Sometimes when you’re working on a story, you get into this groove or rhythm where everything seems to mesh together in just the right way that you experience what could possibly be described as the writer’s equivalent of a runner’s high. Before you realize it, you’ve completed X pages and time has passed in the blink of an eye.
This is one of those good things about the writing process. It really helps make up for the days where you get absolutely nothing done, or spend a lot of time accomplishing not much or something you’re not happy with.
Although I haven’t had a lot of time to write the past few days, when I have, the results have been quite exhilarating.
I’m inching my way through three separate storylines, each dancing around each other until they finally converge in one important story-changing moment.
It’s also forcing me to edit on the fly because my outline had a lot of scenes that went on longer than necessary, but as I work my way through the pages, I’m able to cut a lot of those down to scenes of 1-2 sentences, and maybe a line of dialogue. And each one is pushing the story ahead.
So overall, lookin’ good.
-Movie of the Moment, Two-fer edition: SUPER 8 (2011). I made sure to watch this at night so it recreated the theatre atmosphere. It helped. This was definitely a throwback to late 70s/early 80s Spielberg, and a lot of fun. Nothing fancy; good solid storytelling. It was also a refreshing change to have unknown actors in the kid roles, all of whom seemed well-suited to their characters.
Just two things I thought about during and after: 1. How were they able to drive off the military base? and 2. Why did the monster eat certain people but kidnap others?
I couldn’t help but wonder if this would have gotten made if JJ Abrams wasn’t involved. I was also thinking if the monster was going to look like the one in CLOVERFIELD, albeit much smaller.
And…THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN (2011). Also a Spielberg joint. We introduced V to the Tintin books last summer and she loves ’em. The plots may be a little over her head, but she seems to get the gist of it. She was quite psyched to see the movie.
Turns out she loved it. I also enjoyed it, maybe not to the same extent, and thought the writing was well-done (which it should be, especially with Moffat and Wright as 2 of the 3 writers). The action sequences were great and definitely kept things moving. As always, I liked how it didn’t talk down to the audience. The filmmakers assume you have a brain and can follow along with any hand-holding.
I didn’t have a problem with the motion-capture format, but wondered if this could have been done in the style of Herge’s art style. Though the 3-D may have been harder to pull off. It’ll be interesting to see if they move ahead with a sequel.
-Happy holidays to one and all. Here’s to writing success for everybody in 2012.
Maximum Z 