How have things been? Quite good actually, even if on wednesday night I couldn't sleep. All the way until 6 am thursday morning.
At least I wrote a bit...
As you know, on tuesday I managed to type up some more panels for A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAIN but I also managed to write some more ideas for the ML project. Wrote some more panels for A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAIN (if you get it going, you might as well stick with it...) and wrote a couple of scenes for THE IMMORTALISTS.
Wednesday I stayed home for most of the day so I could really immerse (I love this word) myself in panel writing. There were a couple of page layouts ideas that I really enjoyed. Sometimes when you force yourself to do things, creativity comes about in unexpected ways...
I also wrote some more ideas on an old story I had a few years ago. Can't even remember the title... I'll have to open dozens of old files and try to find it... sometime...
Then yesterday I didn't really do much. Long day at work and my head felt like an inflated balloon. Big but without much inside it. Just typed a few panels and wrote a couple more things on ML.
And earlier this morning I finally revised the few added bits to THE SHIFT. I'll type them up tomorrow and get a fresh copy of the script to keep in the house. Then it will be ready to send out to all those curious people out there...
Peace
(man, these things do take time...)
Oh! And I also found that updated version of IN THE WILD! It was really a relief! having to do it all again was starting to feel like a waste of time... and I probably wouldn't do it any time soon either...
Showing posts with label the shift. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the shift. Show all posts
Friday, 17 October 2008
Friday, 3 October 2008
THE SHIFT (excerpt)
COMICS SCRIPT
( 90 script pg. for 104 comics pg.)
SYNOPSIS
This is a script based on an idea that Luís Gurriana gave me. Like in BODY COUNT, the idea here is to use the background between the panels, the gutters, as the unconscious whilst the panels themselves will be the conscious.
What will happen towards the end is that there will be a shift. The main character’s conscious mind will split to the gutter and the panels will become the unconscious.
The idea here is to represent the fall from grace, the process that leads from sanity to insanity, something that, from the viewpoint of the outside world is terrible but, from the perspective of the individual, might actually be a good solution - and the only way of staying alive and coping with a demolishing reality.
This is a girl that saw her family be blow to bits in an American attack during the Gulf War (1991). In January 1991 she’s living with her parents on the outskirts of Baghdad when a missile destroys the house and her family. She’s trapped with their remains (inside the wreckage of their house) for days. Hungry and thirsty and with all that horror surrounding her, she’s traumatized for life. Having no family or possessions or any sort of support she starts fending for herself in any way possible.
Now (2003/2004), as a young woman, she works in a clothes factory in Fallujah (some 40 miles west of Baghdad, Iraq), sowing clothes for the Americans. She dies on the onset of Operation Phantom Fury in November 2004.
The pressure from work and the growing knowledge of the inescapability of her situation cause a mental collapse and she goes insane. Yet, inside her mind things finally seem peaceful. Now that her unconscious has taken over everything, she can finally rest. Now that the ghosts of the past have come out to play there’s nothing else to fear. This is when she discovers that she is no longer afraid to die. That in actual fact she desired it for most of her life. Her conscious mind has split from the rest of her, from her body. Her life is a film and she’s no longer particularly worried about endings and outcomes.
Shahidah’s Unconscious is divided in two: as a child and as an adult. Both to be handwritten and italicised. The conscious is not handwritten and not italicised. Hopefully this will give the reader a clearler perception of what we’re aiming for. I have kept Shahidah’s Child Unconscious italicised for greater clarity while reading the script.
FINDING
PAGE 01
February 1991. Exterior Baghdad outskirts. Baghdad is under attack by the Americans. There’s wrecked buildings everywhere, smoke billowing and explosions in the distance.
Afternoon. Full shot. Harith, a man in robes, comes towards us, walking briskly away from a nearby group of people: Nadhir, Kadar, Suhaim, Amir, Mirah, Alima, Farooq and three small children (1, 3 and 6). The group continues moving towards a stationed battered jeep next to a house heavily damaged by the attack. Mirah, also turned to us, cries for Harith.
NADHIR
Leave him. Stubborn old mules always manage to catch up.
MIRAH
Harith!
Harith’s POV. As he looks down. Harith’s shadow over the debris as he walks. There’s smoking bits of masonry and broken walls.
Harith’s POV. Looking straight ahead. The collapsed entrance/porch outside Shahidah’s house. Harith’s shadow over the debris as he moves further some more. There’s no way anyone could get into that house anymore. Harith aims at the end of the broken wall to his left.
Harith’s POV. Harith’s shadow over the debris. Harith looks straight ahead, having turned 90 degrees left after the wall. We see the huge wreckage of Shahidah’s house. Harith urinates and checks the surroundings. We are seeing even more blown up, smoking houses than before. The centre of Baghdad is somewhere ahead of us.
Full shot. Next to Harith. He’s crouching to defecate. There’s a puddle of urine scurrying away from sight. His face strains a bit. He looks away to left of panel, trying to see if anyone’s coming this way.
SHAHIDAH
(faded, out of shot, bottom right side of panel)
Help
PAGE 02
Mid shot. Side shot. Harith on his knees in panic, trousers half pulled up, looks around towards the rubble all over the place.
HARITH
Hello?! Hello?!
Close up. Besides Harith. He leans into the wreckage, trying to listen. One hand grabbing an edge of fallen masonry for support, bits of mortar coming off. Harith’s expression is even tenser now. He’s about to get up.
SHAHIDAH
(out of shot)
Help.
Mid shot. Behind Harith. Harith turns his head around the wall, gesticulating in the groups direction, screaming for help. They’re huddled around the jeep. Nadhir is the one closest to us, a bit away from the group, staking out behind some rubble. The hood of the battered jeep is popped open and Amir and Kadar are bent over it.
HARITH
NADHIR! QUICK! Everyone!
Full shot. Down shot. Closer to Harith. Harith digs frantically through the debris dead centre in the wreckage. Behind him Nadhir runs towards Harith, leaving his spot behind.
SHAHIDAH
(out of shot)
Help. Please.
HARITH
We’re coming! We’re coming!
HARITH
Nadhir!
HARITH
Hurry!
HARITH
Nadhir!
FACTORY
PAGE 03
March 2003. Establishing shot. Inside the clothes factory as the women work. Afternoon. It rains in half a dozen places through holes in the ceiling. No one seems to be paying attention to it.
Long shot. We can see a few of the women getting wet as the rain falls. Shahidah is one of them. She works sowing Made In USA labels to the inner lining of women’s underwear. The water is nonetheless prevented from hitting the production line via boards and bits of plastic hanging in various places. Shahidah sits by a table that she shares with Karam. On either side of the table there are 2 buckets. One for the underwear still needing labels to be sown, the other for the completed pieces.
Pull in on Shahidah’s face as sunlight hits her dripping cheeks. She looks up.
Pull back behind her to show her gazing upwards as sunlight filters through the holes in the ceiling.
Go back to the establishing shot. Now, instead of rain we have sunlight pouring in. Giving us a feeling of hope. Shahidah has returned back to work
PAGE 04
Close up on Shahidah’s hands as she drops a completed piece on the left bucket.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
They never leave me.
The images.
They fill my dreams. My ever waking moment.
I see them.
Inside my mind. Inside my body.
All I feel is death. No longer thinking “why am I alive?”
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
This must be an illusion.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
Though there’s no escape.
Close up on a woman working next to Shahidah. Side shot. As the woman leans over her sowing.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
Mum, your face.
Close up on a guard looking suspiciously at Shahidah while she works. Behind the guard and to his side. Overlooking the whole clothes assembly line.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
Dad, your face.
Up shot, close to Shahidah. Distorting her and those around her as the rain falls. She removes a piece of underwear from her right side bucket.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
My brother.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
My sister.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
Everybody.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
Everything collapses.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
From nowhere I am taken.
February 1991. Same up shot but now inside the wreckage of her parents house. There are no bodies in sight, but there is plenty of destruction.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
I can see it all from the outside, inside, there and here, there is no difference. All time is an illusion that I try to make real to the cost of sanity. Of life. To no avail. I’m no longer here. No longer here. No longer here. I’ve never been. Never been alone.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
Everything is still here. Every stone. Every corner of my mind. Spent that time there. All that time inside. The light, coming from above, never really touching my skin.
( 90 script pg. for 104 comics pg.)
SYNOPSIS
This is a script based on an idea that Luís Gurriana gave me. Like in BODY COUNT, the idea here is to use the background between the panels, the gutters, as the unconscious whilst the panels themselves will be the conscious.
What will happen towards the end is that there will be a shift. The main character’s conscious mind will split to the gutter and the panels will become the unconscious.
The idea here is to represent the fall from grace, the process that leads from sanity to insanity, something that, from the viewpoint of the outside world is terrible but, from the perspective of the individual, might actually be a good solution - and the only way of staying alive and coping with a demolishing reality.
This is a girl that saw her family be blow to bits in an American attack during the Gulf War (1991). In January 1991 she’s living with her parents on the outskirts of Baghdad when a missile destroys the house and her family. She’s trapped with their remains (inside the wreckage of their house) for days. Hungry and thirsty and with all that horror surrounding her, she’s traumatized for life. Having no family or possessions or any sort of support she starts fending for herself in any way possible.
Now (2003/2004), as a young woman, she works in a clothes factory in Fallujah (some 40 miles west of Baghdad, Iraq), sowing clothes for the Americans. She dies on the onset of Operation Phantom Fury in November 2004.
The pressure from work and the growing knowledge of the inescapability of her situation cause a mental collapse and she goes insane. Yet, inside her mind things finally seem peaceful. Now that her unconscious has taken over everything, she can finally rest. Now that the ghosts of the past have come out to play there’s nothing else to fear. This is when she discovers that she is no longer afraid to die. That in actual fact she desired it for most of her life. Her conscious mind has split from the rest of her, from her body. Her life is a film and she’s no longer particularly worried about endings and outcomes.
Shahidah’s Unconscious is divided in two: as a child and as an adult. Both to be handwritten and italicised. The conscious is not handwritten and not italicised. Hopefully this will give the reader a clearler perception of what we’re aiming for. I have kept Shahidah’s Child Unconscious italicised for greater clarity while reading the script.
FINDING
PAGE 01
February 1991. Exterior Baghdad outskirts. Baghdad is under attack by the Americans. There’s wrecked buildings everywhere, smoke billowing and explosions in the distance.
Afternoon. Full shot. Harith, a man in robes, comes towards us, walking briskly away from a nearby group of people: Nadhir, Kadar, Suhaim, Amir, Mirah, Alima, Farooq and three small children (1, 3 and 6). The group continues moving towards a stationed battered jeep next to a house heavily damaged by the attack. Mirah, also turned to us, cries for Harith.
NADHIR
Leave him. Stubborn old mules always manage to catch up.
MIRAH
Harith!
Harith’s POV. As he looks down. Harith’s shadow over the debris as he walks. There’s smoking bits of masonry and broken walls.
Harith’s POV. Looking straight ahead. The collapsed entrance/porch outside Shahidah’s house. Harith’s shadow over the debris as he moves further some more. There’s no way anyone could get into that house anymore. Harith aims at the end of the broken wall to his left.
Harith’s POV. Harith’s shadow over the debris. Harith looks straight ahead, having turned 90 degrees left after the wall. We see the huge wreckage of Shahidah’s house. Harith urinates and checks the surroundings. We are seeing even more blown up, smoking houses than before. The centre of Baghdad is somewhere ahead of us.
Full shot. Next to Harith. He’s crouching to defecate. There’s a puddle of urine scurrying away from sight. His face strains a bit. He looks away to left of panel, trying to see if anyone’s coming this way.
SHAHIDAH
(faded, out of shot, bottom right side of panel)
Help
PAGE 02
Mid shot. Side shot. Harith on his knees in panic, trousers half pulled up, looks around towards the rubble all over the place.
HARITH
Hello?! Hello?!
Close up. Besides Harith. He leans into the wreckage, trying to listen. One hand grabbing an edge of fallen masonry for support, bits of mortar coming off. Harith’s expression is even tenser now. He’s about to get up.
SHAHIDAH
(out of shot)
Help.
Mid shot. Behind Harith. Harith turns his head around the wall, gesticulating in the groups direction, screaming for help. They’re huddled around the jeep. Nadhir is the one closest to us, a bit away from the group, staking out behind some rubble. The hood of the battered jeep is popped open and Amir and Kadar are bent over it.
HARITH
NADHIR! QUICK! Everyone!
Full shot. Down shot. Closer to Harith. Harith digs frantically through the debris dead centre in the wreckage. Behind him Nadhir runs towards Harith, leaving his spot behind.
SHAHIDAH
(out of shot)
Help. Please.
HARITH
We’re coming! We’re coming!
HARITH
Nadhir!
HARITH
Hurry!
HARITH
Nadhir!
FACTORY
PAGE 03
March 2003. Establishing shot. Inside the clothes factory as the women work. Afternoon. It rains in half a dozen places through holes in the ceiling. No one seems to be paying attention to it.
Long shot. We can see a few of the women getting wet as the rain falls. Shahidah is one of them. She works sowing Made In USA labels to the inner lining of women’s underwear. The water is nonetheless prevented from hitting the production line via boards and bits of plastic hanging in various places. Shahidah sits by a table that she shares with Karam. On either side of the table there are 2 buckets. One for the underwear still needing labels to be sown, the other for the completed pieces.
Pull in on Shahidah’s face as sunlight hits her dripping cheeks. She looks up.
Pull back behind her to show her gazing upwards as sunlight filters through the holes in the ceiling.
Go back to the establishing shot. Now, instead of rain we have sunlight pouring in. Giving us a feeling of hope. Shahidah has returned back to work
PAGE 04
Close up on Shahidah’s hands as she drops a completed piece on the left bucket.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
They never leave me.
The images.
They fill my dreams. My ever waking moment.
I see them.
Inside my mind. Inside my body.
All I feel is death. No longer thinking “why am I alive?”
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
This must be an illusion.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
Though there’s no escape.
Close up on a woman working next to Shahidah. Side shot. As the woman leans over her sowing.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
Mum, your face.
Close up on a guard looking suspiciously at Shahidah while she works. Behind the guard and to his side. Overlooking the whole clothes assembly line.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
Dad, your face.
Up shot, close to Shahidah. Distorting her and those around her as the rain falls. She removes a piece of underwear from her right side bucket.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
My brother.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
My sister.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
Everybody.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
Everything collapses.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
From nowhere I am taken.
February 1991. Same up shot but now inside the wreckage of her parents house. There are no bodies in sight, but there is plenty of destruction.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
I can see it all from the outside, inside, there and here, there is no difference. All time is an illusion that I try to make real to the cost of sanity. Of life. To no avail. I’m no longer here. No longer here. No longer here. I’ve never been. Never been alone.
CAPTION SHAHIDAH UNCONSCIOUS
Everything is still here. Every stone. Every corner of my mind. Spent that time there. All that time inside. The light, coming from above, never really touching my skin.
Comics Script - Shifting Scenes
Well, what has happened in the last week or so?
looking to my little diary I can see that most of the time has been spent around THE SHIFT (and it sure feels like it). Typing some of the scenes that were handwritten, dabbling quite a bit with it's structure and, especially, revising the whole thing.
I always find it fascinating how things come into being. Even if I've been there since the onset. Perhaps, especially if I've been there since the onset.
In a way there's a part of me that never believes that it can be done. Another that knows that it can. And somewhere in there there's another bit of me that simply does it. The thing I always have to keep reminding myself is that I just need to keep adding stuff. The Joycean technique. Don't bother erasing. Just add more. Put it into perspective. if you play enough with something it will become meaningful. It will. Trust me on this. And, mainly, trust the story. That's probably the biggest lesson I've learned so far.
The story is always right.
Writers often aren't.
We want to make things pretty or nice, or sad and horrible, but the story truly has a life of its own. And it wants to be heard as clearly as possible. The characters want to be listened to. Not told what to say.
So that's what I've been trying to do: learn how to listen to stories before I go out and tell them. THE SHIFT was a bit like that. In actual fact, most of the stories that I have been writing of late, have had that characteristic. There's a couple of ideas to them but I really never know where they're going to get to that place. Sometimes they seem too daft to ever become something worthwhile reading. And then I get surprised. Because they do. So, the moral is, learn to trust your stories. Let them do the telling. Not you. It's less work if you're not in the way.
With THE SHIFT I was having a few problems with the structure and some of the scenes. When it's something visual that I'm having trouble in writing I just try to visualize myself in the scene and merely describe what I'm seeing the way I'm seeing. If it's not right, then the second or third time I'm reviewing the script, a better visual device will come through and I'll alter whatever's necessary.
If it's a character that I'm having trouble with, again a kind of visualization is needed. But it's more like going into an internal listening mode just for that character. I try to shut all other input and merely listen. Eventually they start chatting. Characters can also be shy in the beginning. Don't forget that. But, as time passes, and they get to know you, communication will become much easier.
If it's the plot, then the case is a bit different. Here I have multiple techniques. This is perhaps because this is still the most challenging part for me. But also one of the most rewarding. Sometimes I try to sit and merely watch the whole story (or, at least, bits of it) play in my wide screen brain. Not always does this work. So I sometimes try the rational approach. What is the story about? What does it need to become more palpable? What is it lacking in terms of scenes, structure, etc to give it more cohesion? Or the emotional approach. How does the story feel so far? Am I engaged with it? In what sense and why? What do I think or feel about it when I'm reading? What fills me or drains me when going through the script?
With THE SHIFT it was a bit of all of this but never any clear answers. And you know why? Because I was lacking some scenes. That was why. But I didn't know it then. But feeling that structure wasn't working as well as I wanted, as I knew it could feel, I was somehow doubting the story, doubting what I was helping create.
At some point I decided to make a list with all the different scenes. Then I made another list organising everything chronologically. Then I made another list with the opening and ending scenes and started working my way towards the centre of the story. Then I made another list in which I divided the whole thing in three acts, three major zones of influence (to know, from Shahidah's rescue up to her first meeting with American soldiers, Shahidah's life in the factory up to her death and Shahidah's experiences whilst trapped underneath the remains of her house), ordering them in chronological order. I started realising that I had some problems with time frames and locations. So I then had to do some research and more clearly organize the story. But, by doing this, I started thinking that I needed to add a couple more scenes. To round up the story more.
I was on 100 comics pages by then.
And then, when I was reading a bit more on Fallujah and Baghdad I wrote something like "If I were to expand this story a little bit more I would add this scene and that scene and..." And suddenly the "eventual scenes" were so visual and clear that about the second or third time I thought about them I knew they had to be in the story. So I wrote them down. I added them. And Lo and Behold! The whole structure actually benefited from them. The script actually feels rounded and (to me at least) meaningful.
The big test obviously, is other people reading it and enjoy it and feel affected in a positive way by it, obviously...
Sunday was this day. I worked on the structure and revise it for most of the day. This is what happens when I stay home and actually manage to focus. I move between my computer and my bed and add stuff and revise all a bit at the same time. I've realised that it's very rare that I can stay focussed on one thing for too long, so I simply try to shift between various themes within the same story. So, I shift between revising the script and revising the stucture and typing up alterations or new scenes. This way I don't get tired of things as quickly.
And if I do get tired I simply pick up my guitar, plug it in and play for half an hour or so. I completely change the inner setting. From words to sounds. The great thing is that the thing you train the most when playing is hearing. You have to listen to what's coming out so, in a way, it's also closely related to writing. What I have found is that the two processes enhance one another. I play better when I'm writing and I write better if I play.
It's all meditation, really...
In any case, sunday was also very full of ideas. I wrote a couple of new things for THE IMMORTALISTS and ALIENATION, had an idea for a BIOGRAPHY and for another series (don't ask me what it's about 'cause I can't remember...) called BLACK MARK.
Monday was a day that I thought was going spent entirely indoors, had to go and deal with lots of paperwork instead (and buy a new pair of cycling gloves - fundamental goods in winter!), felt it wasn't going to be that great for the writing and, in actual fact turned out pretty well. THE SHIFT kept me company and wrote some more for ALIENATION.
Tuesday I went to work but still kept working on THE SHIFT.
(I was going to finish it goddammit!)
Wednesday - home at last! - PC heaven!
Guess which script I worked on?! You're correct! I spent like 10 hours solid on that day on it. Wednesday and sunday were the crucial days to really tip this boat up.
Then yesterday I finally managed to add the last couple of scenes, redo the structure and feel that the thing is finished.
In actual fact, only after I posted yesterday and got home, did I realise that I had forgotten to erase some stuff of the script. There were some bits of monologue that I felt weren't working so well and I decided to redo the scenes. I remembered to type them down but then forgot to edit the old ones...
Guess I'll have to do it today.
And print out the whole thing again.
Actually yesterday, when I was tearing the two older versions of this script, I felt for the first time that getting rid of all that paper wasn't fun anymore. I remember the first few times that I started tearing the pages into bits - to give room for the completed draft - it felt good. There was some accomplishment in that. Now, after 30 seconds of doing it I was thinking for the first time in my life that buying a paper shredder was a good idea...
Anyway. Amidst it all I still wrote (can't remember the day 'cause I forgot to write it down on my diary... actually, I remembered that I had written an email about it... wednesday the 30th of september) a draft for the TEATRO DO FRIO story. It's about a girl that goes on a coach to spend her holidays with her grandparents. The story is quite funny and charming and I'm planning on keeping all that and add a bit of fantasy to it. A kind of fable feel to it. I think it can work quite. Only 8 comics pages. Which I still have to know if it can be done. 'Cause I think they were expecting me to write an illustrated short story... only 6 pages long...
We'll see...
Peace.
looking to my little diary I can see that most of the time has been spent around THE SHIFT (and it sure feels like it). Typing some of the scenes that were handwritten, dabbling quite a bit with it's structure and, especially, revising the whole thing.
I always find it fascinating how things come into being. Even if I've been there since the onset. Perhaps, especially if I've been there since the onset.
In a way there's a part of me that never believes that it can be done. Another that knows that it can. And somewhere in there there's another bit of me that simply does it. The thing I always have to keep reminding myself is that I just need to keep adding stuff. The Joycean technique. Don't bother erasing. Just add more. Put it into perspective. if you play enough with something it will become meaningful. It will. Trust me on this. And, mainly, trust the story. That's probably the biggest lesson I've learned so far.
The story is always right.
Writers often aren't.
We want to make things pretty or nice, or sad and horrible, but the story truly has a life of its own. And it wants to be heard as clearly as possible. The characters want to be listened to. Not told what to say.
So that's what I've been trying to do: learn how to listen to stories before I go out and tell them. THE SHIFT was a bit like that. In actual fact, most of the stories that I have been writing of late, have had that characteristic. There's a couple of ideas to them but I really never know where they're going to get to that place. Sometimes they seem too daft to ever become something worthwhile reading. And then I get surprised. Because they do. So, the moral is, learn to trust your stories. Let them do the telling. Not you. It's less work if you're not in the way.
With THE SHIFT I was having a few problems with the structure and some of the scenes. When it's something visual that I'm having trouble in writing I just try to visualize myself in the scene and merely describe what I'm seeing the way I'm seeing. If it's not right, then the second or third time I'm reviewing the script, a better visual device will come through and I'll alter whatever's necessary.
If it's a character that I'm having trouble with, again a kind of visualization is needed. But it's more like going into an internal listening mode just for that character. I try to shut all other input and merely listen. Eventually they start chatting. Characters can also be shy in the beginning. Don't forget that. But, as time passes, and they get to know you, communication will become much easier.
If it's the plot, then the case is a bit different. Here I have multiple techniques. This is perhaps because this is still the most challenging part for me. But also one of the most rewarding. Sometimes I try to sit and merely watch the whole story (or, at least, bits of it) play in my wide screen brain. Not always does this work. So I sometimes try the rational approach. What is the story about? What does it need to become more palpable? What is it lacking in terms of scenes, structure, etc to give it more cohesion? Or the emotional approach. How does the story feel so far? Am I engaged with it? In what sense and why? What do I think or feel about it when I'm reading? What fills me or drains me when going through the script?
With THE SHIFT it was a bit of all of this but never any clear answers. And you know why? Because I was lacking some scenes. That was why. But I didn't know it then. But feeling that structure wasn't working as well as I wanted, as I knew it could feel, I was somehow doubting the story, doubting what I was helping create.
At some point I decided to make a list with all the different scenes. Then I made another list organising everything chronologically. Then I made another list with the opening and ending scenes and started working my way towards the centre of the story. Then I made another list in which I divided the whole thing in three acts, three major zones of influence (to know, from Shahidah's rescue up to her first meeting with American soldiers, Shahidah's life in the factory up to her death and Shahidah's experiences whilst trapped underneath the remains of her house), ordering them in chronological order. I started realising that I had some problems with time frames and locations. So I then had to do some research and more clearly organize the story. But, by doing this, I started thinking that I needed to add a couple more scenes. To round up the story more.
I was on 100 comics pages by then.
And then, when I was reading a bit more on Fallujah and Baghdad I wrote something like "If I were to expand this story a little bit more I would add this scene and that scene and..." And suddenly the "eventual scenes" were so visual and clear that about the second or third time I thought about them I knew they had to be in the story. So I wrote them down. I added them. And Lo and Behold! The whole structure actually benefited from them. The script actually feels rounded and (to me at least) meaningful.
The big test obviously, is other people reading it and enjoy it and feel affected in a positive way by it, obviously...
Sunday was this day. I worked on the structure and revise it for most of the day. This is what happens when I stay home and actually manage to focus. I move between my computer and my bed and add stuff and revise all a bit at the same time. I've realised that it's very rare that I can stay focussed on one thing for too long, so I simply try to shift between various themes within the same story. So, I shift between revising the script and revising the stucture and typing up alterations or new scenes. This way I don't get tired of things as quickly.
And if I do get tired I simply pick up my guitar, plug it in and play for half an hour or so. I completely change the inner setting. From words to sounds. The great thing is that the thing you train the most when playing is hearing. You have to listen to what's coming out so, in a way, it's also closely related to writing. What I have found is that the two processes enhance one another. I play better when I'm writing and I write better if I play.
It's all meditation, really...
In any case, sunday was also very full of ideas. I wrote a couple of new things for THE IMMORTALISTS and ALIENATION, had an idea for a BIOGRAPHY and for another series (don't ask me what it's about 'cause I can't remember...) called BLACK MARK.
Monday was a day that I thought was going spent entirely indoors, had to go and deal with lots of paperwork instead (and buy a new pair of cycling gloves - fundamental goods in winter!), felt it wasn't going to be that great for the writing and, in actual fact turned out pretty well. THE SHIFT kept me company and wrote some more for ALIENATION.
Tuesday I went to work but still kept working on THE SHIFT.
(I was going to finish it goddammit!)
Wednesday - home at last! - PC heaven!
Guess which script I worked on?! You're correct! I spent like 10 hours solid on that day on it. Wednesday and sunday were the crucial days to really tip this boat up.
Then yesterday I finally managed to add the last couple of scenes, redo the structure and feel that the thing is finished.
In actual fact, only after I posted yesterday and got home, did I realise that I had forgotten to erase some stuff of the script. There were some bits of monologue that I felt weren't working so well and I decided to redo the scenes. I remembered to type them down but then forgot to edit the old ones...
Guess I'll have to do it today.
And print out the whole thing again.
Actually yesterday, when I was tearing the two older versions of this script, I felt for the first time that getting rid of all that paper wasn't fun anymore. I remember the first few times that I started tearing the pages into bits - to give room for the completed draft - it felt good. There was some accomplishment in that. Now, after 30 seconds of doing it I was thinking for the first time in my life that buying a paper shredder was a good idea...
Anyway. Amidst it all I still wrote (can't remember the day 'cause I forgot to write it down on my diary... actually, I remembered that I had written an email about it... wednesday the 30th of september) a draft for the TEATRO DO FRIO story. It's about a girl that goes on a coach to spend her holidays with her grandparents. The story is quite funny and charming and I'm planning on keeping all that and add a bit of fantasy to it. A kind of fable feel to it. I think it can work quite. Only 8 comics pages. Which I still have to know if it can be done. 'Cause I think they were expecting me to write an illustrated short story... only 6 pages long...
We'll see...
Peace.
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Comics Scripting - THE SHIFT
This is just a quick one to say that I've finally finished THE SHIFT!
(yaaayyy!!)
It's a couple of days behind schedule (I wanted to have it ready before September ended...) but at least it's done! 104 pages strong!
Tomorrow I'll post an excerpt from it and also some news on what I've been doing during the last week... there are a couple of interesting things...
Peace
(yaaayyy!!)
It's a couple of days behind schedule (I wanted to have it ready before September ended...) but at least it's done! 104 pages strong!
Tomorrow I'll post an excerpt from it and also some news on what I've been doing during the last week... there are a couple of interesting things...
Peace
Thursday, 25 September 2008
Comics Scripting
Well, it's been a while since I've last wrote a few lines in this here semi-diary of uncanny writings...
On the 13th I went home and added a acouple more scenes to THE SHIFT. That thing is really going to get to 100 pages, I tell ya...
The following day (a sunday spent mostly outdoors...) I started revising the whole thing and wrote a bit more on THE IMMORTALISTS (I keep getting weird scenes and characters...) and a bit more on THE REMNANTS OF LOST DAYS (a long short-story...)
On the Monday I quickly revised the theatre play DOUBLE SIDED and sent it out to that competition. There was also a lovely event at streatham library that I helped host and organise (as part of the Graphic Novels Reading Group) with Helen McCarthy, Alex Fitch and Paul Gravett. It was a delicious talk on Osamu Tezuka and the wonders of Manga.
I also wrote a synopsis and bits of a short script called MOTHER'S MILK.
Because tuesday is just that kind of day, here came another short script (synopsis and a few scenes) called THE DEEPEST WHISPER. Together with MOTHER'S MILK these two are now part of a kind of sub-series within MONO. The main theme of these stories is love and just how deep it can go.
Also did some more reviewing on THE SHIFT.
Wednesday was "classics" day because not only did I do some more reviewing on THE SHIFT but I also wrote a synopsis and a few scenes for a BATMAN story. I won't tell you the title but I can tell you that it's more about Bruce Wayne and a weird psychologist than throwing punches into criminals faces...
On the thursday I went to Portugal for a short holiday. I actually managed to finish reviewing the whole of THE SHIFT and I realised that I need to review the whole structure of the thing. At least I have a plan for it. I'm gonna separate the whole structure into the various acts. Then organise them chronologically. Then redo the changes that didn't really work for me. Hopefully it will be closer to a final structure after all this is done!
On Monday the 22nd, on my way to Sao Martinho do Porto, to my parents house, I had an idea for a short story called LAND OF FOG. This came to mind simply because, as I arrived inside the coach, I observed that a thick whitish fog covered the whole bay area and the town around, even though everywhere else in the region it was sunny and bright. Talk about micro-climate, huh? So that's the story. A guy arriving to a sunny town only to find that the fog therein has some very interesting properties...
On tuesday I finished revising THE SHIFT and had a meeting with my good friend at TEATRO DO FRIO (Theatre Of The Cold), a theatre company based in Porto.
We had some dinner at Agito in Bairro Alto and talked about our lives, meditation, theatre, the play I had sent him - DOUBLE SIDED (which everybody in the company read! wow! that was REALLY unexpected!!) - and the project I've been invited to participate - RETALHOS (Patchwork).
Basically they've been performing for people throughout the country, presenting some short performances around the object SUITCASE. Then, after the show, they sit down with the audience and gather some of their stories of living abroad and so forth. The whole thing is taped so that a documentary is created. Then 10 of these stories, all with the object SUITCASE, will be selected and sent to 10 writers in order for them to write creatively on them. These will then be illustrated and published later on in the year. TEATRO DO FRIO itself will work on these 10 stories and create a performative piece with them that will then be presented to the public.
The thing that I really like about this project is the very simple and yet quite profound idea of turning popular culture into high art - and then returning this high art back into the people. Not only popular culture is being acknowledged by its worth, as a foundation for a sort of cultural sublimation but, in fact, a powerful bridge is being established between two usually opposing ends in culture. TEATRO DO FRIO is demonstrating that everybody can share human experiences and that boundaries can be actuvely used to break cultural and social gaps. It is as important for the intellectual to realise the depth and meaning of a "simpler life" as it is for those with "less education" to become acquainted with contemporary performative pieces. A contemporary working of a real cultural experience might just do the tricks and open up new, unexpected and highly important avenues. After all, as people use to say, we're all on the same boat. It's about time we got to know each other.
So, I'm really happy that I'm one of the lucky participants! October will be dedicated to produce a comics script/short story based on one of the gathered tales. November will be the month for the artist to draw it and december its publication alongside all the others.
I'll try and keep you updated on my progress...
Yesterday was a crazy day. I spent most of the morning with RICARDO CABRAL talking about this project and A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAIN, his amazing artwork, his upcoming book (you can see some of the stuff in THE ISRAEL SKETCHBOOK) and other things. Here are his two blogs.
http://theisraelsketchbook.blogspot.com/
http://ricardopereiracabral.blogspot.com/
He also wants to do something for a competition that brings THE OBSERVER, RANDOM HOUSE PUBLISHING and COMICA FESTIVAL together.
http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/graphicnovels/competition.htm
He's gonna draw something for me.
And then I'll write something for it.
And I won't know anything until the artwork's done...
I've already had a few ideas for this of course.
(what makes a theme so important after all??)
Maybe create a story perpendicular to the artwork. That is, only a panel or two actually touch upon the theme of the story.
Create a story that dips in and out of the artwork but, for the most part, doesn't have much to do with the visual tale.
Create a story which is conflicts with what's being shown. Like two dissimilar versions of the same thing.
Create a story that actually relates to what is being shown...
And do this in a kind of poetic form.
Don't think about it until you see the artwork, so stop worrying about it and finish all the other stuff instead. Better yet, start reading those stories and select the one you'll be working on...
(I have to keep telling myself these things or else I don't know what my head will start to think and do next...)
Today my plan is simply to type the alterations I've done to THE SHIFT. If I can finish them (which I doubt... it's already 1pm and I've been trying to finish this post since early morning...) I'll print out the whole thing, go home, add the new scenes and redo the structure.
If I can do it, then tomorrow THE SHIFT should be ready to surface in these here bloglands...
Peace
On the 13th I went home and added a acouple more scenes to THE SHIFT. That thing is really going to get to 100 pages, I tell ya...
The following day (a sunday spent mostly outdoors...) I started revising the whole thing and wrote a bit more on THE IMMORTALISTS (I keep getting weird scenes and characters...) and a bit more on THE REMNANTS OF LOST DAYS (a long short-story...)
On the Monday I quickly revised the theatre play DOUBLE SIDED and sent it out to that competition. There was also a lovely event at streatham library that I helped host and organise (as part of the Graphic Novels Reading Group) with Helen McCarthy, Alex Fitch and Paul Gravett. It was a delicious talk on Osamu Tezuka and the wonders of Manga.
I also wrote a synopsis and bits of a short script called MOTHER'S MILK.
Because tuesday is just that kind of day, here came another short script (synopsis and a few scenes) called THE DEEPEST WHISPER. Together with MOTHER'S MILK these two are now part of a kind of sub-series within MONO. The main theme of these stories is love and just how deep it can go.
Also did some more reviewing on THE SHIFT.
Wednesday was "classics" day because not only did I do some more reviewing on THE SHIFT but I also wrote a synopsis and a few scenes for a BATMAN story. I won't tell you the title but I can tell you that it's more about Bruce Wayne and a weird psychologist than throwing punches into criminals faces...
On the thursday I went to Portugal for a short holiday. I actually managed to finish reviewing the whole of THE SHIFT and I realised that I need to review the whole structure of the thing. At least I have a plan for it. I'm gonna separate the whole structure into the various acts. Then organise them chronologically. Then redo the changes that didn't really work for me. Hopefully it will be closer to a final structure after all this is done!
On Monday the 22nd, on my way to Sao Martinho do Porto, to my parents house, I had an idea for a short story called LAND OF FOG. This came to mind simply because, as I arrived inside the coach, I observed that a thick whitish fog covered the whole bay area and the town around, even though everywhere else in the region it was sunny and bright. Talk about micro-climate, huh? So that's the story. A guy arriving to a sunny town only to find that the fog therein has some very interesting properties...
On tuesday I finished revising THE SHIFT and had a meeting with my good friend at TEATRO DO FRIO (Theatre Of The Cold), a theatre company based in Porto.
We had some dinner at Agito in Bairro Alto and talked about our lives, meditation, theatre, the play I had sent him - DOUBLE SIDED (which everybody in the company read! wow! that was REALLY unexpected!!) - and the project I've been invited to participate - RETALHOS (Patchwork).
Basically they've been performing for people throughout the country, presenting some short performances around the object SUITCASE. Then, after the show, they sit down with the audience and gather some of their stories of living abroad and so forth. The whole thing is taped so that a documentary is created. Then 10 of these stories, all with the object SUITCASE, will be selected and sent to 10 writers in order for them to write creatively on them. These will then be illustrated and published later on in the year. TEATRO DO FRIO itself will work on these 10 stories and create a performative piece with them that will then be presented to the public.
The thing that I really like about this project is the very simple and yet quite profound idea of turning popular culture into high art - and then returning this high art back into the people. Not only popular culture is being acknowledged by its worth, as a foundation for a sort of cultural sublimation but, in fact, a powerful bridge is being established between two usually opposing ends in culture. TEATRO DO FRIO is demonstrating that everybody can share human experiences and that boundaries can be actuvely used to break cultural and social gaps. It is as important for the intellectual to realise the depth and meaning of a "simpler life" as it is for those with "less education" to become acquainted with contemporary performative pieces. A contemporary working of a real cultural experience might just do the tricks and open up new, unexpected and highly important avenues. After all, as people use to say, we're all on the same boat. It's about time we got to know each other.
So, I'm really happy that I'm one of the lucky participants! October will be dedicated to produce a comics script/short story based on one of the gathered tales. November will be the month for the artist to draw it and december its publication alongside all the others.
I'll try and keep you updated on my progress...
Yesterday was a crazy day. I spent most of the morning with RICARDO CABRAL talking about this project and A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAIN, his amazing artwork, his upcoming book (you can see some of the stuff in THE ISRAEL SKETCHBOOK) and other things. Here are his two blogs.
http://theisraelsketchbook.blogspot.com/
http://ricardopereiracabral.blogspot.com/
He also wants to do something for a competition that brings THE OBSERVER, RANDOM HOUSE PUBLISHING and COMICA FESTIVAL together.
http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/graphicnovels/competition.htm
He's gonna draw something for me.
And then I'll write something for it.
And I won't know anything until the artwork's done...
I've already had a few ideas for this of course.
(what makes a theme so important after all??)
Maybe create a story perpendicular to the artwork. That is, only a panel or two actually touch upon the theme of the story.
Create a story that dips in and out of the artwork but, for the most part, doesn't have much to do with the visual tale.
Create a story which is conflicts with what's being shown. Like two dissimilar versions of the same thing.
Create a story that actually relates to what is being shown...
And do this in a kind of poetic form.
Don't think about it until you see the artwork, so stop worrying about it and finish all the other stuff instead. Better yet, start reading those stories and select the one you'll be working on...
(I have to keep telling myself these things or else I don't know what my head will start to think and do next...)
Today my plan is simply to type the alterations I've done to THE SHIFT. If I can finish them (which I doubt... it's already 1pm and I've been trying to finish this post since early morning...) I'll print out the whole thing, go home, add the new scenes and redo the structure.
If I can do it, then tomorrow THE SHIFT should be ready to surface in these here bloglands...
Peace
Saturday, 13 September 2008
Comics Script
This has been a busy week. A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAIN keeps growing. All the scenes I had handwritten are now on my big file of notes and ideas for the comic. Next phase is to try and get some order out of them, eventually add some to the first chapter, some to the second and see if it makes some sense to actually write a third one. If it does, I'm thinking it will be more of an illustrated story than anything else. Or a weird kind of comic. The third volume would be more like an essay on the downfall of empires than anything else. A lesson on politics and sociology so to speak.
We'll see...
Wrote a short comic called IN THE WILD and it's about a Native American Indian returning to his tribe after a very long hunt. I have it on paper but still need to put it on electronic format and organise/review the whole thing.
Also wrote a bit more on THE IMMORTALISTS. This time another series of ideas for a greek character and some weird Greek mythology. The thing with this series is that it seems to be more about a thousand different characters than plot... But there's a story there. I guess I just have a whole heap of threads to weave...
Also reviewed the whole of my short theatre play called DOUBLE SIDED (in portuguese, A DUAS VOZES). I'm still not entirely happy with the structure of the text and pacing of the story but (if it does get selected) because it will be just the platform for a whole heap of experimentation, I'm not really worried. Just hope they like it and find it intense enough to work on it.
Also wrote the intro and beginning of the first chapter for a crime book called IN FORESTS DEEP. It's about a very peculiar detective trying to capture a serial killer no one believes exists. But he knows his stuff. In actual fact, thsi detective knows more than he realises...
(I was thinking about what to write for the upcoming NaNoWriMo and some scenes started to surface for this book. But, as soon as I started to write them I began feeling really heavy and low on energy. Crime really isn't one of my favourite themes and writing about it, just drags me down a bit. Still, I think the idea for the book is quite good and the writing is quite easy. Crime tends to be very stereotypical and you don't need to worry about have people with a really bad temper in there... but I like the detective. He's laid back and is as much on the job as considering his next holiday. He's a bit stuck between two worlds. What he really would like to do - anything but being a detective - and what he's good at. You see, his problema is that he doesn't like being a detective but he knows he's a good one. And that he can save lives that no one else can. And that's what counts for him.)
Also wrote something to post here but it not only got very big but also too personal. I don't mind sharing my inner ramblings but, when they're about people I love (even if it's to say nice things) I become much more conscientious and self aware. So, for the time being, it's in limbo. I'm reviewing it and, hopefully in a couple of days, I'll send it out to some of whom it talks about and see what's the reply.
Also did some more research and added some bits that were missing to THE SHIFT. Characters list and description, a map of Iraq, some info on the bombings of Fallujah (2004) and Baghad (1991). Little things but that suddenly made the story feel even more believable. I had certain scenes in my head but did not know if they could match the occurrences in the Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq (and subsequent skirmishes). But it turns out that they do! Quite well in fact!
Today and tomorrow I'm hoping on do some more finishing touches on THE SHIFT, send out DOUBLE SIDED and... whatever I feel like it!
Peace.
We'll see...
Wrote a short comic called IN THE WILD and it's about a Native American Indian returning to his tribe after a very long hunt. I have it on paper but still need to put it on electronic format and organise/review the whole thing.
Also wrote a bit more on THE IMMORTALISTS. This time another series of ideas for a greek character and some weird Greek mythology. The thing with this series is that it seems to be more about a thousand different characters than plot... But there's a story there. I guess I just have a whole heap of threads to weave...
Also reviewed the whole of my short theatre play called DOUBLE SIDED (in portuguese, A DUAS VOZES). I'm still not entirely happy with the structure of the text and pacing of the story but (if it does get selected) because it will be just the platform for a whole heap of experimentation, I'm not really worried. Just hope they like it and find it intense enough to work on it.
Also wrote the intro and beginning of the first chapter for a crime book called IN FORESTS DEEP. It's about a very peculiar detective trying to capture a serial killer no one believes exists. But he knows his stuff. In actual fact, thsi detective knows more than he realises...
(I was thinking about what to write for the upcoming NaNoWriMo and some scenes started to surface for this book. But, as soon as I started to write them I began feeling really heavy and low on energy. Crime really isn't one of my favourite themes and writing about it, just drags me down a bit. Still, I think the idea for the book is quite good and the writing is quite easy. Crime tends to be very stereotypical and you don't need to worry about have people with a really bad temper in there... but I like the detective. He's laid back and is as much on the job as considering his next holiday. He's a bit stuck between two worlds. What he really would like to do - anything but being a detective - and what he's good at. You see, his problema is that he doesn't like being a detective but he knows he's a good one. And that he can save lives that no one else can. And that's what counts for him.)
Also wrote something to post here but it not only got very big but also too personal. I don't mind sharing my inner ramblings but, when they're about people I love (even if it's to say nice things) I become much more conscientious and self aware. So, for the time being, it's in limbo. I'm reviewing it and, hopefully in a couple of days, I'll send it out to some of whom it talks about and see what's the reply.
Also did some more research and added some bits that were missing to THE SHIFT. Characters list and description, a map of Iraq, some info on the bombings of Fallujah (2004) and Baghad (1991). Little things but that suddenly made the story feel even more believable. I had certain scenes in my head but did not know if they could match the occurrences in the Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq (and subsequent skirmishes). But it turns out that they do! Quite well in fact!
Today and tomorrow I'm hoping on do some more finishing touches on THE SHIFT, send out DOUBLE SIDED and... whatever I feel like it!
Peace.
Friday, 5 September 2008
The Shift, close to completion
First draft that is.
It's 94 pages long and that added scene kind of felt like the icing on top of the cake. I've added a few bits of writing that I didn't know before where to place and I'm going to print the whole thing in a bit.
I wanted to give it some time to breath but I think I won't resist playing about with the structure and fine tune the continuity a bit more.
Maybe on monday I'll have the first few pages of that script posted in here.
There's still stuff to do with this script but the hard stuff has been taken care off. For now at least.
Feeling quite good about this script actually. I mean, I've always been excited and challenged by it, but a few days ago I was having the feeling that this wasn't going to be such an intense script as I'd thought. Such as Lost Lines is.
But maybe I'm wrong...
It's 94 pages long and that added scene kind of felt like the icing on top of the cake. I've added a few bits of writing that I didn't know before where to place and I'm going to print the whole thing in a bit.
I wanted to give it some time to breath but I think I won't resist playing about with the structure and fine tune the continuity a bit more.
Maybe on monday I'll have the first few pages of that script posted in here.
There's still stuff to do with this script but the hard stuff has been taken care off. For now at least.
Feeling quite good about this script actually. I mean, I've always been excited and challenged by it, but a few days ago I was having the feeling that this wasn't going to be such an intense script as I'd thought. Such as Lost Lines is.
But maybe I'm wrong...
Scriptic Mind
Well yesterday was one of those days.
(still don't know exactly what that means, but I'm sure I'll get around to it at some point)
Case in point. I did less than I was expecting but more that I felt I was going to, half way through the day.
Earlier this morning I finished all the changes on THE SHIFT and I'm now writing the last scene of the script. Something that will take last for at least 3 or 4 pages of the comic.
This is quickly becoming the longest comics script (one shot) that I've written.
The scene I'm writing now is when Shahidah (the main character, a little girl - here aged 9 - whose name means Witness) for the first time sees what happened to her family after the explosion that shook the house...
It's not a pretty scene but, in a way, i want to make the tragedy beautiful visually. The text at least is poetic enough even though necessarily dark.
I hope that, as people run through this (one of the) last scene, that they'll be able to look back at the whole story and put it into perspective, realising that so many of the other scenes were not only preparing us in a way for this one, but how this situation reveals Shahidah's destiny. A destiny that is very much clear inside herself during these moments of raw perception. This is why the last image in the book works as the closing of a circle. She is now ready to return to the place she once left. And to be whole again.
Peace.
(still don't know exactly what that means, but I'm sure I'll get around to it at some point)
Case in point. I did less than I was expecting but more that I felt I was going to, half way through the day.
Earlier this morning I finished all the changes on THE SHIFT and I'm now writing the last scene of the script. Something that will take last for at least 3 or 4 pages of the comic.
This is quickly becoming the longest comics script (one shot) that I've written.
The scene I'm writing now is when Shahidah (the main character, a little girl - here aged 9 - whose name means Witness) for the first time sees what happened to her family after the explosion that shook the house...
It's not a pretty scene but, in a way, i want to make the tragedy beautiful visually. The text at least is poetic enough even though necessarily dark.
I hope that, as people run through this (one of the) last scene, that they'll be able to look back at the whole story and put it into perspective, realising that so many of the other scenes were not only preparing us in a way for this one, but how this situation reveals Shahidah's destiny. A destiny that is very much clear inside herself during these moments of raw perception. This is why the last image in the book works as the closing of a circle. She is now ready to return to the place she once left. And to be whole again.
Peace.
Thursday, 4 September 2008
Uncanny Affairs
Back at work. But glad that yesterday I managed to stick with the writing.
Sometimes being at home by yourself with seemingly all the time in the world in your hands (something that never seems to last...) just makes you dodge the writing a bit and muck about, doing nothing in particular.
In any case, yesterday felt like one of those days where the writing momentum increased. And I say this because it wasn't easy to keep myself focussed. I'd spend half an hour writing some panels for THE SHIFT and then play the bass for another half hour. Then write for almost an hour and then have a break for some food, or more bass. Then back to the writing...
But I managed to resist the temptations of watching a couple of dvd's! And I know that after a couple more of these one day writing sessions I'll be geared enough to be able to focus more and extract more from each incursion. Kind of like aiming at quantity so that you can actually reach the quality. At least that's how I feel with writing. The more I do it, the easier and better it seems to get.
Still, I think I probably wrote for about 8 hours and that accounted for the complete review of THE SHIFT (which is roughly 90 comics pages long) and 80 new panels to the story - I had a lot of text that still hadn't been given visuals.
Spent a lot of time trying to figure out the anacronisms in the story but ended up deciding that I was simply worrying too much with my natural tendencies to make everything tidy and neat.
(which is actually a bit like how I dreamed my brain would one day be - a dream that I've been failing miserably... but also happily)
The first part of the story occurs during the american bombings of Iraq during the Gulf War and then moves on to the American invasion of Iraq, post 9/11.
(we move from end 1990, beginning 1991 to 2003/2004)
Today I'm typing everything I did yesterday back into the script. I usually do the corrections on a print out and then, after all the fiddling around, going backwards and forwards, I type it back on electronic format, print the whole mess once again and start over. Eventually something readable will come out.
(if I pray long enough...)
That's my mission for today. Write it all up and print in the end. I also realised that I'm not that happy about the structure either. Seems too slow and it doesn't flow well. But I think that as soon as I have a newer draft with all these added bit and that extra scene that I've been meaning to add for ages now - and that I keep forgetting to - things will come more into place. Especially because I'll have to fit it somewhere. And because I'll have images to go with all the text - which makes it a lot easier to organise...
I also want to write something about comics and brains... but I can't remember the title I had for it... and titles are very important...
was it SEQUENTIAL BRAINS???
peace.
Sometimes being at home by yourself with seemingly all the time in the world in your hands (something that never seems to last...) just makes you dodge the writing a bit and muck about, doing nothing in particular.
In any case, yesterday felt like one of those days where the writing momentum increased. And I say this because it wasn't easy to keep myself focussed. I'd spend half an hour writing some panels for THE SHIFT and then play the bass for another half hour. Then write for almost an hour and then have a break for some food, or more bass. Then back to the writing...
But I managed to resist the temptations of watching a couple of dvd's! And I know that after a couple more of these one day writing sessions I'll be geared enough to be able to focus more and extract more from each incursion. Kind of like aiming at quantity so that you can actually reach the quality. At least that's how I feel with writing. The more I do it, the easier and better it seems to get.
Still, I think I probably wrote for about 8 hours and that accounted for the complete review of THE SHIFT (which is roughly 90 comics pages long) and 80 new panels to the story - I had a lot of text that still hadn't been given visuals.
Spent a lot of time trying to figure out the anacronisms in the story but ended up deciding that I was simply worrying too much with my natural tendencies to make everything tidy and neat.
(which is actually a bit like how I dreamed my brain would one day be - a dream that I've been failing miserably... but also happily)
The first part of the story occurs during the american bombings of Iraq during the Gulf War and then moves on to the American invasion of Iraq, post 9/11.
(we move from end 1990, beginning 1991 to 2003/2004)
Today I'm typing everything I did yesterday back into the script. I usually do the corrections on a print out and then, after all the fiddling around, going backwards and forwards, I type it back on electronic format, print the whole mess once again and start over. Eventually something readable will come out.
(if I pray long enough...)
That's my mission for today. Write it all up and print in the end. I also realised that I'm not that happy about the structure either. Seems too slow and it doesn't flow well. But I think that as soon as I have a newer draft with all these added bit and that extra scene that I've been meaning to add for ages now - and that I keep forgetting to - things will come more into place. Especially because I'll have to fit it somewhere. And because I'll have images to go with all the text - which makes it a lot easier to organise...
I also want to write something about comics and brains... but I can't remember the title I had for it... and titles are very important...
was it SEQUENTIAL BRAINS???
peace.
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
Scriptology
First incursion into this whole blogging affair.
I mean, I've been around, dabbled into other peoples stuff but never really gave myself the time to start something of my own that I'd want to pursue.
So here I will keep a record of what's happening with my writtings which, at the moment, are keenly focussed on comics.
Today I'm playing around with two stories.
The first is called A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAIN: THE ROAD OF NO RETURN and it's the second part of a fable about a King that wants to force a Monk to become one of his advisors. After having learned his lesson, the King now sits besides this Monk, ready to begin his lessons. But just how far they will go the King hasn't got an inkling...
Right now I still don't know exactly how this whole story will pan out. Initially it was merely a fable like comic. But then, after a comment from Ricardo Cabral, more ideas started to come through and a continuation actually seemed to make some sense. Then, just yesterday, while talking with Luis, the whole thing seemed to turn into a three episodes thing. Each of them having a different tone to them.
I still don't know what I'm going to decide to do in the end but I'm kind of liking this idea of having the first story being told by the King (or the King's trusty advisor), the second by the Monk and the third by the King. Possibly all of them being told to the King's young son, about to take the mantle of his father. It was Luis that suggested this and it makes a whole lot of sense.
So, my plan is simple: first to organise this second arc - which is what I'm setting out to do today - and then to write out all of the extra stuff about the kindgom's social problems.
(the third instalment is more like an essay on the decline of empires and possible solutions than anything else...)
The second thing I'm juggling is another story that I've been wanting to finish for quite some time. It's called THE SHIFT and it tells the story of a girl called Shahidah that survived a missile attack during the Gulf War in Iraq. The story follows her through life up to present day where she still struggles to survive. The whole story aims at observing the human psyche strategies with the exertion of continuing pain. It's not an easy read but I think it raises important issues.
Namely that we can never really know what's inside somebody else's field of experience. And that sometimes losing one's mind is the best strategy for survival.
So today I'm also looking at the full script and filling in the blanks. There're a few pages only with dialogue and I hope either today or tomorrow I'll write in the panel descriptions and organise the pages a bit better. I'm still not completely satisfied with the structure but it'll do for now. I hope after I've re-read it all and typed in all the missing bits that the structure will become clearer.
Actually, thinking a bit more about A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAIN, I think that all the stories should definitely be told to the young King. One told by his father's most faithful advisor. Another told by his father and the last by the Monk himself.
I mean, I've been around, dabbled into other peoples stuff but never really gave myself the time to start something of my own that I'd want to pursue.
So here I will keep a record of what's happening with my writtings which, at the moment, are keenly focussed on comics.
Today I'm playing around with two stories.
The first is called A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAIN: THE ROAD OF NO RETURN and it's the second part of a fable about a King that wants to force a Monk to become one of his advisors. After having learned his lesson, the King now sits besides this Monk, ready to begin his lessons. But just how far they will go the King hasn't got an inkling...
Right now I still don't know exactly how this whole story will pan out. Initially it was merely a fable like comic. But then, after a comment from Ricardo Cabral, more ideas started to come through and a continuation actually seemed to make some sense. Then, just yesterday, while talking with Luis, the whole thing seemed to turn into a three episodes thing. Each of them having a different tone to them.
I still don't know what I'm going to decide to do in the end but I'm kind of liking this idea of having the first story being told by the King (or the King's trusty advisor), the second by the Monk and the third by the King. Possibly all of them being told to the King's young son, about to take the mantle of his father. It was Luis that suggested this and it makes a whole lot of sense.
So, my plan is simple: first to organise this second arc - which is what I'm setting out to do today - and then to write out all of the extra stuff about the kindgom's social problems.
(the third instalment is more like an essay on the decline of empires and possible solutions than anything else...)
The second thing I'm juggling is another story that I've been wanting to finish for quite some time. It's called THE SHIFT and it tells the story of a girl called Shahidah that survived a missile attack during the Gulf War in Iraq. The story follows her through life up to present day where she still struggles to survive. The whole story aims at observing the human psyche strategies with the exertion of continuing pain. It's not an easy read but I think it raises important issues.
Namely that we can never really know what's inside somebody else's field of experience. And that sometimes losing one's mind is the best strategy for survival.
So today I'm also looking at the full script and filling in the blanks. There're a few pages only with dialogue and I hope either today or tomorrow I'll write in the panel descriptions and organise the pages a bit better. I'm still not completely satisfied with the structure but it'll do for now. I hope after I've re-read it all and typed in all the missing bits that the structure will become clearer.
Actually, thinking a bit more about A VIEW OF THE MOUNTAIN, I think that all the stories should definitely be told to the young King. One told by his father's most faithful advisor. Another told by his father and the last by the Monk himself.
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