Monday, May 28, 2012

My *unedited* script!

So a while back (it might have been a long while...I'm not really sure) I posted the beginning to the script which I am still calling "Memory Script".  That post is here.  I recently realized I never actually showed you guys the rest of that script - oops.  So although I don't really have much to say, I thought I'd let you see that now.

If you have any criticisms or critiques or comments or anything at all, please let me know - no matter how trivial or important.  I will try to get to editing this, so any feedback would be helpful.  Anyway, hopefully you'll enjoy it!


Script!

Friday, May 25, 2012

Inspiration - or lack thereof

So right now I'm trying to finish a novel which I started ages and ages ago - this was actually my Camp NaNoWriMo novel from August of 2011.  While I made it over the 50k line there, I never actually managed to finish it.  Not because it wasn't any good, or I didn't want to, but because I have no idea how to bring it to a head.

Currently, I need to throw everybody together, but I can't figure out a logical way for that to happen.  I think it would help a lot if I knew how my "villain" was trying to destroy nearly the entire human population, but unfortunately, I'm missing a little in the master plan department.

I actually went back and read through the entire thing so far, and it's not nearly as bad as I expected.  I figured it would be a good idea, since it's been so long since I worked on this novel that I'd pretty much forgotten what was happening.  I know for sure that if I'd just tried to start writing without reading it again, I would have forgotten to bring back in two characters that I set up earlier.  But I'm still stuck on what actually happens next...

Not only that, but the furthest I've gotten on the ending is that good guys triumph over bad guys.  Inspiration is extremely lacking in this girl's brain.

Normally I come up with ideas while taking a very long, hot shower.  But I still haven't come up with anything that seems suitable.  So I have a very important and necessary question to ask - how do you find inspiration, and what do you do when you're stuck?

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Projects

So right now, I'm juggling projects.  I don't normally do this.  It's quite strange.  Normally, I'll have one project that I work on, and then when it's finished, I move on to the next project.  Right now, I have three novels in the works.  Two have rough drafts, one is unfinished.  A couple weeks ago, I had two scripts on top of that.  This is so weird.

But really.  There's some good points and some bad points to having multiple projects, at least for me.  Because I'm such a happy person (:P) let's start with some good.

I do like how I can choose which project I want to work on.  If I ever just don't want to do one project, I can go to a different project and still be productive, even if it just isn't flowing with the first project.  For instance, if I want to edit rather than write, I can go to one of my completed novels, whereas if I want to write (by write I do mean rough draft, even though writing includes editing) I can go to my unfinished novel.  The con here is that there's potential for me to never go back to a project.  I might start and never finish.

The other side of this con isn't so much that I'll never finish, but it'll take me so long to get back to a project that I'll have forgotten how the story goes.  I've already committed this crime - my unfinished novel is from last August, and I just finished reading what I've already written so that I could remember what the heck is going on.  There's a ton that I'd forgotten.

The good part about going back to read is that I surprised myself - my very first draft of my very first novel was HORRID.  Worst thing I have ever read.  And that includes the excepts of very awful self-pubbed books I've seen.  (In no way am I bashing self publishing - it just happens to allow a lot of books that should never have been published to be published anyway.)  I suppose I might be slightly biased because it was my work as well, but anyway.  This currently unfinished project was much easier to read, and while it's definitely not polished or anything - since it is a first draft - it wasn't unsalvageable.

(Firefox and google are telling me that unsalvageable doesn't mean what I think it means - I mean the opposite of salvageable.  Gosh Google.)

Anyway, on a different note, June is coming up, and that means Camp NaNoWriMo!  If you didn't get the memo, it's changed months from last year, so instead of July and August, it's June and August now.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about, Camp NaNoWriMo is the same thing as NaNoWriMo except in summer (or I suppose it could be winter depending on where you are in the world - I get confused where exactly that is).  Also, CreateSpace codes expire at the end of June from NaNoWriMo 2011, so if you have a code but haven't used it yet...well, should probably get cracking - that's a reminder to me too.

I want to have my unfinished novel finished and at least partially edited by the beginning of Camp NaNo in June - let's see how much I can do in the next two weeks, shall we?

Do you usually have one or many projects at any given time?  (Notice there is no option for no projects, you lazy writer folk.  :D)

Why do you prefer your answer to previous question?

And are you doing Camp NaNoWriMo this year?

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Update and Script Preview

Finals are over!  And grades are in - I got As (or Os for Harry Potter world, 4.0 GPA, Very High Achievement/High Distinction in Australia etc.) in all my classes, which is good, since I studied more during that week than I have in my entire life.  Even history went well, which is the one I was worried about.

Anyway, after finals, my grandma came to visit with my step-grandpa.  The Sunday after finals, we had a recital, which my mom ran because she's a music teacher.  It was held at a nursing home in town, which we've done before.  This time...it had a bit of a nasty twist to it.

Not long before we got there (My mom and I go early to set up the equipment because there isn't a good piano at the home, so we bring our keyboard and amp), one of the residents had an accident.  It was supposedly all cleaned up, but...Let's just say that moving the tables involved me encountering some of the "stuff" that was(n't) cleaned up.  I.e. feces.  Not fun.  Fortunately, we weren't wearing our dress clothes yet.  When we went back to perform, I did not sit down or touch anything for the entire time.  ;)

On Monday we went to see the Avengers, since it was my brother's birthday - excellent dialogue, impressive special effects, not so great on the character development.  I won't say anymore lest I spoil it for someone.  But if you haven't seen it yet, don't waste your money (unless you have a lot to spend) and just wait for it online/DVD/Blue-ray/whatever else there is.

And now finally, as requested, here is part of my first script.  It isn't finished yet, so I may or may not be able to tell you what happens later - it depends on if I've written it yet or not.  This also has not been edited - feel free to tell me which parts need the most editing, or give me pointers on how to do it better.  This is my first screenplay, so I'm very open to critique/criticism.  I don't have a title for my script(s) yet, so I've been referring to this one as "Memory Script".  Descriptive, right?  Without further ado (well, maybe a little), the first twelve pages or so of "Memory Script"!

(Oh, and sorry for the rather long post - there's been a lot going on.)

Beginning of Memory Script