And a day off today.

Migraine.

Day off

on Saturday.

Page 89

Not entirely happy about this part of the script - at this point I'm just trying to get down the beats I need to happen in some kind of rough order. Result is I'm kind of finding the script a bit boring. I'm not sure if that's just because I've been writing for so long or what. At the moment I'm kind of just running through the beats to get to the second turning point. Maybe that means I should just jump ahead and throw the second turning point in now. (Though I'm on page 89, the script is running a bit long in this draft). Dunno.

Page 85

Knocked off a few plot points, not perfectly, but hey, knocked 'em off. Towards end of second act now and a cluster of scenes that won't quite fit in coming up. Will squeeze 'em in somehow. Looking forward to second draft now!

Page 81

At this stage my script is feeling a lot messier than it did earlier in the draft. Maybe that's inevitable, a function of being in the second half of the second act. I've decided to write up the beats/scenes that need to happen and not worry too much about whether they're in the right order. It's hard, though, to lower the bar a bit qualitywise. But I don't think it would be productive to spend time obsessing about making this draft tightly structured.

Page 78

Chugging along. Short session today so didn't get as many pages done as I maybe would have otherwise. But not too bad. A little uncertainty as to order of scenes. But, again, not too bad.

Page 75

Finally through the first half rewrite and onto new territory. Rewrote the midpoint scene, it's not perfect but now is roughly the beat I need at that point. Right now am grappling with the imperfection of my first draft. Not keen on imperfection at all! Can't believe how imperfect this first draft is despite all my labours! Even though I know that's the nature of first drafts. Nice to be onto new ground though.

Day off

Taking a day off on Sunday.

Almost ready to go back to draft

But... still need to sort out the midpoint. I'm a bit disconcerted because I've just realised that the reason I went back to rewrite was to sort out a central relationship... but my rewriting actually ended up focusing on other things... so there are major questions I still need to sort out. At least I have decided what the midpoint needs to be generally (which is actually the opposite of what the midpoint is now). I am going to work out the midpoint (and make some decisions about how earlier scenes need to change to lead to the new midpoint) and then press on. I'm not going to go back to tweak those scenes though, because I really need to press on and get this draft done.

Plotting

Going okay. Have broken 2nd half of second act down into story strands and figured out general direction each is going. Was slow work but towards the end had a couple of good ideas that should be fruitful to work with.

Hey ho, hey ho, it's off to work I go... (or, rather, went)

Today was hard slog. Felt like one of Snow White's seven dwarves. (Yes. Grumpy.) Having a look at the second half of the second act. Feels like writing a whole other film now I'm past the midpoint. Or sort of past it. I've realised I'm going to have to rework that scene but am waiting till I have a handle on the rest of the second act.

Became a little easier once I realised I needed to look at the whole of the rest of the act rather than just the next sequence. I have lots of beats I want to incorporate but putting them into sequences that work and follow on from each other in the right way is the tricky thing. Am currently pasting up scenes on the whiteboard in rough order. Getting a little easier, beginning to find a very rough order. But still, this half of the act is disconcertingly empty compared to the first. It's a bit like starting from scratch again.

I think this is probably an inevitably difficult bit. Second act is notoriously the most difficult. I figure as long as I keep turning up and slogging away I will get there in the end. Trudge back with my little barrow full of coal. (Not looking for diamonds just yet.)

Sick day today

See ya tomorrow, hopefully.

Plotting

I should've worked this out by now - whenever I have a few days where it's really not working it turns out that I'm stuck because I need to get plotting again.

In this case I think I was distracted by the fact that I still have twelve pages of dialogue to work through - but I've now realised that my subplot changes mean I need to rethink everything from the midpoint(i.e. from where I am).

Am now looking at the second half of the second act. Stress over now I'm back looking at plot. Hopefully next time I hit a wall will recognise a bit quicker that that's what I need to do.

Page 67 of first half rewrite

Just rewrote midpoint and it's sucking. Hitting the wrong note. Have to take some time out and plot the next sequence I think. Have 75 pages of script but not sure what to do with sequence up to 75. Stopped early today because it's just not working.

Page 65 of first half rewrite

Okay, I'm back a day early, couldn't keep away. Not that I was feeling that inspired... but also was itching to get back to it... and in my experience waiting for inspiration is a no-win situation.

So. Hard to tell how productive today was really. I added in a new scene that didn't end up covering the point I was planning for it to. Could be a useful scene though (but still, does the next scene still work against it?)

Hmm. Not too clearheaded. Decided this will all be clear when I get first draft feedback. Am at midpoint right now. Have to make a decision about one element of how things go from here that's going to affect everything, obviously. Decided to leave that decision till tomorrow.

Nice to be back at it. Wish it was all clearer! Sometimes when I'm writing I'm really pleased with a scene, and I can't help feeling disappointed they're not all like that. Though, I'm very aware that you've gotta get that first draft down... and I can't wait till it's finished, in all its flawed glory. Y'all know what I mean, right?

On hiatus

once again. Combination of foreseen and unforeseen circumstances require my presence elsewhere. Back on Monday the 18th. Happy writing.

Day off today

French toast, here I come!

Page 60 of the first half rewrite

Didn't have much to do in the last three pages. Now at a scene that needs to be rewritten quite a bit. Seems to be going okayish.

page 57 (and plotting)

Rewrote the scene I wrote yesterday. A bit better I think but still not great. Decided to leave it till the next draft. Also had a look at the next 15 pages, which potentially need to change now that I've tweaked a subplot. That was a bit mindbending. Thought I needed to add in some extra beats but can't see where they would go... finally decided to leave those pages more or less as they are. Maybe one scene will be added to and the climax of that sequence will rewrite tomorrow. Took the whole session to figure that out. Trying to keep all of the balls in the air, basically ended up putting it in the too hard basket, will just have to look at it next draft. So. A bit disappointing. Still, as long as I keep moving forward, will get there in the end. They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Why the hell would anyone want to go a thousand miles? Especially when they don't know what it's going to look like when they get there! Just kidding. Sigh.

Still at 56

Tried to write with a headache today that wouldn't go away. Stopped when I realised I was probably just making the scene worse. It's a drag because I've been enjoying writing. Hopefully will be back on form tomorrow.

No time

to write today, sadly.

Ya found it!

Welcome to the new url, thanks for clicking through.

Having had one hundred percent reader agreement on the name change - hey, this is a democracy, at least this week - have grappled with Blogger and moved over.

Page 56 of the first half rewrite

Top quarter of page.

Wrote a new scene/beat that wasn't there before but I think it's just what's needed. Also rewrote a scene which now works better, works better because of the new scene before it, and is also less on the nose.

Ticking away.

Page 50 of the first half rewrite

Phew. Have just finished the major sequence I was changing. Now have a few other changes that have arisen, so will need to work through the rest of the script (which is now 75 pages long). Going quite well. My midpoint is now at page 64, which means that this draft probably isn't going to be as overlong as I thought. Though probably will push out a bit more from there as I work through.

Some strands are weaving together satisfyingly.

Can't think of anything else to say, really. Chugging along.

Page 47 of the first half rewrite

Bottom of the page, so almost three pages.

Not sure if the sequence I've just written is going to stay in there - but gotta try it out to see. It's all going okay. Every so often I think about how much more I'm going to have to do - not just in this draft, but in subsequent drafts...

That way madness lies.

It's the tightrope artist not looking down, the journey of a thousand miles beginning with the first step (and continuing with the other steps)...

Yes, I have been using metaphor in my script. Not terribly subtly (at least not in this draft), as you can see...

Page 45 of the first half rewrite

And I'm back. Wrote two new scenes today (just over three pages, to be precise). These are part of the new sequence I just thought of the last day I was writing. A change of tone that I think will be interesting, hopefully shake things up a bit. It feels like it's going to be a bit longwinded at this point, but hey, first draft!

Took a little while to get back into it and remember where I was up to (should've just looked back at this blog), but enjoyed it after the first hour of 'where the hell was I?'. Really wasn't in the mood to write earlier this morning, but hey, I said I'd be back today... and it turned out just getting back into it was all I needed to shake that reluctance.

My scenes are just on the right side of okay (and sometimes the wrong side), rather than great, but in a way I think maybe that's a good thing for the first draft. Means I'm not so attached to them, shouldn't be too hard to kill my darlings (as the saying goes). This sequence also will require quite a bit of research, which I haven't done. So I've decided to just guess at it for this draft. As I'm doing with other research that I'll need to do for other aspects of this script. At this stage it seems to me that it's best to do the research after the first draft when you know more precisely what you need to know. So you can ask more precise questions (and not be a timewaster).

Nice to be back.