outlines

Color me pleasantly surprised

Maximum Z action, adventure, characters, creativity, ideas, outlines, plot, screenwriting, story, subplot, westerns, writing
Totally wasn’t expecting that

Since figuring my way through the climactic portion of Act Three is still stressing out my creativeness, I did what any good writer would do in this situation: go back to the beginning and edit like a madman.  This will give my creative muscles a good workout while subconsciously working out the end.

Overall: the opening definitely needs some reworking, and there are a few places here and there that could stand a little adjustment, but for the most part – a lot more fun than I remember. Trying really hard not to sound egotistical, but I had to occasionally remind myself this was something I wrote.

Me.

Gosh.

Not working on this for so long enabled me to take a really good look at what I have so far. Interestingly, even though I knew what was coming, there was still a lot in there to make me want to keep going and see what happened next.

In all honesty, I’d also forgotten how much I wanted to utilize a lot of elements that make up the thrill-generating, pure adventurousness of the Western genre.  Those are definitely in there, with a lot of potential to be built up even more, but for now it’s all about the story. If that’s not rock-solid, then everything else is irrelevant.

The whole time I was looking this over, I found myself focusing less on ‘would it look cool on the big screen?’ factor, and more on making sure the characters were being proactive and realistically moving the story forward (especially the title character), and that each plotline was being established.  Maybe this is my brain quietly telling me my storytelling and writing skills are improving.

Something also very important to work on as this whole project moves forward – that the story grabs you from the start and doesn’t let go. But I suppose that should go without saying…

Keeping track of this, that and the other thing

Maximum Z creativity, editing, outlines, productivity, rewrite, screenwriting, story, writing
Forget something?

Working from the end of Act Two into Act Three is certainly proving to be an exercise in staying organized, story- and detail-wise.

It’s one thing to jot down the idea behind a scene in your notes, thinking “I’ll fill in the details later,” and totally another when it’s time to fill in those details.

Case in point: I write “daring escape!” to sum up a scene. Now I have to figure out not only HOW the escape is daring, but have to put it together in a way that’s exciting, original and entertaining, reinforces how it fits between the scenes before and after it, all while making sure it also works within the context of the story, characters and theme.

Quite a lot to keep in mind, isn’t it?  And this applies to EVERY scene in your story, no matter how big or small.

Not only that, but while you’re putting a scene together, it’s easy for some details to slip your mind. How can this character be involved here when I had him trapped over there? Hey, this character is just sitting there. How can I involve them?

This also re-emphasizes that most of the heavy lifting comes while putting the outline together. It’s a lot easier to fix a sentence or short paragraph rather than a few pages of script, especially when you come up with a scene or sequence you absolutely love, then discover it just doesn’t work.

It’s also a great opportunity to experiment. What if this happens? How about if the character does THIS instead of this? Let your imagination run wild. Pull out all the stops. Just make sure it all makes sense in terms of moving the story forward.

Work your way through the details during the outline phase, and you’ll find the page-writing phase will go much more smoothly.

Two roads, one objective

Maximum Z adventure, outlines, query letter, screenwriting, story, westerns, writing
I have to go this way AND that way

What an odd sensation.

Part of me is focusing on beginning the post-script-is-done phase. Composing a kickass query letter. Researching which agents and/or managers would be most receptive to reading my script.  Looking forward to seeing what I can accomplish.

The other part is all about starting work on the next script. Even though most of the initial outline is finished, it still feels like the proverbial blank slate, bursting with potential. Weird as it may sound, I’m really excited about this. I mentally visualize how the story plays out via scenes and sequences, and if I can make it read as cool as it looks in my head, then this thing is going to be all kinds of awesome.

You always hear “write what you know”, but how often do you hear “write what you love”? I’m crazy for a good western and am equally gaga over a solid adventure, so why not take my favorite parts of both and put ’em together in an original, sprawling epic that clocks in at around 2 hours?

That’s the plan for this script. I haven’t been very good about meeting self-imposed deadlines, so I won’t set anything definite. But I’m a lot further along in terms of development now than I have been with previous scripts, and my writing skills feel stronger, so I’m pretty confident I’ll be able to have a solid draft relatively soon.

As is usually the case, there will be days where my mood/outlook is decidedly negative, so I’m just going to sit back for a moment, take a deep breath and enjoy this feeling of sheer euphoria while it lasts.

Digging up the perfect word(s)

Maximum Z agent, creativity, ideas, loglines, manager, outlines, query letter, rewrite, Schmucks with Underwoods, screenwriting, story, structure, writing
All worth it in the end

It’s amazing how productive you can be while working at 30,000 feet. K and I flew across the country to spend some time with her family (as well as pick up a somewhat homesick V). Since the movie going each way didn’t interest me, I took the opportunity to  go through the latest rewrite and look for further necessary edits. Of which there were more than a few.

I’ve since made all the changes, save one: a handful of sentences describing a location. At first this may sound pretty unimportant, but it’s actually quite the opposite. Without going into too much detail, this description is for one of two key settings in the whole story. The other one – exactly what it should be, so now I need one just as good, if not better, for this. What I have now is just cliched and boring. Time to buckle down and come up with something exactly spot-on.

It’ll be an uphill battle, but I’ll find it. Trust me.

-During our stay, lots of downtime and limited internet access gave me the chance to start figuring Act Three of the western-adventure.

I’d completely forgotten some of the details in the first outline from a few months ago. Some of them still work (surprisingly so), which was an unexpected surprise, but others will have to go, which was completely expected. Further proof that after you write something, you really should ignore it for a while.

Reworking this may be a slightly bigger task than originally expected, which I don’t mind at all. It’s also a golden opportunity. First I come up with what I want to happen, then get to figure out how to make it bigger. Fun stuff indeed, and I do not mean that sarcastically.

-I took it upon myself to further my jump into making all of this happen by signing up for IMDBPro. Time to start researching who would be receptive to reading my stuff. Last time around, I went through a hard copy of the HCD, highlighting any agency and management company that was okay with unsolicited query emails. Not sure if that’s the way to go now. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

>Insert diabolical laughter here<

Maximum Z antagonist, conflict, creativity, ideas, Monty Python, outlines, protagonist, rewrite, screenwriting, westerns
Followed immediately by this. Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

 

I vowed to get to the end of Act Two, and by gosh, I did. And then some. This really is the “all seems lost” moment for my protagonist. I had to make sure it seemed like she has no way whatsoever of reaching her goal, and that’s how it’s playing out so far.  How in the world is she going to get out of this exceptionally insurmountable situation? Which is exactly what I want you to think.

(Actually, you should be thinking that in every scenario for anybody’s script.)

While it’s fun to put the whole story together, I get a certain joy from devising what kind of obstacles to keep throwing into the mix. Taking this one step further, after I come up with the problem, I have to figure out how my hero gets out of each scrape. And since this is a Western, there’s a whole lot to choose from.

Those who know me personally would not hesitate to call me a nice person. “Still a boy scout,” even. But when it comes to developing the bad guys? Hello, dark side! From somewhere deep within the far reaches of my mind, I’m able to conjure up actions and characters most sinister.  The harder I make the conditions for my hero, the more interesting the story gets.

I want my hero to succeed, right? Then they have to go through hell in order to do that. And it’s up to me as the creator of this particular world to devise every hellish detail and solution.

If the prospect of doing this doesn’t make you giddy, then you’re in the wrong business.

Next up: keeping you on the edge of your seat while wrapping it all up in Act Three.