Today was the first time I really got to sit down and work on the LUCY outline. I’d been thinking about some of the minor hurdles I was trying to get over, which included what my bad guy wants and how that impacts Lucy’s story.
My page one is always the title, logline and plot point breakdown.
I looked at the logline, which has always given me trouble, and erased it. I wanted something new. Something that really encapsulates the story down to its bare minimum. It took a couple of tries, but I came up with one that works. I”ll probably change it again at least a few more times, but it works for now.
I looked at the plot point breakdown. Something didn’t seem right. The story’s there, but not the way I think it should be. I change a few words here, add some there, and suddenly, it seems stronger.
And now into the outline itself. Like I said, I’ve been struggling with the bad guy’s goal. Then I realized I was worrying too much about the little things and not focusing on telling a story. I wasn’t enjoying myself.
So one of my original plot points gets changed just a little bit. The what is different, but the result is still the same. And to make it that much better, changing that enables me to use it in a bigger, better way for Act Three.
So far, so good.
I’m still in the third quarter of Act Two, and realize I can flesh out at least two sequences, which really helps strengthen the story. And I also discover I can change the setting of an important sequence, while also bringing in that much-liked rotund character from a few weeks back.
Like I said at the beginning, I really like how it’s all coming together. True, there are a lot of details that have to be worked out for the rest of Act Two (escalating conflict!), and I started listing what needs to happen in Act Three.
Most importantly, it feels fun again. Which is always nice.
Movie of the Moment: IT’S A TRAP!, Family Guy’s take on JEDI. Fun, but the first two were better. Some truly hilarious moments, but they seemed few and far between. It’s a good thing they’re not doing these anymore. It really seems to have run out of steam, which is even acknowledged in the opening crawl.
It’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, they take on next.