I had a post written yesterday and made 3 separate attempts to edit and upload it during the day. I was at work and we remained busy. I was just about to post it now, but after reading it I realize it was mostly the ramblings of a chaotic mind. I’ll include the bullet points because I do not feel it is worth posting.
- I combed through the entire script on Monday and brought it down to 21 pages. It is a cohesive story.
- My friend gave it a read. He thought it was “solid overall” but “not a page turner.” I am not okay with that.
- I spent all of yesterday trying to remember if I had left the stove on. I almost left work just to check. Thankfully, my apartment is *not* in ashes.
So, the “not a page turner” thing – I really dislike that. In my experience a good story literally reels you in. You may be reading it to analyze it, but even that will be a challenge. This tells me I’ve got changes to make.
My girlfriend and I watched a movie last night. It seemed pretty low budget. Some of the actors could have been better, and I felt the writing could have focused on a few different areas. But it kept us watching, and got us to watch it in the first place. The story was based on real life events where a woman had been locked up and hidden by her own father. Nobody knew where she was for years, and she was in his basement the entire time. It’s a gut-wrenching tale – and I honestly believe that was why we became so invested in it.
There are so many devices to strengthen a story that you could fill a factory with them. But I don’t think any device can ever make the scene. My two aims for writing today are to find something extraordinary to place in my story. Something that makes you say “what the fuck?”. My second goal is to make even the ordinary interactions of my characters bursting with nostalgic emotion.
I recall reading Harry Potter as a young teenager and experiencing the Weasley family the first time. Everything was messy, the parents were yelling, the kids had a hierarchy, and everybody in that family seemed to echo an unsaid motto that always appeals to me – “We’re rich in joy not wealth.”
I’ll be at work tonight and going through my script again. I have not begun filming a video this Sunday but am still determined to publish one. My script, however, takes priority and needs to be finished.
Thomas M. Watt 