Slow Progress on the "The Barrier"

I did a little on "The Barrier" this week. My wife's illness has progressed and that is a higher priority for me than this project, so I don't expect to have much time for "The Barrier".

It's been at least a month since I did any work on "The Barrier". This week I got back on to it. Mostly I planned out what I need to do, and I didn't do any actual writing.

My main objective was to see how to fit the new scene I developed into the story. I had to rework the outline to fit it in. I had to delete one scene, add a new scene, and modify another scene to make it all work.

I also wanted to shift the focus of the story to give more emphasis to the storyline about the traffic barrier and less on the traffic impact study.

I deleted four scenes about the traffic impact study. I will have to revise one other scene to patch up the problems caused when I cut the other scenes. It was hard to delete the scenes because I thought they were good. I had revised two of the scenes earlier and lost that material too.

That said, I think it improves the movie as a whole. They do say that often you need to cut your favourite scene to make a movie work. Fortunately, my favourite scene survived. At least so far.

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

Slow Progress and Abandoned Projects

It bothers me that over the years I've abandoned many of the projects I've started. I try to find a way to see abandonment is a more positive light.

I've found it quite hard to make any progress on my current projects, specifically my short story "Felix" and my movie "The Barrier". I made no progress to speak of over the last couple months. My top priority has been my wife's health. That isn't the reason for my lack of progress though. I haven't felt much enthusiasm for the projects. I think that once I get back to the projects in a serious way, I'll generate some enthusiasm, but it is hard to get started.

I've run into this same type of barrier in the past and often I've abandoned projects to focus on others that I find of greater interest. One of the problems I have had is that I try to work on too many projects at once and, as a result, make no progress on any of them. That forced me to abandon several projects.

This week I did a review of the various writing and movie projects I've started and those I've completed. I came up with about 130 projects that I started, of which I have completed 25. That means that I've abandoned almost 3 of every 4 projects I started. That sounds bad, but it was actually better than I expected before I started.

Not all of my abandoned projects went to waste. I was sometimes able to reuse some of the ideas in other projects I did later. Also, I found that I learned from each project, even if I didn't finish it.

In my mind I think of abandonment as a failure, but that may be the wrong way to think about it. For example, years ago I saw an interview with Paul McCartney, where he said he often wouldn't write down a song at first. He felt that if he couldn't remember it later, then maybe it wasn't a song worth keeping. If I can't get excited about the projects I work on, why would I expect people others to find them worth their time.

People do say that the hard work of writing is in the rewrite, and a rewrite can make a huge improvement in the final product. I know that this has worked for me in the past. All the same, I do think that some projects should be abandoned. You'll never have the time to follow up all of the ideas you have, so why waste time on your weaker ideas.

I must admit that I am at something of a loss to say which projects I should drop. I have noticed that now and then, a project will take on a life of its own. That doesn't always happen right away, but, once it does, the project becomes much easier to do.

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

I find it difficult to get started on my rewrite of my science fiction story "Felix". Once I get started, I am sure it will go OK, but I haven't got started yet.

I feel frustrated at my lack of progress. Part of the problem I think is that the rewrite is daunting. There seems like so much that I need to do. Somewhere I read that the way to rewrite is to rewrite several times. Each time you focus on a different aspect. I think I will try that approach.

My first rewrite will be to make structural changes to the story. This isn't too big an issue, but I think it will help me get started. I want to move some sections around. What I have now is strictly chronological and I think parts of the story should be told as flash backs. There are also some parts where I want to cut material out. I have some long sections of detailed description that I want to be just suggested.

In my second rewrite, I plan to replace several sections of the story. This is primarily because I have changed my mind about what should happen. In some cases the sections are too short and not in enough detail. In others I have the plot develop too fast. In both cases the changes are drastic enough that I think it is better to start over from scratch. I expect this rewrite will take up most of my time.

I plan to do several rewrites that focus on just one character at a time. I want to ensure that each character is consistent in how they talk and behave. I have 4 main characters, so that means 4 rewrites.

In my final rewrite I want to focus on the details of the writing. That will include grammar, spelling and sentence structure.  At the same time I plan to work on what I call word-smithing, where I revise the writing for clarity and flow.

Hopefully, this will greatly improve the story. Then I can start to ask people to read it.

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

Internal and External Conflicts in "The Barrier"

In the past people often told me that there was no conflict in my stories. I found it hard to understand why they said that, because I did have conflict. It took me a long time to realize that most of the conflict in my stories was internal to the characters and these inner conflicts did not come across in my writing.

I didn't know how I could bring out these internal conflicts in my stories, so I decided to shift more to interpersonal conflict in my stories. I felt it would be easier for me to depict interpersonal conflict. Although, I was reluctant to do that because I felt that internal conflict was more important.

Over the last few weeks I have tried to absorb the feedback I have had on my last movie: "The Barrier". I started to see that interpersonal conflict can be used as a metaphor for internal conflict. in the barrier. I'm sure I had been aware of that from other people's work, but had not thought of it for my own work. It seems pretty obvious now.

When I developed the movie, I thought of the characters Arthur Macdonald, Brandon Baker and Dennis Kennedy as different aspects of myself. The conflicts between them, and with some of the other characters, reflect my own internal conflicts.

I can see places in the story where I have used this concept, although I didn't realize it at the time. There is one point where Arthur argues with Dennis in a scene and in the next scene Arthur tells Ling that he actually agreed with Dennis. I know that I had the same kind of argument internally many times in my career.

Over the next few months I will decide what I should do with "The Barrier". I think I can use this insight to develop the story further. Certainly it should allow me to work more depth into the interactions between these characters.

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

Back to the “Sweat Box”

I got back to work on my story Heat Wave this week. I’ve changed the title to Sweat Box. It is a more appropriate title than what I had.

I approached the story in a piece meal way. A change from what I’ve done in the past. I developed an overall outline, but then jumped around to write the different segments of the story. So, I have the start and end done, along with some stuff in between, but there are unwritten segments here and there around the story.

I’d left the story for quite a while, almost five months! I did print out a copy a month ago and I’ve gone through it a few times to make notes for changes. I had planned to write the missing segments before I started a rewrite, but since I had left it so long, I thought a rewrite would help me get back into the story.

That approach seems to have worked. I have come up with several ideas for the unwritten segments. The rewrite has also built up the story somewhat. I added about 1,000 words in the last couple of days. I think the changes made the story better.

The ending of the story could be a problem. It was what got me started on the story, but now it doesn’t seem at the same level as the rest of the story. I’ll wait until I hear from some beta readers before I decide if I want to replace it or keep it.

I have other, more important, things on my mind these days, so it has been difficult to work on this project. However, it does help me to take some time away from those issues. This could be a good way to do that.

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

A rewrite for “The Gladstone Barrier”

I started to rethink my short story The Gladstone Barrier this week. I came up with several ideas that I think I can use to develop it into a longer and, hopefully, better story.

Description

In some of my stories, I do have a lot of description of the people and the locations, but have very little in The Gladstone Barrier. It is very much a plot driven story. I think there a couple of good reasons to add more.

First, I can use it to develop the characters more. How they dress, how they move and how they present themselves all tell you something more about them. I think that my characters need that additional depth.

Second, I can use description to create a mood for each scene. A cramped room and a cosy room are physically the same thing, but the description creates a different feeling for the location that will affect readers in how they interpret what happens.

Bits of Business

I feel I need to add some little “bits of business” for my characters. I mean little things that he does that reveal something of his personality. A neat person will pick up loose papers on a desk and arrange them. A sloppy person won’t. I can use these to make the main character, Arthur Macdonald, easier to identify with. I would want to do the same for the minor characters, but not to same extent, since I want the focus on Arthur.

Along those lines, I want to rewrite the opening scene so that Arthur avoids the collision through his own actions. As it is now I don’t think that is clear. That would make him a stronger character and not just some one who is blowing in the wind.

Ling the Mentor

I intended the character Ling to be Arthur’s mentor. I thought that was clear in the story, but some people commented that I should make her his mentor, so I guess it isn’t that obvious. I would need to expand her role quite a bit.

Some people might think it is odd to have a woman as the mentor. The term mentor refers to a story from Greek mythology. The goddess Athena wanted to help Telemachus find his father Odysseus. She disguised herself as a man named Mentor and encouraged Telemachus to seek out his father. In her guise as Mentor, she travelled with him to provide guidance and advice. So, I think it makes perfect sense. Maybe I can use that parallel in the story.

Technical Details

Some of the comments I had about the story focussed on some technical details that they didn’t think I had right. I want to fix those, which will change the plot somewhat. Currently the boss assigns Arthur to do the priority project on short notice. That doesn’t leave him time to do all the consulting and hoop jumping that the project would normally involve.

For the rewrite, I think it would be better for him to take over the project at the last minute because the person who had done the work can’t complete it for some reason. This would put him in a position where he has to defend decisions that he was never involved with and doesn’t always agree with.

Subplots

I also would like to add a subplot about Arthur and a girlfriend or maybe a wife. This would serve to round out his character. It also occurs to me that it would ensure that readers would realize that his relationship with Ling is not romantic. Maybe I can add other subplots, like a conflict between the priority project and the project he had been doing.

The Danger of Delay

I got quite enthusiastic about the rewrite, but I have so much else on my plate now that I have to put it off until later. I wish I could dive into it while my mind is still churning out ideas. I worry that if I leave it to later, that I will lose the inspiration. That happens some times, but usually I can pick it up.

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