Soundtracks

John August has a post about music while writing that everyone should check out.  The thing I find interesting is using these playlists as a tool when you’re stuck or when you’re ping-ponging between projects.  (I find that’s more applicable to working writers.  I feel the rest of us should try hard to focus on one thing at a time)

I’ve dabbled a bit with playlists for writing, but the intent was for something to start off with in the search for inspiration.  Using it as a tool to compliment, let’s say an outline, is something new to me.  Outlines tend to detail plot points, and lately I’ve been making little notes about the impact of those beats on the character, and vice versa.  The thing that interests me about setting up a playlist (and perhaps being act/sequence/scene specific) is that it could remind me of the emotion I feel should underline the scene.  It’s details like that that sometimes get lost in all that plot and structure thinking that occupies a lot of the writing process.

The only problem I’m faced with is the fact that music with lyrics can be a distraction.  Well, unless it’s the crap that plays at the coffee shop I write at.  I tend to tune out that stuff, but with music I like… I tend to get sucked into it.  In the past, I’ve reached for instrumental music, some of which are soundtracks for films I’ve enjoyed.

Heat has got some great music, some composed for the film (Heat, Coffee Shop) and some tracks from a variety of artists ranging from Moby to Michael Brook.  (I discovered Terje Rypdal through this soundtrack and have collected a number of his albums since)

Lately, I’ve been listening to David Julyan’s score for Insomnia, and Elliot Goldenthal’s score for Public Enemies.  Micahel Nyman’s scores for Gattaca and The End of the Affair are old favourites, too.

For music that hasn’t necessarily been written for film, there’s always guys like Moby, Synaesthesia, Future Sound of London, Dead Voices on Air, and the list goes on…

I’m thinking my new playlist will need some of Nine Inch Nails “Ghosts,” selections from the soundtracks I mentioned above, and a good serving of Mogwai.

I love the idea that a playlist can be used as a tool and look forward to giving it a try.

My Favourite Headache

The reason for such a huge gap in this blog, as with previous attempts to maintain a blog, is that I was busy. Writing. And panicking. Sort of.

From October of last year through December, I spent my writing time on reading. Recharging my batteries is something I tend to forget to do. I read some good great books in that time:

Broken Angels – Richard K. Morgan
Beyond Belfast – Will Ferguson
The Yiddish Policeman’s Union – Michael Chabon
The Killing Circle – Andrew Pyper

It was also important to feel like I was doing something. I had a complete breakdown in confidence, both in my abilities and in the story I was working on. Reading was a chance to recharge and look for inspiration, so I told myself I was working at my craft -though this was more study than hands-on. By the new year, I had begun to re-outline the current screenplay to find what I liked and what I didn’t like. By February, I was working at a decent pace, and in March I got into a good groove and haven’t slowed down. I wrote the first Act in the last couple of weeks.

The confidence/panicking thing is something all writers talk about. One thing I’d like to know from the established writers/screenwriters is do they suffer from CRS like I do. CRS is a frightening condition that plagues me and is genetic. It was passed on to me by my father and there is no known cure. It is such a rare disease that even a Google search only yields a long list of unrelated results. The full medical term for CRS is Can’t Remember Shit.

I seem to forget, quite regularly, that first drafts are shit. I forget to recharge. I forget that Syd Field talks about all this in “Screenplay,” and that I’ve told myself in the past to re-read “Screenplay” as a reminder that panic is normal. And I forget that I shouldn’t regret the choices I’ve made because, after all, writing is my favourite headache.

The Great Ferris Wheel Keeps Spinning...

So, I'm back. But I never really went anywhere, so I can't really say I'm back because I've always been here.
I'm here.
There, that's better. I've been in a funkarama for the last couple of weeks. My weekly goal is ten pages, and I probably wrote about seven over the course of two weeks. Stinkaroo.
But, it's okay, this kinda thing happens. My biggest problem is that I'm suffering from Lack-Of-Outline-ism. It's a horrible malady that strikes when you start writing and you don't stop until you've got a hundred pages. Then you look at it and say, 'Okay, but how does this all fit together?' Not fun.
But this week is going well. I'm on track to hit my target ten pages, and I'm working on an outline that should pull everything into focus. And that's all I have to say, on that.

First of all, let me say that the way I've been writing this novel of mine is to start a new section each week and title the file with the topic, and the date. So, I've ended up with about 30 files for the same story. Today, I finally put everything together into a master copy and I printed it. I was surprised, happily so, to come up one page short of one hundred. Which, with what I wrote today, has been surpassed. Am I happy to have broken that 100 page mark? Sure, why not. I can't really say that it feels amazing or fabulozo. It is what it is. Actually, what feels good is holding those hundred pages in my hands. That's kinda cool.

And on and on we go, why I blog, I don't really know.
And now that I've started, I can't really stop, because then I would look like the fool. Maybe, someday this will be read by more people then Dan... Hey, thanks for reading this Dan.