Writer at Large

Two days, nine pages. It almost wasn’t much of a challenge. (Note to self: Never, never, ever, say that aloud to the muse.) Actually, the story came together nicely. All the gaps were closed up. The page count was achieved.

From a story perspective, I think it’s all there. I have concerns whether it works as a standalone story (but not overly concerned, as it’s intended in be an episode in an ongoing series, I assume readers would have at least passing familiarity with the characters and existing situations).

I do think at least one additional scene needs to be added that better link the two parallel stories within it. I’m not entirely sure what it is, as so far all of the ones that have come to me feel contrived and forced. I figure I’ll deal with the issue when the time comes to novelize it.

On to the next project . . .

There’s not much to report, really.

Word count is right on track. The muse is behaving (mostly). The story is coming together (mostly).

There are surprisingly few gaps in the flow of the story compared to previous years. Nearly all of the scenes have been written in sequential order.

I have little doubt that I will hit the goal of 100 pages this year. I’ll be surprised, though, if it goes more than one or two pages over, though. But that’s okay.

Due to commitments at work, I’ve missed two days of writing. Thank goodness I kept on track and am slightly ahead on word count.

Okay, back at it for the last two days . . .

The script remains steadily on course. The muse has been generally cooperative, granting just enough to keep pace with my daily word count.

The scenes are being written mostly in sequential order. Earlier in the week, as so often happens as I’m working on a story, the final scenes came to me. This is probably not a bad thing, as it keeps me somewhat directed toward a specific dramatic goal rather than wandering all over trying to find an appropriate and satisfying ending.

Slightly more than a week to go . . .

Steady as she goes . . .

I’m two pages behind of the halfway 50-page mark, but I’m not overly concerned about it because I know what the the next 2-4 pages are.

The script is progressing steadily. I’m actually surprised that the story concept looks like it will sustain itself for the entire 100 pages. I guess it really will be a “Special 2-Hour Episode” after all.

This project has been an interesting in that it has felt much more like a well-paced marathon than the usual series of sprints that I usually experience. The story is growing steadily, characters enter and leave as needed, and it is progressing toward its end.

I’m reaching the end, though, of the mental list of scenes I had developed going into this project. Next week could be rough. We’ll see . . .

So, I went for the idea that could potentially turn into something salable.  The concept is not as fully developed as the other idea, but when has such a challenge ever stopped me? ;-)

I’m not feeling the love from my muse.  We’re on speaking terms, but she doesn’t seem particularly engaged this year.

My word count progress is acceptable, but not at last year’s levels.  Nor am I feeling the thrill of creation to its usual degree.  I don’t think it’s a symptom of boredom, but more likely the results of turmoil in real life events.  Unfortunately, I’ve yet to figure out how to apply them (even in a metaphorical way) to this story.

That’s all for now. Back at it . . .

Yes . . .

It’s that time a year again and I begin to wonder, as I probably should have before, whether Script Frenzy isn’t some kind of cruel and sadistic practical joke pulled on compulsive writers for the month of April. Not that I’m into conspiracy theory, mind you, but it’s something to think about . . .

Anyway . . .

I’m at a bit of a loss this year. I have two possible ideas, but neither of them feels sustainable for 100 pages: one is a television script for a series of (possibly saleable) stories that I’ve been working on for a few years; the other essentially qualifies as fan fiction, as there is almost no chance that it will be saleable. The second one feels like more fun, and I have a better idea where I want to the story go. For the first, I have the basic concept of the story, but very little else.

So . . .

I have only a few hours to decide (or hope that the muse provides me with an entirely full-blown concept and story, a la Athena borne from Zeus). I’m tempted to tackle both and see which one works out the best in the end.

Stay tuned . . .

I've spent the past week editing my progress to date and starting to fill in some of the blanks. It took me two days to untangle the time sequence mess I had knotted myself in (kind of ironic, considering the subject matter of the story), but I'm pretty sure that is all straightened out now.

I ended Script Frenzy on April 30^th with 43 "[insert more here]" markers where I knew I needed a few more lines of dialogue or a bit of action to close the scene. I now have 38 of them remaining. That seems like I haven't made a lot of progress, but as I've added new scenes to fill in some of the blank spots, a few more of those markers got added.

The script now runs 123 pages. There's still several more scenes to write, so I fully expect that it continue to grow. There's a fairly lengthy scene in there now that will likely get either cut or seriously trimmed. While the concept it discusses is interesting, I think at might be better to leave it an ambiguous loose end to explore in a later episode.

The main story is essentially finished except for two key scenes. I'm really struggling with the secondary story for various reasons. I'm sure I'll get past them and wrap this whole thing up soon.

Finished, but not done. I ended the month of April with 115 pages.

(For the mathematically-inclined among you, that averages out to 3.8 pages/day. Not a bad average at all when you consider that I lost three days.)

The script is not quite finished. There's mostly a handful of transitions and two or three key scenes still to write, but it's close to being done. Before I do any more work on it though, I want to fix some of the sequencing and tighten up a couple of scenes so I don't end up adding transitions or dialogue that won't really be needed.

I'm generally pretty pleased with the final results. There were some twists and turns that I didn't expect when I started the project. I know of several sections that would be approached far differently in a novelized version.

All that said, I'm most pleased to have just finished and achieved the goal of at least 100 pages by the end of April.

Only a few more days to go . . .

I actually hit 100 pages on Sunday night, but intend to keep going to see how far I can get before midnight on April 30. (As of last night, I was at 105 pages.) I think the final version (after editing) will be somewhere around 120 pages. Probably slightly less, but around that.

Most of the week has been spent filling in the gaps I had left during the previous three weeks. There are some nice pieces of character development and relationship building that got worked into those sections. In general, I'm fairly pleased with it.

On the other hand, there are a few key sequences that I'm not sure how to handle yet. I'm also concerned that I might be trying to introduce too many elements for only a two-hour pilot. I'm hoping the muse will perk up with some ideas, but we'll see how that goes . . .

I'm pleased to report that I'm pretty much on schedule.

As of last night, I'm at 70 pages—dead-on where I should be at this point. I suspect, however, that this week is going to be very tough going . . .

The story has taken some interesting turns, but still remains very true to the original Emerald Flight story and concept. I'm also feeling a little smug that I figured out how to write my way out of a corner that I had accidentally written myself into the first week.

Not a whole lot more to report this week, other than relieved that I was able to catch up after losing several days last week. I already know that I'll need to be some restructuring, resequencing of a few events, and a handful of other edits before I'll let anyone's eyes but my own see this.

Holding steady at 47 pages . . .

That's slightly behind where I should be, but at this point I'm not overly concerned about catching up. A bad cold had kept me from writing for 3 days . . . and I know better than to write when under the influence of cold medication. Been there, done that . . . cringed for days afterward.

One of the most interesting things I'm discovering as I'm structuring this script, as it's intended for to be a two-hour pilot for a television, is what I'm deciding to explore and what I'm leaving out or only leaving as hints. To draw a comparison, it's more Battlestar Galactica than Star Trek. I had not originally intended it that way, but I can see how it might be a more effective way to kick off a potential series than trying to do a completely self-contained episode and then try to expand from there.

I guess we'll see how this next week progresses . . .

Oh, another item on the "plus" column: I've gotten much further than I did last year! :)

Slow and steady wins the race . . . or so they say.

At the end of the first week, I'm at 26 pages. That's a little behind where I wanted to be, but just right about where I need to be. So, all told, it's been a productive week. I can't say that the muse has been entirely cooperative, but we're managing . . . mostly . . .

For those who are interested, I decided to write the Emerald Flight story as a two-hour pilot for a television series. It's interesting to note some of the changes I've decided to make in terms of the flow of the story when developing it as a script instead of a novel.

Unlike last year's NaNoWriMo effort, the muse is jumping all over the place this time, wanting to write this scene here and that scene there. As long as I end up with 100 pages at the end of April, I guess it really doesn't matter. And I can always fill in the gaps later.

See you next week . . .

Yes, faithful readers (all three of you :) ), it's time once again for Script Frenzy. Brought to you by the folks you organize NaNoWriMo, it's the chance to terrorize your muse by writing a script of any kind—screenplay, stage play, teleplay, anything.

(For those of you who followed along last year, I'm going to treat that attempt as a practice run disrupted by a plethora of real-life events. Pay no attention to the bound muse stowed behind the curtain.)

The goal is 100 pages by the end of April.

The math breaks down like this: 3.34 pages per day needed to meet that goal. My personal goal: a minimum of 4 pages per day. That's a definitely achievable goal if the muse cooperates.

What's my story concept for this event? As of this moment, I have no freaking idea . . .

If you wish, you can watch the progress here.

Okay, nothing to see here . . . Move along, move along . . .

Well, June has come . . . and gone. Script Frenzy has also come . . . and gone. 2,879 words completed out of 20,000. There's all sorts of reasons (and a few lame excuses) as to why, but I figure any number of words greater than zero is a good thing. And I did learn a few things along the way:

• The muse seems to enjoy working in script format. The entire time, though, I envision her hovering over my shoulder, with her wings slowly flapping, wearing a shirt that reads "What I want to do is Direct" (http://www.cafepress.com/hollywoodgifts/3022725).

• Sometimes I think it's possible to aim one's goals a little too high. Writing a good romantic comedy is even harder than it looks. One of the challenges of Script Frenzy was to start with an idea from scratch, and that's the one the muse chose. On the bright side, at least I got the idea started and learned several things in the process.

So, in the end, nothing to see here . . . Move along, move along . . .

My muse selected a story to work on out of my list of ideas. I was tempted to work on an existing project, but in script form, but the Script Frenzy rules, ur, guidelines say that it needs to be a new project&emdash;from scratch. That was actually all right, as I wasn't certain that the idea I wanted to work on would be 120 pages.

After selecting the idea, she promptly marched over, sat herself in a corner, crossed her arms over her chest, and sulked. I didn't try to reason with her—muses don't tend to respond well to logic.

So, as of today, I have 1,509 words completed of my screenplay. Well behind where I should be at this point, but I haven't begun to panic yet. I know that: 1) when the tempermental muse finally stops sulking and decides we're on speaking terms again, the pages will pour forth, and 2) I remember the marathon 8,000 words in 36 hours that I managed in order to complete NaNoWriMo last year.

Stay tuned . . .

From the people who brought you NaNoWriMo now comes SCRIPT FRENZY! Write a 20,000-word (approximately 120 pages) screenplay or stage play during the month of June!

At this point, do I have any idea what the story or plot is? No. Do I have any idea who the characters are? No. Am I ready to throw in the towel and not do it? No!

I actually really enjoy writing in script format. Perhaps the clear format and formal structure appeals greatly to my Virgo nature or something.

Anyway, stay tuned here and here if you're interested in following my progress.