And I find myself disliking my latest plot idea again. *Sigh* I think I am destined to fail, but I am not ready to throw in the towel just yet. I still like my plot, I just don't think it would fit a script. Scripts and novels are more different than I originally planned for, with scripts focusing on the dialog and novels focusing on the scenery. Still, that is one of the main reasons I want to at least attempt a script frenzy victory, to help build my dialog skills. At the same time, I want to come up with a story that lends itself to heavy dialog, and with that I have a new idea. A group of three assassins doing jobs and competing to successfully find and train an apprentice assassin. Still set in a medieval setting, and I am still working through the details, but time is short.
Nothing further on the poetry front, I will probably just stream of consciousness something tonight at midnight. Look for it then.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Time is ticking down
Just another three days until my masochistic challenge frenzy begins. For the first time in the planning stages I have made it 48 hours without throwing out my plot idea for Script Frenzy so I am thinking I will be going forward with the communal society idea mentioned in my previous post. Even though I have not yet read The Hunger Games I will say that the idea of warrior children fighting for their lives is loosely based on the current hype surrounding that series. Truth be told, as I built the plot in my head, I borrowed ideas from several stories that I have read. There was a time not too long ago that I thought using existing plots as inspiration was the mark of a bad writer, but with time I have come to believe that inspiration from the experts is one of the best ways to go. The challenge is taking that muse and creating something that is entirely your own.
For this plot in particular, I imagined small portions mainly from three book series, with three more in the back of my mind as I was planning. The initial thought came in thinking about R.A. Salvatore's The Dark Elf Trilogy (Book 1)
Dark elf children are sent to one of three schools: battle, magic, or temple. It is a matriarchal society that places a much higher value on females than males, and the children are sent to a school that benefits the family the most. My original plot idea followed this relatively closely, with families choosing what career path would be the most prestigious for their reputation, keeping in mind that if their child did not succeed and was killed in battle school or wizard school the shame would be worse than having a child working in menial labor or as a scholar (assuming the society valued warriors and fighters).
The next inspiration came from the Night's Watch in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire
(My personal favorite series) The various members of the Night's Watch are selected to serve as either Rangers (warriors, explorers), Stewards (scribes, cooks, etc), or Builders. The boys are selected based on their skills and the needs of the group as a whole.
These two series cover the vast majority of my inspiration when thinking of this plot, and I have to give credit where credit is due. Hopefully I will be able to come up with a story that is uniquely mine while putting good use to the ideas born from some very talented authors.
For this plot in particular, I imagined small portions mainly from three book series, with three more in the back of my mind as I was planning. The initial thought came in thinking about R.A. Salvatore's The Dark Elf Trilogy (Book 1)
Dark elf children are sent to one of three schools: battle, magic, or temple. It is a matriarchal society that places a much higher value on females than males, and the children are sent to a school that benefits the family the most. My original plot idea followed this relatively closely, with families choosing what career path would be the most prestigious for their reputation, keeping in mind that if their child did not succeed and was killed in battle school or wizard school the shame would be worse than having a child working in menial labor or as a scholar (assuming the society valued warriors and fighters). The next inspiration came from the Night's Watch in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire
(My personal favorite series) The various members of the Night's Watch are selected to serve as either Rangers (warriors, explorers), Stewards (scribes, cooks, etc), or Builders. The boys are selected based on their skills and the needs of the group as a whole.These two series cover the vast majority of my inspiration when thinking of this plot, and I have to give credit where credit is due. Hopefully I will be able to come up with a story that is uniquely mine while putting good use to the ideas born from some very talented authors.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Perilous Plot Problems
Down to less than 6 days and I am still struggling with the planning portion of this writing challenge adventure. For the time being I have opted to stop planning for NaPoWriMo and focus more on getting a plot ready for Script Frenzy. This is mainly due to the fact that a script really needs a plot, while for poems I can do 30 independent poems rather than an epic poetic series.
In an attempt to make the plot preparation process easier, I decided to temporarily ignore that I was preparing a script, and instead come up with ideas for a novel. The problem now is condensing an idea for a novel into a decent script form. Not to mention the fact that as I prepare outlines and plots for these stories, I find myself saying, "No, I will hold onto this plot, and make it into a proper novel down the road." Alas, I think I finally have an idea I am ready to roll with, just need to get some more outlining and character development done. Essentially, the idea is a communal society where children are raised up in large groups by women who are specially chosen to raise children. Every person is herded into a specific job at a specific age that is yet to be determined, with boys being sent to become warriors, wizards, stewards (scholars), clergymen, or laborers (farmers, builders, etc). Girls on the other hand are sent to be birthers, cleaners, cooks, or child raisers. I am imagining a girl, or even a group of girls that try to infiltrate their way into the boy's options for jobs. Not sure how I will incorporate that with the community style child raising, but that is another adventure to figure out during April.
In an attempt to make the plot preparation process easier, I decided to temporarily ignore that I was preparing a script, and instead come up with ideas for a novel. The problem now is condensing an idea for a novel into a decent script form. Not to mention the fact that as I prepare outlines and plots for these stories, I find myself saying, "No, I will hold onto this plot, and make it into a proper novel down the road." Alas, I think I finally have an idea I am ready to roll with, just need to get some more outlining and character development done. Essentially, the idea is a communal society where children are raised up in large groups by women who are specially chosen to raise children. Every person is herded into a specific job at a specific age that is yet to be determined, with boys being sent to become warriors, wizards, stewards (scholars), clergymen, or laborers (farmers, builders, etc). Girls on the other hand are sent to be birthers, cleaners, cooks, or child raisers. I am imagining a girl, or even a group of girls that try to infiltrate their way into the boy's options for jobs. Not sure how I will incorporate that with the community style child raising, but that is another adventure to figure out during April.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Beginning Doubts
As I further prepare for NaPoWriMo and Script Frenzy I have started creating outlines and potential plot points, but the more I flesh them out the less happy I am. I have all but decided to completely scrap my earlier poetry of a prophet idea, but none of the other ideas I have come up with so far have gained any ground in my thinking. Right now the idea I am running with is animal poetry, as if the animals had traditional 'human' style lives. Sort of similar to David Sedaris' Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary
Still working out details of what animals to use and what they will do if I go this route. Alternative ideas include poems based on books, a different book for each of the 30 poems, or perhaps poems describing everyday items as seen through the eyes of an archaeologist, studying our culture millenniums from now. Actually, that last idea could also work for my screenplay for Script Frenzy.
Still working out details of what animals to use and what they will do if I go this route. Alternative ideas include poems based on books, a different book for each of the 30 poems, or perhaps poems describing everyday items as seen through the eyes of an archaeologist, studying our culture millenniums from now. Actually, that last idea could also work for my screenplay for Script Frenzy.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Plans and Outlines
If this were NaNoWriMo I would have pages upon pages of back story, character development, and outlines already prepared, but my decision to participate in NaPoWriMo and Script Frenzy were both relatively last minute, and neither genre is really a strong suit for me. Don't get me wrong, I am not going to rush blindly into April, I still have a week plus a day, and I am an experienced procrastinator, but I think my time will be spent more on mental preparation than actual plot development.
My first and main concern is for Script Frenzy. Not that I view that as the more important writing challenge, but just for the fact that I have written poetry and have not written scripts before, SF is a bit more difficult for me. I felt a little stupid last night after spending a good while ruling out potential plots because it would be too difficult to reenact on stage, just to remember that script writing constituted television shows and movies as well as stage productions. Today, I have been focusing on learning how to format a screenplay and at the recommendation of the official ScriptFrenzy website, I started using a program named Celtx.
Celtx is free and has a desktop application available for Mac and Windows, as well as a web based cloud service. So far I have only played with the web based service, so I can do some writing at work on my lunch break, and continue at home without any difficulty. There is also a PRO version of the software, as well as Android and iOS apps for a small cost, but in my current situation none of those seem prudent. The great thing with Celtx is that it basically handles the formatting for you. Sluglines, actions, characters, dialog, all handled with minimal effort from the user. Definitely a godsend, allowing me to worry more about writing and less about formatting.
On the plot side of things, I am still struggling. One idea I had for my script project was sort of a real person in a video game story. There was a Scooby Doo movie that did something similar, or the relatively recent movie Gamer, or even, in a certain sense, Scott Pilgram. If I go this route I would probably place the character in a MMORPG, with all the user interactions that go with that. Some things will be different since the character would be in the game, not just playing it, but things like resurrecting after death, talking to other characters (but not in the world wide chat) and allocating skill points would all be present. Not 100% on how I feel about that story line, but it is a possibility.
For the poetry challenge, I still like my idea of an epic poem, and actually had a couple of ideas. One that I am toying with would be told from the point of view of a prophet, medieval style scenery. The first and thirtieth poems would be in a first person perspective, the prophet talking about himself and what he does. Poems 2-29 would likely be third person, each poem referencing a specific prophecy that is foretold. Some specific ideas, since it would be medieval in nature include prophecies of the King, the Queen, the Prince, the Blacksmith, the Knight, etc. Still working on the full 28 character list, and still deciding if I really want to go forward with that idea.
My first and main concern is for Script Frenzy. Not that I view that as the more important writing challenge, but just for the fact that I have written poetry and have not written scripts before, SF is a bit more difficult for me. I felt a little stupid last night after spending a good while ruling out potential plots because it would be too difficult to reenact on stage, just to remember that script writing constituted television shows and movies as well as stage productions. Today, I have been focusing on learning how to format a screenplay and at the recommendation of the official ScriptFrenzy website, I started using a program named Celtx.
Celtx is free and has a desktop application available for Mac and Windows, as well as a web based cloud service. So far I have only played with the web based service, so I can do some writing at work on my lunch break, and continue at home without any difficulty. There is also a PRO version of the software, as well as Android and iOS apps for a small cost, but in my current situation none of those seem prudent. The great thing with Celtx is that it basically handles the formatting for you. Sluglines, actions, characters, dialog, all handled with minimal effort from the user. Definitely a godsend, allowing me to worry more about writing and less about formatting.
On the plot side of things, I am still struggling. One idea I had for my script project was sort of a real person in a video game story. There was a Scooby Doo movie that did something similar, or the relatively recent movie Gamer, or even, in a certain sense, Scott Pilgram. If I go this route I would probably place the character in a MMORPG, with all the user interactions that go with that. Some things will be different since the character would be in the game, not just playing it, but things like resurrecting after death, talking to other characters (but not in the world wide chat) and allocating skill points would all be present. Not 100% on how I feel about that story line, but it is a possibility.
For the poetry challenge, I still like my idea of an epic poem, and actually had a couple of ideas. One that I am toying with would be told from the point of view of a prophet, medieval style scenery. The first and thirtieth poems would be in a first person perspective, the prophet talking about himself and what he does. Poems 2-29 would likely be third person, each poem referencing a specific prophecy that is foretold. Some specific ideas, since it would be medieval in nature include prophecies of the King, the Queen, the Prince, the Blacksmith, the Knight, etc. Still working on the full 28 character list, and still deciding if I really want to go forward with that idea.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
First Words
I will be blunt with myself. I have not been writing much lately. Hopefully, this blog will change that. There are two major undertakings happening next month, Script Frenzy and NaPoWriMo. The first of these is Script Frenzy, a venture from the Office of Letters and Light, the same organization that sponsors my favorite writing challenge, NaNoWriMo (The National Novel Writing Month) which I participate in every November. The goal of Script Frenzy is to write 100 pages of a script in 30 days, from April 1 to April 30. This will be the first year I will be attempting to complete Script Frenzy and also the first time I will be trying to write a script. I have always been more of a novel person.
The second challenge is the National Poetry Writing Month. This was influenced by NaNoWriMo, but is not actually related. This challenge is to write 30 poems in the Month of April, one every day. This will also be my first year taking the NaPoWriMo challenge, but I am at least familiar with poetry writing. This blog will primarily be dedicated to my poems during the challenge, although I will also be updating status on Script Frenzy and other writings. While I still prefer novels, writing of any form is beneficial and enjoyable, so this next month should be quite interesting.
I do not as of yet have any plans as to what I want to write about for either challenge. For novels, I tend to gravitate towards fantasy which does not always play well in other forms of writing. The script will be the most difficult for me to come up with a plot for. As for the 30 days of poetry, I am leaning towards creating a single epic poem, split into thirty individual parts. This would be the first epic poem I have tried, so if I go that route it could be quite interesting. Only time will tell, and until then, 10 days left until this madness begins.
The second challenge is the National Poetry Writing Month. This was influenced by NaNoWriMo, but is not actually related. This challenge is to write 30 poems in the Month of April, one every day. This will also be my first year taking the NaPoWriMo challenge, but I am at least familiar with poetry writing. This blog will primarily be dedicated to my poems during the challenge, although I will also be updating status on Script Frenzy and other writings. While I still prefer novels, writing of any form is beneficial and enjoyable, so this next month should be quite interesting.
I do not as of yet have any plans as to what I want to write about for either challenge. For novels, I tend to gravitate towards fantasy which does not always play well in other forms of writing. The script will be the most difficult for me to come up with a plot for. As for the 30 days of poetry, I am leaning towards creating a single epic poem, split into thirty individual parts. This would be the first epic poem I have tried, so if I go that route it could be quite interesting. Only time will tell, and until then, 10 days left until this madness begins.
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