Back from my trip to LA. God really blessed me on that trip. Came back renewed, and on fire to sell my screenplays.
Jet lag is a horrible beast. It will be a few days before I'm back on my time schedule. But my screenplay can't wait till then. So I'm pressing on, enjoying every minute of it. It's a great Sci Fi script and I'm on track to be done Thursday night. That gives me Friday to let it sit (think I'll go watch The Hunger Games), and edit it over the weekend.
When a writer finishes a screenplay, meaning it's edited and ready to go, then it's time to start on another script.
I actually got the idea while sitting in union station. Its a good one, and it hasn't been done before. Since you can't copyright script ideas, I can't share what it is, but trust me it's good.
Have to wrap this up and head to work for an early meeting.
But I'd like to give a shout out to Tom n Tom's coffee. My daily writing spot while in LA. Great coffee and Hawaiian pretzels. Quiet atmosphere. Got so much work done there.
It was exactly what I needed.
21 March, 2012
12 March, 2012
Screenwriting in LA
Touched down in LA on Saturday. My goal? To sell my screenplays. I've gotten some feedback and done a lot of research and writing since I arrived. I'm more focused and determined than ever. Being here has definitely gotten my creative juices flowing. I need to push myself as a writer. Get more screenplays written.
With that in mind I still have my sci Fi screenplay to finish. And I will be done by Friday. Then I'm going to jump back into the realm of horror, and round out April with a period piece.
I have to think commercially. Now the horror script I've already completed is, but with Hammer films back in production. I'm itching to write a good ole fashioned ghost story. But as anyone who has read my writing or heard me perform a scene, all is not what it appears to be.
Gotta go. Time for the Clippers to play the Boston Celtics.
With that in mind I still have my sci Fi screenplay to finish. And I will be done by Friday. Then I'm going to jump back into the realm of horror, and round out April with a period piece.
I have to think commercially. Now the horror script I've already completed is, but with Hammer films back in production. I'm itching to write a good ole fashioned ghost story. But as anyone who has read my writing or heard me perform a scene, all is not what it appears to be.
Gotta go. Time for the Clippers to play the Boston Celtics.
07 March, 2012
Formulaic
I was able to participate in a free screenwriting call with John Truby last night. He said the number one thing that kills screenwriting careers is the 3 act structure. He said many other informative things like write in several genres, which is the opposite of what books tell you, even though working screenwriters do write in different genres. And yes, I have written in every genre except westerns so far.
3 act structure. Yes it's good for learning the basics of writing a screenplay, but you still have to go with what your story needs. Which is what he also spoke about.
Why is that important? In my Mfa program (which is the same for all Mfa programs), I'm not writing the way I would like to. I prefer to finish a product and then edit and revise it. In the program you write 20-40 pages and then revise and edit that, using what I call the Mfa formula. It's a string of words that deal with the writing craft. Things like psychic distance, point of view, unreliable narrator, etc.
I just want to tell my story. Get the entire thing on the page as naturally as possible without chopping off the creative part of me with all these formulaic devices.
Are they good things to be aware of? Yes. Should you be combing every page as you write it for them. No!
Writing should be like sculpting. The rough shape takes form, and then you smooth it out. Not cut a nose and then spend a month reshaping the nose, never getting to the rest of the face and losing who you are as an artist along the way.
Don't let formulas drive your writing. I know. It caused me to lose my creativity and stop writing for two weeks.
I figured out that I was being turned into a formula driven writer.
That's not who I am. I also wasn't writing what I really wanted to. I was being told I had to write other things.
Never let someone step on your writing dreams. It's time to cut the cord when that happens.
I read about a woman that wanted to write a historical novel. She enrolled in a writing class and at the end the instructor told her she showed promise as a writer, but that she shouldn't write a historical novel, she should stick with what she knows. She didn't let that deter her and wrote her historical novel. That novel is being published this year.
I'm back to enjoying my writing. The way I love to write. I have discarded from my head all that formulaic garbage that was holding me back, forcing me into being a cookie cutter writer, and hampering my writing.
I'm back to what I love doing. The way I love to do it.
3 act structure. Yes it's good for learning the basics of writing a screenplay, but you still have to go with what your story needs. Which is what he also spoke about.
Why is that important? In my Mfa program (which is the same for all Mfa programs), I'm not writing the way I would like to. I prefer to finish a product and then edit and revise it. In the program you write 20-40 pages and then revise and edit that, using what I call the Mfa formula. It's a string of words that deal with the writing craft. Things like psychic distance, point of view, unreliable narrator, etc.
I just want to tell my story. Get the entire thing on the page as naturally as possible without chopping off the creative part of me with all these formulaic devices.
Are they good things to be aware of? Yes. Should you be combing every page as you write it for them. No!
Writing should be like sculpting. The rough shape takes form, and then you smooth it out. Not cut a nose and then spend a month reshaping the nose, never getting to the rest of the face and losing who you are as an artist along the way.
Don't let formulas drive your writing. I know. It caused me to lose my creativity and stop writing for two weeks.
I figured out that I was being turned into a formula driven writer.
That's not who I am. I also wasn't writing what I really wanted to. I was being told I had to write other things.
Never let someone step on your writing dreams. It's time to cut the cord when that happens.
I read about a woman that wanted to write a historical novel. She enrolled in a writing class and at the end the instructor told her she showed promise as a writer, but that she shouldn't write a historical novel, she should stick with what she knows. She didn't let that deter her and wrote her historical novel. That novel is being published this year.
I'm back to enjoying my writing. The way I love to write. I have discarded from my head all that formulaic garbage that was holding me back, forcing me into being a cookie cutter writer, and hampering my writing.
I'm back to what I love doing. The way I love to do it.
02 March, 2012
Mixed Emotions
It's almost midnight as I write this. Weary from a long work week, coupled with revisions to my first novel and one of my screenplays, it took me a few hours to unwind.
My heart is still sad from the sudden death of my cousin. I still can't believe he's gone. It doesn't feel real.
I've been spending my days watching people. Observing how they are living or wasting the only life they have.
It's true. We don't know how long we have to live. If you knew you only had one month to live, what would your tomorrow look like?
Death makes us re-evaluate our lives. It makes us take a hard look at how we spend our daily 24 hours.
Life really is too short to spend it miserable, and purposeless.
God created each of us with a purpose. He also provides the means for us to achieve that purpose. If we'll only believe.
If you've been following my blog, you know it's my hearts desire to be a writer. I would love to walk into a bookstore and see my name on a book. Go to a movie and see my name on the credits. Not so I can puff up my chest in pride, but because I love to write. I want to share my gift with the world. Everyday that I get to sit down with my notebook or laptop and work on my writing I am very happy, because it's a chance for me to be the real me.
Yeah, I am still teary-eyed when I think about my cousin. But I believe the greatest thing I can do for him is to not waste the gift of life I have. For however long I have it.
My heart is still sad from the sudden death of my cousin. I still can't believe he's gone. It doesn't feel real.
I've been spending my days watching people. Observing how they are living or wasting the only life they have.
It's true. We don't know how long we have to live. If you knew you only had one month to live, what would your tomorrow look like?
Death makes us re-evaluate our lives. It makes us take a hard look at how we spend our daily 24 hours.
Life really is too short to spend it miserable, and purposeless.
God created each of us with a purpose. He also provides the means for us to achieve that purpose. If we'll only believe.
If you've been following my blog, you know it's my hearts desire to be a writer. I would love to walk into a bookstore and see my name on a book. Go to a movie and see my name on the credits. Not so I can puff up my chest in pride, but because I love to write. I want to share my gift with the world. Everyday that I get to sit down with my notebook or laptop and work on my writing I am very happy, because it's a chance for me to be the real me.
Yeah, I am still teary-eyed when I think about my cousin. But I believe the greatest thing I can do for him is to not waste the gift of life I have. For however long I have it.
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