My last few days in Portugal were spent visiting friends, talking, walking, going to the beach, buying books, phoning, texting, buying food, travelling and more ings than I care to remember.
I did think about writing.
And I did write a bit.
Or, to be more precise, I typed. I typed half of the changes (so far) that I'd done on the fourth draft of my book: Morto Árvore Besta.
And I spoke with Alexandra about a variety of projects. The short stories I had written to the New Scientist Competition came about. And so did a short script for MONO and another short piece for The City. And so did a not-so-short children's story about a Giant.
She will let me know at some point which story she wants to work on and I'll try and adapt/translate it for her.
My objective right now is to finish Morto and then find a cheap online printers, enter a few competitions and send it to a few publishers...
Gotta start sending some copies out the door my friends...
Peace!
Friday, 7 May 2010
Friday, 30 April 2010
Script Frenzy Day 30
This was the last day and, like every last day, you get the much helpful stress of running out of time...
I had more or less forty pages to write. And the problem with this script is that quite a few of the scenes need a lot of detail in terms of body language and what the characters are actually doing... (and I shall say no more...)
Since I still had quite a bit of plot to go through, scenes started to become naturally shorter. They had reached the summit of their happiness and things started coming down, relatively fast.
This was a curious writing day because not only new chartacters came alive but some of the scenes were quite powerful as well. At least one of the crucial scenes didn't work out as well as I wanted - the dialogue needs some fine tuning - but the more improptu ones came out quite well. Especially towards the end - which I wanted to be deep and moving. I was suprised by how well Ayoola's final words fitted the whole story. I think they added weight and momentum to the whole thing.
Despite all my difficulties this was a very visual script. Perhaps more so than The Softness Of Memory. The two main characters were very much alive and interactive. And I did feel that they were close and intimate thorughout the story. That was the main objective anyway. To convey that feel to the reader. And I think, even on a sometimes erratic first draft, I think I managed to do that.
In any case, this script is much closer to completion than The Softness Of Memory. And that's because it always moves forward in time. It's structure is much simpler than TSOM - not that TSOM's is that complicated but, you know how it goes, a few flashbacks here and there and you start getting confused on where you should go next... Perhaps that's simply because my idea for Ayoola was much clearer initially (and throughout) than the one for TSOM.
In fact that's one of the big differences between the two scripts. Ayoola is all about self expression and physicality. A clear and explicit sense of intimacy.
In TSOM everything is hidden and hinted more than revealed.
Actually, now that I think of it, it kind of makes sense to write these two scripts side by side. They do mirror one another in quite a few ways...
Perhaps my unconscious knew what it was doing all along... it only took me a month to catch up...
And now... onwards to typing away all those Morto Árvore Besta scribbled notes... (but perhaps some reading first... there's a Cory Doctorow book that I want to finish...)
peace!
I had more or less forty pages to write. And the problem with this script is that quite a few of the scenes need a lot of detail in terms of body language and what the characters are actually doing... (and I shall say no more...)
Since I still had quite a bit of plot to go through, scenes started to become naturally shorter. They had reached the summit of their happiness and things started coming down, relatively fast.
This was a curious writing day because not only new chartacters came alive but some of the scenes were quite powerful as well. At least one of the crucial scenes didn't work out as well as I wanted - the dialogue needs some fine tuning - but the more improptu ones came out quite well. Especially towards the end - which I wanted to be deep and moving. I was suprised by how well Ayoola's final words fitted the whole story. I think they added weight and momentum to the whole thing.
Despite all my difficulties this was a very visual script. Perhaps more so than The Softness Of Memory. The two main characters were very much alive and interactive. And I did feel that they were close and intimate thorughout the story. That was the main objective anyway. To convey that feel to the reader. And I think, even on a sometimes erratic first draft, I think I managed to do that.
In any case, this script is much closer to completion than The Softness Of Memory. And that's because it always moves forward in time. It's structure is much simpler than TSOM - not that TSOM's is that complicated but, you know how it goes, a few flashbacks here and there and you start getting confused on where you should go next... Perhaps that's simply because my idea for Ayoola was much clearer initially (and throughout) than the one for TSOM.
In fact that's one of the big differences between the two scripts. Ayoola is all about self expression and physicality. A clear and explicit sense of intimacy.
In TSOM everything is hidden and hinted more than revealed.
Actually, now that I think of it, it kind of makes sense to write these two scripts side by side. They do mirror one another in quite a few ways...
Perhaps my unconscious knew what it was doing all along... it only took me a month to catch up...
And now... onwards to typing away all those Morto Árvore Besta scribbled notes... (but perhaps some reading first... there's a Cory Doctorow book that I want to finish...)
peace!
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Script Frenzy Day 29
To start the day I finished The Softeness Of Memory. Just a couple of scenes I'd left on the side to wrap up with a fresher head...
And now the real challenge...
As I opened my Ayoola file... well, I realised my script had stopped at page 40... oops!
The good news was that I had mapped out (though somewhat haphazardly...) the remainder of the script. I also had another handwritten page with ideas for some scenes.
Well, what else was there to do but type?!
Well, in fact, first, I read what I had written so far. I was still in the first fourth or third (at best) of the story. Ayoola and Maurice (I have to change his name somehow... it doesn't feel suitable anymore...) had met, they were romantically involved but... the real drama was to begin still.
I wrote all the way to page 62 I think. The story gained quite a bit of momentum and I advanced through the plot even though some of the dialogue was really perfunctory.
I didn't write as much as I could've because I went to a gig (a Mão Morta gig in Coliseu Dos Recreios) with my brother. And, to be honest, it was good to get out for a while.
By the time I went to sleep Maurice was about to buy Ayoola a way out, even with all the dangers that that might entail.
They were in love, oh so very hopelessly in love...
And their troubles were only beginning...
peace.
And now the real challenge...
As I opened my Ayoola file... well, I realised my script had stopped at page 40... oops!
The good news was that I had mapped out (though somewhat haphazardly...) the remainder of the script. I also had another handwritten page with ideas for some scenes.
Well, what else was there to do but type?!
Well, in fact, first, I read what I had written so far. I was still in the first fourth or third (at best) of the story. Ayoola and Maurice (I have to change his name somehow... it doesn't feel suitable anymore...) had met, they were romantically involved but... the real drama was to begin still.
I wrote all the way to page 62 I think. The story gained quite a bit of momentum and I advanced through the plot even though some of the dialogue was really perfunctory.
I didn't write as much as I could've because I went to a gig (a Mão Morta gig in Coliseu Dos Recreios) with my brother. And, to be honest, it was good to get out for a while.
By the time I went to sleep Maurice was about to buy Ayoola a way out, even with all the dangers that that might entail.
They were in love, oh so very hopelessly in love...
And their troubles were only beginning...
peace.
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Script Frenzy Day 28
And this was the day that I almost finished The Softness Of Memory... I ploughed through the script but I found it hard to bring it to life. Still I had the road map and I only stopped when I had only a couple of scenes left to write.
It was quite hectic throughout the day for the scenes were being written out of order but I just wasn't caring anymore. I just wrote as things came in - during revision everything will be sorted out...
(at least that's what I keep telling myself...)
But it went well. I don't remember how many pages I actually wrote but I was nicely over one hundred when I finished.
peace!
It was quite hectic throughout the day for the scenes were being written out of order but I just wasn't caring anymore. I just wrote as things came in - during revision everything will be sorted out...
(at least that's what I keep telling myself...)
But it went well. I don't remember how many pages I actually wrote but I was nicely over one hundred when I finished.
peace!
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Script Frenzy Day 27
Hey... today has been a looong day... I still haven't slept properly since I left the UK a few hours ago. I flew in to Lisbon and am now staying at a friend's place. Between chatting, playing some guitar, watching youtube clips and dozing a bit, I read some more of Cory Doctorow's book OVERCLOCKED and read a good chunk of the script I want to finish more or less by tomorrow... The Softeness Of Memory.
I was amazed that the first third of it is actually pretty good. Some good and engaging dialogue, the characters coming out much more strongly than I remembered. Then it becomes a lot more forced, in clear need of reworking!
But the story is there, building slowly (perhaps too slowly but that's on revision phase as well...)
I've already finished the scene that I left halfway through months and months ago... I'm feeling tired and not able to focus properly. I'll probably call it an early night and wake up halfway through the night and type.
Or just in the morning and type...
It's good to be in Portugal. It's sunny and warm, and it just feels so relaxing to be here...
I'm not going to go crazy on this script. I'm just going to type the scenes that I had in my mind so long ago and that's it. Type whatever I had planned to - and worry about the structure later.
And if something new comes... well then, let it!
Hope you are well!
peace.
I was amazed that the first third of it is actually pretty good. Some good and engaging dialogue, the characters coming out much more strongly than I remembered. Then it becomes a lot more forced, in clear need of reworking!
But the story is there, building slowly (perhaps too slowly but that's on revision phase as well...)
I've already finished the scene that I left halfway through months and months ago... I'm feeling tired and not able to focus properly. I'll probably call it an early night and wake up halfway through the night and type.
Or just in the morning and type...
It's good to be in Portugal. It's sunny and warm, and it just feels so relaxing to be here...
I'm not going to go crazy on this script. I'm just going to type the scenes that I had in my mind so long ago and that's it. Type whatever I had planned to - and worry about the structure later.
And if something new comes... well then, let it!
Hope you are well!
peace.
Monday, 26 April 2010
Script Frenzy Day 26
This was a crazy day.
I had to go to work and finish some stuff for the Graphic Novels Reading Group and the Cory Doctorow's event that we're running on the 8th and thus, I cut myself a good chunk of the day that I had planned to use for writing.
Plus I'd arrived home well after 2 in the morning and still chatted with a friend into the early hours of the day. It was just starting to get bright when I went to bed...
And only when I arrived home did I realise that my flight to Lisbon was one of those early ones... So, if I wanted to finish that Miriam script I needed to be fast...
And that's what I did. I focussed on getting all the plot bits on paper and forgot a bit about structure or humour (there was a bit but not much...).
But I did managed to finish it. Already after 2 in the morning and starting to feel the tiredness creep in.
I wrapped up Miriam at 112 pages. It still needs a lot of work but the main thing of these exercises is to have a great big puzzle that you can then jiggle around and fine tune. And it was during the writing of it that I realised that not only it could be a fun film but also a multi-layered one, playing the in-film "real life" with the film ideas that Perry keeps up coming up with for his script. Something that didn't make much sense in the beginning of the writing kind of became one of the supports for this story.
I thought, I'll sleep on the flight.
And I did.
I woke up a couple of times during the flight but I don't even remember the lift off... (even though I did see the crew doing their safety demonstration...)
peace
I had to go to work and finish some stuff for the Graphic Novels Reading Group and the Cory Doctorow's event that we're running on the 8th and thus, I cut myself a good chunk of the day that I had planned to use for writing.
Plus I'd arrived home well after 2 in the morning and still chatted with a friend into the early hours of the day. It was just starting to get bright when I went to bed...
And only when I arrived home did I realise that my flight to Lisbon was one of those early ones... So, if I wanted to finish that Miriam script I needed to be fast...
And that's what I did. I focussed on getting all the plot bits on paper and forgot a bit about structure or humour (there was a bit but not much...).
But I did managed to finish it. Already after 2 in the morning and starting to feel the tiredness creep in.
I wrapped up Miriam at 112 pages. It still needs a lot of work but the main thing of these exercises is to have a great big puzzle that you can then jiggle around and fine tune. And it was during the writing of it that I realised that not only it could be a fun film but also a multi-layered one, playing the in-film "real life" with the film ideas that Perry keeps up coming up with for his script. Something that didn't make much sense in the beginning of the writing kind of became one of the supports for this story.
I thought, I'll sleep on the flight.
And I did.
I woke up a couple of times during the flight but I don't even remember the lift off... (even though I did see the crew doing their safety demonstration...)
peace
AVATAR
Since there is no muse around to bear this lightness inside of me, the world then, unto which I release.
My heart is full.
Not just my eyes, my mind, my senses
My heart.
It's hard to say what this film now means to me.
So I won't say it.
I'll say only that this immense feeling of love, of gratitude and of connection came over me many times. In fact it swelled and it took me with it.
I'll say instead what it made me think of.
More than the wrongs, the rights.
It made me think how all of us, inside that room, inside that film, all of us who have shared this experience, we all tend to pick the side of life, the side of communion, the side unto which we are transformed into throughout this film.
And we can resonate deeply and movingly with these things because we recognise them. Even if we are seeing and consciously experiencing them for the first time.
They are in us and, intuitively, we have always known this.
Because we have always been this.
This is our home. This is where we dwell.
With this deep sense of communion, with this positive resonance, it is easy to let ourselves go, to lose sight of who we are and where and when we are. There is no I, there is only the experience at hand, and the utmost immersion in it.
This cannot happen with a negative resonance. With this we feel being sucked into something. We put up barriers, we try to dissociate from the experience. We become overly conscious in it, so much so that the experience itself might be obliterated simply by this feeling.
This is the best that drama can offer us. Becoming an engine to propel us further and higher and deeper and wider into our own truth. Which is shared. Which is everyone's.
That's what we're looking for.
That's what we are.
And to reclaim it, we simply need to reclaim nature.
Our nature.
Our being.
My heart is full.
Not just my eyes, my mind, my senses
My heart.
It's hard to say what this film now means to me.
So I won't say it.
I'll say only that this immense feeling of love, of gratitude and of connection came over me many times. In fact it swelled and it took me with it.
I'll say instead what it made me think of.
More than the wrongs, the rights.
It made me think how all of us, inside that room, inside that film, all of us who have shared this experience, we all tend to pick the side of life, the side of communion, the side unto which we are transformed into throughout this film.
And we can resonate deeply and movingly with these things because we recognise them. Even if we are seeing and consciously experiencing them for the first time.
They are in us and, intuitively, we have always known this.
Because we have always been this.
This is our home. This is where we dwell.
With this deep sense of communion, with this positive resonance, it is easy to let ourselves go, to lose sight of who we are and where and when we are. There is no I, there is only the experience at hand, and the utmost immersion in it.
This cannot happen with a negative resonance. With this we feel being sucked into something. We put up barriers, we try to dissociate from the experience. We become overly conscious in it, so much so that the experience itself might be obliterated simply by this feeling.
This is the best that drama can offer us. Becoming an engine to propel us further and higher and deeper and wider into our own truth. Which is shared. Which is everyone's.
That's what we're looking for.
That's what we are.
And to reclaim it, we simply need to reclaim nature.
Our nature.
Our being.
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