Friday, April 24, 2009

100 pages! I'm a winner!

http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/eng/user/421280

I did it, with several days to spare! 100 pages in 24 days. I'm so proud of me.

Now, to let it rest. I'm taking a few days off, then I'm going to dive back into Liz closes the store.

m

Thursday, April 23, 2009

96 pages

96 pages? I might actually make this goal. :)

I'm going to break with tradition and NOT kill of my main dog character in this movie. It seems every other f***ing movie with a dog in the lead ends with said dog dead. From to Turner and Hooch to Old Yeller, and I'm sick of it. These dogs won't ever die. So there.

la
m

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

89 pages

Ok, things are getting silly. We're talking about shaving a dog to disguise it. These are some deranged characters.

Whatever. I'm still sick, so probably the virus is driving the story now.

m

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

84 pages

I'm still sick, but I managed 4 pages tonight. Dog comes back. Plan for resolution beginning to form. Mystery still looms.

Perhaps we'll never understand why this happens...in Being John Malcovich, the characters never understood why they could inhabit JM's body. I don't know if we'll try to explain why these people can go somewhere and become a dog for an hour. I like the mystery of magic...it isn't magic if it's explained.

I'm done tonight.
m

Monday, April 20, 2009

80 pages

I think the idea of "plotting" to the middle of the screenplay has served me well. I had a general idea of where I thought the story would go, I got to the end of the plotting, and now the story has legs enough to take me where it wants.

I think I like the bits that are coming from the non-plotted portion better, too. They are less mechanical for instance.

Okay, I feel a crummy cold coming on (and wrote despite it!), but I'm calling it a night!
m

Sunday, April 19, 2009

74 pp.

The story and characters have officially taken over. Fun!

Now, friend betrayal, or is it?

m

Saturday, April 18, 2009

71 pp.

Another good day. I've been a little stuck on plot, so I threw in a messenger, banging on the door at dawn. It worked in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and it's certainly thrown a monkey-wrench into things.

m

Friday, April 17, 2009

64 pp.

One pathetic page.

However, I now go to spend quality, non-child, time with my hubby.

Priorities, grasshopper. Priorities. :)
m

Thursday, April 16, 2009

63 pp.

It was like pulling teeth to start tonight, but I hit my page count of 6 (to make up for my lazy ass last night). The pages are pretty good, too. I'm not disappointed when I make myself write. I know this, but I still resist when I'm in a pissy achy mood.

Now, it's time for a tub of hot and an early bedtime. That's a good reward.

la
m

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

a night off

Headache finally caught up with me. I'm now in that "I don't have a headache anymore, but the ibuprophen has given me that fuzzy, numb feeling" zone that is not conducive to writing. I'm actually squinting now, which tells me I need to soak in a hot bathtub until bedtime.

m

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

57 pp

Yay! Midpoint!

Someone has leaked the news of Homer the magic dog and his clearing, so hundreds of people and the media show up.

What now? I don't know. We'll see where the story goes.

m

Monday, April 13, 2009

54 pages

When you let the characters drive the story, you end up writing scenes you didn't know you needed to.

Example: who knew a lover's quarrel could be mended while two people are in the bodies of dogs? I didn't know until just now. I have always told my students that they can/will learn as they write, but I didn't mean it exactly this way. :)

Stand By Me was playing at the gym this morning, and it got me thinking about Stephen King and how wise he is. I'm thinking I need to read some of his non-horror short stories, like "The Body," the story that movie is based on.

Tomorrow, I'll have crossed the midpoint of the screenplay. I can let my bad guys go bananas. I've named my bad guy after the bully on the Simpsons--Nelson. Ha-ha!

m

Sunday, April 12, 2009

50pp.

Well, despite the excuses, I have managed another 10 pp. since my last whiny post.

Part of my problem, I think, is that I have been following a diagram for plot development, and I was depressed that I was a few pages off.

THIS WAS DUMB.

Fortunately, Mr. King, among others, reminded me that story, not plot, is what's important. Yes, there is a difference. Story is the narrative. Plot simply diagrams the ac. It is dumb of me to get upset when the organic story decides to stray a bit from the dead line of the plot. It's like trying to dig your way through a mountain on a hike instead of just walking around it just because the map says the mountain isn't there.

So, I'm just letting the characters loose. I have written a loose synopsis of what I thought would happen before I started the screenplay, but I have already strayed from it, and I don't care. I think what I've written is a little truer and more interesting than what I scribbled down days before Screnzy started.

I'm still a little ahead of the curve, but I've slowed down considerably from my first frantic days of writing. That's what happen to me during NaNo, too.

Oh, yeah...happy Easter!
m

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

no energy tonight

I shouldn't but I'm going to rest on my laurels tonight.

I'm having trouble writing "fun" things that the people do when they are dogs, partly b/c I don't want to write something unshootable. I should not be worrying about that in this phase of the script, but tonight, I am, anyway.

Plus, I'm just wiped out. excuses, excuses. We can point to this moment when I lose the Oscar to Lucas in 2011.

m

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

40 pp

I feel my page count tonight is a cheat, because I don't think I'll use the scene I wrote for another 20 pages or so. I've had to tuck it into my scratch-pad because it just didn't fit where it was. It's too early in the script for the bad guys to fuck things up.

When I finish Stephen King's book On Writing, I think I'll review it here. I'm really enjoying it. I'll review other books I read about writing, too. Lord knows I come into contact with enough of them.

(For those who don't know, I teach writing and I get scads of free books about writing.)

Oh well. Pages, even if they don't fit, are pages.

m

Monday, April 6, 2009

37 pp.

So, five pages a night seems like a comfortable pace for me. Tonight, that's translated into one beer.

Due to other circumstances, I have the time to edit LSCTS if I wanted to, but I think I'll take a bath instead.

I've changed the title of the screenplay to Following Homer, because the magic dog they follow is named Homer...or so he "tells" one of the people when they are a dog. I like this title a lot better than the Being Dog title, which never really worked for me. It seems really static compared to the new one.

m

Sunday, April 5, 2009

32 pp.

I did write about five pages last night in bed after I watched a movie with Charles. Hand-written script pages translate better into typed script pages than fiction does. I think all the formatting makes things that way.

Anyway, I'll pose the same question here that I have posed on Twitter : What would you do if you were a dog for ONE HOUR?

Respond by commenting to this blog post.

m

Friday, April 3, 2009

22 pages

I like writing because it's a lot like reading for me. I discover things about my characters the same way I would for characters in a book. So, it's like I'm reading a book that I'm writing at the same time.

That is to say that I like the screenplay I'm writing, though it sounds very weird to describe the concept. I'm not sure I would go see a movie with a log line like mine has.

Being John Malcovich
meets Bridget Jones meets Benji. Nope, not a movie I'd probably stand in line for. Not that I've seen a movie in a theater since the baby was born, but that's beside the point.

I'm reading Stephen King's book On Writing. I'll put a link up to it on the blog. I like it a lot more than I thought I would. I like King's writing, but normally I can't stomach his subject matter. I am enjoying this book a lot.

m

Thursday, April 2, 2009

18 pages

So far, so good.

The plan with this script is that it could be filmed by my friend/film making parter in crime Shaun Huston sometime in the future. The constraints are, as always, it needs to be local, use local talent and resources, and be cheap as hell to make.

We'll see if I can do it, and tell a compelling story at the same time.

Ya-ooo!
m

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Fade In :Screnzy

Well, I've banged out 10 pages of script for Script Frenzy. Yippee! I think it's going to be a fun little project.

I have found a former student to be my "buddy." Hi Patrick! He'll keep me honest.

Off to take care of a sick husband.
m