Just curious.
I’ll go first.
Returning to the outline of my western-adventure while waiting for feedback on latest rewrite.
Now you.
rewrite
Not yet, but almost
Man, am I pooped. But it’s a good pooped. Which actually sounds somewhat disgusting. But back to my original point.
K’s out of town this week, which makes me the guy responsible for getting V to school on time. As a result, I’ve had to stay home but have been really busy.
Apart from the usual dad stuff (rides to school, soccer, etc), this week has been prime “getting stuff done” time, especially in terms of running and writing.
For running, I’ve been getting ready for the Los Angeles Half-marathon this Sunday. If you’re anywhere along the route, I’ll be the panting, sweaty tall guy. This’ll be my third half-marathon this year, and I’ve beaten the 2-hour mark for the first two. I’m hoping to hit 1:55 in LA, but don’t know if that’ll happen, although it would be very nice.
Running’s been good to me this year. That, combined with the biking everywhere, as well as trying to eat healthier and avoid crappy stuff, has resulted in me losing about 15 pounds. I’m hovering just below 200, and my jeans are 5(!) sizes smaller than the ones I wore in high school. Not to shabby.
Next up – upper body.
As for the writing, I dove into this rewrite with the intention of finishing it before week’s end.
Mission accomplished.
It’s 7 pages longer than the previous draft, but there’s lots of editing and fine-tuning to work through. Bet I can trim at least 3-4 pages before all is said and done.
Those notes I got over the summer really helped. I was able to make changes where necessary, as well as throw in some improvements I never even considered before. The hardest part was coming up with and implementing those changes. At first I resisted, but had to keep reminding myself “This is a rewrite, not a cut-and-paste. There are some things that need to be different.”
You’d be surprised what you can come up with when you throw willingness and openness to change into the mix. It’s almost freeing.
I wasn’t used to being able to spend so much time on a project. Several hours at a stretch.
I came pretty close to burning out at the end, but knew enough to step away when necessary. A short game on the iPhone or some brief internet surfing can actually be beneficial to one’s productivity, but don’t quote me on that.
-Movie of the Moment – still working my way through Season 2 of THE WALKING DEAD. Man, that is some quality stuff. Practically addicting. Looking forward to Season 3, and I still have 4 eps left of Season 2.
Leaps and bounds!
Honestly, I didn’t expect to be the rewrite to be this far along, but that’s how it’s working out.
Utilizing elements of the previous draft, the revamped outline and the occasional sudden inspiration, I’ve been copying, pasting and making fixes left and right.
Pretty significant – changes in Act One extended it another 6-7 pages, which turned out not to be the problem I thought it might. This combined with changes in the first half of Act Two have kept things on track, so now I’m around 4 pages ahead. Still not a problem.
Even more significant – I’ve been able to insert important story elements in appropriate places, except for one. Still working on that, but not worried about it.
Basically, the whole process has been extremely energizing. And I’m loving it.
-Had a nice chat with the guy whose script I provided notes for a few weeks ago. He’s already made two films on his own, and this is his third. Despite his eagerness to start filming, I did my best to emphasize the importance of making sure the script is rock-solid and bulletproof first, including recommending a 2-week break from the script, followed by a page one cold rewrite.
After I gave my two cents about other topics like incorporating theme, conflict, character development and so on, the poor guy seemed stunned. Almost as if I’d scared him into submission. But he said he’d take everything I said into consideration – but he had to get going because he was headed out to scout locations.
Can’t say I didn’t try.
-Movie of the Moment – THE WALKING DEAD, Season Two. I’d watched Season One on DVD about a year ago, and thought it was fantastic. I never got around to catching Season Two when it actually aired on TV. Now Season Three has started up, but we’re phasing out Comcast (Roku or Apple TV? Your thoughts please) and I’m using Hulu and Netflix Streaming when I can.
Hence Season Two.
One of the many things I really appreciate about the show in general is the suspense factor. Sometimes it’s low, and sometimes it’s through the roof, but it’s always gripping and definitely leaves you wondering what’s going to happen next. And the occasional plot twist out of nowhere doesn’t hurt either.
Throw in 3-dimensional characters, believable situations (despite the whole zombie apocalypse aspect), and just plain great writing, and it’s easy to see why this has been so successful. Very eager to keep going.
-Totally forgot to mention – took V to APE this past weekend. Met a lot of great self-published comic creators. Hoping to write about it later this week, including links to some extremely talented folks.
Rules? I laugh at the rules! Ha!
Most people will say I’m a nice guy, but something’s happening with this rewrite that seems to be awakening my inner ‘bad boy’.
At least from a writing perspective.
One of the guidelines I’ve always felt compelled to follow is when something is supposed to happen, such as Statement of Theme on Page 3, or Inciting Incident on Page 10, then that’s when it happens. No ifs, ands or buts about it.
So even though I’m making some good progress, the way the story’s playing out, it’s getting more difficult to follow the rules. The pages are playing out differently.
My first response was “oh no! this isn’t right! I’ve got to fix it!” But that would weaken the story, so…I’m just going to leave it as is.
I know. Quite the rebel.
Part of me feels almost guilty for not doing what I’m supposed to. ‘Almost’ being the key word here.
I really like how this thing is shaping up, so that basically kicks the guilt out of the picture. I’d rather a reader remembers this as a story that really grabs hold and doesn’t let go, rather than focusing on whether or not something happens exactly when the rules say it’s supposed to.
I’ve been told I’m pretty good with structure, so again, not feeling too guilty. Actually, it feels…really cool.
I’m 10 pages in, and this already feels different than previous drafts. Different in a good way. Like this could actually (finally?) be my breakthrough script.
And that’s kind of exciting.
Even better, that excitement seems to be finding its way into this draft, which I sincerely hope others will pick up on as well.
Maybe they’ll even get a glimpse at what this ‘bad boy’ has to offer and like what they see.
Back into the abyss!
Thank the movie gods for soccer practice.
While V is playing her heart out, I hunker down in the car, armed with pen, notebook and iPad, working diligently to make some kind of progress.
Seems to have paid off.
I wrapped up Act Three, including making a few small changes and some not-so-small ones.
Now the fun really begins – cranking out pages.
My schedule permitting, I’ll shoot for my usual 3-5 a day. We’ll see how it goes, but I’m guessing the back seat will be more suitable on soccer days for typing than the somewhat cramped front seat.
-I guess it’s an unwritten rule that if you do a Western, trains have to figure into it somehow.
My next script is about an engineer out for justice and revenge. This guy wrote a Western involving a train with a supernatural angle.
And of course there’s this.
And next summer, we’ll get this.
I’m not complaining. There’s just something cool and fascinating about trains. Want proof? Watch this. Granted, not a Western, but still – trains are involved.
Maximum Z 