writer’s block

Hacking my way through the rewrite jungle

Maximum Z confidence, creativity, Dreamship, editing, feedback, ideas, rewrite, screenwriting, story, writer's block, writing
Yeah, it can feel like that sometimes…

Man, this rewrite is just zooming along, especially with the much-appreciated, very helpful feedback I’ve received. Spending so much time plotting things out before churning out pages really paid off. I tried to make sure any possible questions that arose could be easily answered through the course of the story.  One or two small issues may still need a little work, but looks like they can be handled without too much heavy lifting.

Nevertheless, confidence levels still running high.

Most of the edits took no time, but the biggest challenge was changing how the antagonist’s story ends. This has been in place since day one, but I’ve received more than a few comments saying it seemed too intense compared to the rest of the story.  So change was necessary.

I must have spent around two hours trying out at least a dozen scenarios until I finally came up with something I like. It may need a little fine-tuning, but the execution is pretty solid and I think it fits in nicely with the rest of it.

You know how a writer’s mantra is/should be “write every day”? I’ve tried to adhere to that as much as I can, and it really feels like it’s paying off in terms of being able to think my way out of potential writer’s block situations. Getting stuck trying to figure something out isn’t as much of a hassle as it used to be.

Cliched as it sounds, your creativity really is like a kind of muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. And you don’t even have to break a sweat.

Oh yes, that’s much better

Maximum Z radio, screenwriting, writer's block
In recovery mode!

I can’t explain it.

Once again, I do the midday traffic shift and break through my writer’s block.  If I could write in there every day, there’d be no stopping me.  But I’ll take what I can get.  I’m scheduled to do it again Monday, so who knows what will come of it?

I’ve been stuck in the section just past the overall midpoint in terms of making my protagonist (which in this case would be Lucy herself) drive the action. While I liked what I had before, she was too passive and re-active, so I’ve been trying to figure out how to really make her the engine that drives the story.

Positive news – I took one scene from before, which in retrospect was pretty dull,  and turned it into a thrilling chase sequence that incorporates a minor character I thought I wouldn’t be able to use, ends with Lucy’s circumstances changed AND moves the plot and characters forward.

I love when this kind of thing happens.

Next up – Indians!  Or are they?  This IS a Western, y’know.

My work schedule gets a little more back to normal this week after Monday, so I’m really hoping to make some long-delayed progress on DREAMSHIP.  I’ll get this thing done yet.

2-4-6-8! C’mon gang, let’s motivate!

Maximum Z motivation, Movie of the Moment, screenwriting, scriptshadow, writer's block
Everybody deserves their own cheering section

Some days the words just won’t come, no matter how much you want them to.

I’ve read lots of accounts where some established screenwriter talks about how they have to sit down and write, even if they don’t feel like it.  But they’re getting paid to write.  Most of us are not.

But what if you want to, like really, really, aching to get it done, but you can’t put words on the page?  Or you’ve been stuck at a particular point, and still can’t figure out how to move forward?

How do you get past this dreadful feeling?  It ain’t easy.  It also doesn’t help much to read high-quality scripts. Those are the competition, and my stuff has to be equally as good, if not better than them.  Somedays it’s hard to think my scripts will be that good.  But I take a look at my earlier work, and see some definite progress.  Maybe I have a shot after all.

I also remind myself that I like doing this.  It’s fun.  If it got too work-like, then I would dread sitting and facing the empty white screen.  But it’s not, and I don’t.  This is what I was meant to do.

Things are a little hectic around here, so my dedicated time to write has been severely limited. But I’m working on fixing that, or at least, arranging to be able to write.

Once I do, conditions will improve, blocks will be torn down and pages of oh-so-impressive work will flow forth. See?  The creativity is already starting.

I feel better already.

-Movie of the Moment – MARS NEEDS MOMS (2011). Mars kidnaps Earth moms to extract their child-rearing abilities. Boy accidentally comes along, sets out to rescue her. Neat idea, but poorly executed. Overall, kind of dull.  Clever use of motion capture technology, a la POLAR EXPRESS, but too many parts just dragged along.

It was obvious that Joan Cusack was the mom, but I didn’t realize it was Seth Green as the boy (with a younger actor providing the voice).  Apparently this had the 12th-worst opening in US history. I can see why.  This was also based on a Berke Breathed book (creator of BLOOM COUNTY), which I haven’t read.  Feels like when they take a short source material and try to stretch it into a feature film, the material always suffers.

-Sorry to report that ScriptShadow did not choose my Zombie Western for the Halloween week Amateur Friday script. Can’t that I’m too surprised. I wrote that about 8 years ago, so the writing’s probably a little weak. No complaints, though. Maybe they’ll use the Jewish Cook, Chinese Restaurant script in the future.

Feel free to write in and tell him so.

Argh again

Maximum Z Movie of the Moment, screenwriting, writer's block
Summing up my mood quite nicely

Ever have one of those days where you think you’re going to have a breakthrough moment, but nothing does?  Or the answer to a nagging problem seems just out of reach, but then you realize it’s even farther away than you thought?

That’s what’s happening to me right now with the LUCY outline. I’m stuck in a section right after the midpoint, and can’t figure my way out of it.  Which is really frustrating.  I really like everything that’s led up to where I am now, which has apparently become a big ol’ unscalable wall.

I’m waiting for that one little spark of creativity to put things back in motion.  More importantly, trying to force it out will make its appearance even less likely, so I have to step back, take a deep breath and other kinds of relaxation cliches.

Regarding the DREAMSHIP rewrite, progress on that front has also been slow due to working a ton of split shifts (morning and afternoon drive), reading and commenting on scripts, a freelance project and the usual daily routine.  I used to shoot for 3 pages a day, which is a pretty good system, but lately I may have to alter that to an hour a day because it may be easier to acheive.

Part of my frustration also stems from wanting to be done. This is more of a ‘sense of accomplishment’ standpoint, rather than ‘I just want this to be over!’ one.  I know I’ll finish this eventually, but prefer it were sooner than later.

And now, return of the Movie of the Moment with still another double-hit. First, THE CRAZIES (2010), a horror about a small town in Iowa that gets hit with a virus that turns its victims into mindless killers.  Some good moments of suspense, not as much gore as I was expecting, and a female lead who can’t stop wandering into dangerous situations.  Nothing special.

Second, REAL STEEL (2011), or as some like to call it, ROCK ‘EM SOCK ‘EM ROBOTS: THE MOVIE. V was keen on seeing it, so we took in a matinee.  Basically, this is ROCKY with robots. It was fun and pretty predictable. I didn’t mind seeing it in the theatre, but wouldn’t have had a problem with watching it on Netflix.

While the special effects were high-quality, I was most impressed with the acting of Dakota Goyo as Hugh Jackman’s son.  The kid really holds his own.

Stupid wall

Maximum Z Green Lantern, Lucy Steele, rewrite, screenwriting, writer's block
kind of feels like this

Writing this week has been even less than the bare minimum due to all those split shifts. But I’m back to my regular schedule this coming week, and hope to get a lot done.

I did manage to finish fine-tuning the first half of the LUCY outline, but now look at the next 16-18 scenes and think “wow, this is kind of dull.” It just doesn’t have the same level of thrills or action of what came before, and that’s really annoying.

While I’d like to fix it now, I think I’ll work on making progress on DREAMSHIP. That way I can move ahead on that, AND see if I can figure out how to make the next section of LUCY better.

Yet again, progress is slow, but steady.

Oops. Just realized. I’m doing the midday shift on Monday, so that will be designated idea time. See how it goes.

Movie of the Moment – GREEN LANTERN: EMERALD KNIGHTS, an animated anthology of sorts about the GL Corps. This was released earlier this summer in connection with the live-action feature. This was worlds better. Interesting stories, good (albeit short) character development, and an overall sense of fun and adventure. All of which the Ryan Reynolds fiasco was sorely lacking.

Warner Brothers and the rest of the studios should wake up and realize that the best people to write comic book movies are comic book writers. They know the material and how to make it work.

Now I’ll take off my fanboy hat and put on my writer hat and get back to work.