Comedy.

Am writing a short comedy thing on spec for a show I'm keen on. Went fairly well today despite my feeling rather unfunny this morning.

This is a small project that I'm going to be working on over the next week or two.

Really nice to be writing something with a totally different flavour from what I've been doing lately. Haven't written comedy for a while. Nice to be back in that headspace.

Christmas break.

Have stopped for Christmas. And also am working on a short spec idea. Hope to have that done by the new year. So should be back on my thriller script by, let's say January 2nd, if not before.

Happy Christmas or secular celebration, everyone!

Drafting day 18. Page 65.

Day 65 since starting this project. Page 65.

Days outlining:15
Days drafting:18
Total days writing: 33
Days not writing: 32

Went better today. There are some scenes that I've decided in advance will work well - and I'm realising that I've been putting too much pressure on those scenes to work well in the first draft. That I shouldn't expect anything of them, basically, because otherwise I'll get bogged down.

Am within a few pages, I think, of the point I'll need to start outlining again (as I've just outlined up until the midpoint). I'm looking forward to switching back to outlining.

Drafting day 17. Page 61.

Day 64 since starting this project. Page 61.

Days outlining:15
Days drafting:17
Total days writing: 32
Days not writing: 32

Pretty uninspired today. Almost up to the midpoint (which is as far as I've outlined).

Drafting day 16. Page 58.

Day 63 since starting this project. Page 58.

Days outlining:15
Days drafting:16
Total days writing: 31
Days not writing: 32

Actually did a bit more than four pages today as there was more rewriting involved. Am caught up now though, pushing on into new territory.

I NEED ELVES! Paul Abbott said he wished there were elves who would write your first draft for you - WELL I NEED SOME ELVES.

Am impatient to finish (as ever) - I've calculated I should be done with this draft by January 10, if everything goes okay - that's with a reasonable number of days off built in. But I want to state a target date just to... well, convince myself this draft won't go on for ever...

It's actually going okay plotwise, for a first draft. And I'm learning that if I don't try too hard to craft each scene at this stage I'm able to be a lot more relaxed about this draft - and about the prospect of rewriting the whole thing. As I will inevitably need to.

Drafting day 15. Page 55.

Day 61 since starting this project. Page 55.

Days outlining:15
Days drafting:15
Total days writing: 30
Days not writing: 31

Almost five pages today. Yeah, I know it looks like the maths doesn't add up... but I was rewriting. New chase scene. It's all looking a lot better. Still pretty ropey of course, first draft ropiness, but it's lost that feeling of wrongness that it had before.

I think I will now have too much chase, but that's okay. I'll leave it to the second draft to sort that out.

I had sworn never to go back to rewrite again while doing a draft, but I only went back five pages or so and I think that's okay.

Drafting day 14. Page 54.

Day 60 since starting this project. Page 54.

Days outlining:15
Days drafting:14
Total days writing: 29
Days not writing: 31

Today I went back and rewrote four pages or so around the fifty-page mark. As the last couple of days' work felt flat, that something was wrong... I consulted my Oracle (hope he'll like that description) and his sage advice was that the fella on page fifty had to die. Well, actually, on consideration, couldn't agree more. I had a car chase that really felt unexciting and realised that the reason it wasn't working was that the stakes hadn't been ratcheted up lately.

Also, in the scene I wrote today - there was a lot of exposition/backstory (that I just invented) and I ended up just summarising it in the script after realising the scene was getting wordier and wordier. I've decided that's okay to do in a first draft, as I'm looking at this draft as a glorified outline, checking first and foremost that the story's working. So why waste energy writing a polished scene that will just be that much more painful to cut if I decide it's not functioning storywise? Wish I'd decided that BEFORE wrestling with the scene though.

In other news... just read a Dean Koontz novel, 'Your heart belongs to me'. I can't believe what this guy gets away with! Compelling intriguing weird events in the first half... that he just doesn't bother to explain in the second. Throws in a ghost even! Deja vu that is never explained! Three sets of identical twins, and only one set is relevant! A villain that appears towards the end who is unconnected with most of the weird events! And the ones she is connected with, she couldn't possibly have done by herself... There is just so much lazy writing here... It reads like a first draft he didn't even bother to outline. And people buy his books and come back for more!

(Okay. That includes me. I read one of his novels once before. So I've been caught out twice. Maybe I'll learn my lesson this time?)

And did I mention completely unconvincing relationships? Maybe if you just say repeatedly how gorgeous the girlfriend is and how passionate the relationship is, the readers will buy it, right?

Anyway.

'House' was great last night. Particularly good writing.

See? I can be positive.

Drafting day 13. Page 51.

Day 59 since starting this project. Page 51.

Days outlining:15
Days drafting:13
Total days writing: 28
Days not writing: 31

Today was not a happy day, writing-wise. I've been avoiding writing for a few days - got back to it today, didn't like today's work at all...

I'm not sure if it's because the scenes I was writing aren't so good structurally and are going to have to change, or - maybe this script doesn't feel like such a new idea any more, so I'm falling out of love with it, or - what.

But I do feel that the only possible response is to keep going anyway. Not to analyse too much, but just keep going. But I'm not even half way! Way too early to be feeling uninspired/over it/whatever!

On the plus side, I did write five pages or so.

Drafting day 12. Page 46.

Day 53 since starting this project. Page 46.

Days outlining:15
Days drafting:12
Total days writing: 27
Days not writing: 26

Four pages today. Realised a slight logic problem with the next scene, may have to rethink how that goes. The outline is still holding up pretty well though. And it's nice sitting down to do pages and just looking at my outline to decide what the next scene is (I've added in one or two connecting scenes so far, but that's it.) Definitely frees me up to get on with it. Though I must admit that today I was feeling a bit uninspired. Still, four pages, though.