Wednesday, December 17, 2003

If it's out of sight, out of mind, why does absence make the heart grow fonder? (Particularly when it's blog statistics that are absent?)

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

If picking at scabs is stops them healing, why is it such a satisfying thing to do?

I think we all know that these questions have to be asked, and I for one am willing to to stand up and do the asking!

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

If procrastination is the thief of time, who's fencing it for him?

Update: Why is a watch called a watch and not a look? After all, you look at your watch, you don't watch it.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Sorry I've not been overly chatty the last few days here on the blog. I've been working on Screenplay 1 again.

Bizarrely, I appear to be doing things arse-about-face with this screenplay. First thing I did was write a script. From the moment it was finished, I realised that it was god's gift to cinema so I workshopped it on Zoetrope.com, got some pretty good reviews, then let it stew in my subconscious for a few months.

When I decided that the stew was most probably cooked, possibly to the point of already containing some unexpected burnt crunchy bits, I took another look at my first draft and all the reviews I'd received.

Oh dear.

Oh dearie dear.

I mean, no, really, oh dear…

Whilst I wasn't looking the script elves had been and turned my god's gift in to a pile of steaming poo. Personally I think the little folk really ought not be allowed to do that. It's not fair. I had been so sure I had an Oscar winner on my hands, but it turned out to be more like Oscar's dinner.

So, I sat and stewed a little more – somewhat discontentedly I will admit – until a rather illuminating conversation with a writerly friend of mine added a little spice and seasoning, and suddenly dinner was served. (By the way, am I stretching this metaphor too thin? I think I see signs of strain… Well, don't blame me if it breaks halfway through and twangs you in the face with a stray adverb. Not my fault.)

Having had my appetite duly (Duck! There it goes!) whetted once more, I’ve spent some time over the last few weeks writing a new outline for the second draft. Except the plot is so different from the first draft that it’s going to be less of a second draft and more of a second first draft.

Somewhat not-so-unexpectedly, I stalled on the prose-based outline and decided to do bullet points instead. I now have a list for each of the three main characters of every Event that happens to them, and their Reaction to it; plus every Action that the character takes and the Result of that action. It’s a great way to see who’s doing what to whom, and of making sure that the protagonist isn’t passively sitting about on her arse waiting for the world to happen to her.

Of course, usually writers work the other way round – they write the bullet point outline, flesh it out into paragraphs then write the script from that – but I always was one for having dessert first.

Apart from the fact that I don’t usually have dessert. Being allergic to ice-cream kinda minimises the number of desserts that appeal to me. Sorbet’s good though. I do like sorbet. The best sorbet that I’ve ever had was the proper Gordon’s Gin & Tonic sorbet, which was heaven on earth. Haven’t seen it available for years though, which is a crying shame. But you know, lemon sorbet’s nice too.

Ok, so I’m not actually one for having dessert first, but if I were, then that would be like what I’ve done with this script.

Yeah, so, SP1 is happening. Second first draft will be done by the end of January, if not sooner.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }