Yesterday exhausted me beyond measure; I’m still feeling the after-effects, today. Don’t ask.
It’s 6.55 hours. I’m going to have an early night. If Chuck Wendig gives me permission, I’ll place a link to his site, so you can read one of his blog posts.
In the meantime, if any of my writery followers happen to see this post, here’s a link to one of Chuck’s awesome books on writing: Damn Fine Story.
So interesting! See link below my response to read an article written by Simon Horrocks, who creates awesome movies using a digital phone. He’s in good company.
I know money is a factor in any enterprise, but I’ve always felt the stratospheric realms of the so-called A-listers in the film industry hold to the assumption ‘the more money we chuck at it, the more people will buy the idea this is a blockbuster (and we’ll make a ton of gold).’ So we get all the crashing bells, diamond-studded whistles, and yummy faces and forms to distract us from the fact there is no attempt to tells us a story that will either resonate or truly entertain us.
When money is tight – whether deliberately (Soderbergh) or actually (the rest of us) – the writing has to be good, the story has to be sound; the plot and structure have to be solid – then the performances (the vision of the writer/creator still intact!) together with a small band of trusty allies, and this modern-ish idea of using the iPhone are free to come into their own to give us a memorable, entertaining human narrative that stays with us longer than (many current) “A list” films.
Onward, Simon and your band of heroes! 🙂
Lita
https://momofilmfest.com/soderbergh-iphones-and-the-return-of-the-b-movie/#comment-510
Ditto! Great article.
You’d think a writer would have the best excuse to read all the time – an unrestricted diet of anything and everything. But I find my relationship with books is somewhat complicated.
Like everyone, I have a stack of titles I’m eager to read – and never get to them unless I declare a special read-what-I-like holiday. Otherwise, my reading is on a permanent specialised regime.
A book in progress can be very fussy about what it’s fed, like an athlete.
I’ve identified that this regime has several phases.
Research – complicated but not really
I love factual research. Perhaps it’s a hangover from my ghostwriting days. Research was essential to the job, but also innately rewarding. Exciting ideas always came from these new territories of experience. Research was also darn good discipline because my editors were fearsome. If you know you’ll have to defend your plot decisions, you’re careful…
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When I feel stuck in a rut with my writing, I will try one or two actions to inject some adrenaline into my writing craft. I’m still working on my W.I.P. but I’m going to participate in NaNoWriMo throughout November just to give me a break.
Here are some other things I do:
Here’s an article with more ideas when feeling overwhelmed as a writer:
5 Practical Goals for Writers to Avoid Overwhelm
Yep, you didn’t hear from me yesterday – and maybe the day before?
Yesterday was a day when the house called for some attention and refused to let me go until my entire cache of stamina was empty. It left me, if I haven’t made it clear, completely cream-crackered.
Exciting news today: I started a Holly Lisle class. It’s called How to Write A Novel. Love it already.
This class – and many others, depending on what you need – can be found here:
https://hollyswritingclasses.com
This class will take me from first idea to final page of this (fourth attempt?) to write a first draft of my novel, Becoming. Cross your imaginary fingers, MIF, and wish me luck.
If I’m still here, I shall try to swing by with my progress for Lesson 01.
Love and kisses
Lita xx
I read about theme like other people eat chocolate. Can’t get enough of it. Looking forward to the moment the penny drops and I get that ‘Eureka!’ moment. This article from Andrew helped.
I’ve discovered theme does not arrive in the rough draft. You may have an idea of what the theme of your story is, but it will be refined with each revision. When you finally are satisfied with your theme, you can use it as a standard for which scenes to keep and which to delete. If a scene does not fulfill your theme, then it does not belong.
Here are some articles on writing I’ve read lately:
Or rather, I need a Latin scholar. I’m perfectly sure, though, that anyone who’s a Latin scholar is also a Latin lover.
In fact, now I come to think of it, MIF, I know a Latin scholar. I wonder if he’s still in Florence? A friend of mine knows him well. Note to self: contact friend tomorrow. (As if tomorrow wasn’t stuffed with people visiting us. Sigh.) I’ve created a Latin motto for a group of characters in the novel, you see, and I have to make sure the words don’t mean something deeply disgusting.
By the way, so far, the idea of bringing the adventure to the Protagonist seems to be working. Confining the story to one setting is helping me to focus on the narrative, instead of faffing about with physical journeys to this, that, and the other place – which was driving me bonkers.
Must get to bed, it’s coming up to midnight, and I have to be up early tomorrow, ‘cos there’s all sorts going on.
Word count: not a lot, still working out stuff on paper. Step count: Just under 8,000.
Love, Lita xx
