Somebody light a fire under me

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  • #31
    Re: Somebody light a fire under me

    Originally posted by sevoo View Post
    one thing i have descavered about the ''international thing''. when the
    americans write International... - that means they need money :-)

    is this a good joke?
    I don't know about it being a good joke, but it's a valid observation. Maybe not so much about the money, but just getting someone to look at the material. Although in my case, that money would be nice... ;-)

    And the Europeans seem to be making more enjoyable movies than Hollywood, anymore.

    Getting back to the main point: one tactic I use to get past that first blank page is to take my protagonist and slam him down on a barstool, throw a couple of drinks in him and get him to start a conversation with the bartender.

    Don't worry about the environment or who else is in the room, what the bartender looks like or what he's doing as the conversation moves along...it's just a bar and some damned bartender.

    Keep the conversation going and forget about nuance, just have the main obstacle your protag is facing get some air time. As mentioned before, go for the stream-of-conciousness.

    You may not end up with a scene that will get used in the long run, but I'm sure your subconcious will dredge up some things that can be utilized later.

    As far as lighting a fire under your ass, how about this: someone else is writing the same story as you are, so you better get it done first, make it pretty and start shopping it.
    "Forget it, Jake. It's Hollywood."

    My YouTube channel.

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    • #32
      Re: Somebody light a fire under me

      Originally posted by sc111 View Post
      All great ideas offered - I've used them too. I'll add one more of mine to the brew. (A method I also use for my day job writing ad copy.)

      When I get blank page phobia, I walk away from the computer and visualize or 'day-dream' the scene, sort of stream-of-consciousness.

      I visualize my characters and see what they do, what they say. Then I stop do something else - non-writing related, trusting that a part of my mind is working on it.

      Sometimes entire scenes come to mind, sometimes just dialogue or a part of a scene. At that point I still don't go to the PC, I jot these things down in longhand on paper. Then I let my left brain refine it more logically. At that point, I take these handwritten notes and go back to the computer to work.

      The method works for people who are good daydreamers, people who are good at visualizing color, images, sounds.

      Sometimes staring at that screen can be very stifling, and very left brain which inhibits your imagination.

      I do the exact same thing. If I just hashed it out on the computer, I'd have to come back and delete the entire scene. When I don't know exactly what to do, only have broad strokes, I leave it and walk the dog or drive or something where I can daydream. Very often quickly, but at least within a while, I will come back with what feels very right. And I then can go back to writing. This approach has a downside in that I can never pound out twenty pages at once - but what I do put down usually is much more on target than had I just tried the "vomit pass" approach.

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      • #33
        Re: Somebody light a fire under me

        james mcmurray

        you're looking for inspiration to help get you started on that script? try this. nobody gives a **** whether you start your script. decide whether you're going to write it (and/or become a writer) then follow through

        you're responsible for what you do, not us

        zilla
        moovyboovy

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        • #34
          Re: Somebody light a fire under me

          Originally posted by kojled View Post
          nobody gives a **** whether you start your script.
          Speak for yourself.

          Sheesh.
          "I've got vision up the butt, so just go with it!" - Dewey Finn, School of Rock

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          • #35
            Re: Somebody light a fire under me

            Originally posted by kojled View Post
            james mcmurray

            you're looking for inspiration to help get you started on that script? try this. nobody gives a **** whether you start your script. decide whether you're going to write it (and/or become a writer) then follow through

            you're responsible for what you do, not us

            zilla
            moovyboovy
            You gave enough of a **** to post in the thread. Thanks!

            Comment


            • #36
              tangent, re: lede

              Originally posted by Marine66 View Post
              Seriously, I was a newspaper editor for long time. Some really talented reporters used to freeze when trying to write a lede - the first and usually the most important paragraph of a story....In order to get the damn newspaper out every day, I told them to forget about the lede.
              didn't realize the "lede" in journalism was spelled this way 'til i saw marine66's post. then today, this was in the nytimes:

              About The LedeIn the news business, the opening sentences of a story are referred to as its "lede" -- spelled that way, journalism lore has it, to avoid confusion with the lead typesetting that once dominated newspaper printing presses. Although a tightly focused narrative typically follows the lede, every sentence in a news story has the potential to spiral off in new directions, and each paragraph leaves behind unexplored angles. That's where The Lede's mission begins.

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              • #37
                Re: tangent, re: lede

                Originally posted by dexter View Post
                didn't realize the "lede" in journalism was spelled this way 'til i saw marine66's post. then today, this was in the nytimes:

                About The LedeIn the news business, the opening sentences of a story are referred to as its "lede" -- spelled that way, journalism lore has it, to avoid confusion with the lead typesetting that once dominated newspaper printing presses. Although a tightly focused narrative typically follows the lede, every sentence in a news story has the potential to spiral off in new directions, and each paragraph leaves behind unexplored angles. That's where The Lede's mission begins.
                And you thought I was just illiterate.

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                • #38
                  Re: tangent, re: lede

                  Thanks again everyone. Between the visualizing the scene then walking away and doing one card at a time I managed to churn out 7 pages of barely servicable crap tonight. But hey, you gotta start somewhere.

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                  • #39
                    Re: Somebody light a fire under me

                    james you wuss. come on babe just write. write like you are trying to impress your best friend or some hot chick you dig as as if you needed a paycheck in the next year.

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                    • #40
                      Re: Somebody light a fire under me

                      Nobody ever said you had to write in chronological order.
                      I agree! I say just take one of your cards and start writing that scene, then the next, then the next, etc. Eventually, you'll be putting the scenes in order and moving them around, and deleting from them, and adding and rewriting, you get it, so just start with one card and move on from there.

                      P.S. I tried to light a fire, but this damn match doesn't seem to work! Besides with these California winds today, I don't wanna burn something down (lol)
                      "The two hardest words to write are FADE IN. The two most gratifying are FADE OUT."

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                      • #41
                        Re: Somebody light a fire under me

                        Thanks folks! I started writing just before Thanksgiving, although time has been limited. I'm only on about page 13, but it's at least moving forward. As I get more time I'll be growing it as fast as I can. Once I got the first scene on there the others are flowing.

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                        • #42
                          Re: Somebody light a fire under me

                          Page 13 since Thanksgiving? That's awesome!

                          Corona
                          I love you, Reyna . . .

                          Brown-Balled by the Hollywood Clika

                          Latino Heart Project's MEXICAN HEART...ATTACK!
                          I ain't no punk b1tch...

                          Comment


                          • #43
                            Re: Somebody light a fire under me

                            Really? I thought I was slacking. I'm kinda ticked at myself because tonight instead of writing I'll be watching Jericho with my wife. I wanted to do both but then we realized that we needed food, and those crazy kids just don't seem to take "we'll eat tomorrow" for an answer.

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                            • #44
                              Re: Somebody light a fire under me

                              Nah, James. That's about 2 pages per day. Do that for a year and see what else you end up with besides a couple of boney kids chewin' on your love handles . . . with all due respect.

                              Corona
                              I love you, Reyna . . .

                              Brown-Balled by the Hollywood Clika

                              Latino Heart Project's MEXICAN HEART...ATTACK!
                              I ain't no punk b1tch...

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                Re: Somebody light a fire under me

                                They better not chew!

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