A Writer's Notebook, Day One-Hundred-Fifteen

I finished the work editing the draft of my script this morning.  It came in at around nine pages, but it has a lot that I know can be cut.  In the workshop tonight, I got a great deal of advice towards that and some other considerations as well.  For one thing, it was suggested that the ending may well need to be stronger.  I am considering how to work it in, and I think I have a good idea of what to do.

There are a number of other small suggestions that I think were very good, and I know I have a good deal of work to do.  Matt basically said I need to aim at a seven page maximum and I am currently at nine pages, so that is going to take a great deal of consideration.  I have a lot of good suggestions from him about how to begin that, and I think that I have a good deal more in mind that will help.

The biggest issue is, of course, the ending, but I think I know how to work that out, and I think it might also offer other opportunities.  It will take working some more in, though, which is a problem as well, but I think it will not be much that needs to be added, and I am going to aim at shortening beyond the seven pages at first, as well, so that I can have room for what I think I may need.

The idea I have is still only partially clear, and the issues are more with execution and certain specifics than with the actual thrust of the end.  The concluding event that I am working towards is already clear, Jeffrey moving out of his parents home.  However, it needs to be done in a way that makes sense within the context of the events already in the play.  I think I have some understanding of how to interconnect those ideas, and I am going to play with that as well. 

In addition to these changes, it was also suggested that I move back into past tense for most of the play.  It is funny how my initial instinct turns out to have been largely correct in that case, especially when I consider that I am very much interested in issues of that sort especially in my fiction.  It will take a good deal of work to move the tense back, and my biggest concern is doing so without increasing the length of the piece.  I think, though, that the movement into past tense might make things a bit less wordy at times.

The next workshop is Sunday, so I don't have as much time, but I think I will be able to get it done and can also do more work even after, as the final script for performance is not due for a few more weeks.  However, I do want to get at least through to what we spoke about tonight, and to integrate the work for the ending as well, before that workshop.  I think I can get all that done by then, and am rather eager to get to work in the morning.  I am keeping tonight a short one, as I don't have much else to add for now.  I have been thinking about the story idea I mentioned, and will share more thoughts on it shortly.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Writer's Notebook, Day Two-Hundred-And-Fifty

Each of the three pieces I wrote today was a bit of a struggle to get going, if I am honest.  That happens, as I have mentioned, and my answer is generally to just wait it out, and the results vary.  A lot of the time, if I am really stuck, I might try to force something out, often it winds up being a bit meta, with me writing about being stuck without much in terms of inspiration, and it feels a bit like I am working scales in a way.  All the aesthetic decisions are there, they just don't always have a lot of purpose behind them, and that is fine in that context.  Essentially, I am just forcing myself to do the work, and getting it done, and I am showing myself that I can and will do it even if inspiration never strikes.  This can often take pressure off, and that lack of pressure opens up creative thinking and inspiration. Now, that is a fine thing for me to do, and I am likely to use that approach again many times in the future, but today I felt that I want...
Read more

Le Guin, Steering The Craft, Chapter Five: Adjectives and Adverbs (Exercise Five, Chastity)

A note of apology for my lateness with this.  I had expected to have time earlier in the day, but it was not to be, alas.  Anyhow, I am still a bit nervous about this exercise, though it is clearly of significant import to Le Guin, as she points out that it is the only exercise that she has given to all of her workshops.  That, of course, does not alter my feelings about it, excepting that I am aware of it as something valuable and worth doing, so the fact that it is a bit daunting might well be seen, through that light, as a promise of reward, perhaps.  The more difficult the task, the more one has to gain, at least by some logic... Exercise Five: Chastity Mr. Torino was in charge.  He had his way.  It was the way.  Desktops are clean.  Nothing but work.  No pictures: not your kids; not your girl or wife; not (as Allen recounted) your car.   None of that.  No plants.  No cartoons.  That is for home, this is work....
Read more

A Writer's Notebook, Two-Thousand-And-Fifty-Nine

I have been thinking about how I can discuss certain aspects of my poetry and the choices I make as a writer.  In particular, I tend to write without as much reliance on sensory details and descriptions, instead choosing more abstract depictions.  This is something that I know many writers would call an odd choice, as specificity seems inherently to demand the application of detail, but I tend to be a bit hesitant about relying on depictions that utilize the senses, as I find that approach somewhat problematic.  For one thing, sensory description is always going to be less than universal, and not only because of the reality that there are individuals who lack one or more sense.  In many ways, for me, the deeper problem is one related to language itself.  Our use of language creates our experiences in a very real way, though I can't necessarily offer a full explanation of what I mean by that right here, but using a word for an object bestows qualities on it....
Read more