How To Write a Screenplay, Method #137; The Matrix &
So: this is going to be one of the longest days ever for me.
I got in WAY late last night after open mic (which was cool; had better nights, but not a bad night by any means. I just needed warming up. Having to mop the floor beforehand didn't help matters...don't ask) so I dragged into work today. I've got the Writers' Block appearance at Thurber House tonight, and the new Matrix film after that.
Ouch, right?
Anyhow, I treated myself and sold back some music and video games that were collecting dust so that I could get my copy of the Matrix game cheaper. I'm too scared to put it in before I go to the gig, lest I hole myself up in the house for the next five days or something playing it, so I left it on the couch. Tempting, but I think I want to see the movie first. I don't want the game to spoil it for me in any way.
Writing news:
I've started a script for a comic (working title "The Trial") based on an idea that Jeff Test gave me. I really liked the idea and he was okay with me writing it, so I cranked out about 11 rough pages just to get a grasp on the tone and set-up of the tale. It has INCREDIBLE potential. I'm writing it in movie screenplay format since my program doesn't have COMIC FORMAT in it (like there's one way to do it, which there really isn't). It's easier for me to get the idea out that way and since I don't know that any company will pick it up, I don't feel constrained to do it by their rules. I wouldn't normally recommend to any writer to break industry rules, but the comic industry is so hard to break in that you should plan to do a new idea on your own anyway. Whatever gets the story done, man. Jeff liked the pages so far, and that was before I atually gave the characters names and started tweaking the dialogue and scenes a little. It should be thoroughly engaging, which is all I ever ask of my art.
I also started the screenplay I've been plotting lately (working title "3 Brothers"). I'm sort of coaxing myself through that using a new method for me: the "push-pull" method. See, typically I would plot out the whole movie first and then start writing the actual pages. This time I did a rough outline - practically little more than a beginning, middle and end - and sat on it until I saw more of the movie in my head. I wanted to be sure that I had enough here for the energy I would commit to the project, so I waited for months. During that time, when I felt more stories developing around the skeleton, I amplified the rough outline with bits of dialogue and possible situations in the film. When I felt comfortable that I had enough to start a script with, I sat down and did a more detailed outline with character names, jobs and everything...but not a COMPLETE outline. I wanted to take a more organic approach to the story; change the tone of my stories a little by making them more on-the-fly. So I didn't wait until I finished the outline to start the pages. When I sat down the other day to do some pages, I knocked out about 12 rough ones, which I was then able to cross-reference against the outline and add scenes and think about the direction of the story pretty much as it unfolded. So I sort of push the outline, which pulls on me to craft pages, which then pushes back on the outline to move forward or expand laterally as the characters create themselves in the pages. It gives them more dimension and I'm able to write stuff with more space and freedom, but not totally without some structure. The last thing you want to do is write 120 pages and realize you still have 25 more to go to get to the end of your really cool outline. So the new method seems to be working and I'm trying it on this and the "Trial" script. It's really opened me up to not know how every scene will play out ahead of time...or even what some of those scenes are, but know where they need to go in the end. I'm sure there's a more official term for the method than "push-pull", but I don't know it...and I certainly ain't waiting to start the script until I figure it what it might be. Maybe it's new. Probably not. Who cares? I did 24 pages of script in 1 day between the two stories, and they aren't bad for first drafts.
Got to get ready for tonight. I'm out.
I got in WAY late last night after open mic (which was cool; had better nights, but not a bad night by any means. I just needed warming up. Having to mop the floor beforehand didn't help matters...don't ask) so I dragged into work today. I've got the Writers' Block appearance at Thurber House tonight, and the new Matrix film after that.
Ouch, right?
Anyhow, I treated myself and sold back some music and video games that were collecting dust so that I could get my copy of the Matrix game cheaper. I'm too scared to put it in before I go to the gig, lest I hole myself up in the house for the next five days or something playing it, so I left it on the couch. Tempting, but I think I want to see the movie first. I don't want the game to spoil it for me in any way.
Writing news:
I've started a script for a comic (working title "The Trial") based on an idea that Jeff Test gave me. I really liked the idea and he was okay with me writing it, so I cranked out about 11 rough pages just to get a grasp on the tone and set-up of the tale. It has INCREDIBLE potential. I'm writing it in movie screenplay format since my program doesn't have COMIC FORMAT in it (like there's one way to do it, which there really isn't). It's easier for me to get the idea out that way and since I don't know that any company will pick it up, I don't feel constrained to do it by their rules. I wouldn't normally recommend to any writer to break industry rules, but the comic industry is so hard to break in that you should plan to do a new idea on your own anyway. Whatever gets the story done, man. Jeff liked the pages so far, and that was before I atually gave the characters names and started tweaking the dialogue and scenes a little. It should be thoroughly engaging, which is all I ever ask of my art.
I also started the screenplay I've been plotting lately (working title "3 Brothers"). I'm sort of coaxing myself through that using a new method for me: the "push-pull" method. See, typically I would plot out the whole movie first and then start writing the actual pages. This time I did a rough outline - practically little more than a beginning, middle and end - and sat on it until I saw more of the movie in my head. I wanted to be sure that I had enough here for the energy I would commit to the project, so I waited for months. During that time, when I felt more stories developing around the skeleton, I amplified the rough outline with bits of dialogue and possible situations in the film. When I felt comfortable that I had enough to start a script with, I sat down and did a more detailed outline with character names, jobs and everything...but not a COMPLETE outline. I wanted to take a more organic approach to the story; change the tone of my stories a little by making them more on-the-fly. So I didn't wait until I finished the outline to start the pages. When I sat down the other day to do some pages, I knocked out about 12 rough ones, which I was then able to cross-reference against the outline and add scenes and think about the direction of the story pretty much as it unfolded. So I sort of push the outline, which pulls on me to craft pages, which then pushes back on the outline to move forward or expand laterally as the characters create themselves in the pages. It gives them more dimension and I'm able to write stuff with more space and freedom, but not totally without some structure. The last thing you want to do is write 120 pages and realize you still have 25 more to go to get to the end of your really cool outline. So the new method seems to be working and I'm trying it on this and the "Trial" script. It's really opened me up to not know how every scene will play out ahead of time...or even what some of those scenes are, but know where they need to go in the end. I'm sure there's a more official term for the method than "push-pull", but I don't know it...and I certainly ain't waiting to start the script until I figure it what it might be. Maybe it's new. Probably not. Who cares? I did 24 pages of script in 1 day between the two stories, and they aren't bad for first drafts.
Got to get ready for tonight. I'm out.