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.

Pad and pen lives again

Honestly, I did not want to write a blog post. My writing keeps hitting road blocks because I do not know the whip of the moments. The solution is pad and pen. The most rudimentary tool for storytelling is the brain. I can only fully exploit this if I have ink and parchment, it provides a pathway for my mind to evolve an idea and seamlessly come up with new ideas to a story in a stream of consciousness way, without losing where I am going.

I have discovered new moments. That build up the story, to make it stronger and more unique. The process has given me things such as character motivation and weakness and strengths. I have learnt more about the universe of this story, by reflecting on death and the role it has. A minor detail that won't be examined in the story, but it has helped.

Slow progress is still progress and 25 minutes a day forces me to never allow failure. It will be three weeks since I started and it can be hard, but once you get started: it gets easier.

The lost art of not losing

I thought I wouldn't write about the whole blackmail thing I'm doing into writing more. I will make this one post and hopefully that will be it until next year.

The first week is almost up and I have two more days of writing. So far I have done fourteen pages. Not bad. I have really sucked some days and done well other days.

Yesterday I wrote a paragraph. I think Tuesday, I got four pages down.

I left it really late tonight. This second draft won't be anything special. I'm still working out the story and the structure.

When I write I either embellish the dialogue and spare the description or vice versa. It is liberating to know that it does not have to be perfect, it just has to have something that can become better or cut.

The third draft will get a treatment, and then I can make it tight and just refine it for a couple more drafts until I am happy with it and then throw it around to some mates and colleagues to get feedback.

I talked to my mate who is an aspiring proper writer (Novelist) last Sunday. I figured the next project after this will be a play, a nice little play with no real reason to exist. Then go off and write a web series with my mate Will. At least I will be have plenty of stuff to write for this year.

The pressure of losing money makes me want to just get the writing done. I should have done something like this since I left university. Allowing my skills to dull and just waste away what I could do.

There is a story about a Wing Chun practioner who was well known in Hong Kong. I will not be factually correct in this, but he stopped for a few years, maybe, five. One day he came back to train, thinking it would be easy. This was a man who put the time in, would sweat from training for hours, blood and cuts on his knuckles and leg cramps from the strict stance Yee Gee Kim Yeung Ma, that would build up power. He struggled, he forgot that training even for a few minutes a day will keep your sense sharp.

Thinking about an action is sometimes good enough for remembering your skills. Leave it for too long and you'll be working your arse off to get back to where you were, rather than working to get further.

 The one thing I love more about writing at the moment is that I wouldn't care about getting paid for it. I'd hate to lose money for not writing though, that is a great motivator.

I won't lie, I will fucking hate some days and love others. Six months time, I will be hammering in nails into the table with my forehead. It won't work, because the nails will be the wrong way round.

I have made a huge mistake

Much like Gob Bluth. I too have made a huge mistake.

I've just thrown $1300.00 on the line. Why to make myself write.

I have signed up to Stickk.com to building a habit to write for 25 minutes every day. For a year.

Every week, my referee will have the choice of saying whether I did my 25 minutes each day. Otherwise 25 minutes will go to an anti-charity of my choice. It's a bad one, something that I am on the opposite end of the spectrum in opinion.

I regret my actions which is good. Now I have to force myself to do it every day, rather than just do nothing like I have this past week.

This might be the only way to write consistently though.

Bold actions lead to interesting results. I have said how writing can be hard. Now I don't have a choice. I will not fail. I cannot fail.

If you're going to fuck up at something

If you're going to fuck up at something. You have tried your hardest. Keep fucking up, if you're half way there, you might as well finish it.