Write...or Die Trying

I used to work in a factory. Now I work in an office. Either way, my writing was dying. So now I must: Write...or Die Trying.

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Recycled Material: 6 March 2004

True to my word, here's an old blog entry that never made it online. In the interest of full disclosure, I edited this. What you read here is a tinkered version of the real thing.
It's been a little while since me and the old typewriter have sat down to chat. I've been so busy this week trying to keep up with everything that I've been getting a little sidetracked. Yes, that's an utterly lame excuse. Nearly cliche. So shoot me.

I really took it on the chin the other day when I got those rejection letters. I expected them, but that doesn't make it any easier when they actually come.

I think it would be a good idea if I did some more flowcharting on my stories. Keeping an Excel spreadsheet or something to keep track of all your characters and plot elements makes a lot of sense. When it's all planned out, you can stay organized with all the scenes and where they fit emotionally. That must be how you do it with a screenplay. By the time you actually film the performances, you must have gone over everything so much that it's not really funny--or sad or whatever emotion you're trying to evoke--anymore. It lost its shine.

I've tried rewriting some of the runaway story. It's going O.K., but I've taken some things in a little bit different direction. I'm not sure if that's entirely good. I feel like I copped Theodore Dreiser with my intro of Jimmy. It's something I had been thinking about already. When I read a similar scene in American Tragedy, things started to fit better.

I still think this whole story would work better as a screenplay. You can get away with more in a screenplay. It would appeal to the impatient in me, too since it would take a lot less time to produce. I don't know whether it would sell or not, but for $100,000 or more, it would definitely be worth a try.

Speaking of more money, I feel like I'm getting greedy with the thought of this job at [Not Important]. I haven't even talked to them yet and I'm already thinking of ways to spend the money. And I say I don't work for the paycheck. That's not always true, now is it? It depends on how many bills I'm behind in.

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