Hi!
Again more news but still not the ones I'd like to give!
Yes. It's still not completed.
And tomorrow (after midnight) starts the script frenzy - and I'm all up for that!
So I don't know how this coming month will be in terms of our Sage and King...
But I'm hoping I'll continue working on it.
I think it would be foolish to let it go now. Now when the story is clearer than ever in my head.
I think I'll use it as a means to rest in between the other two scripts that I'll be writing.
T.A.F.
and
INTIMACY
The thing is: I'm loving this story more and more.
Recently I've been watching ROME and AVATAR: The Last Airbender and, perhaps strangely, these two series have shed some light on what I'm doing. Not really conceptually, but in the way you structure things.
I guess that's always been the major problem.
If I was doubting the series a while ago, now it's really more a question of having it finished because I really want to see its "roundness" showing...
Anyway, I'll keep you posted on my advances...
...as best as I can!
peace.
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Friday, 20 March 2009
A View Of The Mountain - The End Is Near(er)
Can't even remember when was the last time I posted here...
That's how spaced out I am...
The only thing I know is that everyday I've looking at all those pages of script and using a lot of red ink.
For a while it felt that, for every solution encountered, three new problems surfaced.
But I think solutions and problems are at a tie...
Still have 20 pages of long hand notes, changes, new scenes and the odd bit of information to type and go through.
Ive been changing the order of quite a few scenes and, quite frankly, I think that there are going to be whole whole sequences chucked out.
Not just re-written.
I read NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Cormac McCarthy) recently and it truly is an amazing book.
This was probably the read I needed the most while correcting this script. Everything in this book serves the story. So much so that it shed some light on what I was trying to do.
And sometimes I feel I'm more connected to the words than to the message that they're supposed to deliver.
Also the importance of preparing the terrain in order to deliver that essence we're trying to communicate.
The ending of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is exemplar in that matter.
A book I have a lot to learn from.
I don't think I'll be able to be as strict and strip my story so much as Cormac McCarthy but, I don't think that's my objective anyway.
The idea is to dabble with a few ideas and make it a bit fable like.
Some realism, but not overly.
I don't want people to continously think "what's the message here?", "what's he talking about now?". I want the experience to be a bit smoother. Things seeping in throughout.
Some moments, some sequences, will definitely have a clear message.
But others are just for the fun and heck of it.
(even though it is clearly becoming a "serious" story...)
Anyway 20 pages to go... at best I'll have this new(er) version of the whole script by sunday evening (and at this point I'm going to go to the IMAX to see WATCHMEN...)
And a new printout by monday.
Which will mean a whole new week of revision for the full script...
I'm hoping that by the end of it everything will be more or less in the right place...
...and I'll have a readable draft!
That's it for now.
Back on the job...
peace
That's how spaced out I am...
The only thing I know is that everyday I've looking at all those pages of script and using a lot of red ink.
For a while it felt that, for every solution encountered, three new problems surfaced.
But I think solutions and problems are at a tie...
Still have 20 pages of long hand notes, changes, new scenes and the odd bit of information to type and go through.
Ive been changing the order of quite a few scenes and, quite frankly, I think that there are going to be whole whole sequences chucked out.
Not just re-written.
I read NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Cormac McCarthy) recently and it truly is an amazing book.
This was probably the read I needed the most while correcting this script. Everything in this book serves the story. So much so that it shed some light on what I was trying to do.
And sometimes I feel I'm more connected to the words than to the message that they're supposed to deliver.
Also the importance of preparing the terrain in order to deliver that essence we're trying to communicate.
The ending of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is exemplar in that matter.
A book I have a lot to learn from.
I don't think I'll be able to be as strict and strip my story so much as Cormac McCarthy but, I don't think that's my objective anyway.
The idea is to dabble with a few ideas and make it a bit fable like.
Some realism, but not overly.
I don't want people to continously think "what's the message here?", "what's he talking about now?". I want the experience to be a bit smoother. Things seeping in throughout.
Some moments, some sequences, will definitely have a clear message.
But others are just for the fun and heck of it.
(even though it is clearly becoming a "serious" story...)
Anyway 20 pages to go... at best I'll have this new(er) version of the whole script by sunday evening (and at this point I'm going to go to the IMAX to see WATCHMEN...)
And a new printout by monday.
Which will mean a whole new week of revision for the full script...
I'm hoping that by the end of it everything will be more or less in the right place...
...and I'll have a readable draft!
That's it for now.
Back on the job...
peace
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
A View Of The Mountain - Uprise & One Last Chance
Yesterday I polished up a short script that I wrote on sunday. I'm calling it ONE LAST CHANCE for the time being.
(the title fits but doesn't feel completely right...)
It talks about doing the wrong things for the right reasons. It's a silent story and it's 30 pages long.
I found it really interesting to write this script for various reasons.
First it started simply with me chatting on the phone with a good friend of mine, also here in London, Marco A..
We were talking about writing, techniques, plot, characters, etc (the usual) and I started telling this story simply to illustrate a point. The idea was that we only get the story figured out as soon as we finish writing it. That's when we have everybody on board and we can start really making things click.
So I told this story about a kid and his girlfriend. And then started working backwards and telling him, now we could do this to make it more intense, and then that to heighten the human side and so forth. By the end I was saying: now I really like this story! I should write it!
And so I did.
But what I deliberately set out to do was to eliminate any speech baloons or captions. Initially this was simply to save time in telling the story. But then it became more of a challenge in being able to communicate ideas simply by using images.
I think it worked out pretty well.
And I realised that this is a brilliant and easy way to get stories out in a really condensed form. If I don't focus on the words then there's little or no backstory coming through. Or, rather, the backstory that comes through is precisely what I need to tell the main thing.
As I was writing it I kept hearing the characters wanting to come and play in my mind. To tell me what they felt, what they were experiencing. Little bits of dialogue between them. But I wanted to simply leave the images so that everybody will get to write those bits of dialogue in their heads, fill the gaps with their own experiences and make the story theirs. That's ultimately the goal of storytelling. The story becomes part of the reader rather than the writer.
In this respect I totally agree with Gene Wolfe. The reader is ultimately more important than the writer. If the receptacle isn't there why bother telling these stories?
I mean, I know them already...
(sort of...)
In any case, I felt this was a good exercise to keep in mind. Next time I'm stuck in a sequence with the dialogue, maybe the whole thing can be sorted out just with images.
Actually I did this yesterday in A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAIN.
I finally patched up Empire Growth and inserted it in the main text (after removing the old version, of course!), then a quick read (and page numbering!) on the next scene, inserted the new bit of text that I had written straight after Empire Growth (and more page numbering! Always one of my favourite moments...) and...
stopped.
I'm now on page 60.
And I have to re-write this sequence since it no longer holds true with the rest of the story. it's only 3 or 4 pages long so I should be able to do it still today, before I leave.
Since it has a couple of ideas that I want to keep, i'm going to be lazy about this and just re-write the dialogue...
And then... maybe I'll insert some of the script that I wrote yesterday.
I mean, if a guy starts talking about uprises, I guy should show some of that, correct?
That's what I did yesterday night up until 2am, with me falling asleep over pen and paper. 4 pages long hand with some 10 pages of silent panels.
Some good scenes though.
But they're a bit violent.
Well, not that much but, since this comic hasn't had any violence until now I'm a bit undecided if I should insert them in the script or not... The best solution I've come with so far is to insert a part here and keep the rest for the second half of the story, when the Prince is older and can hear about how things really are... At that point I'll probably add some captions to it.
In any case these next 20 pages should be easier...
Hopefully I'll be on page 80 or so by tomorrow...
And this was what I was talking about with Marco over the phone. you don't really get to know the story well until you've told it. Before that, more often than not, one feels that one doesn't know what one is doing... And this is the feeling that gets you - that gets me at least! - you don't know this, you don't know that... you don't even know that this or that is missing! Then the characters change and you don't know why... we have powerful scenes but disconnected from one another... it's a bloody mess. We don't even know where to start and, soon enough, we start thinking that this story isn't good enough to be told.
And we leave it at that.
But time passes.
And memory quickly forgets yesterdays depression and sense of failure.
And another story creeps in and, for some incredibly beautiful moments, this is going to be it. This is the story. the one you always wanted to tell. The one you will tell and that will turn heads and make them nod and smile and know.
But, as soon as you start writing, the question marks drip also into the text alongside the rest of the words.
There is only one solution:
to write.
I know that, as soon as I reach the end of A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAIN I'll have all the elements to actually clearly understand what this story is about.
I mean, I know the main things, of course, but there are subtler things, details, things that can tighten the story so much more (like Ardul's love of books or somebody else's obsession with war, etc) that only then will I be ready to truly tell it. That's when the structure starts to make some sense.
And it's s strange feeling because, if I think of it, right now, the structure is pretty much arbitratry (with a strong chronological component, though). It doesn't feel right. But, as soon as I go through the motions and tell every bit of this story... then it will start feeling as the best structure possible - and I'll know which bits are out of place.
Now, this is a perfectly alien feeling to me.
So, the main thing is to trust the story and to trust yourself.
Don't worry if you're writing too much. If new scenes keep being added. If you don't know where it's leading you. If everything seems so messy right now.
I get that most of the times.
It's easy getting lost when you have to find your way and the only things you got are a battered old compass that you don't even know if it works properly and a vague sense of direction.
The story needs that space to grow and to find itself.
So tell yourself you trust yourself and, most of all, you trust the story.
I do it all the time.
(it works most times.... other times I just need to be patient until the story is ready to come out...)
I just need to remember that.
And be patient and persevere.
And now I'm going to shut up here and pry my ears open somewhere else...
Probably somewhere with a view over a mountain...
peace.
(the title fits but doesn't feel completely right...)
It talks about doing the wrong things for the right reasons. It's a silent story and it's 30 pages long.
I found it really interesting to write this script for various reasons.
First it started simply with me chatting on the phone with a good friend of mine, also here in London, Marco A..
We were talking about writing, techniques, plot, characters, etc (the usual) and I started telling this story simply to illustrate a point. The idea was that we only get the story figured out as soon as we finish writing it. That's when we have everybody on board and we can start really making things click.
So I told this story about a kid and his girlfriend. And then started working backwards and telling him, now we could do this to make it more intense, and then that to heighten the human side and so forth. By the end I was saying: now I really like this story! I should write it!
And so I did.
But what I deliberately set out to do was to eliminate any speech baloons or captions. Initially this was simply to save time in telling the story. But then it became more of a challenge in being able to communicate ideas simply by using images.
I think it worked out pretty well.
And I realised that this is a brilliant and easy way to get stories out in a really condensed form. If I don't focus on the words then there's little or no backstory coming through. Or, rather, the backstory that comes through is precisely what I need to tell the main thing.
As I was writing it I kept hearing the characters wanting to come and play in my mind. To tell me what they felt, what they were experiencing. Little bits of dialogue between them. But I wanted to simply leave the images so that everybody will get to write those bits of dialogue in their heads, fill the gaps with their own experiences and make the story theirs. That's ultimately the goal of storytelling. The story becomes part of the reader rather than the writer.
In this respect I totally agree with Gene Wolfe. The reader is ultimately more important than the writer. If the receptacle isn't there why bother telling these stories?
I mean, I know them already...
(sort of...)
In any case, I felt this was a good exercise to keep in mind. Next time I'm stuck in a sequence with the dialogue, maybe the whole thing can be sorted out just with images.
Actually I did this yesterday in A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAIN.
I finally patched up Empire Growth and inserted it in the main text (after removing the old version, of course!), then a quick read (and page numbering!) on the next scene, inserted the new bit of text that I had written straight after Empire Growth (and more page numbering! Always one of my favourite moments...) and...
stopped.
I'm now on page 60.
And I have to re-write this sequence since it no longer holds true with the rest of the story. it's only 3 or 4 pages long so I should be able to do it still today, before I leave.
Since it has a couple of ideas that I want to keep, i'm going to be lazy about this and just re-write the dialogue...
And then... maybe I'll insert some of the script that I wrote yesterday.
I mean, if a guy starts talking about uprises, I guy should show some of that, correct?
That's what I did yesterday night up until 2am, with me falling asleep over pen and paper. 4 pages long hand with some 10 pages of silent panels.
Some good scenes though.
But they're a bit violent.
Well, not that much but, since this comic hasn't had any violence until now I'm a bit undecided if I should insert them in the script or not... The best solution I've come with so far is to insert a part here and keep the rest for the second half of the story, when the Prince is older and can hear about how things really are... At that point I'll probably add some captions to it.
In any case these next 20 pages should be easier...
Hopefully I'll be on page 80 or so by tomorrow...
And this was what I was talking about with Marco over the phone. you don't really get to know the story well until you've told it. Before that, more often than not, one feels that one doesn't know what one is doing... And this is the feeling that gets you - that gets me at least! - you don't know this, you don't know that... you don't even know that this or that is missing! Then the characters change and you don't know why... we have powerful scenes but disconnected from one another... it's a bloody mess. We don't even know where to start and, soon enough, we start thinking that this story isn't good enough to be told.
And we leave it at that.
But time passes.
And memory quickly forgets yesterdays depression and sense of failure.
And another story creeps in and, for some incredibly beautiful moments, this is going to be it. This is the story. the one you always wanted to tell. The one you will tell and that will turn heads and make them nod and smile and know.
But, as soon as you start writing, the question marks drip also into the text alongside the rest of the words.
There is only one solution:
to write.
I know that, as soon as I reach the end of A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAIN I'll have all the elements to actually clearly understand what this story is about.
I mean, I know the main things, of course, but there are subtler things, details, things that can tighten the story so much more (like Ardul's love of books or somebody else's obsession with war, etc) that only then will I be ready to truly tell it. That's when the structure starts to make some sense.
And it's s strange feeling because, if I think of it, right now, the structure is pretty much arbitratry (with a strong chronological component, though). It doesn't feel right. But, as soon as I go through the motions and tell every bit of this story... then it will start feeling as the best structure possible - and I'll know which bits are out of place.
Now, this is a perfectly alien feeling to me.
So, the main thing is to trust the story and to trust yourself.
Don't worry if you're writing too much. If new scenes keep being added. If you don't know where it's leading you. If everything seems so messy right now.
I get that most of the times.
It's easy getting lost when you have to find your way and the only things you got are a battered old compass that you don't even know if it works properly and a vague sense of direction.
The story needs that space to grow and to find itself.
So tell yourself you trust yourself and, most of all, you trust the story.
I do it all the time.
(it works most times.... other times I just need to be patient until the story is ready to come out...)
I just need to remember that.
And be patient and persevere.
And now I'm going to shut up here and pry my ears open somewhere else...
Probably somewhere with a view over a mountain...
peace.
Saturday, 7 March 2009
Empire Growth - A View Of The Mountain
Been doing panels for a scene I was working on yesterday.
Sometimes you spend quite a lot of time trying to figure out how you're to do this in order to fit that when it's just easier to re-do the whole thing rather than trying to use bits and pieces.
That's what I'm doing now. Instead of cutting and pasting I just created something new visually that I'm hoping will reflect in part what the script is about.
I don't even remember where the original scene takes place, but this one is going to be inside the throne room.
The whole debate (and ongoing theme during the comic) rotates around the lasting implications of war in a feudalized society (of which we are still an example - though in disguised form).
The objective is to establish some tension between some characters and introduce some themes that will be explored with more detail further on...
hinting at stuff amid the verbal storm...
I'm still on page 43 of the script, though... but it's cool. I've re-written this whole scene and I think it's flowing much better than before.
Now I just need to figure out if the next ones fit well into the story...
peace.
Sometimes you spend quite a lot of time trying to figure out how you're to do this in order to fit that when it's just easier to re-do the whole thing rather than trying to use bits and pieces.
That's what I'm doing now. Instead of cutting and pasting I just created something new visually that I'm hoping will reflect in part what the script is about.
I don't even remember where the original scene takes place, but this one is going to be inside the throne room.
The whole debate (and ongoing theme during the comic) rotates around the lasting implications of war in a feudalized society (of which we are still an example - though in disguised form).
The objective is to establish some tension between some characters and introduce some themes that will be explored with more detail further on...
hinting at stuff amid the verbal storm...
I'm still on page 43 of the script, though... but it's cool. I've re-written this whole scene and I think it's flowing much better than before.
Now I just need to figure out if the next ones fit well into the story...
peace.
Thursday, 5 March 2009
More Views For A Mountain
Well, this script is finally taking form!
During the last few days I've been shuffling and re-shuffling it in my head and it's starting to look like something I'd like to read!
I'm on page 43 (out of 250!) of this first (readable) draft.
I'm hoping today I'll be able to re-write a scene in which some of the councillors argue amongst themselves (the King just watches for most of the time) about the pros and cons of their decision making, in trying to set out possible paths for the kingdom.
This is going to be a weird (but hopefully pleasant!) mix between fable and social design.
(joana b., you're going to have to read this one...)
It's really interesting to see how certain economical and social viewpoints shape the interaction between countries and, obviously, between the ruling elite and the people.
I'm not aiming at doing a graphic dissertation on the subject but I am aiming at raising awareness to a few ideas that I feel are still very much relevant today and, obviously, tying it all with spirituality.
Peace!
During the last few days I've been shuffling and re-shuffling it in my head and it's starting to look like something I'd like to read!
I'm on page 43 (out of 250!) of this first (readable) draft.
I'm hoping today I'll be able to re-write a scene in which some of the councillors argue amongst themselves (the King just watches for most of the time) about the pros and cons of their decision making, in trying to set out possible paths for the kingdom.
This is going to be a weird (but hopefully pleasant!) mix between fable and social design.
(joana b., you're going to have to read this one...)
It's really interesting to see how certain economical and social viewpoints shape the interaction between countries and, obviously, between the ruling elite and the people.
I'm not aiming at doing a graphic dissertation on the subject but I am aiming at raising awareness to a few ideas that I feel are still very much relevant today and, obviously, tying it all with spirituality.
Peace!
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