I'm thinking of

repurposing this blog to also post excerpts of current stories or posting them as serrials here. I might still occaissionally blathering about writing here too.

More Rewrites

So once again I find myself working on rewrites. Not for "A Happy Reunion" this time but the feature after that "You Belong With Me." Yes, it is a rom-com. I started it as a 3-5 page scene for a contest in the middle of April and managed to write 56 pages of it before the end of April and finished it by the 20th of May.

This process of writing again what you've already written sucks. I know it will be a better script when I finally get around to making the changes, but it still sucks. I guess when I reach FADE OUT. and the magic over 90 pages I'm done living with the characters and story and I just want to move to the next project. Because you know I've got at least one projects idea I'm itching to start. I like to write small (full episodes in 40 pages instead of 50-54) so seeing 90+ pages is an accomplishment I want to celebrate. Last thing I want is to hear "You need more here to explain her/his motivation." I know I need it and this isn't complaining about the people who read and give me notes. I appreciate those people and notes. I need them to know where I've failed completely or just need tweaking. But fixing those things- I have no motivation.

I guess that's what this post is about. Finding motivation to end the procrastination and make those changes. Sure there are screenwriting contests with deadlines approaching and "writers have been known to complete things when deadlines loom "(from the FAQ of the Nicholl Fellowship of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.) But I need more motivation. When I find the secret I'll let y'all know.

Rewrites or "What do mean the first draft isn't perfect?"

I got some notes on my script, "A Happy Reunion" and while they were exactly what I needed, they are still hard to hear or read in some cases. In particular, the script lacks dramatic tension. Most of the conflict that rises is solved too quickly usually within the same scene. I knew this was a problem but I'm not sure how to fix it.

I've never really done much rewriting other than editing spelling and grammar before so this whole thing is sort of new to me. It isn't easy but like one of my commenter said, "If this was easy then everyone would do it."

I'm slowly picking away at things but it is still hard not to be discouraged by learning things need work.

The list of in progress projects

So no progress on any quests in the last 8 days. I have been sick. Now I'm almost well with the exception of an extremely scratched throat from all the coughing. So my thoughts turn back to writing. I want to write but am unsure of exactly what.

My currents projects:

Untitled Rom-Com 1- This is the wish fullfillment rom-com that pokes at all the things wrong with the way women are portrayed in movies. Set in Portland and some of the characters bear more than a passing resemblance to me, the husband unit, and my BFF. It currently is 51 pages long.

An Exposition of Irony- The President William McKinley bio-pic about the 1901 Pan American Exposition where McKinley died. This was a project I was working on last year but stopped because while the subject fascinates me, I couldn't (and still can't) answer the basic plot question of "What does McKinley want?". I have to answer that in order to find the way to put stumbling blocks in his way to make a plot. otherwise it is more documentary than drama. (I could answer the plot questions from the asassin's point of view but that would make him the protaginist but I don't want to go there.) Currently it runs 23 pages

Siskiyou Pines- The traditional western that is more or less complete but could use a good polish. It's the story of a new widdow trying to hang on to the ranch and her family. 90 Pages.

A Happy Reunion- The more or less completed Rom-Com about a couple of high school friends who got drunk and married at the 15 year reunion in Vegas. It needs good polish and some more snappy dialouge. Currently 95 pages.

Untitled Rom-Com 2- This is set in Porltand about a pair of Yuppies who have been married for about 10 nearly break apart over a missunderstanding. Currently 34 pages.

Anyway those are just the original features I'm in the middle of. I also have a Leverage spec episode and one for Chuck that I'm working on.

Quest #2 progress

So pursuant to Quest #2 - The quest for an agent- I'm working on revising A Happy Reunion. This is the completed Romantic Comedy (or RomCom as the industry calls them), as opposed to the 2 uncompleted RomComs.

Anyway the consensus of my writer's group is that I fail in the Comedy part of RomCom. So how to punch it up? I really want it to be funny and not turn it into a drama as one person suggested. (They also suggested I focus more on a minor plot point of a minor character but I think that was because that plot point struck a little too close to home for them.)

So how to make it funnier without just adding a lot of jokes? I need to make the dialouge snappier and wittier. The other thing is I need to round out my characters more. They are too one diminsional. I also got the critisism that I have little conflict and what I have is resolved too neatly. (This is one of my problems with the Twilight books and I hide my head in shame that I have fallen into that trope.)