Scene it, done it

Taking a leaf out of my-friend-the-screenwriter's script, I am going to tackle my next short story in a scene by scene fashion.  I never plan out my stories.  I begin 50% with a full start-to-finish outline in my head.  In the case of the other 50%, I know where to start and hope that an ending will emerge during the writing.  It's the latter variety that end up with 7 or 8 versions before I'm happy.  What a waste of time and I ain't gettin' no younger.   

So, I'm going to experiment with a scene by scene treatment for the next story.  The scene synopses will set out the action against what I need to convey about the characters and the theme.  Only when I've worked out the story will I decide how to tell it i.e. tense, perspective, scene order. 

I am also going to attempt character profiles before I get stuck in too.  Not all of this information will make it in but I want to see if having fully rounded characters from the start helps the story-telling process or restricts it.   

At the moment, per story I spend about 40% of my time in production and 60% knocking what I've written into shape in post-production.   If this experiment pays off I'll be spending perhaps 40% in pre-production planning, 40% in production and 20% in post.  And, with luck, the overall schedule will be shortened so I up my productivity overall.  I'll let you know how it goes...

brief update...

...since my last post, I've found out that the initial number of entries has been whittled down to 150-200 per category (about 1000 overall).  So, I'm up against up to 199 others.  Not bad!  But hardly a done deal.  Final shortlist announcement will come on June 14th...

High Hopes

I'm pretty excited.  I received an email today informing me that I am through to the third round of judging for the BritWriters' Awards!  I'll be going into the final round to choose the finalists for the Awards in July but all I know is there were 21,000 entries.  I don't know what the second round was whittled down to or, indeed, how many competitors I have in the third.  I don't even know which of my three stories is in the running - although I did get the same email twice so maybe there are two??  All I do know is I am pretty excited.  

Just to be a finalist would be brilliant - I don't necessarily want to win.  But there'll be agents and publishers at the awards and so just being on the programme would be a huge benefit.  

So, at this time, Elevenses, Skin Deep and Boxed In are shelved until early June when I'll find out if I've made it to the final and if i'll be invited to the Awards at the O2 in London.  Fingers, toes and all other appendages crossed.

Speak no evil, hear no evil

I've met a lot of odd bods in my time and an alarming number of them were writers.  A large proportion of those have been screenwriters (excluding, of course, the supremely talented fellow blogger on myfirstscreenplay.com).  I was so disappointed to find Charlie Kaufman - genius author of the Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine scripts - to be someone I would avoid at a dinner party rather than invite to one.  But, let's be honest, many great works of art are born of some level mental or personality disorder.  

The disorder all artists share - especially writers - is chronic insecurity.  My writing is no good; it doesn't speak to people; it doesn't convey what I wanted to say; it's just not original enough.   

Yes, yes, yes.  We've all been there.   Who said it should be easy?  Who said everyone should love your writing?  Personally, I hate Jane Austen - what a yawn fest - but I accept others adore her stories.  You can please some of the people some of the time.  Twas ever thus.

But misery loves company.  That is why, perhaps, there are so many groups out there promising constructive peer group support for writers - all of which are mostly attended by new and unpublished authors looking for validation.  I was that person and may be again, so I'm not criticizing anyone, but this Meet-Up advert is a classic example of the problem:

San Francisco Writer's Community Positive Feedback Group

-This is a positive feedback critique group.

-Hear what is good about your writing so you can do more of it.

-Get the exact type of feedback that you want.

-This group is for people committed to helping each other and improving their own skills on an ongoing basis.

I may be unfairly judging this group (I haven't been) or misinterpreting the advert, but it seems to be a general slap on the back type of shindig.   Of course you don't want people to be rude but if you can't take the heat, get outta the kitchen, right?  How is hearing what you want to hear going to help?  New writers need tough love if they're going to make it so they need to hear it straight, from the very start:  this is good, that is bad, this has potential...but keep up the good work comrade!  

In all critique, some comments are just trivial fluff but others are made of more valuable stuff.   As a new and unpublished writer myself, I've found that one of the skills I've had to learn from scratch is how to identify the good feedback from the bad (a more in-depth exploration of what I mean by good feedback must wait for another post).  All writers need to grow a thick skin as quickly as possible.  As for my own skin, it may not be paper thin anymore but it's still some way from being the rhinoceros hide I need.  So bring it on: all comments welcome.