I would just like to say that Screnzy 2011 was a success!
I reached 102 pages on the 26th (or maybe the 27th. I can't remember), right at the end of the climax. Then I wrote the last scene (AKA the epilogue), and my final total was 111 pages. Crazy! When I started this I was afraid I wouldn't have enough pages (how long can you make a script about a beach trip?), and later I was afraid I wouldn't finish the story itself in April, but fortunately the story wrapped up at just the write time. I think I'm getting better at estimating length.
So...hooray for Bright Lights! Next challenge? Writing some one-acts. I've tried long plays, but I have yet to see if I can do short ones.
Also? I finally did a preliminary edit on my NaNo from 2010 (Tunnel's End): I removed all the random notes-to-self, changed the name "Carlie" to "Sharli" (I changed her name halfway through the novel), and filled in things like [sun] and [planet]. It's just the first part of editing, of course...but I'm glad I finally got around to it, because I'd forgotten that I'm actually pretty pleased with this one. Next challenge? Do a full edit, and write a sequel to Tunnel's End (knowing me, those two should go in the opposite order).
Anyway, that's my writing news! Do you have any?
Sunday, May 01, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Script Frenzy 2011
I tried Script Frenzy in 2009, and sadly it turned into epic fail at around 12 pages. I had never written a script before, and telling the story through dialogue and in a limited space (it was a stage play) was very hard. I was surprised, since dialogue is my favorite thing to write. Narration can be annoying (even inner monologue), description is...necessary, but dialogue just flows for me. But in "Seashore", the dialogue didn't flow. It staggered around and fell over. I decided to give up, because apparently script writing isn't my thing.
This year, since I'm doing WriYe, I figured I might as well try again. I haven't been writing as much as I should (I think I'll have to push my word goal back to something like 70,000 instead of 150k), so this would give me a push in the right direction. I've been adapting one of my novels into a play, and it's been working well, so I thought I might have gotten the hang of it.
And actually...I was right! For Screnzy, I'm adapting another novel (called "Bright Lights") into a stage play. Unlike Dream RELM, it was just in its early phases. I had two developed characters and a vague idea of how the plot would go. I quickly transcribed the dialogue from the first few scenes into the play, and then I was on my own. It was challenging, especially introducing characters, but I think I've really gotten into it now. I'm at 58 pages, and the plot hasn't gotten out of control yet. I'm especially excited because writing plays combines my love of acting AND writing. And now I can actually do it!
So...question to inspire people to comment: what do you find the hardest to write? (Characters? Description? Dialogue?) What's the easiest?
This year, since I'm doing WriYe, I figured I might as well try again. I haven't been writing as much as I should (I think I'll have to push my word goal back to something like 70,000 instead of 150k), so this would give me a push in the right direction. I've been adapting one of my novels into a play, and it's been working well, so I thought I might have gotten the hang of it.
And actually...I was right! For Screnzy, I'm adapting another novel (called "Bright Lights") into a stage play. Unlike Dream RELM, it was just in its early phases. I had two developed characters and a vague idea of how the plot would go. I quickly transcribed the dialogue from the first few scenes into the play, and then I was on my own. It was challenging, especially introducing characters, but I think I've really gotten into it now. I'm at 58 pages, and the plot hasn't gotten out of control yet. I'm especially excited because writing plays combines my love of acting AND writing. And now I can actually do it!
So...question to inspire people to comment: what do you find the hardest to write? (Characters? Description? Dialogue?) What's the easiest?
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Why I didn't become a ballerina
I used to take a lot of classes as a kid. Ballet, jazz, gymnastics, skating (which is probably why I burned out later and stopped taking classes altogether). Jazz was my favorite, but when I was five or six I also enjoyed ballet quite a bit. My class wasn't competitive: we would just perform something at the end of the year at a showcase. The dances from the various classes usually weren't connected in any way, but twice we ended up putting on short versions of an actual ballet, with various ages and skill levels.
The two ballets we did were "Nutcracker" and (a year later) "Sleeping Beauty". I enjoyed both, but my favorite was Nutcracker. In it, my class (there were a bunch of us...twelve or fifteen little girls) had two parts: as guests at Clara's party, and later as the "bonbons" at the end (which I'm pretty sure was a part they made up for us).
I liked being a candy, but somehow I enjoyed being a guest more, even though there was barely any dancing involved. It was more like role-playing, which was my favorite kind of game at the time (I called them "adventure games" later). I had a lady who was my pretend mom, and me and my pretend sisters would come to the party and play with the other guests via a short dance sequence. I liked the unity I felt with my pretend family, even though it felt weird to have a different mom. I wished I got to participate more in the story (we were pretty much just extras), but even with the small role it was a lot of fun. Before that, my only experience with acting had been a very lame Kindergarten play (I was the sun, mainly because I didn't want to be an animal), but this felt more real. My first actual play would be six years later, but with this I was off to a good start.
And that's why I'm an actor and not a dancer! The end.
The two ballets we did were "Nutcracker" and (a year later) "Sleeping Beauty". I enjoyed both, but my favorite was Nutcracker. In it, my class (there were a bunch of us...twelve or fifteen little girls) had two parts: as guests at Clara's party, and later as the "bonbons" at the end (which I'm pretty sure was a part they made up for us).
I liked being a candy, but somehow I enjoyed being a guest more, even though there was barely any dancing involved. It was more like role-playing, which was my favorite kind of game at the time (I called them "adventure games" later). I had a lady who was my pretend mom, and me and my pretend sisters would come to the party and play with the other guests via a short dance sequence. I liked the unity I felt with my pretend family, even though it felt weird to have a different mom. I wished I got to participate more in the story (we were pretty much just extras), but even with the small role it was a lot of fun. Before that, my only experience with acting had been a very lame Kindergarten play (I was the sun, mainly because I didn't want to be an animal), but this felt more real. My first actual play would be six years later, but with this I was off to a good start.
And that's why I'm an actor and not a dancer! The end.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
The perfect medium
The first "real" novel that I wrote was called Every Color (sound familiar?). I was eleven, and I'd written pieces of novels before, and lots of picture books (illustrated by me, of course), but I hadn't actually committed to writing (and eventually editing) a full novel. Every Color was total fantasy: portals, other worlds, mysterious dream catchers, some kind of evil "presence". It makes sense, because fantasy was my favorite genre at that point. Around that time I ended up getting into analyzing fantasy too, by comparing all sorts of different books I've read and classifying them into subgenres. And, like I tend to do when I've spent too much time classifying something, I started to go wider with my definitions. Was science-fantasy considered "fantasy"? What about soft sci-fi? What about mostly real-life with a hint of magic?
That's when I got into my slice-of-life phase. I wanted to write a book that was real life, but was steeped in fantasy. Nothing crazy would happen, but there would be an undercurrent of unreality throughout. I was into surrealist art at that time (I was about twelve at this point), so my first attempt was about a gallery. It didn't work out at all, but my second attempt in this vein was also about an art gallery (and, more specifically, surrealism). It was about Andrea, a sporty girl who meets Vega the dreamer. They became friends through surrealist art, and created a club (the "Dream RELM", which is the name of the novel as well) about "exploring" imaginary worlds.
And then Vega was supposed to disappear, to go into one of those imaginary worlds, without leaving any sign of her existence. She was supposed to be the magic element of the book.
Except, I got stuck writing it. It felt too short, and I kept trying to stretch it out and make it into a novel. And then I got bored. It was too quiet, too subtle. I started to write another "slice-of-life-with-fantasy" novel (it's called River Girls), which blended magic with real life in a more fluid, more interesting way. Eventually, River Girls stalled out too, and I tried once more before stopping slice-of-life altogether.
About a year ago, I went back to both novels. I realized that they were destined to be novellas, and I didn't try to force them. I basically finished Dream RELM, but when I read it over I realized it ended too abruptly. Vega and Andrea have their last conversation, then Vega leaves and BOOM: epilogue. So, okay...I just need to fit in some scenes in between, right? But I couldn't bring myself to do it. I lost interest again.
But yesterday, I was talking about plays with my Mom of Awesome (you'll see why she's called that in a sec). I was saying how I want to write plays, but so far it doesn't seem like my medium, and I have to keep trying. Then the topic switched to my earlier novels, and Mom of Awesome said, "Maybe you should make Dream RELM a play."
HOLY CRAP.
It's going great. I would act in it, if I was twelve. THIS is the medium for Dream RELM, if not all my slice-of-life-fantasy novels. And as a bonus, it's adding to my WriYe word count! The only thing is...I'm starting to wonder if I should change the ending. What if Vega reappears near the end, and the play ends as they start talking? (Or maybe Andrea sees her, but decides her life has changed, and walks away?) We'll see.
I'll keep you posted.
That's when I got into my slice-of-life phase. I wanted to write a book that was real life, but was steeped in fantasy. Nothing crazy would happen, but there would be an undercurrent of unreality throughout. I was into surrealist art at that time (I was about twelve at this point), so my first attempt was about a gallery. It didn't work out at all, but my second attempt in this vein was also about an art gallery (and, more specifically, surrealism). It was about Andrea, a sporty girl who meets Vega the dreamer. They became friends through surrealist art, and created a club (the "Dream RELM", which is the name of the novel as well) about "exploring" imaginary worlds.
And then Vega was supposed to disappear, to go into one of those imaginary worlds, without leaving any sign of her existence. She was supposed to be the magic element of the book.
Except, I got stuck writing it. It felt too short, and I kept trying to stretch it out and make it into a novel. And then I got bored. It was too quiet, too subtle. I started to write another "slice-of-life-with-fantasy" novel (it's called River Girls), which blended magic with real life in a more fluid, more interesting way. Eventually, River Girls stalled out too, and I tried once more before stopping slice-of-life altogether.
About a year ago, I went back to both novels. I realized that they were destined to be novellas, and I didn't try to force them. I basically finished Dream RELM, but when I read it over I realized it ended too abruptly. Vega and Andrea have their last conversation, then Vega leaves and BOOM: epilogue. So, okay...I just need to fit in some scenes in between, right? But I couldn't bring myself to do it. I lost interest again.
But yesterday, I was talking about plays with my Mom of Awesome (you'll see why she's called that in a sec). I was saying how I want to write plays, but so far it doesn't seem like my medium, and I have to keep trying. Then the topic switched to my earlier novels, and Mom of Awesome said, "Maybe you should make Dream RELM a play."
HOLY CRAP.
It's going great. I would act in it, if I was twelve. THIS is the medium for Dream RELM, if not all my slice-of-life-fantasy novels. And as a bonus, it's adding to my WriYe word count! The only thing is...I'm starting to wonder if I should change the ending. What if Vega reappears near the end, and the play ends as they start talking? (Or maybe Andrea sees her, but decides her life has changed, and walks away?) We'll see.
I'll keep you posted.
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