And we resurge!!

Camp NaNoWriMo added an April event and a script genre? Seems as if the rebellion was moderately successful after all!

Done

It's done, or mostly so. Sure, there are a few places that I'll be expanding, a few conversations, etc, but it's done. I just wrote the last dream sequence. It's a bit short, hence the expansion, but wow. This is a great feeling.

Script Frenzy Day 6

Okay, so I'm kind of in a strange place right now. I've never been this close to actually finishing a script during script frenzy. Not talking 100 pages finishing. But finishing as in having a story that makes sense, where it flows, and where I maintain continuity. Now I just got to write the last three scenes without psyching myself out--I've been putting them off, because they're the biggest scenes of the movie.

Script Frenzy Day 4

Halfway there.

Woot.

The Frenzy is Over

May 1. The Frenzy is finished and once again, I lack a finished screenplay. But I've got the finish for the one. I know how it ends, know how it will tie into the sequel that I may well write next year. And I know where I'd like things to go for my other script, which is exciting. Well, except for the fact that I don't know exactly where they're going. But that's alright.

This year was a good year for the Frenzy. I really like my scripts, and I think they have potential. That's a happy thing.

Script Frenzy Week Three

I did it.

Took me 20 days.

That's the longest I've ever spent to win a Frenzy. My first year, 4 days. Second, 3 days. And last year, it was either 2 or 3.

But this year, life just kept happening and I didn't have the long blocks of time to sit and bash out a ton of text. Once my NaNo ran out, I was flying solo (I didn't even know how the story ended), something I didn't do last year. Last year, the whole thing was completely written out for me, just needed to be strung together. But, I like how it turned out. The script isn't finished yet, but I know how it ends. And I know how the sequel starts, and I"m pretty stoked about it.

Script Frenzy Week Two

Sorry guys, spaced that I was doing this.

My script about the robot has stalled. I'm to this scene where one of my fave chars shows his extreme social awkwardness and how he copes. And honestly, I'm nervous to write it, because it's kinda crazy how he copes. With a sock puppet.

But my noir? I'm nearly to the end of where I wrote for NaNo. But the good thing is that I have the rest of it laid out. Now I just have to write the dialogue for it.

Page counts?
Calvin: 27
Red Hot Steel: 47

RHS looks like it may run shorter than 100 pages, but I'm okay with that. It's not meant to be long and drawn out. I'd rather it be a bit shorter and a whole lot sweeter. Although it does mean I may be able to add more characterization and backstory in somewhere... But I'm not to the second draft yet.

Until next week.

A

Script Frenzy Week One

Well, we're just finishing up the first week of the Frenzy. So, I thought I'd let you all know what is going on!

Working on two scripts right now--the noir that you've seen parts of already and a story with the the following tagline:

In which a misprogrammed, fatalistic robot and a bunch of ragtag heroes embark on an epic quest to save the world.

Yeah, that one's awesome. It involves the circus. :) And even better: The whole idea came out of a bunch of Script Frenzy dares I took a couple of years back and never used.

I'm 22 for sure pages into the robot story, with a bunch to transcribe, and 18 into the noir, which is an adaptation of one of last year's NaNo novels.

Doing an adaptation is always interesting. If I've got an idea for Script Frenzy and want to start on it before April, I'll write it as prose, as a novel, and then follow the rule for adaptation. But this one came to life first as a novel--I though it might be cool to adapt, but it wasn't the one that was written for that purpose. Last year's Dieselpunk NaNo was meant to be SF this year, but it just didn't feel right. I think I'm an action writer at heart. :)

Okay, enough of my ramblings. Stay tuned for next Friday's week two update!

A Long Affair

I have a love affair with script.

Not just movies, either. With theatre and film and even TV. There's something about script that speaks to me in a way that the novel does not.

Maybe it is the fact that a script is about the language. The way people talk. Things like describing the scene and setting can be taken care of in as few words as possible if you so desire, and you don't have to worry about the he said and she said and varying your structure in regards to that. It is talk, pure and simple. When you remove the fluff that comes with trying to make your language flow and sound normal and just write like people talk, a world of possibilities opens up.

Take the following, for example.

Rachel walked in the house, slamming the screen door behind her, "I ain't never going back." She said emphatically, "Never."

Now read it as a script:

Rachel walks in, slams screen door.
RACHEL: (Emphatically) I ain't never going back. Never.

Blunt, to the point. Same words, same scene, but in my mind, there is a difference. Rachel peels off the page in the script, at least for me. No longer is she just a girl who walks in with an attitude. This time, she walks in in her cut off shorts, ponytail bobbing as she shakes her head. Maybe it is just because I see all my ideas as movies. Writing them as a script brings them back to 3-D in my head. As I adapt the prose version that sometimes precedes a script, I start to hear the music, the street sounds, the smells, everything. It comes to life in my mind the way that my novels never quite do.

I find it especially fitting that I post this on April 1. At midnight when this posts, the Frenzy starts. A  month dedicated entirely to script, to the celebration of this art form.

Let it begin.

The brain is mush

For some reason, I like the word fuzz.

Not in the sense of fuzz being the police. Not too fond of that one.

But the word itself, for some reason, is a cool word.

So is splanchnic.

And rawr.

Yes, I just said rawr.

It's one of my favorites.

As noted by the title, my brain is mush. I'm writing this Thursday night to post at midnight and have been up for over 12 hours. 14, actually. Off of 5 hours of sleep.

So, as a result, I am going to entertain you with a scene or two from last fall's Noir, soon to become April's Noir. And the martini line, it's not mine. That credit goes to my best friend.


“You’re playing a dangerous game, Jessica.” Chief Reynolds said as she leaned in the doorway of his bedroom, “You better watch out. There’s trouble brewing in the city.”
    "I'm not really flirting with disaster right now, Chief. I'm just eyeing it across a smoky bar while holding a martini." She smiles that smoky smile and turns her back on the man, “I won’t tell your wife that I was here.”




I went home and pulled out that book of photographs. Julie had always liked to take pictures, and left me a few of them, to torment me. There was this one, of me at the beach with my mistress. God, I’d forgotten about her, and I don’t even know how. She was one of those women that could capture your soul and never let go. Course, when I met Elaine, things with her started to fall apart, and soon, I was married to Elaine, until she left me for another man. I’d been good, but not good enough, apparently.
    Holding the picture, I sat down on the edge of the bed. Remembering the time I’d spent with her didn’t hurt so much as ached. We’d had a beautiful thing, and I’d dropped it for what I thought was better. Looking at the picture, watching it shake with the movement of my hands, I shook my head.
    “My God.” I said, “I can’t believe it’s her.”