Mission: Success

Huzzah! The treatment has been completed. Onto the screenplay. Huzzah!

Trying to write: A hamster wheel

Back when I was writing the second draft of my dissertation at University, I had one big problem. My laptop would always overheat after a while and if I didn't keep saving, then I would lose a stack of lines, if not pages of information. Then I would usually walk off and let it cool down for a while.

I was in an abusive relationship with my laptop. The amount of porn that it succumbed to allowed a virus to get through my Kaspersky antivirus and after a while, despite plenty of ventilation: it would shut down on me. 

The only source doing something is writing, to be shut down literally is hard. When you have no choice, you get back to it and keep on writing. It was like rewriting a sentence five times in a row, but you're never disappointed with it, you have a really shit editor who just goes that's shit, but it works. I had no choice, it was either keep doing it, give up or write it down on paper. The thought never crossed my mind to write it down on paper.

Probably because I can type things out faster than write it and it messes with my flow. I am starting to notice that because I did this, it makes me write things out many, many times. Such as I am now. I will say I am close to finishing my treatment for the screenplay. 

What this does allow me, despite the cons, is I have a more intimate knowledge of the characters and the source material. A way of layering the piece, not matter how good. It allows me to see who were originally just extras, to extras with lines, to side characters.

Despite all this, I feel like a glutton in not achieving anything. I hold myself back by too much preparation as I have nothing to show for my actions.

Perhaps a bit more writing the treatment and tomorrow and I can officially start writing the script (for the third time). 

Well, at least I know how the story goes now.

Breaking the story

Argh! Forcing my Saturday into a day of prepping the final draft of my treatment for my screenplay. I know, I know, "Bitch, why are you procrastinating?"

Aha.

I am not procrastinating. I am breaking the story. Getting things down in order, prior to making an extremely detailed treatment in preparation for the screenplay itself. This may lo overdrawn, but I prefer to do it rather than doing nothing, and I feel I am making progress and adding in little details into the story even now.

The trouble is with all this planning is you forget that it has to be cinematic. It needs to be worthy of being projected onto a giant screen in a big room, with many seats that only a few people are sat in. 

I watched the hobbit film for the first time last night. Two things struck me: why is this not more fun and I truly am missing out on the effect a cinema would allow me.

Anyway, I feel like I'm nearing the mid to end point of the project. Thank fuck, I think the biggest difficulty will be making the dialogue sing. It's not something that plenty of rewrites cannot achieve. I am starting to feel I need a break from this project anyway. 

I have decided to make my first real cut. Something that feels tacked on. By the time the script is done, it'll probably be around 120 pages anyway.

Another day of writing tomorrow and By the end of it starting the treatment. If I could finish this by the end of the month, I would be so happy.