The New Nawmal: Good News for "The Barrier"

I used Xtranormal to make "The Barrier", but was unable to properly finish the movie because the company shut down before I could finish it. Now a new company, Nawmal, is releasing software based on Xtranormal. Maybe I can now finished my movie.

Nawmal (http://www.nawmal.com/) sent me an e-mail this week that the official release of their new software, nawmalMAKE, would be September 30, 2015.

Target Market and Cost

So far there isn't very much information on the website. The impression I got was that the initial release, a commercial version, it is aimed at the corporate video market. The applications they list for the software are pretty much limited to that market.

The price they have set for it, $1,000 a year, which I think would be appropriate for the corporate video market. They offer a monthly rate of $100.

Finishing "The Barrier"

I don't consider the version of "The Barrier" I have on YouTube to be final. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATcKnFAwlU0)

My objective for the next version of "The Barrier" is to hire actors to redo the dialogue. With my current personal commitments, I don't think I can devote the time and effort to make that happen for a while yet. There is no real urgency for me to make any kind of decision about how I'd use the software just yet.

The Nawmal website says that they plan to release two more versions of the software. One aimed at the education market, nawmalEDU, and the other for "fun" users, nawmalFUN. I don't really fit into any of the markets they seem to be going after. I would need many of the features that would only be available in the commercial version. But, the price is kind of steep for me.

I thought I might be able to use nawmalFUN to develop the movie, then switch to the commercial version when I want to finish the movie for release. From the description of nawmalFUN, that doesn't look like it would work.

If there are enough movie makers like myself, maybe we could negotiate a different kind of license that would work better for us. Of course it wouldn't work if there were too many.

nawmalMAKE as Script Writing Software

I know that one of the original goals of the software was to help script writers visualize their scripts. Their thought was that writers would transfer their script into the program to generate the movie.

My experience with the software makes me feel that it would work better the other way round.  When I created "The Barrier" I transferred some scenes from the short stories I wrote, while other scenes I created from scratch within Xtranormal. I felt the scenes I wrote within the program worked much better and were easier to write.

A good example of this was the scene between the Mayor and Brandon Baker. My initial idea for the scene was a few short lines that set up the threat to Arthur. But, as I worked on the scene, the personalities of the two characters started to solidify and that changed how they interacted. I started to see how the history between the two characters underlay the scene.

You can watch this scene at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATcKnFAwlU0 starting at 1:36 and running to 3:09.

I think there would need to be some additional features added to make it viable option as a script writing tool. For example it would need to output to a script format. I created a simple process to do this with the old STATE files. (http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/the-barrier-progress-and-file-conversion/) It wasn't very reliable, but I think it shows that it can be done.

I hope Nawmal is successful. I want to use it in the future, but I know they can't make a go of the business if I'm a typical client. The focus on the corporate market, if it works, could ensure their future.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

What Would A Revolution in the Future Be Like?

I posted a new short story about a revolution in a future society. 

"Pete's Plan" is the story of a man who wants a better life for his children. In the world he lives in there isn't much of a future for them. But, one day, Pete realizes that he has a unique opportunity to change that.

Read it here: http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/stories/petes-plan/

The Story Behind the Story

I wrote this story a couple years ago. In part it was inspired by an article that I wrote some time earlier: "What Would A World With 90 Per Cent Unemployment Be Like?" http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/articles/what-would-a-world-with-90-per-cent-unemployment-be-like/

The story ended up to be almost exactly 1,000 words long. I felt good about it and submitted it to a science fiction magazine. They rejected it, so I tried a few others, but no one bought it. The main criticism was that it read more like a proposal for a story than a story.

I was reluctant to rewrite the story, because as it stood, it reflected almost exactly what I wanted to say. I put the story away with the idea that maybe down the road I might come up with a different approach. The one possibility was that it could be rewritten in first person. I think it would lose something.

Finally, I decided that I should go ahead and post it. I hope you find it worth the read.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

4 Things I Learned From "The 89th Key"

I feel that "The 89th Key" was a good learning experience for me. I've organized some of  my thoughts about what I learned.

The Outline

I have used outlines for most of my stories and all of my movie scripts. With "The 89th Key" I put more effort into the outline. I think I put as much effort into it as I did into the first draft and the rewrite.

This extra effort paid off for me. It made the first draft go much smoother. I feel that it is at the outline stage that the hard work of writing happens. One way to look at it is that the outline is the real first draft of the story, and the first draft is a rewrite.

If you can work out the structure and action at the outline stage, then you can focus on the actual wording when you come to write the story. Many of the problems I ran into were because I hadn't done enough work on the outline.

I want to work on how I create an outline. I have in the past developed a grid in a Excel spreadsheet to help me develop my outline. With "The 89th Key" what I wrote was more like a treatment or short story version of the tale.

Character Definition

One thing that helped me a lot was that the characters in Doc Savage are well defined. They are not necessarily complicated characters, or even very realistic. But, they have distinctive characters and I found it easy to imagine how they would behave in different situations.

This definition of character made it much easier to write the story. At times the characters seemed to come to life and all I had to do was type out what they did.

I realize that most of the characters I create are not as well defined. I can feel it when I have to force generic characters to do something. There are exceptions; the characters in "The Barrier" are all quite distinct.

I want to develop a check list of the types of things I need to define for each character. In the past I've focussed on general descriptions and didn't go into depth. What I think may be a better approach is to consider how they would behave in different situations. For example, if some one attacked them, would they fight back, surrender, run away or try to reason with them.

Relationships between Characters

This is something I've never given much thought to. A good example in the Doc Savage books is the relationship between Monk and Ham. Their rivalry is a bit cartoonish, but it adds something to the stories.

When I develop characters I need to consider how they relate to one another. Do they like each other? Do they trust each other? Do they hang out together after work? What do they talk about when they aren't talking about work? What do they have in common?

These relationships can add colour to a story, but can also help drive the story forward.

Like with the characters themselves, I want to come up with a check list of the types of relationships that characters can have. As I develop each character I can work how they relate to the others.

Number of Characters

The Doc Savage books have six on-going characters. Seven if you include Doc's cousin Pat. There is usually one main bad guy with a bunch of nameless subordinate bad guys. In contrast I usually have just the hero and his sidekick, plus an equal number of bad guys. "The Barrier" was an exception to this.

What I noticed was that when I had more good guys to work with, it was easier to come up with things to happen in the story. On the other hand, I found it hard to give some characters anything to do.

I think that while you can have too few characters, you can also have too many. What the best number of characters is, I am not really sure. If I planned to do a series of stories, I would want to have a few extra around that could play a bigger role in later stories. For a stand alone story, they would just be in the way.

I'm sure that there is more for me to learn, but I really feel that this little project has been one of my more fruitful projects.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

I Finally Brought A Long Held Dream to Fruition

Long ago I decided I wanted to write a Doc Savage adventure. Now I finally did.

You can download and read it from my website: http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/stories/the-89th-key/

The 89th Key - A Doc Savage Adventure

A strangely familiar sound brings death rather than reassurance. The quiet contemplation of a charity concert is broken by the sudden violent kidnapping of Warren Evans, a prominent businessman. Doc Savage and his men have only hours to rescue him.

Read the HTML version: http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/stories/the-89th-key/the-89th-key-html-version/

ePub version download page: http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/stories/the-89th-key/the-89th-key-epub-version/

MOBI version download page: http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/stories/the-89th-key/the-89th-key-mobi-version/

PDF version download page: http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/stories/the-89th-key/the-89th-key-pdf-version/

The Story Behind the Story

When I was in high school I wanted to write a novel. I played around with some ideas, but they never went anywhere. At the time I read a lot of Doc Savage books and was quite familiar with the characters. I decided that it would be easier for me to write a book if I wrote it as a Doc Savage story.

So, during the summer between high school and university I started on my own Doc Savage adventure story. That was in 1972 if you must know. I called it "The Smiling Corpse". I managed to write a bit more than one chapter; about 2,200 words altogether. At that point I gave up because I felt that I just wasn't ready.

Over the last few years I have developed my writing somewhat and written some longer stories. I have 3 or 4 novella length stories that I got stuck on. A couple months ago I decided that maybe I had reached the point where I could probably write my own Doc Savage adventure, so I did. I'd used "The Smiling Corpse" title for a different project, so I developed a new plot and title: "The 89th Key".

In part, my objective was to fulfill a long ago ambition, but I also thought it would be good practice for my own writing. I think I did learn a lot from the experience.

I wrote an outline and then started the first draft. I completed the first draft two weeks after I started on the outline. I did a couple more drafts and had the final version done a month later. In the rewrites I fixed grammar, wording and some plot inconsistencies. I didn't make any major changes to the story.

I felt the story turned out pretty good. While I've read quite a few Doc Savage books, my knowledge of the characters and settings falls well short of encyclopaedic. Connoisseurs of Doc Savage may be disappointed.

The book was shorter than I would have liked. It came in at 25,700 words, which makes it a novella. During the original run of Doc Savage, the average length was 38,500 words, but this varied quite a bit. "The Land of Terror" at 56,000 words was the longest. "Fire and Ice" at 25,200 words was the shortest. So, while my story is on the short end of the range, it isn't the shortest.

Legal Issues

While I intended to undertake the project as a writing exercise, I did want to share it with other people. That is a bit of a problem. I looked into what the legal status of a book like this is, and if I could make it available.

In Canada, where I live, the copyright of a book lasts for 50 years after the death of the author. Other countries have that set at 70 years. Lester Dent, who wrote most of the Doc Savage adventures passed away in 1959, which would make the ones he wrote in the public domain in Canada. However, another consideration is that the name Doc Savage is a trademark. Currently, the publisher Condé Nast owns that trademark. I assume this would include integral elements of the stories, such as the other characters.

Another consideration is the growth in "Fan Fiction." Many people write their own stories based on characters and make them available. There are many Harry Potter fan written stories for example. I found some discussions of the legal status of fan fiction that I think is relevant.

Strictly speaking, fan fiction would be considered a copyright violation. However, some authors and publishers tolerate and sometimes encourage fan fiction. This is because fan fiction can help market the books they sell. This is purely at the discretion of the authors or publishers. I found some Doc Savage fan fiction on the Internet, which suggests to me that it is tolerated by the publisher.

From what I read about what is acceptable in fan fiction the main consideration is that you can't sell it. I am hadn't intended to sell it anyway, so I don't mind this restriction.  Another consideration is how widely available the book is. Generally speaking, most fan fiction gets very little distribution. I don't expect that this book will be widely read.

Of course, should the owners of the Doc Savage trademark  ask me to remove my book from the Internet, I would quite willingly comply. Although, I do think it is to their advantage to allow it to be available.

Since my intention was to have this be a writing exercise, I wouldn't be too upset if I couldn't share it with others.

What's Next

While I am happy how this book turned out, I would like to write a book that I can sell. In earlier blog posts I talked about an idea I call "The Disruptors" which I could do in the same way as this book.

I think the most important lesson I learned when I wrote "The 89th Key" was how important it is to develop your characters. This book is very focussed on the plot, but when you have very distinct characters like in the Doc Savage stories, the writing becomes much easier. The characters give life to the story. Otherwise, you just push them around like a bunch of toy soldiers.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

Plot Development, Characters and their Monikers for "The Disruptors"

I worked on the plot and characters for "The Disruptors" this week. I've developed a bit of a process to organize this part of the writing.

My plan had been to focus on "Bright Freedom", but this week I got side tracked into "The Disruptors". I feel bad that I put off a project, but I felt moved to work on the other project.

Plot

I started to prepare an outline for the story. It is something of a formula. I want to have 16 chapters, so I decided that I need to have 16 "cliff hangers" to end each chapter. I came up with the 16, but some of them are quite weak. As I continue to work on the project I feel I can come up with some better ones. One of the things I've learned about creativity is that you need to come up with many more ideas than you use in the end. If you want 16 good ideas, you need a lot more than 16 ideas.

Characters

I started to develop characters for the story. I came up with a group of good guys and a group of bad guys. I identified what kind of role each of them will play in the story. Some of them don't have much of a role to play, so maybe I can use that to generate more ideas for plot elements.

I have some vague physical descriptions for three of the characters, but haven't given much thought to the other characters. I want to come up with more description of  what kind of people they are and how they behave. I find that helps me with dialogue.

Names

I gave each of the characters names. So far I just did first names. In my mind I see the names as code names, so I'm not sure if I need to have family names.

I developed the process I have to create names a little more. Because I've heard of film makers running into problems with legal issues over uncommon names, I want to use common names. I also want to avoid the names of people I know, unless I ask them first.

I found a list of the frequencies of male, female and family names reported in the U.S. Census. I used this to prepare a short list of the most common names. In the past I just went through the top names and picked ones I wanted to use. I want to avoid similar sounding names, so I try to avoid names that start with the same letter.

I've refine my process this time. To start, I created a list of the five most common names for each first letter. That was a problem for some of the letters, like Q, which have only a few names. Then I used a random number generator to pick one name from for each initial. I picked names from that list.

Theme

Much of my effort so far has been formula driven. I haven't given too much thought to the underlying themes of the story. I'm not too concerned about it though. The theme is inherent in the nature of the story. My past experience has been that the theme comes across, even I don't make a conscious effort to put it in.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog