Right...Well...

Good to know it can be done...

2012-02-08T19:30:00.003Z

Of course, reading about self-published people who made it big closely resembles reading about lottery winners who say "I went into a shop, paid a pound, and guessed six numbers", but it still feels good to know that some people have made print-on-demand (or, in this case, eBooks by Kindle) work for them, without going the old mainstream publishing route.

I feel reassured it can happen, but that doesn't improve my own odds from 14 million to one, not really.

Any more than anyone could have predicted that combining Just William, boarding schools and magic spells would have made J.K. Rowling richer than the queen.

Always Merry and Bright

2012-01-19T11:40:00.015Z

I loved Henry Miller at one point in my life, when he turned up to lift my spirits and give me courage.

"What we all hope in reaching for a book, is to meet a man of our own heart, to experience tragedies and delights which we ourselves lack the courage to invite, to dream dreams which will render life more hallucinating, perhaps also to discover a philosophy of life which will make us more adequate in meeting the trials and ordeals which beset us. To merely add to our store of knowledge or improve our culture, whatever that may mean, seems worthless to me".
Henry Miller

So I would always defend his reputation, especially when confronted by people who dismiss his work without having actually read any of it - just based on rumours and a bad reputation.

In the 70s he got accused of misogyny, for instance, by Feminists - but if Erica Jong loves him enough to write a memoir/biography (The Devil At Large), and Anaïs Nin remained a close friend, perhaps you might consider him worth another look.

Not that I care to promote him - the world remains full of books you and I may never read. I'll just keep him as my little secret treasure.

His position in challenging censorship stays valid, surely - a successful battle - and one from which we all still benefit (if you don't mind reality). In many ways he broke ground for the later Beats, for instance.

Like I said, his particular form of Gonzo autobiography may simply no longer appeal to people, but I have a soft spot for his philosophical musings, and other stuff. Hey ho, but you may still have trouble finding his books in your library.

Check out some online resources:

Henry Miller: personal collection (a site by his daughter)

The Henry Miller Library (in Big Sur) You can buy his books here.

Always Merry and Bright - an unauthorized biography, by Jay Martin

A little more on Tati - reviews and articles

2012-01-04T15:16:00.008Z

Rosenbaum on Tati at The Evening Class

Jonathan Rosenbaum's website

I found searching Jonathan Rosenbaum's website a bit tricky, so here are direct links to the pieces mentioned in the article above:

* Tati’s Democracy: An Interview and Introduction

* The Death of Hulot

Others:

The Dance of Playtime on The Criterion Connection

Rosenbaum's review of Jour de Fete (when re-released in its colour version) in the Chicago Reader - The Colour of Paradise

"All The World's A Circus" Rosenbaum's review of Parade - in the Chicago Reader.

Senses of Cinema - Jacques Tati

2012-01-03T17:22:00.005Z

Although hardly a film buff, I have certain narrow areas of expertise and delight.

I have seen just about everything Buster Keaton ever made, and in a proper cinema, with a live pianist (not recorded soundtracks).

I have seen all of Jacques Tati's work, including seeing Playtime in 70mm back when it was first released (even though the run quickly ended). You'll be lucky to catch it that way, now.

As the reviewer mentioned below points out, to watch a film made in such a format on a television is to lose too much, but it's pretty much all we have now.

"The reduction of a 70mm. presentation to the scale of a television set is similar to reducing the performance of a symphony orchestra to a badly done audiocassette."

All the games Tati plays with where you are looking on the screen (sometimes directed by sound, or by colour, or by movement) mean nothing on a small screen where your eyes hardly have to move around at all. His whole style, of not steering your vision to particular activities with close-ups, needs the cinema - both for the size of the screen, and for the kind of concentration that most people do not bring to television.

Jacques Tati, by James M Christley in Senses of Cinema

[A great summary of the work, and some excellent links]

Portraits and Self Portraits

2011-12-28T13:54:00.018Z

In the coming year I may have to make a decision. To allow a portrait to be painted of me, or to create a self-portrait. Or neither, of course! Always good to have more than two choices.

To create a self-portrait has its problems, in terms of how well you knows yourself, and how honest you want to appear - including revealing the less pleasant side of yourself. And you need to convince yourself of the need for such a thing at all.

To tackle the first problem (of ego and vanity) - in show biz the self-conscious manipulation of image has its place as part of the job. It seems everyone's in show biz these days.

As an example, most of the photos I use as avatars, etc. I took myself with the ten-second timer on the camera. And that's not only selecting a location, and posing, but choosing, cropping and tweaking the picture - to attempt to create a look. I still do it to amuse, and as a form of self-expression, but they also remain masks to hide behind.

Word Pictures

The issue has arisen not in the world of visual images, however, but in the written word. I have made web-sites, written blogs, done online interviews, etc over the last decade, and they form a loose autobiographical project in themselves. Indeed, a journalist/Star Wars fan spent some time digging through that online material to compile a portrait to post on Wookipedia. That material has since migrated to Wikipedia, and although it amuses me I don't feel the right to edit the stuff (that really does smack of vanity). So it contains some errors, or misleading details, which I would attempt correct in my own version.

Autobiography

I have made drafts of a 'proper' autobiography intended to appear in book form (using Lulu, the print-on-demand system which avoids waste). I have set myself up on Lulu, and made various experiments, so I know how to make hard copies very cheaply. My Lulu storefront.

I still have trouble finding the right tone, although I enjoy unraveling memories, and meditating on my experiences. I don't know if I want to compile my anecdotes for film fans, or add to the history of New Circus, or offer my take on the changes made by my generation in The Sixties, the social history of the period, etc. I have tried thinking of it as something for my family, which would have to focus more on relationships, and reasons for making choices of various kinds. And that touches on the thorny issue of how to portray still-living people who have moved on in their lives. Do I track them down and ask them? Do I try to capture the world as I saw it then, or looking back ruefully? And so on.

An Outside Eye

Rich people used to commission portraits, and however carefully they selected and coached their artist, the final image and impression would always remain in the hands of the artist.

The issue of an objective portrait has arisen because someone has suggested writing a biography of me, involving plenty of research - interviewing old friends, co-workers, ex-lovers and all that, as well as extended interviews with me. Do I want to see myself as others see me? Relinquish control of the final image? I never think of myself as sufficiently interesting to appeal to a professional publisher - but if someone else sees a market, and can exploit it, then perhaps that adventure would prove amusing in itself.

I can see some advantages to passing all that work over to someone else. After all, I am unlikely to submit my own writing to much scrutiny from the other people in my adventures, even in the internet world that would take a lot of time tracking everyone down. It might prove very interesting to see the whole story from the outside, and with the perspectives of other people - although perhaps I won't like myself by the end.

The loss of control, and submitting to someone else's time-scale does have difficulties, though. Apart from anything else, I don't know how long the project would take, whereas self-publishing my own version allows me to get it out fast - if pushed - with the ability to carry on working on it, offering updates and later editions as I go along.

So, a portrait, or a self-portrait? I don't quite know how to decide.

Your Own Worst Enemy

2011-11-22T16:58:00.003Z

I did decide that entering NaNoWriMo without enthusiasm would not work, so I quit before I started, not needing the stress. Don't get me wrong - the right kind of pressure helped me complete the task for the last four years, but each of those times I felt excited, nervous, wired, and had those pre-show nerves that can help a great performance.

This year I just felt flat, daunted, bullied by unrealistic expectations of self, and decided not to beat myself up, or tell myself it would get easier after the initial push - even though that remains the ethos of NaNoWriMo.

I wish everyone well, as they enter the last week of November. I remember how it can feel!

Just taking a break.

I lost interest in writing, for the time being. Except for all this trivial posting, which seems more like chatting than attempting to create anything semi-permanent. These words resemble mere sandcastles, before the tide comes in to wash them away again.

Getting Down To It

2011-10-28T09:43:00.011+01:00

I can see the 'write-a-novel-in-a-month' challenge looming on the horizon. I have done it, and completed the task, for four years now. This time I have literally no idea of what to write, or whether I even feel up to the task. I need to make a decision soon!

Meanwhile, I have migrated the data from a wiki that we created for the Illuminatus! study group, which never really took off as a collaborative tool. Instead of the wiki structure I have now started building the material as a website, so it does have much more of my own stamp on it. As before, the intention remains to re-read the book with close attention, and to elucidate some more of the puzzles it contains.

The autobiography drove into the sand again, and sits around looking hopeful, like a dog on a rainy day.

The history of NoFit State (another wiki that does not attract contributors) has proved helpful, at least, in so far as the Timeline has helped when we started sorting pictures for display at the 25th Birthday bash, which is coming up. The task has proved dauntingly complicated, and we have huge gaps in the material (posters, programmes, pictures) from the early days - and then an overwhelming amount of choice since the digital picture era.

Imaginary Readers

2011-09-16T14:16:00.006+01:00

I guess one of the problems I have with completing a book arises from not having a clear image of any imaginary readers in the future.

In conversation I might have the ability to amuse most people for an hour or two. Some people will inevitably consider me stupid, boorish, arrogant, etc - but I have quite a lot of experience at 'tuning in' to a wide range of people, as teacher, street performer, hitch-hiker, public servant, etc.

Feedback from a listener might tell me to avoid (say) politics or football, religion or eating habits, fashion or beliefs, etc - but given that adaptability we could probably carry on an interesting exchange.

When writing I don't seem to have a clear view of the reader. I could aim it at one person (like a letter - those are the things we did before emails) but once I get past writing for one I seem to get very inhibited.

In real life I talk to people who never swear, and others who always do. My favourite mix probably remains not swearing as punctuation, but saving the occasional swear word to drop in for shock value, emphasis, or for laughs.

Similarly, my cynical approach to the media and public reaction to the Death of Lady Di(for example), or 9/11, might get me a punch on the nose in one situation, and a cheer from another. Nothing to do with feeling sorry for an individual human being, or for 3000 human beings, just saying out loud, or sharing, a sense of the hypocrisy of the media, or politicians, for instance.

In writing a book I don't want to avoid jokes that might only make my friends laugh, but get taken right out of context by some casual reader. As a minor celebrity (about F-List) I have that 'role model' responsibility for young people, so can hardly promote laziness, defend drug-taking, encourage anarchism, mention atheism as an obvious default position, etc without drawing comments from 'concerned parents'.

On the other hand (probably talking about an autobiography now) I can't really talk about how I got here without honesty about my opinions and approach to life - and some of my more exotic experiences. I don't want to offer a Disney version.

Chatting in a bar, or on a bus, I could tailor my anecdotes to suit you...editing on the fly. A book seems a really permanent object which can be held up in court...

I see this (like so many ideas) has bothered others:

My Imaginary Readers at Writing Resources

The Imaginary Reader: the imaginary reader, the real reader, the happy reader

Joyce Scholars, Editors and Imaginary Readers

Treehugger on paper books and e-books

My own worst enemy

2011-09-15T11:47:00.003+01:00

I started off so highly motivated - writing projects in hand, the wonderful Scrivener software to play with, a couple of rough drafts to smooth, and/but somehow the year just got away from me.

I guess I will dive into the NaNoWriMo pool again this November - just because it has so far always proven a great way to stay motivated against all my own stubborn resistance. I have no idea why I can't do this for myself, by just setting a deadline.

But hey, I don't like spending time beating myself up. Maybe I really do have to retire from the day job...I've turned 65, and stagger on taking short-term contracts in this insecure job market.

Time to starve in an attic...perhaps...

It's not as if I have been doing nothing...

2011-08-20T11:25:00.009+01:00

I know blogs need regular updates, and this one went inert a couple of months back, but hey, I have several blogs...and was writing offline, etc.

No excuses.

I have started savagely rewriting the other two scratch novels (NaNoWriMo) - Handwaving, and Does Not Compute) that I had in the drawer. They may even end up combined. It seems like a long, slow process.

These two I am approaching like zero drafts (that comes before even a first draft).

The first two - Foolproof, and Infinite Monkeys - got printed more or less as they arrived at my fingertips, but not because I thought they were great...just to complete the whole process of manifesting a book...and to figure out how Lulu works. Here's my Lulu 'shopfront'.

I also set up a Wiki, as the first steps in compiling a history of NoFit State Circus, but it doesn't seem to have reached critical mass (to attract other contributors), so it remains (more-or-less) a brief note of the first steps of research (scanned programmes, pictures, etc) than any serious writing (as yet). At least I made a timeline, so it's a start.

And the autobiography simmers away in my head, but no further work got done on it.

All of these projects have proven useful raw material for beta testing Scrivener for Windows.

Lulu, Pedia Press, etc

2011-05-06T11:30:00.007+01:00

I decided to go refresh the intro page on Lulu, and perhaps reduce the verbiage.

I hope to add the next two Nano novels, which are currently being edited in the Scrivener for Windows Beta edition - at least to run off proof copies to play with, even if I don't ask Bobby to make me covers yet (as I did for the first two).

I also have the film script "White Crow" which I did for Script Frenzy, so I might put that up as a PDF, at least.

I have enjoyed ending up with portable paper copies, and I have tried most of the formats, from pocket book to A4 spiral-bound.

I don't expect people to actually buy this stuff just yet - as I consider myself a learner - but I need to practice not just writing, but also layout, design, online marketing, etc. I find it easier to learn by actually doing this stuff - and getting a tangible result.

Pedia Press

Apart from Lulu, I also discovered Pedia Press, who allow you to select a bunch of articles from Wikipedia, and then have them made up into a book! I got one copy of all my film work, my own Wikipedia entry (thanks to Colin McEvoy!) and entries for Jim Henson, George Lucas, etc. The paperback makes a convenient reference for when I go to conventions, etc.

An Interesting Distinction

2011-05-01T11:29:00.015+01:00

I came across this thesis online (and there's a book at Amazon, too).

Old Masters and Young Geniuses: The Two Life Cycles of Artistic Creativity

A Portrait of the Artist as a Very Young or Very Old Innovator: Creativity at the Extremes of the Life Cycle

David W. Galenson

in which he attempts to indicate a distinction between what he calls conceptual and experimental innovators.

Abstract

Orson Welles made Citizen Kane, his greatest movie, when he was 25 years old; Frank Lloyd Wright designed Fallingwater, his most famous house, when he was 70. Contrasts as great as this raise the question of whether there is a general explanation of when in their lives great innovators are most creative. For each of seven artistic disciplines, this paper examines a major innovation made by a very young artist, and another made by an old one, with the goal of understanding the role of the artist's age and experience in the accomplishment. The analysis shows why youth was necessary for the innovations of such conceptual artists as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Arthur Rimbaud, Maya Lin, and Orson Welles, all of whom produced their masterpieces before the age of 30, and why extensive experience was necessary for the innovations of such experimental artists as Piet Mondrian, Elizabeth Bishop, Henrik Ibsen, and Frank Lloyd Wright, all of whom made major contributions after the age of 60.

This paper demonstrates the generality of the distinction between conceptual and experimental innovators in artistic disciplines, and the value of the analysis in explaining the very different relationships between age and creativity for the two types of artist.

Henry Miller's regime

2011-04-19T03:38:00.001+01:00

Thanks to Orna Ross, I stumbled back across Henry's rules (self-imposed) for writing:

1. Work on one thing at a time until finished.
2. Start no more new books, add no more new material to Black Spring.
3. Don't be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand.
4. Work according to Program and not according to mood. Stop at the appointed time!
5. When you can't create you can work.
6. Cement a little every day, rather than add new fertilizers.
7. Keep human! See people, go places, drink if you feel like it.
8. Don't be a draught-horse! Work with pleasure only.
9. Discard the Program when you feel like it--but go back to it next day. Concentrate. Narrow down. Exclude.
10. Forget the books you want to write. Think only of the book you are writing.
11. Write first and always. Painting, music, friends, cinema, all these come afterwards.

DAILY PROGRAM

MORNINGS: If groggy, type notes and allocate, as stimulus. If in fine fettle, write.

AFTERNOONS: Work on section in hand, following plan of section scrupulously. No intrusions, no diversions. Write to finish one section at a time, for good and all.

EVENINGS: See friends. Read in cafes. Explore unfamiliar sections--on foot if wet, on bicycle, if dry. Write, if in mood, but only on Minor program. Paint if empty or tired. Make notes. Make charts, Plans. Make corrections of MS.

Note: Allow sufficient time during daylight to make an occasional visit to museums or an occassional sketch or an occasional bike ride. Sketch in cafes and trains and streets. Cut the movies! Library for reference once a week."

Family matters

2011-03-07T15:28:00.004Z

I have started the difficult task of digging through my parent's lives...hard because they have both left the planet long ago, and although I have a sort of cv/resume of each of them, I know almost nothing of their real lives.

This dearth of information explains (partly) why I feel the need to annotate my life a little, even if an autobiography can still only be a tiny sample of a life. I am a biological dad, at least, to three people, but I haven't done a lot of parenting, really. The women did most of the work. It still puzzles me how my name gets tagged to people - some strange leftover of 'male rights', or getting men to acknowledge their children, or something.

I took my dad's name, in the traditional manner, and stuck with it because it seemed a unique name (sufficient for show biz, at least) although, through internet and Facebook I now know I am not unique, even in this. My sister married a couple of times, so her name shifted, and our mother not only married a couple of times but also had a show-biz alias as Sheila Moriarty (using her own mother's maiden name) - so she had started as Sheila Vose, then Sheila Philpott, then Sheila Guthrie - and all the time, still, a Moriarty.

Women seem to have more flexibility under this system, anyway, as they can always marry out of a surname they don't like. I only once called myself Toby Moriarty for a gig/contract, and it felt really weird.

The Spanish seem to nod to both families with double-barreled surnames (a few people do that over here, but it is less of a tradition). I am not sure what happens when two double-barreled names meet. How do they merge?

Ahem - I actually have a hidden agenda for this post, but briefly I am pleased that the mothers involved insisted on getting my surname on the birth certificates - even though I have never married anyone. I was such an outlaw for years that I hated having my name on any official paperwork. It seemed strange at the time not to just use the mother's name (because I myself grew up with a different name from my mum's and it led to lots of confusion and explanations at times, in hotels, over plane tickets, passports, etc). But it's nice, now, to have Yolande Philpott feeling OK about me and my name, and my son seems to choose whichever suits him, Keili Olsen or Keili Philpott, as it takes his fancy.

But this isn't getting a book written. Ahem.

Easy Going

2011-01-29T16:58:00.005Z

Anyone who knows me well will understand that I tend to stroll along with projects, rather than beat myself up. Stress just ain't good for you.

I have always lacked ambition and drive and all those other neurotic motivators that the puritan speed-freaks like Mrs Thatcher (sleeps only 4 hours a night, and proud of it) seem to think of as the only way to live.

The Brits have adopted this approach from the Americans, too - so that the richer you get, the longer hours you work. [What's wrong with this equation?]

The poor spend their time watching the rich folks on television, cherry-picking among houses that cost half a million pounds, complaining about the lack of cupboard space, or the distance to the nearest school - and then saying they only have a budget of 50K to make the kitchen the way they want it, and add en suite toilets to all the bedrooms and such. All while driving to work every day in the SUV, and working on the project in their spare time. I feel no envy.

We, the poor also spend a lot of time fantasising about winning the lottery - and most of us imagine Doing Nothing as the first thing we would do...not work 80-hour weeks like the rich workaholics - who probably assume we are poor because we are lazy.

But hey. Each to their own. When motivated by fascination for something I can spend obsessive hours doing it, but I put that in the category of hobbies, personal development, investment of time in self, etc.

I long ago decided the only real freedoms existed at the top of the pyramid (very hard to get to, if you were not born there) or right at the bottom of the heap, with nothing to lose - and that's the direction I chose (if it didn't choose me). Nothing noble like becoming a Buddhist monk, nor as squalid as becoming a total bum. Just living frugally, simplifying my needs, never borrowing money, keeping possessions to a minimum and finding satisfaction in the everyday, rather than using dissatisfaction as a driver.

So I have started compiling the research to finally put a book together, and potter away at it, like a man in a shed.

The Way Things Happened

I have decided I need to zoom in, and zoom out - so that as well as my own little anecdotes you get some idea of context, a drop of social history, a glimpse of bygone eras (if you are younger than me) or nostalgic memories (if in my peer group) and 'what was really going on'.

And speaking of anecdotes - some of the stories have become polished pebbles by now, from constant retelling, and they get detached from genuine sensory memories and the rough edges of real life, so I am also enjoying the quick flashbacks to moments and incidents that have not become stale, events that I have never before described.

Memories both good and bad

2011-01-15T11:50:00.004Z

I have no idea how much to put in or leave out... Digging in the boxes (and the Akashic Records of memory) does turn up some odd stuff.

Back in 1973 a pretty girl I met at The Oval House invited me to help 'a photographer friend' who wanted to try to capture juggling with a strobe, so I accepted, of course.

I was curious, in those days, about the doors that 'being a juggler' kept opening.

It turned out that John Hedgecoe was a lecturer at the Royal College of Art, and he took various strobe photos of juggling with balls and rings and stuff, but eventually suggested drink cans. Now, they are not the easiest things to juggle in the first place, and under strobes most juggling is hard to sustain.

Still I did it. Didn't get paid. Didn't get any nice prints for my own publicity use. And it turned out to be a commercial project (one cover in for a series of books), not an experiment.

My first experience in the school of hard knocks. On the cover of other books in the series I noted the faces of his students and another tutor, so maybe we all got exploited and no-one got paid! Hey ho.

I know the girl quit working for him shortly afterwards, but I won't repeat what she called him!

recapitulation

2011-01-11T23:39:00.002Z

Autobiography

Scrivener has turned out to work really well for me, so I have started compiling the long-delayed autobiography, partly to test it (I always use real projects, not pretend ones, when testing stuff) and partly to do a recapitulation of my life as I approach 65.

That number doesn't have any real significance, of course, but for many years it has been used in the UK as a benchmark for 'retirement'. The government seems intent on moving the goalposts now that people live longer, as the maths of tax and pensions no longer balances out.

Of course, when I dropped out I assumed the State would have withered away by now, and never expected a pension, so I feel amazed that anyone intends to give me anything for not working, but it appears they might. Not much, but a small income just for staying alive as a British citizen.

Amazing.

Retirement

Perhaps it could offer the minimal support for the older meaning of retirement, of retreat into the forest, the spiritual retirement, or magickal retirement, or whatever.

You may note that I have not used capital letters for the title 'recapitulation' as I don't want it confused with the technical use of it by (say) followers of Castaneda. Interesting as his books seemed in the 80s, I have since come to some sort of conclusion about that rascal guru and the cult that built up around him, that makes me feel more uneasy than it did at the time.

Of course, believers may assume that my unease (like that of the pseudo-Carlos in the books) comes from living an inauthentic life, and they may have a point. Still, looking back over a life and contemplating both individual events, and the broad sweep of the story, does not belong to any one realm, genre or group.

And as 'My Name Is Earl' shows, even Scientologists like re-living or re-visiting past events and activities to discharge the energy trapped in them, or clear the karma locked down, or whatever the jargon. Psychotherapy in various forms does something similar to relieve people of trauma.

Any and all of these things may have some relevance to writing an autobiography, but it can also have the story-teller aspect of grandpa round the fire, handing on the tale of the tribe, or offering cautionary tales, or even inspirational (and possibly hilarious) teaching tales, or simply self-mocking anecdotes.

I have no idea, as I grope forward. To avoid any grand ideas I tell myself I just want a little book of anecdotes to sell at conventions, or to hand to my grand-daughter, or something.

The final outcome seems less interesting (at the moment) than the process of concentrating on putting my affairs in order, while also drifting into reverie at times.

Focus, drift away, focus, drift away... I enjoy it. The process.

Circus History

To keep myself grounded in tribal history, rather than just my own little adventures, I have also embarked on what may turn out as a longer project, to compile a history of the circus. Not just whatever we mean by the word 'circus' (some people use it to mean all the variety skills of speciality acts, others to mean the modern cliche image which only dates back 2-300 years) but the specific tribe to which I belong. NoFit State.

Of course, the active members continue to create, explore and expand, and the project could prove open-ended, and subject to continuous revision, so I have decided to collect my research together not in private folders but in a public Wiki. Someone else can always take over if I bite the sawdust unexpectedly, and meanwhile anyone can join in and collaborate on the researching and editing process.

Much to look forward to in 2011!

Writing Software for Windows: Scrivener Beta

2010-12-30T14:36:00.005Z

I have tried a couple of writing software packages, and so far haven't really felt at home with any.

Too much time trying to figure them out, rather than getting on with content. But I don't intend that as a criticism, just an aside:

yWriter5 is freeware from SpaceJock Software
The Snowflake Method from Randy Ingermanson might interest you - his Snowflake Pro software will cost you $100, though.

So I like the idea that Scrivener (so long only available to Mac users) will soon be released in a version for Windows.
Indeed, if you like early-uptake, and don't mind beta-testing (i.e. finding bugs and not complaining about them to the manufacturer - just reporting them as feedback) then you can already download it and get going. Beta Test Download here

As software goes, it has always seemed really cheap (£30-40) and (even better) if you 'won' on NaNoWriMo this year you get a 50% off coupon, too!

It ain't easy

2010-12-20T11:54:00.007Z

I did finish the rather bad book for NaNoWriMo, and it would take a lot of work to really shape it up, as this year I struggled. Every year seems different with this challenge (I have done it four times now).

As it happens, serendipity helped motivate me to catch up and cross the line in the last few days, in spite of having a cold and all that. What helped? Going to a gig in London and meeting Robert Rankin (without even knowing it was him, until he was already off at the bar buying another round) and chatting all evening.

While he was gone, my friend Michael and I had let our hair down, so when Robert came back with the drinks, he let his hair down, too, and Per took this picture! Heh heh. Robert and I later left that room where the volunteers were letting their hair down, and found a quieter bar, where we could hang out with Mr Kenny Baker (R2D2 for those who don't know these things).

I have gone off and joined The Order of the Golden Sprout, as I have enjoyed Robert's books in the past, although I am not a completist (yet!)

So although I could despair of my own writing after reading his latest, it remains helpful to remember that these magical things called 'books' are actually written by real people!

It was also a delight to meet his partner Rachel Haward. I hope they got away on their cruise...

I Made It!

2010-11-30T20:09:00.003Z

I finished "Does Not Compute" !

Everyone wins who crosses the line, so it's not the first person to finish, or the one with the most words...

Congratulations to every one else who shared this journey!

Downhill all the way

2010-11-26T23:12:00.003Z

And as we come into the final straight - still slightly off the pace, but getting second wind, the writing becomes more reckless as I throw myself towards the line.

Far too late to make it all fit together, ideas tumble out that may have to go get retro-fitted to all that went before.

That edit, that series of edits, happens once I have all the words in the can. The editing suite is a whole other life for a director than the shooting process, of trying to capture stuff on film.

If I had the control-freak approach of having an outline, plot and characters story-boarded, then the edit just tidies up what was visualized initially, and what finally ended up as the raw material.

During the edit we might find we need to re-shoot some stuff, even recall the cast and shoot some newly-scripted bits, but finally we have to compile what we have, and then try it out on someone.

I really don't want this run by a test group in some little suburban cinema in middle America.

I need a crowd who knows its a rough draft, a stab in the dark, just one more attempt to created something which might actually change the way we see things, do things. Over-ambitious, no doubt, and falling far short at this stage, but we can't let that inner critic out just yet (even if we secretly feel that we agree).

The critic, after all, is cruising along in one of the support vehicles, making some sort of documentary about the creative process, while I still slog on - nowhere near as tired as Eddie Izzard on his 40th marathon...

But he remains a role-model of gritted-teeth determination to complete something that he made a commitment to himself to conclude. My ambitions remain far below that kind of target, fairly achievable, after all, but also without a support team. All I have going for me is a swarm of other crazy folk, all over the planet, writing their hearts out to hit that target.

Be lucky, folks, the end is in sight. Why quit now? The time to quit came in the early stages, or maybe halfway, when you could retire having made a serious attempt. Now it would just feel sad to get so close to the line and not make it. Let's just finish this, OK, and I'll see you in the bar in four days, or so (given the time differences around the world).

Go for it! One last push!

I've been writing for 23 days, now...

2010-11-23T21:05:00.005Z

This year I really thought I might have gotten myself into something I couldn't complete in time.

Stubbornly, in the face of interruptions, this cold that has made me woolly-headed, the usual slump of despair and resistance to the problems such a project entails, and all the usual - that NaNoWriMo contributors know only too well (the inner critic who finds it all boring and tedious and badly-written, the curiosity of people I mention it to - actually using the public declaration as a way to drive myself forward - as to why I should bother, and all that...)

And incomplete sentences, and distractions, and other projects, and the sad eyes of my dog who wonders why I am not walking as much, or why I stare at the screen so often), etc, etc.

I know from previous experience that I learn a lot in this process. Ending up with something that may not entirely make sense (not a lot of time for research, or re-reading) I still find it a very fruitful process, and it feels great to know so many other people enjoy it too.

Each time I face a blank page (if scribbling in a reporter's notebook) or screen, I decide on a different approach or task.

Invent a character, describe something in detail, elaborate on the story so far, spend an evening letting the characters just talk to each other, throwing people together unexpectedly, hinting at secrets that even I don't yet know the answer to, etc. I learn something from each and all of these exercises.

No-one pretends they will end up with a smooth and finished product. Looking back, I feel a bit sheepish that I wanted to follow through to holding a hard copy in my hand, but it led to me learning how to use Lulu, and layout a book, commission a cover, etc.

Learning all the time.

So, I only have a week to go, and have still fallen behind sustaining the right average daily number of words to get through the process smoothly. I have almost clawed my way back to the 'par for the course' word count.

by now I should be at 38k, strictly speaking, and I have only made it to 34k, but I can feel that easing of the tension, too, that can sometimes lead to an increase in pace. The finishing line has become a real possibility, now. I seem to have got through the dreadful 'hitting the wall' phase of such a marathon. I even find time to stop and write a blog post like this.

I have spent some time updating a Wiki we made for one of my favourite books, Illuminatus!

In previous years I made encouraging videos...The creative process has spin-offs like that which make it even more rewarding.

I may even find that the half-understood book from last year, which I never went back to edit, and this year's, may eventually blend, with some savage cutting into something else again.

I quite enjoy not knowing, now, quite what I hope to achieve. Writing forward into the unknown means I sometimes hit passages I actually enjoy writing, transactions that surprise me, and ideas that make me laugh.

All that makes it seem worthwhile, as an adventure, an exercise, a challenge.

One week to go, and more distractions on the horizon, a gig in London, travel (but train journeys do offer an opportunity to write, one good reason for not driving, for instance).

And my worst case scenario? I don't actually complete 50k by next Tuesday. I hope it doesn't happen, but I will still have learned all this...

Wish me luck...just don't pray for me, I don't think it works. On the other hand, why not?

Do as you Will.

[You see? There's 600+ words I'll never see again.
I guess I write half a million words a year, in blogs, emails, FB, etc. So why does fiction seem so hard?]

Something like that...

2010-11-20T13:31:00.001Z

"Chandler has also influenced my way of telling stories; all my fiction tends to follow the Chandler mythos of the skeptical Knight seeking Truth in a world of false-fronts and manipulated deceptions. (Of course, this is also my biography, or that of any shaman.) "

Robert Anton Wilson from an interview you can find online

Uninhibited

2010-11-19T11:23:00.003Z

I realise now one of the reasons I have trouble writing this year. When I did Infinite Monkeys I wanted to write something without the gimmicks that often sell books: misery, violence, sex, angst, adrenaline and all that. I deliberately wrote something that pottered and meandered along (although one rude word slipped in, I notice!)

I guess that comes from my previous life as a 'children's entertainer' when I eliminated ambiguity from everything I said and did in public, deciding that (without going Disney) the world was quite full enough of innuendo, prurience and dirty jokes, etc, and I would avoid such stuff.

This year, although it hasn't quite worked as planned, I wanted to write a conspiracy thriller, and this 'tameness' wasn't helping at all. I guess there's the fear of being judged (as ever) but no-one (let's face it) might ever read it. So I decided to let my characters swear, think about (and perhaps even indulge in) sex and violence, etc.

We'll see how it goes, but it gave me a couple of thousand more words, and they all count. What might have to go in the editing remains to be seen.

Blahs and Doldrums

2010-11-16T14:21:00.002Z

It was great to receive a pep talk email from Chris Baty (founder of NaNoWriMo) this morning. It maybe explains why I do this with the group, and not just any time of year when I think I will have time, etc.

To know that you have hit the same problem as thousands of others seems reassuring, even as people quit and fade for reasons of their own (and no-one sneers at someone who can't run more than ten miles in a marathon...)

That's still ten miles further than most people... I hope he won't mind me quoting chunks:

Bah. Those of us who are grappling with sluggish stories and dwindling mojo? We're having the real NaNoWriMo party---the Struggler's Party! I've been hanging out at this low-energy fiesta for the past week, and I've been hearing some familiar laments around the punch bowl.
"I think I picked the wrong story.""Work ate my word count.""Nothing seems to happen in my book.""My main character is getting on my nerves." The most common refrain at the Struggler's Party, though, is that we're just feeling Blah. Our stories are Blah, our writing is Blah. We've spent the last two weeks mining our creative depths, and many of us have emerged with too few diamonds and way too many lumps of coal. [...]

1) Incite change. If your story is losing momentum, juice it up by inflicting some major changes on your characters. Crash the spaceship. End the marriage. Buy the monkey. Change is scary because we have to figure out what comes next. But feeling afraid is ten times better than feeling bored, and your book will benefit from your risk-taking. Go big this week! You won't regret it.
2) Trust the process. If you're doubting yourself or your story, just keep moving forward. It will work itself out in the end. Every year, NaNoWriMo authors who press on to 50K are treated to the equivalent of NaNoWriMo's northern lights. This is the electric moment when the tangle of plots and people we dropped into the first half of our books end up forming unexpected connections with what we write in Weeks Three and Four. Themes develop. Arcs emerge. As we fly out of the 30,000s and into the 40,000s, a current begins to flow through our writing. Things crackle, then hum, and, at the very end of the month, enough circuits connect that the whole story lights up with a charmingly bookish glow.

Thanks Chris!

Our Hero

2010-11-15T09:51:00.004Z

When I tried to analyse the thrillers [see July post] that I was reading I seem to have missed out the most obvious cliché or stereotype.

The man who can do everything.

Whether he's sexy like James Bond or a paranoid loner (damaged by something in his past) he will have been in the SAS, or some secretive service. He can speak all languages, kill people with his thumb, appear equally at home in an illegal poker game in a warehouse, a Baccarat game in a high-end casino, or a sedate Bridge game in a country house. He can cook, drive fast, fly planes and helicopters, etc. He can hold his liquor, do martial arts, break codes, run fast, etc. You've met him in almost all thrillers aimed at men...

It all sounds a bit like Heinlein's list, which also struck me as odd male fantasy:
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.”

But unlike most of my generation I didn't read Stranger In A Strange Land, because there remained something I didn't like about Heinlein, and I couldn't put my finger on it.

Why Don't I Listen?

2010-11-12T10:16:00.004Z

Sometimes it feels as though I don't listen to myself!

Only six weeks ago I highlighted a distinction between showing and telling which I thought helpful, and I already fell into the trap.

I wondered why my word count had fallen so low (in spite of visitors, and other distractions) and realised that I had started telling again (which is very compressed, rather than showing all the little details). Doh!

Does Not Compute

2010-11-08T14:18:00.002Z

A year went by, and NaNoWriMo came around again. Having completed three times I dived in, only to suffer the whole anxiety of the first week again - what am I doing? Why did I start this? Who would care if I quite?

I haven't got quite as far behind as the indicator might imply (I needed to have reached about 11,500 by Sunday night to stay on track) because I have some stuff pencilled into a reporter's notebook on the train (didn't feel like typing).

I will try to get those scribbles digitalized ASAP, so that the thing looks less scarily behind, but I know I need to keep pressing on...

It's currently called "Does Not Compute" though that may change.

Easing the tension

2010-11-04T23:36:00.002Z

Well, finally I got a couple of characters going, playing scenes, thinking their thoughts, getting on with activities.

That helps.

They haven't started talking to others yet. I haven't even spent a lot of time describing the surroundings for one of them.

I even have a couple of announced others, waiting in the wings.

I've kept the word count up, and now look forward to finding out what these characters do.

That helps a lot. G'night.

I don't get it

2010-11-03T22:28:00.002Z

No, this year I have really no idea what I have set out to do.

Year One: started as semi-auto-biography, only slowly getting brave enough to make stuff up, and end up with more fiction than fact
Year Two: deliberately set out to break down into chapters, make everything up, not base characters on friends, or events on my experiences, etc
Year Three: began to fall apart (thinking too much) and although I have several sections I enjoyed writing it never totally shaped up, and I have never re-written it (so much of it needs cutting)
Script Frenzy: broke the pattern, having to write a 100 page script in a month - and I enjoyed it, plotted it, tried to give it structure and tension, etc.
This year's NaNo will not get going. It seems so abstract. If this falls into the category of a 'novel' we might have to stretch the definition in all directions, from Tristram Shandy to Naked Lunch. I could do with, at least, a few 'routines' - and I could certainly attempt to use the self-referential, if it isn't going to go away. (sigh) Just keeping the word count up, and gagging and hoodwinking the inner critic...

Staggering along, but not yet despairing. Maybe this year I will dive into the forums (fora?) and ask for help.

Help!

Serious Literature

2010-10-15T13:17:00.002+01:00

After all my recent dabbling in popular conspiracy thrillers I have enjoyed settling down with Zero History by William Gibson... He may not appeal to everyone, but I like the stretch I can feel in the brain cells, as he makes me work to understand...rather than spell it all out.

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

Whether or not I will spend November trying to write something a bit more swashbuckling than my previous high-speed novels remains a moot point. As in previous years I have already begun to feel the adrenaline rush anxiety about whether:

I can sustain the writing pace in the face of other demands on my time
I can stay motivated
I can think of anything at all to write...

Two weeks to go... At least I have the bonus of telling myself I have managed to complete the challenge successfully three times already.

My profile at the NaNoWriMo site.

Pottering along

2010-10-05T14:35:00.011+01:00

I recently discovered the Blog2Print site, and although it seemed great fun for the family it might involve a little too much expense for my own online writings.

To grab OM (Only Maybe) into PDFs (potentially to turn into hard copies) involved making two books. That covers about 4 years. I like having them as PDFs but doubt I will manifest them.

I suspect that to turn my main diary blog into book format could perhaps involve about 4-5 volumes. The PDFs don't cost too much, but making them into hard copies would cost more than my pride (or vanity) can afford.

I have started a timeline, at least, for a history of NoFit State Circus, but it will involve a great deal of time and effort to compile a really good collection of posters, programmes, pictures and anecdotes...I wonder if I should try to set it up as a shareable document, or Wiki or something (initially) so people could add jottings. The shared photo album on Facebook has uncovered some gems.

Then there's my own autobiography, which limps along...

Will I do my 'thriller' for this year's NaNoWriMo challenge?

I have compiled a bunch of articles and stuff, which I hope to put on Lulu, but it will cost a bit to do it all in colour...we'll see.

Currently called 'Scattered Thoughts' although that may mutate to 'Thought Processes'.

I need some time off, both to think and to write...

[update Saturday 9th October 2010]
Well, if I want colour throughout, Lulu wants to charge £18.50 for an A4 edition of Scattered Thoughts. I will make one, as a test, and offer the PDF, but basically that's too expensive. I might try a Black and White edition...

TV Tropes

2010-09-24T10:41:00.004+01:00

For viewers and readers, writers and creators - a quick riffle through the TV Tropes wiki can always stimulate thought!

This witty and informal wiki contains all kinds of references to clichés and stereotypes, of both plot and characterization, in the media.

For example, and at random: Magical Gestures

Showing, not telling...

2010-09-21T17:00:00.003+01:00

Most writing books advise that you attempt to involve the reader by 'showing' rather than merely 'telling' the events and people, but not all how-to books agree with that advice.

I like this attempt to distinguish the two modes, and explain how they both have their uses - from the Advanced Writing website...

Please note how much more efficient “telling” is than “showing.”
Please note how much more vivid “showing” is than “telling.”
Now here’s an important point: You want to “show” the interesting parts of your story and “tell” the uninteresting parts.

That seems like a very useful distinction, to me. Follow the link for more detail.

Welsh blog awards

2010-09-13T14:48:00.002+01:00

This blog did not get submitted to the competition, simply because the writer had not even heard about the competition.

Maybe next year (sigh).

Wales blog Awards

Very helpful guidance

2010-08-31T21:55:00.003+01:00

I just read a book called Writing Tools, which led me to the Poynter site.

Great stuff!

I recommend the book as an easy read(!), wise, witty and informative.

You can find a brief version of the 50 tools online, and can even sample them as podcasts (two minute sessions to listen to).

Highly recommended, and I will get back to you for further comment - just wanted to share!

The Story of My Life

2010-07-19T11:55:00.003+01:00

Does the world need another story? You may well wonder - whether we understand that to mean something made up around the camp fire, or the ‘true story’ of just one little life form.

The only reason I set myself this task was that my family remains scattered, and we don’t get much time for fireside story-telling. I never knew much about my own father’s past, and it remains intriguing. So little got recorded of ‘little lives’ up until now that I have trouble reconstructing the past he lived through.

Future generations may have a bottomless resource to rebuild their own past from. Events shot from dozens of angles by camera phones. Snapshots, blog diaries, FaceBook entries, twits, you name it, the archive will be there for trawling. Still, like any researcher they may come across conflicting descriptions or edited or censored versions of ‘the truth’, which they may have to resolve to their own satisfaction.

Coming from the last of the unrecorded generations, I just wanted to capture a few of my experiences, if possible, as they might reflect on my generation, too, and provide clues not just for my own descendants, but anyone interested in the period.

As well as describing events, as best as I can remember with my unreliable memory, I may put in a couple of chapters of rants and opinions, as they also colour the way I lived, the way I experienced events and even the way I remember things.

As many of the people involved in my story still roam the planet I may not go into too much personal detail (without their permission) so don’t expect revelations, sordid details or unkind thoughts. We lived as best we could, and perceptions and intentions change all the time.

When young most of us have a very limited worldview, but we slowly grow and our world expands, along with the information we have to base decisions on. Some of us travel widely, some stay put – and those adventures can involve actual movement around the planet, through other cultures or life styles, or simple mental journeys through all human history, creativity and endeavour, without moving from our place of birth.

You can already find a simplified biography on Wikipedia, compiled by journalist Colin McEvoy from all the online interviews, blogs and websites I have already put up. In fact, playing with online resources seriously slowed down my desire to write this up in book form, but I feel the need to expand those bare bone details into something a little warmer and more personal.

I hope you may find something of interest here, and, of course, with the modern forms of publishing it will prove really easy to make a later edition, if anyone wants to add any corrections, anecdotes or other comments.

Website autobiog started a decade ago

Listed on The Visual Representation of Human Lives (lifelong autodocumentaries)

Art project - write your life in less than one day

Interviewed for Anecdotal Cardiff (Index/Community)

Contributed brief 'story of my life' to BBC competition, My Story

Wikipedia Entry (I corrected major errors, but one or two survive)

IMDb entry (not listed exactly as I would describe things)

All my online interviews about film work

General cv (resumé) as educator

Still reading thrillers

2010-07-02T11:00:00.006+01:00

A while back I discussed with friends why my own novels might prove almost unreadable (well, being written hastily in a month might contribute to that fact!)

Anyway, as people seem to think I lean in the direction of Dan Brown territory I decided to look at blockbuster thrillers in the conspiracy realm, just for an experiment, and began to make a list of essential ingredients.

This was my original post, back in February. These are the main points:

Famous Location(s) - Tourist attractions, cathedrals, special cities, etc. which might (or might not) like the publicity your book generates.
Famous People of the past - Who's been done? Mozart (Freemasons), Van Gogh, Gaudi, Da Vinci (or rather Leonardo) of course, Jesus and Mary, Shakespeare, Kennedy Bros, Elvis, Marilyn.
Imaginary organisations (or imaginative alternative uses for existing ones) or very secret societies - [eldritch rising organ music]
Scary events - Bond villain plans for the world – religious prophecies – natural catastrophes – alien invasion – ritual murder – abduction
Alternative Historical interpretations of source of civilization/religion, etc
Money (almost infinite resources to jump on planes, etc)
Religion - and esoteric belief systems of magic(k) or witchcraft
Espionage – codes and cyphers, cryptograms
A MacGuffin everyone is looking for (manuscripts, formula, Holy Grail, magic spear, etc)
Ingenious methods (technology from Q, magic from Jonathan Creek)
a couple of investigators - partly qualified but a little out of their depth [edit: I seem to have overlooked the 'man who can do everything', so 'partly qualified' seems a bit weak. Check this update.]
some innocents dragged into the whole thing – often in jeopardy
plenty of disposable villains (for getting their come-uppance)
the Grinning Sadist – boss’s sidekick or lone wolf?
a worthy opponent for our heros (curiously charming - but dangerous - Big Boss, or terrifyingly unhinged tyrant)
Special helpers (Mycroft Holmes, professors, etc) - usually die, too
Anonymous super-rich people (malign or benign) – provided with helicopters, forts, wodges of cash, etc
Celebrities (who, like police and spies, have access all areas – assistants, second homes, etc – disadvantage – easily recognised)

Anyway, currently reading The Cult of Osiris by Andy McDermott and it certainly ticks the boxes: female archaeologist seeking to restore her reputation; ex-special services boyfriend (only kills baddies, but seems to cause collatoral damage wherever he goes); disfigured baddie; secret society/cult; Egyptian treasure under The Sphinx, etc.

At least the hero attempts some Bruce Willis-type sidecracks during the action...in contrast to the total lack of humour in many of these type of books...

Easing my way into writing

2010-06-08T12:32:00.002+01:00

Although I have now written 3 flash novels and one flash script, I don't really have aspirations in that direction.

Still, they count as finger exercises in different modes of writing, and I hope that when I settle down to focus on the 'autobiography' that all this practice may prove useful.

Structure ("lives have a beginning, middle and end, but not necessarily in that order"), tempo, conflict, characters, dialogue and all that - tricks to make my own story more interesting, perhaps.

More news on this project soon. I do think it could prove a saleable item at conventions...

Self-publishing

2010-05-25T15:48:00.002+01:00

Although I have self-published right through to paperback with custom cover, I have not really settled into producing the book I feel proud of yet.

All just finger-exercises and experiments, to me, at the moment.

Still I stumble over occasional interesting links. Will expand on these later.

Indie Author Guide

The Indie Reader

Maybe a couple of self-referential movies, too

2010-05-07T16:13:00.003+01:00

The library offered me The State of Things - Der Stand der Dinge (Wim Wenders backstage movie) and The Fall (frame story and movie references).

Now I just have to find time away from regular tv programming, to watch obscure movies...

Reading those books, again...

2010-05-06T11:32:00.002+01:00

The spin-off from writing a script has turned into browsing the shelves about Hollywood, and movies, and all that. So as well as straight books on screen-writing, and histories of the Moguls, etc - I have also found my way to The Day of The Locust, and F Scott Fitzgerald and other items I have never felt drawn to before.

My education seems endless...

And next...

2010-04-26T11:24:00.006+01:00

I implied that I only intended this blog as a supplement to Script Frenzy, but now that I started I figure it might as well tick along as a general writing blog.

I didn't spend my childhood writing fantasy stories, and indeed, I didn't spend all that much of my adulthood reading fiction (I have read far more non-fiction) - so quite where the writing bug came from I don't know.

Maybe because (bottom line) it only needs pencil and paper, no elaborate set-up or tools, and as story-telling it only needs a voice. Not that I expect the end of civilization as we know it, or to run entirely out of resources, but somewhere in there the simplicity does seem part of it.

Simple, however, as I used to say when teaching juggling (you could describe the cascade pattern as 'simple') does not necessarily mean 'easy'. I see simple as the opposite of complicated, and easy as the opposite of difficult.

Not that many people in talent shows try becoming jugglers, or animal trainers, piano players or tap dancers, because they look difficult. Almost everyone appears to think they can sing or tell jokes, though (and since soap operas cast for type, act). It looks 'simple'.

I guess writing also looks like something a lot of us think we can do...

So anyway, I soon got tired of the finger-exercises in 'How To Write' books, and have had more fun plunging in. So far I have written 3 novellas (50,000 words) with NaNoWriMo, and a film script at Script Frenzy. Not necessarily honed, or rewritten, but done. As I still don't quite know what I want to achieve, it seems a good idea to just keep going.

People have suggested autobiography (I seem to have had a colourful life) but somehow I can't get a handle on that. Too many people still alive who I might upset, too much soul-searching, perhaps too much honesty. Who can tell?

A few years back I even tried to compile a 'script' for a comic book (sorry, graphic novel) called Magical Means - and although it never got completely manifested, still I turned it into a short story and got some illustrations to go with it, and published online.

Graphic novel - think visually, with minimum dialogue

Film script - think visually, but practice dialogue exchanges

Novels - play around with POVs, and the balance of plot, description, character arc, etc.

I will be amused when I find out what all this adds up to...

I have a certificate to prove it!

2010-04-24T11:55:00.006+01:00

Today Script Frenzy turned on their measuring devices, and proved that I had 'won' by completing a 100 page script!

Like The Scarecrow, I may not have any brains, but at least I now have a certificate!

And like him, I might consider myself a Doctor of Thinkology!

"The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side. Oh joy! Rapture!"

Sunny day reading

2010-04-19T11:24:00.004+01:00

I read "The Whole Equation", a quite wonderful book about the 'whole ecology' of Hollywood films, by David Thomson - all 400 pp of it.

For light relief I read "Wishful Drinking" by Carrie Fisher (hilarious and a touch sad).

Having completed the first draft so quickly I went into a kind of limbo, and just dropped the whole thing. It seemed far too soon to re-edit.

However, I am still thinking about it all. The other book I read this weekend was Crafty Screenwriting by Alex Epstein (subhead: Writing Movies that Get Made). However, I don't kid myself.

All of this seems like doing finger-exercises to me, practising writing. I really don't set out thinking I am going from rags to riches. The whole idea makes me chuckle. I didn't expect to go from street performer to Star Wars puppeteer and although that happened (a) I didn't plan it (b) I didn't remain in the 'rich and famous' world, but was just one more disposable Private in the film army.

The only reason I say all that? When I say I am writing a script, friends seem to assume that I am trying to make money or get famous or something.

Otherwise, what's the point?

Well, I never have had very good reasons for doing things. They have to amuse me. Whether or not they ever amuse anyone else seems neither here nor there.

So writing a paranormal movie might have some small chance of getting made.

Writing a movie saying there are no paranormal levels to existence, and that people are just kidding themselves, and conning others, seems doomed from the word go (like an atheist running for President of the USA). Hey ho. It may change in the re-write, of course, at least in the direction of ambiguity.

I think I want to amplify my 'baddie' who is currently a medium who is in it for the money, originally more of the 'sweet little old lady' type, but I want to move her in the direction of Madame Blavatsky, sitting there like Jabba the Hutt, rolling her cigarettes with haschish in (although modern Theosophists might skim over that aspect of HPB), a blatant and unrepentant charlatan who also seems to have had immense charisma, and a worshipping circle of followers.

As it happens, I have a soft spot for Madame, without her influence on my dad I suspect I wouldn't have been a vegetarian all my life, with a leaning to Hindu/Buddhist approaches to life (I didn't get that from The Sixties).

Slightly procrastinating on the edit!

2010-04-15T14:15:00.000+01:00

the luxury of having time to read...

2010-04-12T15:49:00.003+01:00

...and maybe even watch a movie or two.

This first run only involved watching much less tv for ten days, so hardly a sacrifice, but even so, now I have this first run, I feel free to spend a little time browsing.

I will be adding random links for myself here...you're welcome to browse them, too...for me this post is just a set of bookmarks.

Wikipedia on Screenplay

ScriptWriters Network on format, etc

ScriptWriters Network on Hollywood Outreach (yeah, it costs money)

FinalDraft on Script Rules

First Draft is in the can!

2010-04-12T13:46:00.003+01:00

I had almost got there, so did a bit of hacking away during my early lunch, and have now got 100 pages of film script!

Just as it is, sufficient to claim success at Screen Frenzy, but I have the rest of April to get it up on the board as index cards, and tweak it around. If, in the process, I hack too much away, I can always post this version come the Great Reckoning.

Almost the whole thing

2010-04-12T00:25:00.002+01:00

I have gotten to the end but fallen slightly short.

I have 96 pages, but I already ended the story.

it might prove the 'natural' length, of course, but I feel sure I can find room to expand, either with the stage directions, or the descriptions of settings, etc.

Or add expanded scenes.

Essentially, I have a rough draft! Whoopee!

Coupla late nights...

2010-04-11T13:27:00.004+01:00

...and apologies to the dog about his missing the end-of-the-evening walk.

Actually I fell asleep early last night, then got up in the small hours and zoomed to page 75. This morning I have edged it to 80 pages. I managed to:

create a bit of jeopardy for my hero(s)
get the clock ticking (increased urgency for them to act)
amp up the baddies, so that they are capable of murder, and guilty of more sleazy backstories, etc.
reveal a hidden ally

I may need to improve the buddy banter, and although one of the women has revealed new depths and a hidden side, the other remains a cypher at the moment.

Although Script Frenzy targets 100 pages, Blake Snyder suggests 110 pages as some sort of average or standard. This does mean I haven't necessarily got all the beats in the right place just yet, but I have used his beat sheet as a skeleton at least, and it has helped.

In fact, Script Frenzy offer their own version, trimmed to 100 pages (the Hollywood Beat Sheet) but I can't finesse right now.

I have predominantly written in dialogue to start with, as I felt the danger of writing too much action might turn it into 'fiction writing' again. Likewise I have hardly ever suggested shots.

Designers only need a hint, actors don't like being told how to play things, and directors don't really need my suggestions for shots. At least, that's how I decided to approach it for now.

Once I hit the target, anyway, I will have to proofread, and may add some action or description to clarify what I meant, just as some dialogue may work better 'acted out'.

As I seem to be on target for finishing the first draft really quickly, I can use the rest of the Script Frenzy month trying to hone it up a little. I will put the script into cards on the board (currently it is covered in almost random posts) and shuffle them around a little.

I may re-read Save The Cat, to check I have covered most of the issues (and he has a specific chapter for tightening up slack scripts, a check-list for improvements to make in the edit).

I am also reading a little wider in the screenplay writer blogs that I have come across (see blog list to the right of the screen), which make more sense now that I have actually started.

Don't delude yourself

2010-04-10T15:29:00.005+01:00

Writing a script has made me search new places on the web, and (let's face it) more people are interested in television and film than read fictional books.

This does also make it a very competitive space, and anyone who knows me realises I don't have a competitive bone in my body.

Either what I do seems good to others and they employ it, enjoy it, reward it, exploit it, etc.

Or they don't get it.

And my dabble in the film business in the 1980s gave a real glimpse of the shark pool, the scripts that never get made, the people who make their living in pre-pre-production, and all that.

I came across a hilarious Poster Guide on a Screenwriter's Life, that Michael Dare did for the LA Weekly, which you can find full size here.

It puts it all in perspective. Don't give up the day job.

Floundering slightly

2010-04-10T12:50:00.003+01:00

I have hesitated, and lost tempo, but, still staggering forward, I have reached page 61.

I suspect I may have to make the baddies badder, and the jeopardy worse, and all that - but for the first draft it may still have to suffice to simply get to the 100 page mark, and not worry too much.

It feels harder to keep the internal critic at bay when you lose the rhythm of writing (this seems to happen if you stop writing to 'think', and wonder if you should go back and tinker/edit a bit).

Especially as scripts are almost all dialogue, I just have to keep them talking. Maybe I should try reading the scenes aloud (?)

Although, I guess, (aha!) I could try writing an action sequence with no dialogue.

Now that seems like a good idea to get through the next few pages...

Some kind of whoopee!

2010-04-06T22:42:00.004+01:00

I put my head down today, and have crossed the halfway point (52 pages out of 100).

I didn't know (using Blake Snyder's map) if the halfway point was going to be a high or a low (false victory, false defeat) but it turns out to be a high for my Protagonist.

He seems on top of his game, and the baddies seem overwhelmed for the moment.

All of which can only bode ill for him and his associates in the second part of Act Two.

Apparently the Bad Guys Close In, now, and we head to the All Is Lost point (around about page 70/75) which is the flipside of the HalfWay Point.

I don't know if I'll stick to his map, but it offers a loose structure to may shapeless thinking...

Wizardry

2010-04-02T16:56:00.006+01:00

Well, I skimmed through the 130 pages of Wizard of Oz script, and it did seem to align itself better with the beats, though I'd be hard-pressed to give you exact page counts.

It opens and closes in Black and White, of course - opening images (The Set-Up) contain all the characters who will re-appear in the contrary (colourful) world. The good companions, and the genuinely evil witch, as well as the incompetent but benign wizard. Also the themes of Courage, Brains and Heart get introduced, but I guess the Theme Stated must be Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Aunt Em tells her to go look for a place where there is no trouble)...

The Catalyst arrives bang on page 12 - as Toto escapes back to Dorothy but she knows her Aunt and Uncle will give way to the evil one, so has to choose to run away.

Now we get the 'debate' section as she meets the Professor who tries to get her to turn back from such a decision, but by page 33 we reach the Break into the Second Act ( and into colour, of course).

I am not sure about the B Story (in Snyder's model) but Dorothy meets and builds up relationships with three 'helpful creatures' and they merry along the road to the MidPoint, which uncannily arrives (as Snyder says it should) on page 65, exactly half way through - where Dorothy sees the Emerald City, but has fallen asleep in the Poppy Field!

The baddies then do close in for quite some pages, and their first meeting with Oz turns into a 'False Victory' (All Is Lost) as he sets them a daunting task that throws them back to the baddies lair (the Dark Night of The Soul).

The Break into Act Three seems like the moment when Toto escapes and (like Rin-Tin-Tin) goes to find the Helpers and lead them to rescue Dorothy, by using the aspects of themselves they didn't previously believe in.

In the Finale they overthrow the witch and all return to find the Wizard, who grants them their (non-magical) rewards. He then appears to help Dorothy get home with his hot air balloon, but it escapes (false ending) but Glinda arrives to tell Dorothy she has the power within herself to return...she just has to want to "There's No Place Like Home".

And the final image, of course, in Black and White, she is home, but hasn't had to say goodbye, as it turns out that Zeke (Lion), Hunk (Scarecrow) and Hickory (Tin Man) are still there, in human guise, and even the Wizard/Professor pops his head in...

Yup, I can see why it works.

Beats working

2010-04-02T15:37:00.007+01:00

I still feel I haven't quite grasped the significance of Mr Snyder's Hollywood beats, so I dug out my old Labyrinth script, and read it through with beat sheet in hand.

I couldn't quite figure out the elements he mentioned, but then again, Labyrinth proved a box-office failure, so he still might have something!

Perhaps I need to look at a successful movie?

At 130 pages it does seem long, and I remember when watching it that it seemed to sag here and there. I never felt the right to criticize, but now I have to bring something like a critical mind to it.

It has an episodic structure, but these 'set-pieces' don't seem sufficiently well linked for the drive and urgency of the quest to keep going. This isn't helped by the lack of clarity about 'goodies' and 'baddies'. The Goblin King, and the goblins get the role of baddies, but compared to (say) the flying monkeys and the Wicked Witch of the West in Oz, they seem quite tame (because comic).

So just as the baddies aren't scary enough, the helpful animals seem quite ambiguous (apart from Ludo and Didymus). Hoggle, I suppose, has one of those 'character arcs' but he seems to wobble quite a lot, and all the other characters met in the labyrinth remain more confusing and confused, than (say) working for the Goblin King to thwart her.

I may come back to this later. It has helped a little in clarifying that although you don't need old-fashioned black hat/white hat distinctions, you do still need more clarity and dynamic drive, not just a series of sketches.

Um, perhaps looking at Wizard of Oz with the beat sheet might show why it 'works'.

Online script for Wizard of Oz

I've taken the plunge

2010-04-02T02:47:00.005+01:00

Purely in terms of pages written, I have got ahead of the game. I have introduced my 'buddies' - a sort of Holmes and Watson double act. I have introduced the 'baddie' - a daunting and powerful medium, and her henchmen entourage, plus her loyal followers. I have got a victim, and her protector/helper, currently like a damsel in distress, but I suspect she will reveal hidden strengths.

However, at 16 pages already it has already got a bit flaccid and slack, but this is not the time to tighten up and edit. Blake Snyder builds his 'grid' on a scale of 110 pages, and Script Frenzy asks only for 100 pages, so the exact breaks may vary, but I definitely have to move the Catalyst (Call the Adventure) back a bit.

1. Opening Image (1): A dodgy seance, that our heroes treat lightly

2. Theme Stated (5): Do harmless lies that keep us happy (foma) need to be challenged, can suspect beliefs sustain us?

3. Set-Up (1-10): My Buddy duo go to investigate this murky world, the one (Sam Hill) to see if he can find evidence of something useful and interesting, his side-kick (John Watts) to prove to him once and for all that the dream and hope of telepathy (let alone survival of death) is an illusion, and a dangerous one.

4. Catalyst (12): A young woman (Daisy) asks for their help to get her elderly aunt out from under this malevolent influence - a mediumistic circuit dominated by Eve Vera Poulter.

5. Debate (12-25): They investigate the true nature of this movement, and duel verbally about whether there is anything of value in it at all. They are under observation, and rightly paranoid.

6. Break into Two (25) This will be where Sam enthusiastically determines to help Daisy and her aunt, if he can - and John reluctantly agrees to help, too.

7. B Story (30): I hope I can introduce here a young female medium who foxes them both, scares and attracts them a little, and is part of the 'school' of EVP.

I won't bore you with my very sketchy plans to reach the halfway point (let's face it, I still can't quite decide on it being a high point, from which they descend into the maelstrom, or whether it should represent the lowest point they reach, and from which they have to climb out).

Fun to do, so far.

It's a start...

2010-04-01T22:34:00.003+01:00

As ever, I have no idea what I have started - when you switch off your internal critic and just go for it, anything can happen.

Apart from anything else, it's great shutting off that f***ing voice of authority.

Do you remember 'playing' as a kid? Well, the fun with a script (as opposed to a novel) is that it seems a good idea to act it out, or make a Gilliam animation to help with the process, or...or...

So as well as getting a script started (for the hell of it) I might find myself in other areas of creativity and modern tools and toys.

I know when I finished early on one NaNoWriMo I found myself contributing little video comments, and even a radio interview, just because...

It's not too late to join in, on Day One. Script Frenzy.

How to pitch your movie

2010-03-30T16:44:00.005+01:00

No point feeling timid about this.

After all, I only have to think of it as a rough draft.

Still, you can't waffle on like you can with a bad novel, so some sort of structure feels necessary.

I have adopted Blake Snyder's 'map' or grid to start with, just to give me a shape.

And although selling the damn thing is the last thing on my mind, he makes it very clear that it helps to have the 'logline' down before you start.

He means "the pitch" - and even if you never confront a Hollywood producer, you know what he means when he describes it as the one-liner in the TV Guide film review or the way you describe it to a friend if you want them to come to the movies with you, etc.

Mine doesn't feel quite right yet, but currently I describe it like this:

One White Crow

An optimistically romantic paranormal researcher and his cynical sidekick finally come across a medium who seems to have real powers, but she gets them into trouble with the Psychic Mafia.

Having a go at writing a movie (why not?)

2010-03-30T15:01:00.000+01:00

I have decided to try writing a film script in a month.

Not just randomly decided, you understand.

Having written a 50,000 word novel in a month three times now - as part of the NaNoWriMo community, I decided to accept the challenge or dare to attempt a script, instead.

You have to produce 100 pages of script (no word count) in the month of April.

As my online presence, and writing, and sub-personalities, and circles of friends, seem so varied I thought I might enjoy separating out this particular venture/adventure, and created myself this whole new blog.

Most of my writing seems to have appeared with the nom-de-plume of Bogus Magus (the origins of that avatar already seems like a long story, or perhaps tall story).

Ahem.

So you can find me on Script Frenzy, here.

The novels got written on the NaNo site, here.

Just for laughs, and to manifest the writing in tangible books, I investigated Lulu Publishing, and commissioned covers from my artist friend Bobby Campbell, just so I could hold a copy in my hand, not because I consider them good (or even readable) novels.

To try the different formats possible, I also added a posthumous book of a friend's that I edited, and some notes on voice that my mother never got published. Check out the Lulu store, here.

You may think of it as vanity publishing, but I think of it as playing. My play has turned into paid work at times, but I don't do it for that. The trick remains to enjoy yourself. If you never turn it into an income then you had some fun and learned some stuff. If you do end up making some money you will find yourself getting paid to do something you love (not a position many people find themselves in).