The Perfectionist

Dear Reader,

Yes, I find myself back here again because I am unable to bring myself to write. I love my story. I love my characters. I love the very way I’ve decided to write it. What I can not do right now is get to ‘that bit’. You know, ‘that bit’ that’ll make you go ‘Oh. My. God.’ – because there is a definitely a bit of an ‘Oh. My. God.’ moment in my story. Oh yes. The problem I’m having is that: do I go in subtle like, where the tone gently shifts into darker places? Or do I go in suddenly, abruptly and shock my characters?

 

I think, until I can make that decision, my writing and the story has come to a standstill. I have written a very small bit more than was on the page before, but it really was unnecessary. It was lame. I really need to push myself to choose which way this is going to go. I’m trying to imagine which way would be the ‘alternative middle’ of a movie and which would make the final cut, if you will. It’s tough. I know, I know – FIRST DRAFT and all, but I’m one of those who likes it close to perfect the first time around. And yes, it can be done.

 

Complicated storylines are beyond me. Too much going on and I’m lost. So it’s all very simple. Simple characters. Simple story…. So why is it so hard to get this one section done???

 

Thanks for reading

xxx

Come On, Rogue

Dear Reader,

 

How long do you think it will be until we get a Star Wars universe film where they don’t make a gazillion references to the 3 classic movies?

I can’t exactly say I had high hopes for Rogue One, but I sat down and watched it, thinking I ought to give the film a chance at least before I condemn it to the ‘fan-pandering piece of shit’ pile. It wasn’t totally shit. There were some enjoyable moments – the inclusion of Mads Mikkelsen for one…. – but for the most part it was certainly fan-pandering.

Perhaps I am alone in thinking that the main character was completely and utterly pointless.  There seemed no point in it being specifically Jyn Erso. If anything, I believe the most interesting story was her fathers, but considering the age we live in, it seemed they were far too keen on having a female lead instead of an interesting and worthwhile lead. Her father was the one who was actually doing stuff. It was his actions that seemed to me to propel the plot, so why the hell wasn’t his the story we were told?

There was an ad for the movie coming up on Sky Cinema soon and Felicity Jones mentions the humour – but that only comes from K-2. K-2 made me eye roll every time he tried to make a joke. It was totally cringe-worthy. It just doesn’t work when there is only one character who is in on the humour and everyone else is completely stone-faced. You’ve got Chewie and Han or even C3-PO and R2-D2 (despite the fact we didn’t know what R2 was saying, you still knew they were having some top banter). These guys made it work in the original movies, because you knew that when there was dark, there was going to be some light when these characters were on the screen.

It was such an odd movie. I was trying to remember it the next morning after I watched it and I honestly couldn’t think of anything specifically that happened beyond they got the plans to the Death Star. Funny, because that’s all they based the plot on. Of course, there isn’t much of a plot there to begin with – it’s just something that needs to happen for Leia to meet Luke and well, you know the rest. The story was such a nothing that I only started getting into it when Jyn and that Kassian died. Then I could feel myself getting excited because I knew it was building to A New Hope.

Sadly, I believe the Star Wars movies are going to be nothing more than a money-maker now it’s gone to Disney. I mean, I know it was a money-maker before, but now the sequels/prequels/stories are all being sold on the fact that die-hard fans will literally eat up anything to do with those 3 films and the galaxy that they fell in love with.

 

Thanks for reading

xxx

Talk the Line

Dear Reader,

 

Don’t be mad. I cheated. So this book I’m writing, it’s basically a script. But without all the in-betweeny stuff that puts it into the script pile. You know what though, I really don’t care. It’s working for the story that I’m putting together and that’s all that matters. The rules for writing a book are that there are no rules!

When I read a book, I find myself searching for the next piece of dialogue anyway, so I like to think that I’m writing for all those other readers like me who hate the slog though wordy paragraphs. I like talking. I like listening to other people talk. I like the way that in speech there are so many hidden layers. A person can say one thing and totally mean another and when there is ONLY dialogue, it’s tricky to know anyone’s true agenda. I feel like with most novels, you will usually get the explanation in between the dialogue, of what that character actually feels despite what they said. If not right then, then later. But, in my story, there won’t be any of that. Any explanation will come from the character’s own mouth.

Exciting.

Thanks for reading

xxx

The Blog That Time Forgot

Dear Reader,

 

Once again, I have reached that time where I must say ‘Gosh, it’s been a mighty long time since I last posted.’

Now that’s over and done with, I came to comment on writing. Duh. I have noticed recently from reading other blogs (yes, I still manage to have time to do that, even though I have had next to no time for my own blog recently!) that the trend of scriptwriters crossing over to novel writing and occasionally crossing back is rather common.

I came to the conclusion that I wanted to write stories a very long time ago, but I suppose I was waiting for the right way for me to tell those stories. I had believed it was through script, as I love film so much. However, the restrictions that exist for script (especially for nobodies such as myself) make the whole experience rather limiting and I found I would fret more over the finer details of whether I had done it ‘right’ rather than focusing on getting it done at all. Not exactly productive. Not exactly encouraging creativity either.

My next thought is; is being a good writer one who tells a great story? Or one who uses a vast vocabulary and boasts it with every other word needing a dictionary? For me, the obvious answer is the first one. It has to be. That’s the whole point of being a writer – surely? I have seen so many Creative Writing graduates go on and on about how they’re going to write a novel and it’s going to be amazing. They even post excerpts on their blogs. But, when I’ve bothered to sit down and read any of their work, I can’t work out the story because it’s been buried beneath their vast vocabulary. They must think it’s impressive, but to a reader – well, to ME as a reader – it’s incredibly off putting and dare I say it, boring.

I’m sure it’s that readers just have personal preferences when it comes to the types of stories they like to read and that’s why there are different types of writers to cater to them. I’ll never force myself to use a word that I don’t understand or that I think a reader won’t understand, because what’s the point? Enjoying a story shouldn’t be hard work. It should be easy, simple and not make the readers head hurt.

Thanks for reading

xxx

 

True Horror

Dear Reader,

 

What makes a film truly horrifying for you? Do you like being left in a quivering mess by about 10 minutes in? Or do you prefer something that is frightening, but tolerable so you can ‘happily’ get to the end? I suppose everyone has their own limits for horror. Personally, my limit is gore. Pure, mindless gore. No thank you. Think Hostel or the Saw films. Blergh. So not interested.

To be honest, I used to be a complete NO to everything that may have even vaguely resembled horror. Such is my imagination that it can be a massive bitch sometimes, so I just didn’t want to feed it. Only at sleepovers or parties where we watched the obligatory horror film. However, for some strange reason and I can’t remember why, I suddenly wanted to watch some horror. One of my flatmates at uni was a massive horror fan and she lent me a few to get me started. I began with Candyman, Halloween and then progressed on to Friday the 13th and Prom Night. All the originals of course.

The classics. That’s where it’s at. I’m definitely leaning more towards the slasher side, which is where my script falls too. I loved Candyman, it was scary, but it had a story and sort of romance. It’s not your typical slasher horror and I think that’s what I liked so much about it. I know I’m more interested in horror where it’s tolerable, perhaps not even gory (the older ones I watched seem less on the gore, or just to modern eyes so ridiculously fake), but where the horror comes from the people. People are terrifying.

There is one film I will never, ever watch. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. A good example of the no-gore of older films (yes, while I haven’t watched it I have read about it a great deal), yet the horror of the people is far too much for my brain to be able to cope with. I once tried watching the start of it – “The film which you are about to see…”etc and I lasted about 5 seconds before I was just like NOPE.

I’m trying to find a happy medium between satisfying the more hardcore horror fans, while not putting off people like me. I don’t want to lose the appeal by making a pure gore-fest, but then one of the most important writing motto’s is ‘Write what you know’ so I don’t think it would even be possible for me. Story is what is important and always will be.

 

Thanks for reading

xxx

 

Happy Valley

Dear Reader,
A short one today.
I’m so happy right now. After months and months of barely finding 5 minutes of peace (I am capable of blog writing in ‘not’ peace), I have finally sat down and written something of the new, altered and most certainly improved story that I have. Up until that point, I felt like I was bottling things up. Well, I suppose I had to as I wasn’t getting chance to have that release. I miss having the time to write.

Sadly, the only time I’ve ever really felt like I’ve had dedicated time to write was in uni….the most uncreative place in existence. I miss writing when I can’t do it. It’s like an ache. A need to write. A feeling of missing out on something that could be great if I can’t get it written down. 

I feel I have been able to purge. The next purge date has yet to be set.
Thanks for reading

Xxx

Up

Dear Reader,

I have good ‘up’ days. I have days where I think ‘Hell yes, this is a fucking awesome idea. I’m going to write a fucking awesome script and it’s going to be made into an amazing film.’ Those are good days. I know that somehow, I am totally going to nail this scriptwriter thing and be seeing my movies hit the big screen any day now. I’m going to send them to random studios who’ve never heard of me and they’re going to be banging on my door demanding a million more. 

That happens right? No? This is where the ‘down’ days hit. Why am I wasting my time doing something that’s never going to happen? I don’t live in L.A. I don’t have connections in the industry. My Mum’s third cousin’s best friend from high school isn’t a big or even small-time director (Seriously, you look up how some people got into the jobs they’re in now and while they try to convince you that they had a hard time, the only reason they’re there is because they knew someone….). I don’t have loads of money to live off while I chase my as yet, unpaid dream so most of the big competitions are out. Of course, to get an agent you have to have already had something made (unless of course you’re ridiculously lucky….I’m guessing) and to get something made, you have to have an agent. That old chestnut! 

Boo hoo. I know. We’re all in the same boat here. I’m just wondering where do the breaks come from? I’m a random no-one from nobody cares with nothing to her name. 
Although, maybe I am just wasting my time on what right now most people would call a hobby, as studios rarely make original movies these days anyway. It’s not a hobby for me. This is work. Just because I’m not getting paid for it, doesn’t mean I’m not putting a hell of a lot of effort into it. You don’t get paid at the start of your shift, you get paid at the end. I hate these ‘down’ days, I much prefer the ‘up’s’.  It gives me motivation to keep going. 

Thanks for reading

Xxx
 

Mad, Sometimes

Dear Reader, 
So, I’ve done it again. I have ceased operations on my previous story and have since updated and improved it! That’s the hope anyway. I think, after a while I just wonder if what I had written was film worthy at all and I try to think of what’s missing. I realised that while I had a good overall concept, I didn’t really like my characters and I didn’t really have a direction that the story was going in. I had good ‘moments’ but that was about it. I could sense that there wasn’t going to be a clear ending on the horizon. 

I’m not one to plan out a script before writing, as I find it makes things a little too stale. I like freshness. However, my problem had come from investing too much in the villain and not enough in everyone and everything else. That does not maketh a good story. I’m all about a good villain though and I find it very easy to get side-tracked. I watched Psycho again the other night and it was a great reminder on how simple a villain can be, but also how the heroes need to be good foils to that. Here I am talking about the heroes in terms of the villain, but hey ho, that’s just the way I see the world! 

So, I’m desperately trying to see the bigger picture and make sure the whole thing is merging together well, instead of just getting a cool moment in just because. 

Thanks for reading 

Xxx

Das Reboot

Dear Reader,

What is happening to cinema? I swear; every single day for the past couple of weeks there has been news of yet ANOTHER film being remade or rebooted. I am sick of seeing it. Today it was Little Women, the other day it was Splash…. While it’s true that everything these days is so completely saturated, there surely must be an alternative to stripping another beloved film, of everything that made it so in the first place?

Remakes/reboots always seem to completely lose the point of why the original was a success. The message behind the story. All they see is a ready made fan base, potential to gender swap (looking at you Ghostbusters and Ocean’s films) and, oh yeah, an easy way to make loads of money. It makes me so angry and sad that this is the state of cinema today. Compared to what it used to be, today it is nothing but a good money-making machine for people who don’t need to be any richer. Where’s the art? It’s all lost behind those big dollar signs flashing in studios eyes. 
There are a few odd gems to be found amongst the new films, but it’s certainly telling when they get swept under the carpet to make way for the superheroes. Greed is not good. Greed is sucking the life out of what used to be such an interesting and intriguing medium. 

Can we have a ‘Restore to factory settings’ button please? 

Thanks for reading

Xxx

P.S. Just realised that I wrote about this only a month ago….goes to show how much it affects me and my writing! 

10 Things I Hate About Scriptwriting

Dear Reader,

1. Not having enough time for it
2. Constantly thinking of new things that would change everything I’ve already written ever so slightly
3. Getting sidetracked by thinking of another superfuckingawesome idea just as I’ve started writing my first superfuckingawesome idea
4. Desperately trying to think of something ‘original’ when about 1% of what’s in the cinema these days is completely original
5. Writing the wrong name in for a character and having to go back and change them all
6. Getting too caught up in research (especially for my current ’50s set script)
7. Constantly wondering if someone reading it is going to read it in the same way that I write it
8. Knowing that my work is unlikely to ever see the light of day of a cinema screen
9. That feeling when you think you’ve written more than you actually have
10. The way I don’t really hate it. 

Ok, so that last one may have been a bit of a cop out but, the rest is true. I suppose a lot of things I hate about it are things I inflict upon myself. Things I could do something about. 

I love scriptwriting. Since university, I knew it was something I was supposed to continue (I got my best marks in that course and the tutor loved my style!). Here I am bragging about uni. Like that’s something studios are going to care about.

So my next ’10 Things’ list will be about how much I love scriptwriting. Coming soon! 

Thanks for reading

Xxx