend to get a lot of feedback on here, obviously, although a few people comment via e-mail. (Thanks, Aunt!) But for the most part, I put ideas out, and get nothing back. Which perhaps would be a good analogy for the process of trying to get published, although in that case one usually gets a rejection letter, at least.
It’s also kind of odd, writing about the writing process, because so much of it is private. It’s one thing to talk about a daily wordcount, as a way of holding myself accountable. It’s another to talk about my process in-depth.
But Script Frenzy begins in a week, so I’m guessing that soon I’ll be posting up a storm. I’m developing an idea that I’m excited about, and creating an ever-increasing and detailed plot summary. I think I’ll write a screenplay this time. And if, somewhere far down the road, someone crafts a pair of million-dollar shoes for my big feet, you can bet I’ll wear them.
It’s also kind of odd, writing about the writing process, because so much of it is private. It’s one thing to talk about a daily wordcount, as a way of holding myself accountable. It’s another to talk about my process in-depth.
But Script Frenzy begins in a week, so I’m guessing that soon I’ll be posting up a storm. I’m developing an idea that I’m excited about, and creating an ever-increasing and detailed plot summary. I think I’ll write a screenplay this time. And if, somewhere far down the road, someone crafts a pair of million-dollar shoes for my big feet, you can bet I’ll wear them.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Hello Again
Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. I really haven't felt like sitting in front of a computer lately. I do enough of that at work. I've been seeing my family, repairing my house, and designing items for my soon-to-open etsy shop. So I've been creative, just not in the writerly way that I report here.
But spring is in the air, and a young lady's thoughts turn to dark theatres and Script Frenzy. I went to sign up today, but lo and behold, I had already registered and forgotten about it. Oops.
So now I'm signed up, with a password I remember and everything. I'm trying to settle on an idea now, so I can do my research before I start. I think this process will be a little easier for me than diving into writing a novel for the first time. It just feels more familiar, from all those years in theatre, working on various aspects of script development. But we'll see what I think a month or two from now, right?
But spring is in the air, and a young lady's thoughts turn to dark theatres and Script Frenzy. I went to sign up today, but lo and behold, I had already registered and forgotten about it. Oops.
So now I'm signed up, with a password I remember and everything. I'm trying to settle on an idea now, so I can do my research before I start. I think this process will be a little easier for me than diving into writing a novel for the first time. It just feels more familiar, from all those years in theatre, working on various aspects of script development. But we'll see what I think a month or two from now, right?
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Boring
I'm here to report that I have nothing to report. At least on the writing front.
On the home front, we recently returned from an eventful trip to New England. It was fun to visit our family, but we're still fighting colds, ear infections, and such-alike as a result.
We're also dealing with some major home issues at the moment; our upstairs neighbor's washing machine broke mere hours before we were scheduled to leave for said trip, leaving us with no power, no water, no clean clothes, and several inches of water on the floor. Thank goodness my parents were able to facilitate some of the clean-up while we were gone, or there would have been no trip (or we would have come back to a seriously moldy condo). As it is, we have a cement slab for a floor and holes in the walls and ceiling. And apparently our flooring isn't being manufactured anymore, so we may have to re-floor the whole place. The jury's still out on whether our insurance will pay for this, or just for what's already been removed. The joys of homeownership!
All this is to say, I haven't been doing much writing lately, and don't have anything new to report.
On the home front, we recently returned from an eventful trip to New England. It was fun to visit our family, but we're still fighting colds, ear infections, and such-alike as a result.
We're also dealing with some major home issues at the moment; our upstairs neighbor's washing machine broke mere hours before we were scheduled to leave for said trip, leaving us with no power, no water, no clean clothes, and several inches of water on the floor. Thank goodness my parents were able to facilitate some of the clean-up while we were gone, or there would have been no trip (or we would have come back to a seriously moldy condo). As it is, we have a cement slab for a floor and holes in the walls and ceiling. And apparently our flooring isn't being manufactured anymore, so we may have to re-floor the whole place. The jury's still out on whether our insurance will pay for this, or just for what's already been removed. The joys of homeownership!
All this is to say, I haven't been doing much writing lately, and don't have anything new to report.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
