creativity

One inch at a time

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A lot of my time lately has been jotting down ideas – and lots of ’em – about the new spec. Some random, some of a “this leads to that, which in turn results in this” nature.

As I recently said on social media, it’s a big beautiful jumbled mess, and I’m absolutely thrilled about it.

Just a few weeks ago I was stressed there wasn’t enough to the story, but then the gears started turning and the ideas started coming, and it was off to the races.

Since then, I must have filled in at least half a dozen pages in the notebook for this project with every single thing that popped into my head about it. Even more surprising is how much of it came from out of the blue – all kinds of stuff that never would have occurred to me before. Can’t really say that some kind of ‘on’ switch was tripped, but something was ignited somewhere.

Not only are ideas covering aspects of the story making themselves known, but so are ideas about the things you don’t see onscreen – emotional beats, character development, and so forth. It begs the question – what took it so long to show up?

There’s a lot to go through, and confidence levels are running high that there’s more on the way. There’ll be a lot to sift through to figure out what to keep and what to put aside for potential use at a later time (or another script).

This may be moving at a slow pace, but it’s definitely starting to take shape. What that shape is remains to be seen, but I like it.

Enjoying the ride

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The past few weeks have had their share of ups and downs.

Made a little progress on developing the new spec, but still a long ways to go. Have to keep reminding myself it’s an ongoing work in progress, and these things never come together immediately, so feeling frustrated about less-than-productive times is perfectly okay. Each day yields a small result, which is great.

The animated script didn’t make the top 10 in an animation contest, which was disappointing, but I did get some eye-opening notes about it, with more on the way, so looks like there’s at least one more rewrite in my future.

Still having a ball doing The Creative Writing Life podcast (on Spotify and YouTube), with more great guests lined up for August. Also mulling a couple of ideas for topic-based shows.

Been a bit lax on getting things moving for the short film, so hoping to correct course on that one.

It would be easy to let the negatives overpower the positives, but I’m in this for the long haul. It might take longer to reach that finish line, but I know I can get there.

The most important takeaway from all of this is that I like doing it. Even on the not-great days. Brainstorming, writing, interacting with other creatives. It’s all good stuff.

Otherwise, it would seem too much like work. And that’s no fun.

One chapter ends, another begins

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Seeing as how 2024 just passed the halfway mark, and taking into account how many drafts I’ve done on the animated fantasy-comedy, it’s safe to say that for now, this script is as solid as it’s going to be.

Naturally, that could change, but I’m quite thrilled with how it’s turned out and don’t want to mess with it any further. It’s a strong writing sample/calling card script and I’m already prepping to enter it in a few contests next year.

So what now?

My initial intent was to go back and revise the sci-fi adventure, but earlier this year I came up with an idea I am absolutely crazy about, and since they say you should work on that which excites you, this one definitely fits that bill.

Far as I can tell, there hasn’t been a story like this before.

I’ve mapped out the plot points and started jotting down the ever-increasing number of ideas for scenes and sequences. The more I work on it, the more ramped up I get about working on it. I’m sure things will change as things develop, but as has often been the case, the core of the story should remain the same.

Ideally, I’ll have a first draft done by December 31st, but also want to take my time in plotting it out. Once that’s set, it’s diving headfirst into pages.

Excitement levels are pretty strong, and doing what I can to keep that going.

Wish me luck.

Talking to writers about writing

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As the 15th(!) anniversary of this blog approaches, this is a good time to also mention that my multimedia empire – such as it is – is expanding.

For the past 4 1/2 years, I’ve been involved with a podcast called The Creative Writing Life. First as one of three co-hosts, then one of two, and since earlier this year – the only one.

The show is all about talking with writers from various genres and mediums about themselves and their work. Authors, playwrights, cartoonists, comic books, and of course – screenwriters. We cover how they got their start as a writer, their projects, their processes, a lot of writing-adjacent topics, and what advice they’d offer to other writers.

You can catch it on both Spotify and YouTube. I’ve been really enjoying doing this and hope you’ll give it a listen or a watch.

-Friendly reminder: Enrollment in Kaia Alexander’s Entertainment Business School Summer Session officially opens today (June 28th) and continues until July 28th with the session getting underway on August 5th.

Click here for more details, and use the code PZ50S24 for a $50 discount on the enrollment fee.

There it is!

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The past few days have been all about doing some major rewriting on the animated fantasy-comedy.

A lot of it has remained the same, but I can also say that a lot has changed about it, and coming up with new stuff – or at least new approaches to what was already there – seemed more effective this time around.

I started with the mindset of “do what needs to be done, no matter what”. Apart from the core of the story, nothing was safe; not even material that had been there since the very first draft. I knew what was needed and would do what I had to to get there.

It wasn’t as tumultuous as I expected. In fact, it was a bit surprising how much ended up being changed, and even more surprising was how easy it was to come up with new stuff; almost as if some kind of door had been kicked open and the ideas wouldn’t stop coming in. If only it could be like that all the time, right?

This is the part of the writing process I truly enjoy. Just being creative and putting it on the page. It felt like I’d lost touch with that, and got a real kick out of experiencing it again.

Next up – sending the script to some beta readers. Fingers, as always, firmly crossed.

The timing of this burst of creativity was also fortuitous because I’ve been feeling very non-productive lately, so this was a nice remedy for that. Being able to recharge one’s batteries is an underrated skill.

With this rewrite now in the past, I can now focus on a few projects that got put on hold because of it.

Looking forward to taking on all of them.