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.

Procrastinate Efficiently

My September 22 deadline is approaching and I’m a little behind. I’m only a little worried ‘cause I figure if I’m gonna procrastinate, I gotta do a thorough job of it. So I’m gonna procrastinate on worrying about the looming deadline. What the hell. I’ll start worrying about it on September 1^st or later. Keep in mind that this isn’t the same as procrastinating on writing. Just the worrying part.

I decided to take it easy this summer. I’ve got a good routine writing on weeknights so I figured it wouldn’t kill me to enjoy my Friday afternoons instead of labouring away at the library. (I’ve got Friday’s off from my part-time day job) And besides, them libraries gots bed bugs.

The thing that’s been on my mind is this feeling that at some point, I‘m going to have to work a little harder at this script. I’m going to have to start going back to the library (or a bug free location, if they exist in this city) and crank out more pages. The funny thing is it’s getting easier as the script progresses. I seemed to have struggled with the setup of this one, and as I ironed out the wrinkles there, everything else has started to fall into place. It’s far from perfect (already started a list of things I want to look at closely in the first revision) but it feels like it’s coming together. And that’s key.

Staying positive will help make the writing go smoother. So in order to stay positive, I’m going to put off the worrying. At least for a couple of weeks.

MLA with a mouth

So the current controversy is this MLA, Alberta Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett, saying Canadian content is shit.

Hey Lindsay, even if that were the case, (and it’s not) you learn by doing.  And you get better.  Statements like that don’t promote Canadian stories.  Statements like that could drive people away.  How is THAT gonna help?  How is shooting your mouth off and shrinking our audience going to help the industry?  Our storytellers need deserve the chance to grow in their craft to tell OUR stories.  I’m not just talking about the folks currently fortunate enough to be working in the industry.  I’m talking about everyone with something to say and/or express.  There are a lot of creative people you haven’t heard of who are working very hard at their craft RIGHT NOW.  It would be a shame if your comments, your lack of vision, your small mindedness, damaged an already struggling industry to the point where it becomes even more difficult for these people to find a channel, and outlet, to share OUR stories with the rest of the country. (and hopefully, the world)

Shame on you.

Yes, there’s Heartland. There’s also The Bridge.  No, I’m not gonna make a list.  I’m not insecure. 

I don’t feel the need to walk around with a tape measure.

Progress ver 1.2

While the Yellowjester (Mark) is still taking a hammer and chisel to his novel, I had a slight setback on the sci-fi script.

And a great one at that.

I looked over my act 1 and felt it didn’t work. A quick review of my outline told me why and it was one of those head slapping moments. I kept thinking, “was I asleep when I wrote this?” It truly was one of those moments where you look back and realize you were asleep at the wheel. Did I just go through a red light? Did I already put sugar in my coffee?

So over the last week, I’ve re-outlined and have already started re-writing Act 1. It’s definitely more cohesive, more exciting, and more engaging than the dribble I printed on May 30^th. And it’s strengthening Act 2.

So at the risk of sounding lame, I feel I should point out something Syd Field mentions a lot in his books. “What doesn’t work will shows us what does work.” And that’s why I am grateful for my little setback.

Inspiration

As per usual, I troll the internet looking for inspiration.  Denis McGrath has had some particularly inspiring posts here and here and here. Then there’s Lightspeed Magazine for those of you looking for a new market to submit your prose to.  I’ve also rediscovered Creative Screenwriting Magazine’s series of Podcasts.  So far my favourites are:

Cloverfield
Star Trek
The Kingdom
The Prestige
The Dark Knight

Check ‘em out. 

If I had the contacts, and the stones, I’d try to get something like that going up here.  Maybe someone better qualified will one day.  We can only hope.  The more noise that gets made, the better chances the media will pay more attention to Canadian creatives.

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.

Yes Nonsense

Hey, hang on...
This writing is getting hard. No one told me it would be hard.
Screw this.

Yeah, that's really what I'd like to say. Anyone who has written anything has experienced that little diatribe. It's not only getting harder to pull the story together, but its getting harder to sit down and do it. It's not a fun game anymore. It's work.
And there is the first thing that separates the writers from the talk-about-being-writers. I always listened to the established writers, to find out just how they did it. Again and again, every one of them would say, 'write'. Boy, how true that is. There is no great trick to finishing a novel. All you need to do is write. Of course, that doesn't mean that the novel will be any good. That involves a whole other skill set.

So, I keep writing. I've slowed down, but I keep writing.
This is a nonsense post. i'm really doing this to get the muscles going and get to my real work. So, if you're reading this, sorry. There is no insight here. But really, is there ever?

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.

Progress ver 1.1

A little update. Got my sysnopsis and treatment done a few weeks ago. I then decided to take a look at an old short story. What started as an attempt to revise it turned into a painless page-one-rewrite. And I like it. Got some minor tweaks to make, then I'll send it off to Asimov's, eventually working my way down the list of magazines that accepts short sci-fi.

Then it's vacation. Sort of.
I never seem to take all my vacation days, which is a bit of a headache for my employers. So as of tomorrow, I have a week and a half off from my "day job" and I'll be using that to get to work on my next feature length script. It's something I outlined in the summer, so the first couple of days will be dedicated to reviewing the outline, refining it, and taking a stab at a treatment. The goal is to have a comleted draft by the end of January, but I'm hoping to be done much sooner than that.

I'd cross my fingers, but that just makes typing a real pain.

Coincidence – Or just good writing all around.

Minor Spoiler Alert. Don't read if you're at all interested in Flashforward or Stargate: SGU

Earlier this week, Denis at Dead Things on Sticks had a post rounding up the new TV season. Being a fan of a couple of shows he mentioned (and curious about a few others) I decided to chime in with something that occurred to me on the weekend.

A couple of friends of mine watched the pilot of “Flashforward” and said I’d really like it. The thing about “Flashforward” is that I already knew about the book, but never got around to reading it. The author, Rob Sawyer, is Canadian and really, I owe him a lot. My buddy/co-writer/co-blogger Mark met a mutual friend in Sawyer’s sci-fi writing class at (I believe) the University of Toronto. If it hadn’t been for that class, I would never have met Mark, thus I wouldn’t be broke after many nights spent at the pub. Thanks a lot Rob! But seriously, I forgot that David Goyer was involved with the show and he’s someone I’m a bit of a fan of. (Check out the “Dialogue Series” DVD with Goyer) Anyhow, back to my point. One of my friends, a non-writer, asked me to watch it. She also wanted to know if the beginning reminded me of the pilot for “Lost.”

So the weekend came, and I got my hands on the pilots for “Flashforward,” and another show I was looking forward to, “Stargate Universe.” And here’s the thing: They obeyed rule #1 for any kind of storytelling, be it novel, short story, film, or television. GRAB ‘EM. Hook the audience. Get their attention from the start. The interesting thing is, both pilots did in fact remind of the pilot for “Lost.”

I’m not suggesting that the writer’s of FF and SGU were ripping off Lindelof and Abrams. I’m not even suggesting they were inspired by the “Lost” pilot, though it’s a possibility, for reasons possibly exclusive to the two shows. But it makes the case for what works, particularly for the sci-fi genre. (I’m not gonna go into the Sawyer/Crichton sci-fi, but not sci-fi, debate)

Here’s why they reminded me of Lost. In a nutshell: Lots of people on screen confused, scared, screaming, hurt. And even if you didn’t know who Joseph Fienns is, or recognize any of the principal characters from the ads, you would be able to lock in on who the “heroes” are based on their action (or positive reaction) to their predicament. I’m kicking myself for the way I just spelled it out, because it sounds like formula. It’s not. It’s good writing. Because there’s a world, a plot, a story, and real characters that hold it all together.

The moment Lt. Scott stumbles through the stargate aboard the “Destiny,” we know something is wrong. He looks around, he’s out of breath, he raises his gun. Before he can finish scanning the large dark gate-room, people are being flung through the stargate and he’s trying to help them. And the situation deteriorates from there. Same thing with Flashforward.

The reason I risk the wrath of geeks everywhere by saying the writers of both shows MIGHT have been influenced by Lost is because, well, I think they’re geeks too. Us geeks don’t always see other geeks as competitors. These guys are all fans of a) good television, b) the genre, and c) storytelling.

Goyer, and especially Braga (Star Trek, Threshold and more) have worked in TV before. So why wouldn’t they look at something like “Lost.” Both shows are not episodic, and from the looks of it so far, FF will most likely have a mythology.

The guys over at Stargate are massive geeks, and I say that with the utmost respect. If you look at any past episode of either SG-1 or Atlantis, there are all sorts of nods and winks at other stories in the sci-fi genre. Look at the 200th episode of SG-1. They’re also fans of great story and have experimented within their show’s framework to stretch out a little. The two-part SG-1 episode “Heroes” is one of my favourites. (The writer’s gave Saul Rubinek a juicy part and his speech/rant in part two was brilliant) They made it clear from the moment SGU was announced that they were gonna try something different, and while some fans had doubts, I was pumped. I trust these guys based on on what I’ve seen they’re capable of with past Stargate episodes. So did they rip off “Lost?” No. Were they inspired by it? Maybe. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re fans of the show. Could they have never watched “Lost” but still come up with a great pilot for “SGU?” Absolutely. ‘Cause great minds think alike.

All these shows grabbed the audience and didn’t let go. They SHOWED us who our heroes are at a frantic pace while establishing a very strong QUESTION that will drive the characters on a journey while planting our butts in front of the TV week after week.

(Oh… it’s been a while since I’ve watched something that made me want to sit down and write a new story or overhaul an old one. SGU did just that. Even the music is awesome. I can’t get the opening out of my head)

Stumbling towards completion...

Monday... Need I say more? Well, okay.
I have things I need to do, things I don't really need to do, but should, and the things that I'm actually doing, which don't fall into either of the other two categories... How is it that we can find so much time for garbage, but there never seems to be time for important stuff.

The writing is still going. Although I had a bit of hiccup at the end of last week. I was writing a section that takes place in the middle of the book, and, well, I finished it. It came to a natural completion, and I'm happy with it. But, this left me completely confounded as to what to do next. I realized that I had no overall picture of what was happening in the book. It was mostly formed in my head, and was made up of little bits of the story here and there.
So, that Thursday, after sitting around asking myself, 'what the hell am I going to do?' I made a trip to the local Staples and bought three sheets of bristol board, and a three pack of cue cards. Now, I've started laying out a visible timeline of the things that are occuring in the story. This has allowed me to get an idea of the order of events, as well as arrange the sequences and their respective beats. Suffice it to say, I've gotten a handle on what I'm going to work on next and have already started. This is a great tool, especially if you have vague ideas about your story. When you start placing them on the board in cue cards, it shows you what you really know, or don't know about your story.

Treatments - A Necessary Evil

Now, the title sorta screams, “Duh!” We all know that they’re needed for marketing a story, selling it, etc. Here’s the thing that I’ve known for some time, but have failed to put into practice. They’re necessary as a writing tool. As proud as I am of the latest draft of my sci-fi spec, I’m finding little areas that need improvement as I work on this piece of crap treatment. Little things that fell through the cracks, things that didn’t even occur to me in the heat of blasting out my action and dialogue. Little bits of missing story logic coming up in the treatment and it’s giving me the opportunity to make a quick note or two in a separate file I’ve marked down as a “to do” list before I submit the script. I’ve always known that I should try to work on a treatment before, or while writing the screenplay, but now it’s something I can appreciate. The scary thing is, I think I need to try writing more than one at different stages.

Before sitting down to write my next screenplay, I want to take a stab at a treatment. Just a quick compilation of my notes and outline in prose form. Then I want to update it as I write the script. The hope here is to be able to look at the original version, and the updated one, for a quick painless tweak and presto: marketing tool.

But after today’s brief stab at the treatment before going to work at my day job, I know it’s not going to be that simple. The reason a treatment is an invaluable revision tool AFTER I’ve written the screenplay is because I’m not “in it” as I read and write. I’ve got some distance from the script which gives me a different perspective. Now, another contributing factor could also be that I have gotten some distance from the script since I haven’t worked on it in about a month, but something about the process of writing a treatment, I suspect, forces a different perspective. And I think that’s because it’s a different way of writing.

I’m not at all suggesting that this is how the pros do it.  How the hell do I know?  Besides, everyone will tell you they have their own process.  This is just an idea, a theory I thought I’d share.  And let’s dispense with the industry jargon to further that different perspective:  If you’re plugging away at your script or novel or whatever, and you want to know how the bigger picture is shaping out, try summarizing it in prose or outline as you go along and include what you’ve already written.  You may be surprised at what’s there.  Good or bad, you’ll definitely be ahead of the game for your first (or next) revision.

Does it Always Suck?

Recently, Mary over at Ruts and Grooves had something to say about not being afraid to write crap. Now, I’m paraphrasing here, going on memory as I’m in my “writing” coffee shop without internet access. The thing is, even before I read that post of hers, I was already telling myself that first drafts suck. I really did, and have done so for some time.  Of course, I would always forget, and still do. I let myself have hope that the next project will be AWESOME in the first draft, thus I won’t lose any sleep during the revisions. Of course, that’s never the case. But here’s the scary thing… I might just really suck. Seriously.

I’ve been fretting over this 5 page treatment so I can upload a script to Greenwriter.org and be better prepared with material for when I (finally) start marketing myself, and (finally) send out some queries. But man, it ain’t easy. Not five minutes ago I was reading my treatment and found some common writing mistakes. Mistakes that I always make. What the hell? Have I not learned anything? Well, I know I have. In fact, I’ve learned a lot. I guess moments like this remind me that I have a ways to go. I also wonder if every writer makes the same mistakes over and over. I wonder if that’s me making excuses for myself. I wonder if I’m just in a rut, panicking, and using the panic and my stupendous gift of procrastination to write up a blog entry.

But worst of all, I wonder if I’m kidding myself with this whole writing thing.

So here’s what this little bit of therapeutic blogging has taught me today.

1. I keep coming back to the fact that I love to write. So, when I consider that, and the fact that I’ve invested too much time and energy to give up, I know I just gotta shut the hell up and chill.

2. Recognizing those mistakes for what they are on the first read through is progress in itself. So I should just shut the hell up and chill.

3. Wondering out loud in a coffee shop in the middle of the night incites strange looks from late night truckers. So I should just…..(say it with me now)

Tomorrow?

I'll continue my post tomorrow, and here it is, ten days later. And thats how it usually happens, I'll do this tomorrow, I'll get to that soon, oh I really should do that... And the days slip by like the sea, without you ever realizing. You get caught up in the tide, being pulled along with it, without ever noticing. And soon, you find yourself drowning, in work, in marriage, in kids. And that thing that you were gonna get to tomorrow, well, tomorrow just doesn't seem to come around.

But there's another side to that coin too. When you're so afraid of losing that thing that you hold onto it so tightly, you plant yourself firmly down with it, never giving up or letting go. And sure enough, you stand firm, but the days begin to slip by without you. And those precious moments in marriage, kids, and sometimes even work. Those things that are drowning everyone else become the commodity. No matter what side of that coin faces up, you begin to question. If the choice that you made, or was made for you was the right one.

There's a delicate balance to hold. I've always railed against the first option. I've been known to call it being a 'victim of life'. But there is an opposite extreme. Never really even thought about it until I typed it out here. Maybe it's been on my mind without my even knowing it. But I'm just wandering here. Typing for the sake of typing.

As for me, I'm still writing, and have come across problems and solutions. But this time, as opposed to all the other times Ive gotten to this point, I've persisted. I push on. I like everything that is coming out, and maybe that worries me a bit. I feel there should be more garbage, but there doesn't seem to be much at all. Maybe I'm not a harsh enough critic of my own work. It will all be sorted out in the wash though.
Still on one page a day but I'm trying to get more out. I have a deadline at the end of the month for 35 pages, which is a handful more then my quota. Not really worried about reaching it, but I wanted to far exceed it. Really, I wanted to double it next month. Might still do that. Have to get this book done. For my own sanity...
M

Final Steps, courtesy of John August

About a month ago, I typed out a rewrite schedule that I've used. Today, John August has a post about the final steps to take before turning in a script.

Just thought I'd share.

This week in writing....

Well, I just finished my pages for the week. Yes. Five. Hey, it's a start. This week has been harder then the others. This is the week I usually quit, or slow right down. But I'm desperatly trying to turn that historical fact around. And finishing my pages for the week is a big boost in the right direction.
Im starting to write about things that were never in the original idea. Things that just came out of left field. It's a great feeling. It really is like the story and the character is leading you in a direction, and you have no choice but to follow and, in effect, journalise it. I don't think that's a word, but its what i mean.
Well, my battery is running low, so I gotta go. Ill continue my post tomorrow.

Focus

Or lack of. This is what's on my mind.
I need space here. And a coffee. And a life.

Un-Fun 1.2 – Making it Fun

The outline is done. Now comes the hard part… the other hard part. Making it -- forcing it -- into prose. Exciting prose. Not flowery, not literary. It’s just gotta get the story across while revealing character, but it definitely needs a voice. And I’d like the voice to be representative of the tone, and of me.

Last night, after I finished my outline, I decided to skim over an unfinished novel from a few years ago. It made me cringe in some spots; the immaturity of some ideas and the writing, and made me smile in other spots. There were plot points, characters, and setups in that prologue and first two chapters that I completely forgot about.

It was never my plan to re-read some of my own prose before sitting down to hammer out these treatments and synopsis, but I’m glad I did. Writing a treatment isn’t the same as writing a novel, but they share some obvious things in common and reading that stuff last night actually has me looking forward to what I used to think of as a daunting and painful task.

Here it is....

My first post. A year, almost to the day, from when Dan posted the first entry. And now, Im coming in from the cold to settle down into the role of a serious writer. Is that possible? Im not really sure. But this is a first big step.

Already my thoughts go haywire. Where do I begin? I've already started typing and erased the previous line about five times. This is not a good sign. So, I'm going to put some pertinent stuff here and call it done.

I'm writing. A novel. A slow, meandering process. Its a novel that I've been writing for fifteen years. It started strong, so many years ago, with a great opening paragraph. In my mind it became the paragraph that could never be topped. Then it became a few pages here, a few pages there. I turned to other stories, short ones. And completed a good handful. One of them was even published. It was a story called 'Permission'. It was published in Tesseracts 10, a Canadian anthology, which came out in 2006.

But. And this is the big, But. I never, ever could bring myself to restart that novel. It was my albatross. Lack of confidence, lack of motivation, lack of discipline. So many lacks, conspired against me. But, I've started again. Ive started at a page a day. A goal that has been mutually arranged with Hugh. As he is also fighting demons to complete his novel.

Questions and reasons and further musings will all be address in later posts. But for now, it's going well. Slowly, but well.

Un-Fun

I’m still here.
Currently in a bit of a rut. You see, I stress over the “un-fun” things. Writing a synopsis and treatment falls under that heading. I had hoped to get it all done in a couple of days, but here I am, two weeks later. In a bit of a rut.

I’ll be done by the end of the week.

Here are some links I found on the “un-fun.”