Post it attack



Haven’t really done this before and not really following any methodology, but I’m working man. I am working.

 

This is on top of the whole other draft that I already did, three legal pads, countless notecards and hours and hours of discussion. I just push on, it’s my white whale. Die already you bastard.

Meaty scene design?



Some may know I’m a bit of a Pirates fan and even if no one had ever thought to turn the amusement park ride into a movie, I’d still be a huge fan of Ted and Terry, who need little intro in the realm of the scribosphere. The duo is pretty legendary and I was lucky enough to stumble across Wordplay in my early college days before the hallucinations started. Their columns are just… I don’t even know. They rock so hard all my attempts at kissing their ass just fail to measure up. I might as well don the Buddy Hollies and head into the basement to do a public access show about them at this point.

Anyway the point is Pirates= awesomeness. Recently some production art for the 3rd flick has shown up at digg, and reading the discussion thread there has just incited some deep seated rage in me. Which, to be honest, is what happens when I hear about 45% of the reaction to Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. I just can’t fathom why there’s been so much hate. I loved the damn film- and there is a point in this rambling- because there’s so much going on in every moment and every scene.

Scene design, as it happens, is something I’m kinda struggling with tonight. A lot of the time an idea for a scene starts with a line of dialogue in my head, even before I completely understand my characters. There’s a beat in a sequence of events that’s carrying my character on their journey and the most immediate way for me to begin picturing it is coming up with how the character reacts. So I have the character say something smart ass (or not) which is in turn directed at another character that then is in the scene, and I end up with a line or two I like, and from there I can pull out somethings to start building the scene with.

There are probably some problems with this approach- (I did say I was struggling with it, didn’t I?) For instance the line sometimes doesn’t always express anything necessary, which I hope kinda becomes apparent at some point. You run the risk of then creating completely irrelevant scenes. Hell, if you get really carried away you can end up in a completely different story entirely. I don’t know that I’d suggest anyone design a scene like this and I couldn’t even put up much of an argument if you suggested this was the worst way altogether (feel free to give me a better alternative). But it keeps me pretty close to the character I’ve designed, which I think is important, cause you definitely want you characters to stay recognizable throughout.

Once I kinda have a framework down for the scenelette, it’s a matter of going back and examining all the scenelettes for what information, plots, character subtext, motivations and etc that they’re conveying. Then you can start trying to crush them together- or layer if you prefer. Cover as much ground, in as little space as possible. My delusional ideal is eventually crafting scenes that then convey so much goddamn information you don’t even process it all- but still push along the story.

Not that I’m all that good at it, but that’s the idea, anyway. Every word should establish something, nothing wasted. I chant this to myself, because that’s how I think it should be, but it might not always be possible. And sometimes fun sugary goodness is just fun, sugary goodness. (I think perhaps, that I haven’t earned the right to just declare the fun sugary goodness scenes personally, which is what all the chanting is for, cause being the meager hack I am, I have no time for luxury. Once I can effectively tell my story, then maybe I’ll reconsider. Impostor syndrome FTW!)

So awesome scenes are fat free slabs of lean beef that you just choke on. Which is why I mention Pirates, because the one thing that movie does, is bombard you. I love watching something and having someone say - “Hey did you see that?” and me having to buy another ticket to go back and FIND that shit. That is fucking awesome! There’ s so much to chew on, why can’t shit like that spring from my head fully formed?! Because I obviously suck, but I keep working at it.

Tonight I’m tackling a scene that I can trace the story moment through- launches everyone into the next scene, which then launches them into the next, etc; there’s a character reveal or two; and there’s a perfunctory material acquisition that enables something else down the line so plot I guess. But it doesn’t really seem like enough, I can cut it down to three characters and keep it under two pages and it still doesn’t have enough meat in it. And that’s where my scene design algorithm fails, because it’s all good if you have shit in bulk, but if you come up short it sucks. Is coming up short even an option? I mean, pages counts right? I know there’s still over length fatty scenes elsewhere. I just wish there was another chunk of muscle in this scene, so I just stare, belabor and blog.

Needing to read and the most awesome Anithero



So I finished the Wolfe books.

All the ones I could lay hands on, with one exception. Out of 75 novels and short stories there are maybe five or so that I haven’t tracked down, and 1 that I own, but have sworn not to read until I’m in declining days. So about 70 in the course of a year. I actually have a few not by Rex Stout, but on the occasion that I cracked one, the first sentence annoyed me so much I haven’t looked back. All in all, I have to say that the two months spent without a constant supply of Archie and Wolfe were quite a bit like what I imagine drug withdrawal to be- I’ve been unmotivated, tired, and sick. Honestly! In fact, in this break of Wolfe-lessness I not only suffer minor depression and prolonged physical illness- I will in fact be needing surgery soon. Can it possibly be a coincidence? Surely not. (Surgery btw is absolutely terrifying since I’ve never so much as had a broken bone. It shouldn’t entail too much, and all my resentment falls to stupid defective genetics.)

I think it’s perfectly reasonable to say that my quality of life depends on regular exposure to Archie Goodwin’s wonderful narration. I wonder how long I’ll be able to last before I start rereading?

Most of November and December I read nothing- as I mentioned a helluva funk. Friday, being sick I figured a weekend on the couch reading would probably do me good and yes, I’ve had the Franzen forever (which I am reminded of because of tonights rerun of The Simpsons), and plenty of other stuff to read, but just no urge. Not like with the crack Rex Stout. So I hit the bookstore as there’s a few newer things that sort of appeal to me, but it’s going to take a helluva character.

I have one in mind.

Hannibal Rising opens February 9th- less than a month from now. Thomas Harris’ novel was published in December. Which is sort of an insane thing considering how well the Silence of the Lambs follow ups did without concurrent movie productions. I mean come on, it’s Hannibal Lecter- he’s the golden god of anti-heroes. Hannibal is the exaggeration of so much villainy, and the inhuman, that I actually worry about myself because I like him co much. Once you can empathize with a guy who eats people, is there any hope left?

I got a real kick out of Hannibal and Ridley Scott’s version wasn’t bad although I was particularly fond of the way the novel resolves. I was little sad they didn’t go for it in the movie (though the refrigerator scene made my stomach flipflop from teh awesome!). I guess some folks were still holding out for Clarice as the hero, but the discerning fans knew better. ‘Hannibal Rishing’ is pretty much Harris coming back and setting things straight, pulling all the holdouts in. Started and finished it on Saturday- it’s not long just shy of 400 pages- and it’s a lot fun. Completely fitting addition to the mythology of Hannibal Lecter and if you’re a fan it gets my recommend, especially if you like ‘Hannibal’.

What I can’t figure out is why the movie is buried in February, and why the PR has been so low key. The IMDB page has one review of a test screening that sounds promising, but nothing about it is making sense. Haven’t seen a poster, or a trailer in the theater, no TV or magazine spots. Like it doesn’t even exist. Although I could just be missing it, but it’s odd nonetheless considering how much press Scott’s Hannibal got. Once again though, it’s Hannibal Lecter- he’s hard to mess up, so I’ll be looking forward to it.

Now for Nyquil and some Stephenson since I can’t figure out which side of the Danielewski I’m supposed to start with.

Failure - How and when?



Last post mentioned the Coin Convention Heist which only served to voice my aggravation in the fact that I can’t seem to finish this script. Coin Conventions don’t have any bearing on the story now, and even if they did, it’s stupid to be annoyed that someone I’ve never met implemented something I’ve only been pondering for a work of fiction for the last year or three. Really stupid.
Yeah, not a note of sarcasm there. But it’s a waste of energy getting frustrated at that sort of thing, because it happens all the time. Nothing new under the sun. Anyone who is trying to write anything, especially something as cliche’ as a heist script, should already be well aware of that fact.

Where a lot of my frustration is probably coming from as it lashes out irrationally at anything vaguely resembling my story- ‘Oh my god, that protagonists breathes! Oxygen! My protagonist breathes oxygen! Those bastards ripped me off!’ - where it’s coming from is the fact I can’t just put THE END on this and move the fuck on already. Why is this taking so long?

And the question is- how long is too long?

Now every story evolves as you write- characters, motivations, subplots. It’s a fluid, subtly changing thing, writing is. Flexibility is required to get through it. But don’t be too flexible, because structure can be important and useful, I mean, you have to have a page limit, yeah? Every story has it’s confines and caps. But you want to keep it universal, appealing. Just ignore the nosebleeds for now. Sure, I just keep grinding away and sure I’m using super-fine when I should be using 40 or 50 grit and gutting the mechanics probably didn’t help me much, but I have characters and a story, right! Right?

That’s about where I’m at now. I love my characters, I think for the most part other folks will love them too if I can just communicate why they are so awesome. If I stop, if I move on to other characters in another story, it really feels like I’m giving up on this when I feel pretty close. I feel like if I can just get around the next corner the story will congeal into sheer awesomeness.

At least, I hope. I could be failing to understand some vital storytelling concept and everything is just sending me in circles. Seems like that a lot of the time. How do you tell the difference?

some days, I just don’t even know.



Well I was going to get back into my blog routine with a post about last night’s new episode of House, which was good and fell somewhere between- it was all a dream! -and- he was dead the whole time! I look forward to new and creative torments for our hero throughout the rest of the season. I will point out something I thought was notable, the fact that NO ONE seems to acknowledge- that House continues to become MORE and MORE uncomfortable every time Dr. Cameron gets warm and fuzzy on him. Why is no one noticing that it seriously unnerves him? The smart money is on maybe he’s having an allergic reaction to her unconditional luuuub! Poor House, daddy never hugged him. So teh emo.

But that’s about all I’m going into, because my whole mental reality has been derailed upon reading the news that

Robbers Net $4M in Coin Convention Heist.

Seriously. I know I’m a slow ass writer, but goddammit.