writing

Gimme a few seconds to catch my breath

Maximum Z half-marathons, hockey, Movie of the Moment, multitasking, Netflix, networking, parenting, running, screenwriting, script, Stage 32, writing
I'll get back to work in a minute. Promise.
I’ll get back to work in a minute. Promise.

Hokey smokes, am I exhausted. But it’s a good exhausted because there’s just so darned much going on in my universe.

First and foremost, the churning-out of pages continues. It’s a good thing I know how to edit, because it’s really going to be necessary. Basically, my scene-to-page ratio is rapidly becoming misproportioned. A scene originally intended as half a page ends up being one, one and a quarter pages, so I’ll have to figure out how to cut it down to the absolute bare bones and make it, say, a quarter of a page. Challenging, yes, but doable.

In some ways, the transition from outline to pages at first seemed rash and premature. But since I think my writing is a lot stronger than it was before, it doesn’t bother me as much. As a result, I can crank out 1-2 pages a day with confidence, and be as equally confident that the inevitable editing phase will be just as effective.

What’s also cool is being able to write while V takes part in her many after-school activities.  I find a nice, quiet spot and type away. Productive and makes the time fly by. Even better if there’s free wifi (loves me that Pandora!).

-Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve become more active within the online community Stage 32, which connects all type of creative folks from around the world. I’ve made some great connections, including the sharing and critiquing of pages, as well as somebody who read my script and offered to forward it to an associate with a ‘highly recommend’ label attached.  Nice.

-I haven’t been able to run as much as I’d like to, but I make sure to get a good one in on weekends. This past Saturday, I did 12.44 miles in 1:50 and change, for a pace of about 8:45. It felt great, and boosted my hope of breaking 1:55 at the Oakland Half-marathon on March 24th.

Not sure if it’s my shoes or just me getting old, but lately my right heel has been getting really sore after I run. It seems to hit a few hours later, and originally lasted for about a day, but the length of time and intensity of pain have each been shrinking. My retired-doctor father says it’s bursitis. K thinks it’s the shoes, which are about a year old. Knowing me, it’s probably both.

-Movie of the Moment – GOON (2011) If you like hockey, you’re going to love this.  I don’t even remember if it was released in theatres, but it’s on Netflix streaming now. Seann William Scott plays completely against type and is very effective as a soft-spoken, nice guy thrust into the ragtag world of Canadian minor-league hockey.  A lot of fun, but knowing something about hockey will definitely increase your enjoyment.

Blink and you’ll miss this post

Maximum Z Movie of the Moment, podcasts, screenwriting, westerns, writing ,

Current script status: up to page 7, and getting ready to introduce my bad guy. Oh, this is going to be fun.

My page-a-day method seems to be working out nicely. Some days it’s perfect, while some days it’s just enough.

-Got to read a fantastic script similar to mine in a handful of details, while the rest is totally different.  Nothing to worry about.  If anything, it’s a great example of what works to tell this kind of story.

-Been woefully lax in getting this podcast up and running. Have to set more time aside for it. Just need another 1-2 hours in the day. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

-Movie of the Moment – CLASH OF THE TITANS (2010) Man, did this suck.  Almost feel compelled to see how the sequel compares. Almost.

I’m guessing this was a result of studio interference, since Travis Beacham, the writer of A KILLING ON CARNIVAL ROW and this summer’s highly-anticipated PACIFIC RIM, was one of the writers. I’ll stick with the 1981 version with Harryhausen effects, thanks.

-Since you’re in the know about my stuff, how is YOUR latest project coming along? Good, bad, need help? Let’s work together, gang.

Cue the cartoon Disney animals!

Maximum Z adventure, AMPAS, confidence, Disney, encouragement, Oscars, outlines, pie, screenwriting, script, storytelling, westerns, writing

You know that feeling when you come up with a story idea you can’t wait to jump into, and then when you actually do, writing it is even better than you could have possibly imagined?  Almost as if the physical act of writing is no longer a chore-like slog, but has become a thrilling way of putting the excitement of your imagination right there on the page?

That’s exactly what’s happening now as I turn my western outline into a script.

I’ve been doing my best to stick to the at-least-1-page-a-day method, and so far, it’s been working out nicely. Going into yesterday, I was on the verge of getting to page 3, but made it to almost the end of page 4 courtesy of bringing my laptop to V’s soccer practice.  It was also cool to completely revamp the scene’s ending totally on the fly. I like when the creativeness kicks in like that.

(Working in a public space is becoming so much more productive. Good thing there are lots of coffee shops and cafes in our neighborhood.)

It’s really hard to describe how jazzed I am about writing this.  I don’t know if it’s the love of the genre, or letting my enjoyment of pulp-y adventure shine through, or just plain having fun with it. Maybe it’s a little of everything.  Truth be told, I wouldn’t trade this feeling for anything.

How powerful is this positive sensation? Not only am I not even acknowledging that internal voice of self-doubt and naysaying, but if it were possible, I’d send everybody a piece of my homemade pecan pie just to make their day a little brighter.  Trust me. That’s saying something.

Of course, I’m not completely oblivious to reality. This thing is going to need some major work when the first draft is finished. There will most likely be all sorts of details that need to be fixed, ranging from story to characters to historical accuracy.

But I don’t care about any of that right now. I’m really enjoying this and want to keep that feeling going as long as possible.

It’s also my hope that my enthusiasm comes across on the page, which would make it that much more fun a read for somebody else.  Who wouldn’t appreciate becoming engrossed in a rousing tale of adventure?

-The Oscars. Since we have Apple TV, the show wasn’t streamed live (unless we wanted to subscribe to a service we’ll never need or buy a useless product) so we couldn’t watch it, but were able to hear the audio. Hopefully the Academy and the networks will accept that live streaming is an inevitable part of the future and make the appropriate changes. Probably not, but one can hope.

Regarding the awards the awards themselves, nothing too surprising except for how well LIFE OF PI did. Guess I’ll actually have to see it now, along with most of the other BP nominees.

-Movie of the Moment – DREDD (2012). I’m familiar with the comic, and this was a much stronger adaptation of it than the Stallone version. Karl Urban was a great fit for the lead.

In terms of plot, if you enjoyed THE RAID: REDEMPTION, you’ll like this. The same concept, more or less, but with less martial arts and more whiz-bang special effects. Overall, not a bad way to spend 92 minutes.

Yet another go-round on this neverending rollercoaster

Maximum Z Black List, manager, query letter, screenwriting, script, self-confidence, westerns, writing , ,
Ups, downs, twists and turns. It's all part of the process...
Ups, downs, twists and turns. It’s all part of the process…

Yesterday was…eventful. Almost like condensing my establishing a career in screenwriting into a single day.

Good: somebody actually downloaded DREAMSHIP from the Black List!  Nice, especially since it entered double-digit basic views a couple of days ago. Hoping to get a professional review sometime in March.

Not-so-good: a manager who read the script passed, claiming “while I enjoyed the read and did think it was well-written, I just couldn’t get excited enough about it to warrant taking on a new client or project right now.”  I’m still not sure exactly how to interpret this, but it still boils down to “thanks, but no thanks.” Oh well. C’est la vie.

(Gotta admit it’s somewhat of a silver lining that just about all of the rejections from those who read the script mentioned how much they liked it.  Just not enough to take it to the next step.)

So what now?

Easy. Spend a few moments feeling sorry for myself, put it behind me and soldier on to the category labeled “Promising,” in the form of  the overwhelming need to start on pages for the western.

The only way I could feel better was to write.  Doesn’t matter if the outline’s not 100 percent. I HAD to do this; not only as a form of catharsis but to feel like I was actually moving ahead and remind myself of the potential awesomeness of this story.

So I did. It was only half a page. Nothing fantastic, but at least it was something.

(just wondering – are you still supposed to write ‘FADE IN’? I’ve heard both yes and no.)

It’s been quite a while since I started a new script. Any writer will reinforce the concept of nothing as intimidating or challenging as a blank white screen, with that little blinking cursor just sitting there, ready to spring into action.

The key is to keep the cursor moving.  Which is exactly my plan.

The awesomeness comes later.

A world of my own design OR Atlas, schmatlas

Maximum Z creativity, geography, history, Movie of the Moment, outlines, research, screenwriting, storytelling, westerns, writing
The land is mine to manipulate as I see fit. So there.
This land is mine to manipulate as I see fit.  So there.

Making some good progress on the western outline. This “working at least 30 minutes a day” thing has really moved things along; actually much faster than originally anticipated. Give it a try if you haven’t already.

Sure, there are still some small details here and there that need to be hammered out, but for the most part the majority of the story is pretty close to being done.

When I started this, I wanted to make it as realistic as possible (or at least as much as a story about a female train engineer in the Old West can be), and that included using real geographic settings.  I wanted the fort here, the showdown here, etc.

But that just raised more questions. If the fort’s here, how far is it to this other point, and how fast would the train have to go in order to get there, and could trains go that fast during that time, and was there even a rail line between those two points?

This was becoming way more complicated than it had to be. I want to tell a story, not set up a math word problem.

So as I was going back and forth between the new and previous drafts, it dawned on me: I can just make stuff up, including where things happen.

I’m the writer. I’m allowed to do that.

So out went locations that actually exist, and in came totally fabricated ones (yet another benefit to all those years of listening to old-time radio westerns).

The feeling’s quite liberating. No longer do I have to worry about making sure every single detail is spot-on accurate, and can now focus on developing a rousing tale of adventure populated with colorful characters.

Which is how it should be.

-Major crisis narrowly averted! I’d lost a flash drive with a lot of script stuff on it. Only during the DREAMSHIP rewrite did I start making additional copies onto my hard drive, so a lot of projects I’d started before that were apparently gone forever.

I did a fairly good job of masking my pain, but was internally kicking myself for not having more backups (20/20 hindsight and all that).

Happy ending – K found the flash drive. Lesson learned – I’m in the process of saving everything on Google Docs so I never have to panic like that again.

You’re probably thinking “that’ll never happen to me. I’m always careful.” I used to think that too. Now it’s all about taking extra precautions.

-Movie of the Moment – FRANKENWEENIE (2012). A lot of fun that cleverly pays homage to classic monster movies. Parental advisory – V cried when the dog was killed (done very tastefully offscreen)