It's amazing what setting a few new goals can do for your life. I'm currently back brainstorming my first script, (but with a better idea for story and characters) and hopefully I can finish or be close to finishing the script by the end of the year.
In other news, I recently read an article about character building
http://rougewave.blogspot.com/2008/03/guest-blog-your-character-is-not.html
I find it very interesting in the approach to character. It's not about who your character is much less than WHAT your character does. I think it's a truly profound thing to think about when creating your character.
Just go and sit in a public place observing people and what they do. Notice the people singing on the streets, the person who looks both ways before crossing vs the person who doesn't. The people who patiently wait for the light to turn to "WALK" while others around them rush through disregarding the traffic light.
Why does the person perform in the street for free? Are they showcasing their talent for the world, sharing it, or do they have more selfish, desperate reasons? Do they hope that in a miraculous twist of fate, a music producer hears the music and is touched and enthralled by it?
Or perhaps notice how the person singing at the local subway station has a slight quivering voice, terrible to hear but she's smiling, perhaps enjoying the fact that she finally has enough confidence to perform in front of others. Or in a more depressing note, perhaps she is LOSING her confidence as a performer, and the smile is merely the singer hiding her loss in confidence.
Notice how the woman sitting in the train is constantly looking at her phone, but doesn't make a call or even a text. Is she desperately waiting for a loved one to call, or is she merely pretending to have something to do to avoid seeing where she is and who's around her.
It's something I think that writers inherently do to themselves, observe people let our minds wander off filling in the blanks. I think that the reason writer's write is because the seemingly boring populace captivates us, we see things most people don't care about, the individual quirks that makes one person stand apart from the rest.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
A page a day cont'd
Ok, so what I meant to say last week was that I was going to write a page a day starting next week, which would mean starting this week. Now, I did in fact write a little something for my creative writing class but it is by no means in my opinion a good or necessarily complete story. But I felt it was better than my first submitted story though mostly because it seems a lot more emotional. I only fear that it may have turned a little too sappy and that may turn off a few readers.
It's a little funny how this story turned about. It came from two previous incarnations. The first one was simply a hitchhiker getting into a car and planning on robbing the man who picked him up. For some reason or another, it didn't turn out that well, perhaps I was being a little too ambitious since I wanted the driver to be some serial killer too. The tables were turned but I couldn't figure out a way of including dialogue and a few scenes and confining it within 10 pages. It could be done except that I'm a dialogue heavy person. I don't overly visual and emotional senses that well. I can describe the gist of things concisely but that's as far as I'll go (perhaps something I could work on in the future).
The second iteration of the story was basically about a man/teenager who was driving down a road and getting chased by a phantom car. Now this is the story that I really wanted to write but came with a few problems for me. 1: It sounded too much like Sleepy Hollow with Duel. I'm the kind of guy that likes an original idea and I felt that it may be a bit derivative on my part. 2: I couldn't figure out a decent reason why someone would drive down a haunted piece of road besides being in a hurry. Stories that have a supernatural element to it seem to foreshadow or hint at the idea for paranormal very early on. I didn't find the phantom camaro too scary because either the protagonist wouldn't know about the fact and percieve the threat as an angry driver, or he would be a complete chicken. As a complete chicken, he wouldn't drive down the road in the first place (I've thought about a truth or dare situation, maybe it could work if handled correctly) and by the protagonist not knowing, I lose a valuable expositional device that would otherwise seem to come out of nowhere for the ghost(since I am a newbie writer, I can't think of another way).
The third scenario is very much like the Phantom car but without the supernatural. It dealt with a teenager running away from a hellhole of a house and driving to see his father. This part of the story was part of my phantom car story, but I felt the drama behind the main character running away was better suited towards a slightly more dramatic piece. He meets his dad at a gas station much to his surprise and spends a lot of valuable father and son time. He heads back home and finally discovers why his mother is such a bitch and why his parents are divorced, a fact that I will not divulge here because I felt it was too subtle in my piece. Or perhaps a little unrealistic of the characters. But hey, that's why I was taking the class, to get constructive criticism.
So this leaves me with a lesson in storytelling, or it should. Find a reason for your character's actions. My first two story ideas weren't particularly strong with character I felt. A guy whose afraid of ghosts wouldn't drive down a spooky road if he could help it nor would a cunning thief be so stupid to rob from a murderer.
*Actually, now that I've written these things down, I think I got another burst of an idea for the first two. I'll go over the previous ones and hopefully find the story I meant to write with each one. Lesson 2, write down all ideas good or bad and when you get writer's block (like what I had just about now) write down the reasons why the characters and the piece doesn't work. I think you will be surprised at the results.
It's a little funny how this story turned about. It came from two previous incarnations. The first one was simply a hitchhiker getting into a car and planning on robbing the man who picked him up. For some reason or another, it didn't turn out that well, perhaps I was being a little too ambitious since I wanted the driver to be some serial killer too. The tables were turned but I couldn't figure out a way of including dialogue and a few scenes and confining it within 10 pages. It could be done except that I'm a dialogue heavy person. I don't overly visual and emotional senses that well. I can describe the gist of things concisely but that's as far as I'll go (perhaps something I could work on in the future).
The second iteration of the story was basically about a man/teenager who was driving down a road and getting chased by a phantom car. Now this is the story that I really wanted to write but came with a few problems for me. 1: It sounded too much like Sleepy Hollow with Duel. I'm the kind of guy that likes an original idea and I felt that it may be a bit derivative on my part. 2: I couldn't figure out a decent reason why someone would drive down a haunted piece of road besides being in a hurry. Stories that have a supernatural element to it seem to foreshadow or hint at the idea for paranormal very early on. I didn't find the phantom camaro too scary because either the protagonist wouldn't know about the fact and percieve the threat as an angry driver, or he would be a complete chicken. As a complete chicken, he wouldn't drive down the road in the first place (I've thought about a truth or dare situation, maybe it could work if handled correctly) and by the protagonist not knowing, I lose a valuable expositional device that would otherwise seem to come out of nowhere for the ghost(since I am a newbie writer, I can't think of another way).
The third scenario is very much like the Phantom car but without the supernatural. It dealt with a teenager running away from a hellhole of a house and driving to see his father. This part of the story was part of my phantom car story, but I felt the drama behind the main character running away was better suited towards a slightly more dramatic piece. He meets his dad at a gas station much to his surprise and spends a lot of valuable father and son time. He heads back home and finally discovers why his mother is such a bitch and why his parents are divorced, a fact that I will not divulge here because I felt it was too subtle in my piece. Or perhaps a little unrealistic of the characters. But hey, that's why I was taking the class, to get constructive criticism.
So this leaves me with a lesson in storytelling, or it should. Find a reason for your character's actions. My first two story ideas weren't particularly strong with character I felt. A guy whose afraid of ghosts wouldn't drive down a spooky road if he could help it nor would a cunning thief be so stupid to rob from a murderer.
*Actually, now that I've written these things down, I think I got another burst of an idea for the first two. I'll go over the previous ones and hopefully find the story I meant to write with each one. Lesson 2, write down all ideas good or bad and when you get writer's block (like what I had just about now) write down the reasons why the characters and the piece doesn't work. I think you will be surprised at the results.
Monday, October 19, 2009
A Page A Day...
I'm finally going to do it. I'm going to start writing at least a page a day. Doesn't matter what it is or whether I got a plan going for it. I want to have a script done by the end of next year.
What I've realized is this: you can either wait, or you can write. Doesn't matter how bad or good an idea is, the point of this is to get the creative part of your brain running so that when you DO get that golden idea, you have some kind of confidence you can nurture it into a cohesive and hopefully compelling story.
Of course, I'm not abandoning the blogging. I'm still going to do the "at least one post a week" thing. Mostly just random thoughts I have maybe a short story. Whatever the case, I'm writing.
Peace til later yo.
What I've realized is this: you can either wait, or you can write. Doesn't matter how bad or good an idea is, the point of this is to get the creative part of your brain running so that when you DO get that golden idea, you have some kind of confidence you can nurture it into a cohesive and hopefully compelling story.
Of course, I'm not abandoning the blogging. I'm still going to do the "at least one post a week" thing. Mostly just random thoughts I have maybe a short story. Whatever the case, I'm writing.
Peace til later yo.
Monday, October 12, 2009
New Toy Story Trailer
I just have to say, this looks awesome. It's a little heartwrenching to see how Andy grows up in the first few moments of the trailer which inevitably means that Woody and the gang will soon be replaced by other more grown up things. Pixar never dissapoints on the storytelling.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Disney Movies
One of the best things about childhood that comes to my mind is simply the movies Disney managed to produce in the 90's. I was very lucky to be a child around that time and it has shaped the essence of my childhood. Here, we have these movies that appeal to kids first and foremost, but also has the ability to lure in the parents too. This is just plainly and bluntly classical storytelling, something that is unfortunately scarce in Hollywood these days and in the past decade for Disney too (with some exceptions). They aren't taking enough risks but let's face it, kids are smarter than you think and they enjoy movies the same if not more than adults. One of the things I detest about children movies is when they are children movies. There's little to no effort to make it any deeper than what it could be. The only studio around currently that still tries to make it appealing to all is Pixar. These guys really get what a good film is.
I can still remember the first time I went to watch The Lion King with my mom, and how shocked I was when Scar let Mufasa fall to his death. The second time I watched it, I had to cover both mine and my mother's eyes just because it was such a shocking moment (First movie I've seen in a theatre by the way). But of course, leave it to Timon and Pumba to make things ok again for Simba
Storytelling is a combination of high and low moments. There needs to be an emotional connection to the story and characters in order for the film to be appealing. Just because you have a bunch of cute looking characters and colourful animation doesn't mean kids will automatically like it. Beauty and The Beast wouldn't be as fulfilling of a story if the love between Belle and the Beast was simply two characters falling in love at first glance. In one of the more poignant moments of the film, the Beast finally gives Belle the chance to be with her father instead of fulfilling his own desires to be human. He readily sacrificed his life for love. Here we finally see the theme of the film, that love is transformative, both figuratively and literally.
The good news is that Disney is trying to go back to Classic Disney with their new films "The Princess and The Frog" as well as a CG "Rapunzel" movie instead of looking at CG animation as an easy way out. Whether the story is presented in 2d or 3d, there's always one thing that's certain. It took a lot of hard work and energy for Disney to get where it was 10 years ago. Hopefully, they'll get back to this work ethic and give kids movies they would be proud to watch with their future children.
If Enchanted and the first 5 min. of Princess and the Frog was any indication, I'd say they're ready to get back in the game.
And yes, this is just a lame post to keep me at one update a week. But I love me my Disney movies. I'll probably write more in the future.
I can still remember the first time I went to watch The Lion King with my mom, and how shocked I was when Scar let Mufasa fall to his death. The second time I watched it, I had to cover both mine and my mother's eyes just because it was such a shocking moment (First movie I've seen in a theatre by the way). But of course, leave it to Timon and Pumba to make things ok again for Simba
Storytelling is a combination of high and low moments. There needs to be an emotional connection to the story and characters in order for the film to be appealing. Just because you have a bunch of cute looking characters and colourful animation doesn't mean kids will automatically like it. Beauty and The Beast wouldn't be as fulfilling of a story if the love between Belle and the Beast was simply two characters falling in love at first glance. In one of the more poignant moments of the film, the Beast finally gives Belle the chance to be with her father instead of fulfilling his own desires to be human. He readily sacrificed his life for love. Here we finally see the theme of the film, that love is transformative, both figuratively and literally.
The good news is that Disney is trying to go back to Classic Disney with their new films "The Princess and The Frog" as well as a CG "Rapunzel" movie instead of looking at CG animation as an easy way out. Whether the story is presented in 2d or 3d, there's always one thing that's certain. It took a lot of hard work and energy for Disney to get where it was 10 years ago. Hopefully, they'll get back to this work ethic and give kids movies they would be proud to watch with their future children.
If Enchanted and the first 5 min. of Princess and the Frog was any indication, I'd say they're ready to get back in the game.
And yes, this is just a lame post to keep me at one update a week. But I love me my Disney movies. I'll probably write more in the future.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Music by the Lake
Intro:
It's kinda cheating in term of posts, this is a story I did for my script and storyboarding class not too long ago where the idea was to construct a story with these elements: one location, and two characters who are very different from one another. We basically wrote down the premise and characters and switch the ideas with a partner and construct a story out it. My partner gave me this for the premise.
Characters: Punk rocker man and a small baby doll like girl who likes to wear frilly things. They sitting on a bench by the lake. (Yikes for finding conflict)
Music By The Lake
Harley, like the bike. That’s his name. He sat on a bench with his guitar at his side and a writing pad sitting at the corner of his lap as if he was hiding it from view. Harley had a lot of ink, not just in his little writing pad. The man was built like a Porsche, lean but tough, the kind of guy who could get away with wearing skin tight jeans and a leather coat at his age.
His pen touches upon the pad as he busily scribbles something down, music notes and lyrics. A look of frustration, he quickly tears off the page and stuffs the wrinkled paper in his coat pockets, which falls out without him noticing. “Just one song, let me write just one song,” he says to himself.
A bright red ball bounces down the trail and rests at the bench corner, chased by a little girl, no more than ten. She wore glasses but otherwise looked like a spitting image of a porcelain doll except for the dress. She instead wore a frilly shirt and a pair of nondescript jeans that looked older than her age, probably hand me downs. She wanders over to the bench to pick up her ball and notices Harley. “I like the drawings on your skin” she remarks.
Harley looks at her. “They’re tattoos”. The conversation dies rather quickly as Harley goes back to his writing. Dolly can’t help but talk.
“Some kids think I’m a little weird because of my glasses. Do some people find you weird with those tattoos?” She waits, no reply from Harley. “I’m Dolly” she bursts.
“I thought little kids were warned not to talk to strangers?”
“How can you make friends if you can’t talk to strangers?”
“Go back to your playing kid.”
Harley sits and ponders, Dolly standing there as if waiting for him to say something. A long moment passes by before Harley submits. “Okay! I’m Harley.” He tries to shoo her off.
“You’re writing an awful lot Harley.”
“It never seems enough.”
Dolly picks up the wrinkled piece of paper that Harley trashed earlier and un-crumples it
“What’s this?" She takes a look at the song, music notes and lyrics and all,
“What’s the song about?”
“Nothing, it’s not my style. See this?” He shows her his tattoos, a beautiful collection of hellish images. “That’s me.” He snatches the paper from her hands and stuffs it back in his pockets, in its proper place.
“I wrote a story once for school,” begins Dolly. “I heard how much Mrs. Wilson loved Lizzy’s stories about unicorns and princesses and how she gave her stories an extra stamp in our journals. I tried making a story about something like that, but I got stuck. I asked my mom for help writing it because I didn’t know what to do… I didn’t get that extra stamp. Sometimes it’s better to do your own thing.”
Harley looks at Dolly with a newfound respect in those words.
“Thanks kid.”
Dolly smiles and picks up her red ball to leave, while Harley picks up his guitar and begins strumming a tune. Harley un-crumples the piece of paper and reads it over, a grin.
“Hey, Dolly!” he shouts, she looks back in surprise, “Wanna hear my song?”
It's kinda cheating in term of posts, this is a story I did for my script and storyboarding class not too long ago where the idea was to construct a story with these elements: one location, and two characters who are very different from one another. We basically wrote down the premise and characters and switch the ideas with a partner and construct a story out it. My partner gave me this for the premise.
Characters: Punk rocker man and a small baby doll like girl who likes to wear frilly things. They sitting on a bench by the lake. (Yikes for finding conflict)
Music By The Lake
Harley, like the bike. That’s his name. He sat on a bench with his guitar at his side and a writing pad sitting at the corner of his lap as if he was hiding it from view. Harley had a lot of ink, not just in his little writing pad. The man was built like a Porsche, lean but tough, the kind of guy who could get away with wearing skin tight jeans and a leather coat at his age.
His pen touches upon the pad as he busily scribbles something down, music notes and lyrics. A look of frustration, he quickly tears off the page and stuffs the wrinkled paper in his coat pockets, which falls out without him noticing. “Just one song, let me write just one song,” he says to himself.
A bright red ball bounces down the trail and rests at the bench corner, chased by a little girl, no more than ten. She wore glasses but otherwise looked like a spitting image of a porcelain doll except for the dress. She instead wore a frilly shirt and a pair of nondescript jeans that looked older than her age, probably hand me downs. She wanders over to the bench to pick up her ball and notices Harley. “I like the drawings on your skin” she remarks.
Harley looks at her. “They’re tattoos”. The conversation dies rather quickly as Harley goes back to his writing. Dolly can’t help but talk.
“Some kids think I’m a little weird because of my glasses. Do some people find you weird with those tattoos?” She waits, no reply from Harley. “I’m Dolly” she bursts.
“I thought little kids were warned not to talk to strangers?”
“How can you make friends if you can’t talk to strangers?”
“Go back to your playing kid.”
Harley sits and ponders, Dolly standing there as if waiting for him to say something. A long moment passes by before Harley submits. “Okay! I’m Harley.” He tries to shoo her off.
“You’re writing an awful lot Harley.”
“It never seems enough.”
Dolly picks up the wrinkled piece of paper that Harley trashed earlier and un-crumples it
“What’s this?" She takes a look at the song, music notes and lyrics and all,
“What’s the song about?”
“Nothing, it’s not my style. See this?” He shows her his tattoos, a beautiful collection of hellish images. “That’s me.” He snatches the paper from her hands and stuffs it back in his pockets, in its proper place.
“I wrote a story once for school,” begins Dolly. “I heard how much Mrs. Wilson loved Lizzy’s stories about unicorns and princesses and how she gave her stories an extra stamp in our journals. I tried making a story about something like that, but I got stuck. I asked my mom for help writing it because I didn’t know what to do… I didn’t get that extra stamp. Sometimes it’s better to do your own thing.”
Harley looks at Dolly with a newfound respect in those words.
“Thanks kid.”
Dolly smiles and picks up her red ball to leave, while Harley picks up his guitar and begins strumming a tune. Harley un-crumples the piece of paper and reads it over, a grin.
“Hey, Dolly!” he shouts, she looks back in surprise, “Wanna hear my song?”
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Short Story Outline
Well. Since I made a promise to myself to start writing more and posting more things on my blog, I figured this could be a good place to upload my step outline for my script and storyboarding class. Before you judge, I promised quantity, not quality. It's a horror outline for my ten page script I'm going to write (hopefully). Here it is:
1.Pickup truck with a trailer crawls to the shore of the lake. Mark Glen and Ellen are setting up for camp during the long weekend
2. Mark goes out to collect firewood for their campfire. A creature is watching Mark, hidden from view.
3.The three friends cook dinner and have a good time.
4. Glen goes out to take a piss in the middle of the night where a creature attacks Glen
5. Mark and Ellen comments on how long mark has been missing and head back to the trailer. The creature attacks the trailer, Mark and Ellen freak out.
6. Mark tries to start the car but faces the creature instead. Creature smashes through the window.
7. Ellen grabs a knife and stab’s the creature’s hands. She keeps the knife in her hands.
8. Mark is wounded badly, they try to run out but the creature is close on their trail. He realizes he can’t go on anymore and begs Ellen to leave him there.
9. Ellen attempts to flee out of the forest by herself. She’s getting tired. She realizes the only way out is by running back to the truck.
10. The creature smells her scent and runs for her
11. Ellen is sees the mangled corpse of Glen and tries to stifle her shocked reaction since the creature is near by. She has to navigate quietly but injures her foot.
12. She makes a last run for the truck and gets in only to realize the keys are missing, Mark was holding it last.
13. She runs back to mark’s body but the creature is there. She hides from view until it nears and stabs it in the chest with the knife.
14. This buys her enough time to grab the keys but she is injured and the creature isn’t far behind.
15. She gets in the car but the creature attacks the door, teeth and claws snarling. She guns it and drives off into the night crying to herself.
I know, this falls into the horror convention of lone woman against the evil monster, but hey, I'm a beginner so let me follow the rules before I break them huh?
1.Pickup truck with a trailer crawls to the shore of the lake. Mark Glen and Ellen are setting up for camp during the long weekend
2. Mark goes out to collect firewood for their campfire. A creature is watching Mark, hidden from view.
3.The three friends cook dinner and have a good time.
4. Glen goes out to take a piss in the middle of the night where a creature attacks Glen
5. Mark and Ellen comments on how long mark has been missing and head back to the trailer. The creature attacks the trailer, Mark and Ellen freak out.
6. Mark tries to start the car but faces the creature instead. Creature smashes through the window.
7. Ellen grabs a knife and stab’s the creature’s hands. She keeps the knife in her hands.
8. Mark is wounded badly, they try to run out but the creature is close on their trail. He realizes he can’t go on anymore and begs Ellen to leave him there.
9. Ellen attempts to flee out of the forest by herself. She’s getting tired. She realizes the only way out is by running back to the truck.
10. The creature smells her scent and runs for her
11. Ellen is sees the mangled corpse of Glen and tries to stifle her shocked reaction since the creature is near by. She has to navigate quietly but injures her foot.
12. She makes a last run for the truck and gets in only to realize the keys are missing, Mark was holding it last.
13. She runs back to mark’s body but the creature is there. She hides from view until it nears and stabs it in the chest with the knife.
14. This buys her enough time to grab the keys but she is injured and the creature isn’t far behind.
15. She gets in the car but the creature attacks the door, teeth and claws snarling. She guns it and drives off into the night crying to herself.
I know, this falls into the horror convention of lone woman against the evil monster, but hey, I'm a beginner so let me follow the rules before I break them huh?
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