Please Learn From My Mistakes (with Gratitude Where it is Due)
After a very busy couple of weeks filled with family and work demands, I finally sat down last night and turned on my laptop to do some writing only to discover that the operating system wouldn't boot. When I tried to do a repair, it couldn't see an operating system on the machine to repair. I know what all of my Mac-owner friends are already thinking, but keep reading as there's a lesson in here for all of you as well.
It didn't take me long to think that I wasn't going to be able to boot the machine which was immediately followed by admitting to myself that I hadn't done a single backup of any of the materials on my laptop. I went to bed practically in tears but trying to make the best of it, telling myself that it was an opportunity to re-write everything I'd ever written and to make it better. I wasn't really buying it and worst of all I kept berating myself because I'd spent 10 years in Information Technologies and should know better!
I woke up, started thinking about the cost of data recovery from a disk drive, didn't believe it could possibly be the hard drive but had a deep concern about the motherboard or the controller. The BartPE disk I had for XP didn't work, probably because it was Windows. I started thinking about all of the changes that I wanted to make to the three women script since I would be re-writing it from scratch anyway.
I drove to work this morning tossing this all over in my head and praying. My significant other emailed some words of encouragement and technical advice early in the morning. I had a cup of tea and began the day's tasks but couldn't get my mind off the laptop. I booted the machine and went into repair options again. I thought I didn't have too much to lose, thinking that I'd probably already lost everything worth keeping, so I told it to repair the operating system that it couldn't see. I did that a couple of times and finally, that Windows login screen popped up. I think I woke up half the floor with my cries of joy.
I immediately plugged in a portable hard drive to the USB port and backed up every file worth saving and then some. And I recommend that all of you, including my Mac-loving friends, do the same.
As I write this, I'm thinking that a one day delay was good for the project since it inspired some great new ideas. I'm also thinking that my stubborn personality was a good thing for once. My partner might say that I'm rationalizing. You decide.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
So much for New Year's resolutions. This year didn't begin even remotely the way I would expect. Since I last blogged, the three women script has continued to force its way into my conscious thought on a regular basis. I'm reading, thinking, writing. There is so much to cram into 120 pages and at the same time, there's so much more I don't know about these women. Meanwhile, my life outside my writing has become more chaotic than it has ever been in my life. Family needs have come before writing and I've slowed the pace down.
In in the past couple of months I've arrived at the realization that this is not about an audience. I have to understand these characters before I'll write a script that I will be satisfied with, and if that makes me self-indulgent, then so be it. The script will build on these women and I want to understand all about them - their wants, desires, thoughts. How they are similar and dissimilar. What their secrets are. I have begun to accept that this is taking longer than I wanted it to. I wanted to crank the script out, but the universe has something to teach me, apparently.
I am getting to know these woman as I would someone I spent time with on a daily basis. At first I tried to set a deadline for myself, and I won't be happy if I do that with this work. I tend to love the journey more than the destination, so it's always easy for me to abandon deadlines, but this time it feels different. As I blogged a couple of months ago, this script feels different than anything I've ever written before. For one thing, even if I can't write, I am turning things over in my head about this script on a daily basis. It's a learning experience on so many levels, which is fine, because right now I don't depend on my writing for my income. If I did depend on my writing for my livelihood, I'd certainly be writing a hell of a lot faster and employing the "done is better than good" theory.
In in the past couple of months I've arrived at the realization that this is not about an audience. I have to understand these characters before I'll write a script that I will be satisfied with, and if that makes me self-indulgent, then so be it. The script will build on these women and I want to understand all about them - their wants, desires, thoughts. How they are similar and dissimilar. What their secrets are. I have begun to accept that this is taking longer than I wanted it to. I wanted to crank the script out, but the universe has something to teach me, apparently.
I am getting to know these woman as I would someone I spent time with on a daily basis. At first I tried to set a deadline for myself, and I won't be happy if I do that with this work. I tend to love the journey more than the destination, so it's always easy for me to abandon deadlines, but this time it feels different. As I blogged a couple of months ago, this script feels different than anything I've ever written before. For one thing, even if I can't write, I am turning things over in my head about this script on a daily basis. It's a learning experience on so many levels, which is fine, because right now I don't depend on my writing for my income. If I did depend on my writing for my livelihood, I'd certainly be writing a hell of a lot faster and employing the "done is better than good" theory.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Linear, Circular and Obsessive Writing
I heard an interesting conversation over the weekend. An academic was talking about literature and "orgasmic structure". If I understood correctly, she was advancing the theory that traditional literature has a male orgasmic structure - the whole idea of "rising action" then "climax" then "denouement". And that women's literature used a more female, circular orgasmic structure.
I haven't decided what I think about the orgasmic structure of literature, but I do know that the script I'm currently working on is unfolding itself with a shift from how I've written in the past. I have a story in mind, then I write linearly, from beginning to end. That hasn't been happening with the three women script, as I've taken to calling it.
With this one, different scenes push forward and insist that I write them "right now" without regard to what's happened before that scene in the script. I find myself dreaming about the script and various scenes. This is a script that I started thinking about years ago. It came from a single image I had one day. At the time I couldn't decide whether it should be a stageplay or a film script. Eventually I shelved it because it was having story problems. More recently I started thinking about it. Then I began to obsess about it. I had to actually put aside another piece of writing I was working on to answer the demands of this script. And I can't even think about loglines.
It's disconcerting on one level and yet, it somehow feels right. Is it a more circular structure since I'm a woman and it's "the three women script"? Perhaps in the writing of it, but I have to say that at the end of the day, my script does have exposition, an inciting incident, conflict, rising action, climax and denouement - certainly the classic structure, male orgasmic or not.
I heard an interesting conversation over the weekend. An academic was talking about literature and "orgasmic structure". If I understood correctly, she was advancing the theory that traditional literature has a male orgasmic structure - the whole idea of "rising action" then "climax" then "denouement". And that women's literature used a more female, circular orgasmic structure.
I haven't decided what I think about the orgasmic structure of literature, but I do know that the script I'm currently working on is unfolding itself with a shift from how I've written in the past. I have a story in mind, then I write linearly, from beginning to end. That hasn't been happening with the three women script, as I've taken to calling it.
With this one, different scenes push forward and insist that I write them "right now" without regard to what's happened before that scene in the script. I find myself dreaming about the script and various scenes. This is a script that I started thinking about years ago. It came from a single image I had one day. At the time I couldn't decide whether it should be a stageplay or a film script. Eventually I shelved it because it was having story problems. More recently I started thinking about it. Then I began to obsess about it. I had to actually put aside another piece of writing I was working on to answer the demands of this script. And I can't even think about loglines.
It's disconcerting on one level and yet, it somehow feels right. Is it a more circular structure since I'm a woman and it's "the three women script"? Perhaps in the writing of it, but I have to say that at the end of the day, my script does have exposition, an inciting incident, conflict, rising action, climax and denouement - certainly the classic structure, male orgasmic or not.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Catching Up
I've written some really bad loglines in the past three weeks for projects I have yet to start. I've also worked on loglines for projects that I have already in progress. Interestingly I found that the loglines for the projects in progress are workable first drafts. I wouldn't want to use them to pitch anyone at this point, but I know that they are a start in the right direction and that feels good. Perhaps I'll implement a "logline of the day" program for myself to keep in practice.
I have had some distractions from writing in the past three weeks, apart from the usual job & family responsibilities. In the past three weeks I've learned that I love the community of people that descends upon Park City annually for the Sundance Film Festival. My partner and I went to the opening weekend of Sundance - it was our first visit - and fell in love. The films, the discussions after the films, chatting with people on the shuttles (is everyone at Sundance a screenwriter?), conversations at bars and events. It is hard to describe except that it felt like a homecoming for me.
Today I won't get any more writing done than this blog. A nodule on my left thryoid requires surgery (it's today) so I will be out of pocket for a week or two in recovery. I'm sure the writing will be here when I'm feeling up to it.
I have had some distractions from writing in the past three weeks, apart from the usual job & family responsibilities. In the past three weeks I've learned that I love the community of people that descends upon Park City annually for the Sundance Film Festival. My partner and I went to the opening weekend of Sundance - it was our first visit - and fell in love. The films, the discussions after the films, chatting with people on the shuttles (is everyone at Sundance a screenwriter?), conversations at bars and events. It is hard to describe except that it felt like a homecoming for me.
Today I won't get any more writing done than this blog. A nodule on my left thryoid requires surgery (it's today) so I will be out of pocket for a week or two in recovery. I'm sure the writing will be here when I'm feeling up to it.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Loglines
So, a guy walks into an elevator and standing in front of him is Steven Spielberg. That happens everyday right? Well, it probably does. But how often is the guy a screenwriter who would love to pitch his movie to Spielberg ? Maybe once in a lifetime, if that, especially if Spielberg is willing to hear the pitch. The guy has only seconds. Will he blow it? I dunno, but I have read enough to know that the guy better have his logline in order or he doesn't have a chance in "h-e-double-hockey-sticks".
The experts generally agree that the logline needs to explain who the main character is, what her problem is & how she's going to solve it. Which means the folks writing the descriptions for TV Guide are getting all kinds of practice. If a logline is a one sentance pitch, then I want my loglines to have well-defined protagonists who are up against larger-than-life antagonists. I want my loglines to give a sense of the atmosphere and setting of my script. I want my loglines to identify the conflict between my protagonists and antagonists , to lay out what's at stake. I want my loglines to identify the genre of the script. I need my loglines to do this all in one sentance and I am so wordy that this leaves me feeling anxious.
Adjectives help identify the protagonist and antagonists with greater clarity. If the descriptive is juxtaposed to the goal, it can be used for greater effect. For example, the neglected farmgirl in the Wizard of Oz just wants to get back home.
It has to grab the reader, make the reader want to read the entire script. No pressure. It has to tell who the main character is, who the antagonist is, and what makes the script unique. It should emphasize the internal and external conflict. It should identify the sizzle: sex, greed, humor, danger, thrills, satisfaction. I have a lot of work to do....
What the experts are really saying is that the logline is the superobjective (or spine) of the story.
I finally decided I should just write a bunch of loglines: good, bad or indifferent. Practice is the way to go. I'll let you know what kind of luck I have.
So, a guy walks into an elevator and standing in front of him is Steven Spielberg. That happens everyday right? Well, it probably does. But how often is the guy a screenwriter who would love to pitch his movie to Spielberg ? Maybe once in a lifetime, if that, especially if Spielberg is willing to hear the pitch. The guy has only seconds. Will he blow it? I dunno, but I have read enough to know that the guy better have his logline in order or he doesn't have a chance in "h-e-double-hockey-sticks".
The experts generally agree that the logline needs to explain who the main character is, what her problem is & how she's going to solve it. Which means the folks writing the descriptions for TV Guide are getting all kinds of practice. If a logline is a one sentance pitch, then I want my loglines to have well-defined protagonists who are up against larger-than-life antagonists. I want my loglines to give a sense of the atmosphere and setting of my script. I want my loglines to identify the conflict between my protagonists and antagonists , to lay out what's at stake. I want my loglines to identify the genre of the script. I need my loglines to do this all in one sentance and I am so wordy that this leaves me feeling anxious.
Adjectives help identify the protagonist and antagonists with greater clarity. If the descriptive is juxtaposed to the goal, it can be used for greater effect. For example, the neglected farmgirl in the Wizard of Oz just wants to get back home.
It has to grab the reader, make the reader want to read the entire script. No pressure. It has to tell who the main character is, who the antagonist is, and what makes the script unique. It should emphasize the internal and external conflict. It should identify the sizzle: sex, greed, humor, danger, thrills, satisfaction. I have a lot of work to do....
What the experts are really saying is that the logline is the superobjective (or spine) of the story.
I finally decided I should just write a bunch of loglines: good, bad or indifferent. Practice is the way to go. I'll let you know what kind of luck I have.
My New Year's Resolution and the Year of the Earth Ox
They say that writers can't be afraid to "kill your darlings" so I've done some blog housecleaning, deleting the very few but rather inane posts I've written over the past couple of years. I kept the very first one I wrote and another that has personal meaning for me. And while I really haven't been a fan of new year's resolutions over the years, this year I thought I'd give it a try. I have been writing more and I resolve to blog more. I also want to learn to write really good loglines. It feels right since the year of the Earth Ox is upon us once again on 26 January 2009.
In general, eastern astrologers believe that oxen come into their own during ox years. Taking stock, examining where you are and where you are heading are supposed to be good activities for oxen in an ox year. (Aren't they good activities for anyone in any year?) Being a metal ox, I am supposed to be strong, hard-working and will do whatever is necessary to achieve my goals. Time will tell but one thing is for certain, it also continues to march on.
They say that writers can't be afraid to "kill your darlings" so I've done some blog housecleaning, deleting the very few but rather inane posts I've written over the past couple of years. I kept the very first one I wrote and another that has personal meaning for me. And while I really haven't been a fan of new year's resolutions over the years, this year I thought I'd give it a try. I have been writing more and I resolve to blog more. I also want to learn to write really good loglines. It feels right since the year of the Earth Ox is upon us once again on 26 January 2009.
In general, eastern astrologers believe that oxen come into their own during ox years. Taking stock, examining where you are and where you are heading are supposed to be good activities for oxen in an ox year. (Aren't they good activities for anyone in any year?) Being a metal ox, I am supposed to be strong, hard-working and will do whatever is necessary to achieve my goals. Time will tell but one thing is for certain, it also continues to march on.
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